Sauron Greater than Morgoth...

[modoturan]

Originally Posted by Iarwain Ben-adar

I actually think that Sauron had a smarter plan to take over Middle-earth than Morgoth. Morgoth did not have a very good plan. From what I have read, his plan was to use his huge numbers and force to overtake and rule Arda/ destroy what the Valar made. He used fear and made people lose hope as his primary weapon. Sauron, on the other hand, had a much smarter plan for his takeover of Middle-earth; He gained the trust of his enemy, then Tricked them into making rings of power, and then secretly made a ring of his own so that he could enslave all of the others lords of the races that had received the rings. it was quite an ingenious plan, really.

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Morgoth failed because he had utterly lost most of his power because he put much of himself into his creations, and all of his evil deeds. You have to consider how much he put out of himself to become weak from beig te strongest and most powerful being in all of Arda, or the most powerful Vala. That is why he failed. Lord knows that he had more forces than Sauron, including the supervly powerful Balrogs and Dragons, plus trolls and other creatures. He had more army power than Sauron, but Sauron had the more ingenious plan. The ingenious plan is always better.

What you deem to be Morgoth's failure (i.e. his weakening himself by disseminating his own spirit amongst his servants and pouring his power into the world) was in some ways his greatest victory. The quote at the beginning of this thread points out the fact that Sauron "inherited" the corruption of Arda from Morgoth. Everything that abides in Arda, even "incarnate spirits" like the Istari, not to mention the Children of Iluvatar, were subject to the influence of Morgoth's evil will.

It's even possible that the enduring taint of Morgoth's evil aided Sauron in his attempts to trick and corrupt the other races, both in the making and later the implementing of the various Rings of Power. In The Children of Hurin we basically see how Turin was repeatedly plagued by unwise choices and subject to a string of coincidences that eventually led to his utter destruction. Not all of his ills came directly from Morgoth's curse of course, since Turin's own personality contributed to his downfall as well, but it's quite suggestive--like Sauron's One Ring, which always seeks to find the hand of Sauron and further his will, so too does Morgoth's ring seek constantly to perpetuate his evil.

I'd have to disagree with the assertion that Sauron's plan was more ingenious than Morgoth's as well. Morgoth was apparently familiar with Occam's Razor and figured, why should I resort to trickery when I can simply take what I want? Because as others have already pointed out, Morgoth's power was more than sufficient. The direct interference of the Valar was not something he could have defended against anyway, regardless of whether or not he poured his power into Arda or retained it for himself, so his eventual defeat at the War of Wrath wasn't really the result of a mistake on his own part.

Had he chosen to retain his own strength all that would have happened is that 1) he would have been FAR less successful in his military campaigns against the Elves (since without his multitudes of servants he'd basically have to go and sack every elvish city by himself, in some incarnate form of his choosing, which eventually would have sapped his power anyway), and 2) instead of sending Eonwe with a host of Elves in the War of Wrath, the Valar would have just come themselves a second time as they did in the breaking of Utumno. Only this time once Morgoth was dragged away and thrown into the cooler, Middle-earth would be relatively pure and free from the corruption of his evil. So it's arguable Morgoth's approach (putting forth his will into the world) was the best possible plan of action that he could have taken in furthering his goals, especially when the long-term consequences are considered.

Actually, when I think about it like that, Sauron's plan was exactly the same as Morgoth's, only on a far smaller scale. Rather than reaching everything on earth Sauron's will and corruption only extended as far as the bearers of the Rings of Power. So really, their plans were equally "ingenious," though the fact that Sauron's ring was destructible whereas Morgoth's ring was not (except by Iluvatar) is a mark in Morgoth's favor.