One of the most anticipated characters to arrive on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the big bad of the series, Sauron, as he menacingly plans the creation of the One Ring but was he always evil? Is Sauron a villain from the start or something changed his path leading to darkness?
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Is Sauron Evil From The Start?
As Galadriel opens The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, she says, "Nothing is evil in the beginning." With the looming threat of Sauron on Middle-earth during the Second Age, Galadriel's statement is a strong indicator that the series' big bad may not have always been evil.
From the books of J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the most prolific characters to exist is Sauron who posed as Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, to deceive the creators of the Rings of Power and lead Middle-earth into a dark path with everything he planned.
In the lore of Tolkien, Sauron is the key lieutenant of Morgoth, another evil, but the words of Galadriel proves to be true if one would trace back the origins of both Sauron and Morgoth to the time when they were still good.
Previously known as Melkor, Morgoth was one of the most powerful angelic beings, the Ainur, and Sauron was a lesser Ainur called as Maiar, then. Yes, there was a time when both Morgoth and Sauron were for the good side.
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The creation of Eru Iluvatar meant that everything would be innumerable good from the start and this means that Morgoth and Sauron were both created to be wholly good. However, seeking power corrupted them both.
Melkor originally wanted to create life like Eru and when Eru humiliated Melkor, this planted rage within him, putting him to a dark path. Sauron was quite the same as Melkor. He wanted order and led him to become controlling; he becomes an easy target of Melkor to be on the dark side.
Looking at the philosophy of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, everything is created good by God which makes Galadriel's words resonate and it only takes one turning point for someone or something to change into something darker, evil, like desiring power and control.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power releases weekly on Amazon Prime Video.
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