Gothmog vs. Sauron

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Perhaps so. However, even from your words, Huan didn't really kill Sauron, as Eonwe said in the beginning of the thread. Vanquished=defeated, concoured; not necessarily slain. He lost his power and his body when he was defeated, but was he really killed by Huan?

My first response above was to the section I quoted, which included that you didn't think Sauron was 'ever killed'. I didn't say Huan slew Sauron -- the Silmarillion text (1977 text anyway) says Huan released Sauron after Sauron yielded to Luthien.

Moreover, it says in The Sil that the only reason why Sauron left his body in Huan's possession is because he couldn't escape otherwise, and he left it on free will - Huan didn't really force him to do that.

The tale reads 'Ere his foul spirit left its dark house' Luthien came to Sauron. Or from the Grey Annals; 'Thus Sauron was constrained to yield up Tol Sirion, ere bereft of his bodily form he passed away as a black shadow into Taur-nu-Fuin.'

A draft text notes: 'Then lest he be forced from the body unwillingly, which is a dire pain to such spirits, he yielded himself. And Luthien and Huan wrested from him the keys of the tower,...' Lost Road pg. 300