Sauron, who doesn't know Sauron the Dark lord that pretty much invented the idea of the Dark Lord, the most epic, and sigma of them all, the OG. And while this particular Dark Lord is almost universally acknowledged as a very deserving member of the all time greats club, the villain archetype, "The Dark Lord" is actually considered a sign of Lazy or Otherwise bad writing.
That is because when it comes to a dark lord, there are no moral quandaries, their death will be cried over by no one, a protagonist needs to be relatable to the audience, and a good way to fail at doing that is to make the protagonist morally reprehensible and that risk is completely out the window when you are considering a Dark Lord Antagonist.
The protagonist finds a way to set everything right without killing the antagonist? Then they are the kind Samaritan, maybe stupid if the antagonist comes back, but even so, stupidity is sometimes relatable if done correctly. And the villain coming back is a good set up for a sequel.
Diablo 1 to Diablo 2 anyone?
But more commonly, the protagonist just kills the antagonist, or antagonists in various ways.
And that in all is one of the biggest criticisms of marvel movies, that the villains are just cookie cutter bad guys that the heroes can kill in various "cool" ways without in anyway bringing any moral repercussions on themselves.
But then why is Sauron one of the all time greats?
Well here is the reason, Dark Lords are not entirely fictional, they are based on real life dictators.
And there is a certain horror to the Idea of a Dark Lord, living under the iron thumb of someone whose sole goal is crushing your spirit, someone who cannot be reasoned with, cannot be defeated in any known way, is extremely terrifying.
And that is why Dark Lords such as Sauron and Voldemort are the all time greats, because we see them from the perspective of the common person, Frodo is not some valiant hero charging into battle with his sword raised, he is a hobbit who simply likes to live his life and nothing else, and has now been burdened with a Task that is far greater than anyone should bear.
Which is why we cheer with him when he finally wins, and we rejoice at the ultimate defeat of Sauron and his orcs at Mordor.
But there is something else that is true about real world dictators, they don't rise to power by sheer force, I mean sure it may seem that way, but more often than not, they are very trusted individuals in an otherwise okay functioning government.
They climb the social ladder with their charm and Charisma and manipulate their way upto the top.
That is what the second season of the Rings of Power seems to be establishing.
Sauron is one of the Maiar, one of the lesser godlike beings under the Valar in the Tolkein's Universe, they are more like primordial spirits. Just like reality the would be dictator already comes from a place of privilege.
And even more so, he used to be a follower of Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, and after his death, Sauron tried to seize power by force, and that clearly did not work out, that is how we got Adar, who 'killed' Sauron leaving the Orcs to be free of his influence.
So these first three episodes present a very interesting Dilemma, Sauron is actually the under dog, he is very much like Strider/Aragorn, he is Charismatic, heroic, except at every turn he makes the wrong decisions.
You relate to him, You root for him, you want him to succeed.
Even though you know what his success means.
Sauron is not the bad guy, he is short sighted, and he genuinely thinks his rule is the best way out both for him and for everyone else, it is a destiny that was in some sense thrust upon him by his master.
Remember when he wanted to become a guild member in Numenor? There is a good chance he actually wanted to stay there, because after all, as a Maia his job was to follow his assigned Valar, Morgoth, and he did, even as Morgoth corrupted one of the most pure races to form a slave race, even as he became a horror that all feared.
Sauron followed, and now that his master is gone, who will accept him? All the terrible things that Morgoth did, are on him too, as his right hand man, he was just as bad as him.
Sauron is conflicted, he wavers, he is vulnerable, or he is just the biggest Manipulator of all time, we may never know, the thing is, the difference doesn't matter, he still does the most terrible things one can imagine, and it is brilliant.
But then you root against the Orcs that killed him then right? Well do you? The Orcs want their own freedom, they have a society, they want to live, one often questions, is truce possible, because after all, someone who can bear something as pure as a baby can't be all bad right?
Well that is the main reason why people let those who would abuse power rise to the top, they presume that the someone with purity in their heart cannot do evil, that is false, cause evil is merely a point of view. Adar is evil, the Orcs are evil, in fact it might be in their genetic Code seeing that Morgoth created them, Sauron is evil.
Yet they are all the underdog, just like the point Joker tried to make, criminals, are human as well.
On the other hand, the ones who percieve themselves as terrible, i.e. Gandalf, who hasn't been named yet and is too afraid to use his power lest he harm someone, are the good guys.
It is as the elf elder said,
And that is the main point, there is evil in good, there is good in evil, and things are never that clear cut, even for a Dark Lord.
Because think about it, when he makes the rings, he truly does give them to the elves, the dwarves, the men, as a solution, if he hadn't created the one ring, truly they could have lived peacefully, or perhaps not, who knows.
The rings came to them as saviors, as everything they desired, in a time of need, the deceiver looks very much like an Angel indeed. But then people crucially forget, the Angel, also looks very much like the Deceiver.
It is true that Sauron would never have gained the power he did if those who bore the rings did not take them, but it is also true that without the rings, they would be dead, and Sauron would be free to rule over what remains, at least this way, they have a way to win, and win they did, didn't they?
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