Biography
First Age
In the earliest of days, before the godlike Valar entered the realm of Arda, Sauron originated as a spirit called a Maia. He was at first one of the most powerful servants of Aulë the Smith, one of the Valar or ruling powers of the world.
Sauron was soon subverted by the Dark Lord Melkor (later known as Morgoth), an evil Vala, and thereafter served Morgoth. He continued in his evil ways even after Morgoth was defeated and cast outside the confines of the world. Sauron encouraged and coerced Men to worship himself and Morgoth as gods. While Morgoth wanted to either control or destroy the very matter of Arda itself, Sauron's desire was to dominate the will of its creatures.
During the First Age, the Noldorin Elves left the Blessed Realm of Valinor in the Uttermost West against the counsel of the Valar to wage war on Morgoth, who had stolen the precious Silmarils. In that war Sauron served as Morgoth's chief lieutenant, surpassing all others in rank. Only Gothmog, the Lord of Balrogs, equalled him. Known as Gorthaur the Cruel, Sauron was at that time a master of illusions and changes of form; werewolves were his servants, chief among them Draugluin, Father of Werewolves, and his vampire herald Thuringwethil. When Morgoth left Angband to corrupt the newly awakened Men, Sauron directed the war against the Elves. He conquered the Elvish isle of Tol Sirion, so that it became known as Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves, and there he was known as their lord.
Ten years later Finrod Felagund, the king of Nargothrond and former lord of Tol Sirion, died protecting Beren in captivity there; soon afterwards Lúthien and Huan the Wolfhound defeated Sauron in that place and rescued Beren from the dungeons. After his resounding defeat by Lúthien, Sauron seemingly played little part in the events of the First Age.
After his master was defeated and cast out by the Valar, Sauron repented (apparently, and probably only out of fear) and pled for mercy. But he was unwilling to return to the Uttermost West for judgement, and so fled and hid in Middle-earth.
Second Age
In the Second Age, after lying hidden and dormant for about one thousand years, Sauron reappeared. Having assumed a beautiful appearance by deceit and calling himself Annatar, "the Lord of Gifts", Sauron befriended the Elvish smiths of Eregion, and counselled them in arts and magic. Not all of the Elves trusted him, especially the Lady Galadriel and the elf-king Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor, but few others heeded them.
At Sauron's behest the Elves forged the Rings of Power and they were given to the leaders of Elves, Men and Dwarves. But unknown to them, Sauron had secretly forged a master Ring in the fires of the volcano Mount Doom in Mordor. This "One Ring to rule them all" had the power to dominate the other Rings and enslave their wearers to Sauron's will. But the Rings of Power were extremely potent, and to accomplish his goal Sauron was forced to place the greater part of his native power into it. This was therefore risky. Anyone of sufficiently strong will who possessed the One had available to him much of Sauron's own power to dominate, and should the Ring ever be destroyed he would be so reduced and forever incapacitated.
When Sauron put on the One Ring and tried to dominate the Elves they became aware of him and removed their rings. Sauron responded with military force, initiating the War of the Elves and Sauron and conquering much of the land west of Anduin. This was the beginning of the Dark Years. He laid waste to Eregion and seized the Seven and the Nine of the Great Rings previously forged with his assistance. However, the Three Rings, which the Elven smith Celebrimbor had forged himself without Sauron's help, were saved and remained in the hands of the Elves. With the elves near incapacitated, Sauron proceeded to besiege Imladris, battle with Moria and Lorien, and push further into the realm of Gil-Galad.
In this time Sauron became known as the Dark Lord of Mordor. He raised Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, not far from Mount Doom and constructed the Black Gate of Mordor. The Seven and the Nine he distributed to lords of the Dwarves and Men respectively. Dwarves proved too resilient to corrupt, but the Men became enslaved to Sauron as the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), his most feared servants. Sauron regained control over all the creatures—both on the earth and under it—that had served Morgoth in the First Age and still existed in the Second Age (such as the Orcs, Trolls and many other beings). Sauron also gained power over most of the Men who lived in the east and the south, becoming a god-king unto them. As a result, towards the end of the Second Age Sauron assumed the titles of Lord of the Earth and King of Men.
This offended the Númenóreans, the powerful Men descended from the Three Houses of the Edain, who lived on the island of Númenor in the sea between Middle-earth and Valinor. The proud Númenóreans came to Middle-earth with great force of arms, and Sauron's forces fled. Realizing he could not defeat the Númenóreans with military strength, Sauron allowed himself to be taken as a hostage to Númenor by King Ar-Pharazôn. There, he quickly grew from captive to adviser; he converted most of the Númenóreans to the worship of Morgoth, and raised a great temple. Finally, he convinced the king to rebel against the Valar and attack Valinor itself. Eru ("The One"; God in Tolkien’s legendarium) then directly intervened: Númenor was drowned under the sea, and the great navy of Númenor was destroyed. Sauron's body was destroyed along with the island, and he fled back to Mordor where he assumed a new form and began to re-amass his forces. But he was unable ever again to take on the fair shapes under which he had deceived the Elves and seduced the Númenóreans, and from then on he could only rule through terror and force.
The few faithful Númenóreans were saved from the flood, and they founded the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor amongst the numerous Númenórean colonists and the natives of north-western Middle-earth. Led by Elendil and his sons, these then forged the Last Alliance of Elves and Men with the Elven-king Gil-galad, to fight Sauron. The Alliance won a great victory on the plain of Dagorlad and invaded Mordor, laying siege to Barad-dûr for seven years. Elendil's younger son Anárion was killed by a stone cast from Barad-dûr before Sauron was forced to emerge from his tower and engage in single combat. He was overcome by Gil-galad and Elendil, although he slew them both, and Elendil's sword Narsil broke beneath him when he fell. Elendil's surviving older son Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand with the hilt-shard of Narsil. With the loss of his Ring Sauron was vanquished, and his spirit fled into hiding. Thus ended the Second Age.
Elrond the herald of Gil-galad urged Isildur to destroy the Ring by casting it into the fires where it was forged, but he refused and kept it for his own. A couple of years later, Isildur's party was ambushed by a band of Orcs on the way to Rivendell and overwhelmed. He put on the Ring and attempted to escape by swimming across Anduin, but the Ring slipped from his finger and he was spotted and killed by Orc-archers. The Ring remained lost beneath the water for more than two and a half thousand years.
Third Age
In the Third Age, in the period of The Hobbit, Sauron rose yet again, at first in a stronghold called Dol Guldur, the Hill of Sorcery, in southern Mirkwood. Sauron manipulated the Witchking's destruction of Arnor and the invasions of Gondor for most of the Age. In Mirkwood he was known as the Necromancer, but the Elves did not recognize him at first. Gandalf the Wizard stole into Dol Guldur and discovered the truth; eventually the White Council of Wizards and Elves combined to put forth their might and Sauron was driven out of Mirkwood.
Now only able to assume the appearance of a dark, fearsome lord, Sauron's power had recovered to the point that he was able to extend his will over Middle-earth. The Eye of Sauron, as his attention and force of will was perceived and which became his main heraldic device, became a symbol of oppression and fear. Following his expulsion from Mirkwood, from which he only pretended to be forced, Sauron returned to Mordor which he fortified and raised Barad-dûr anew. In preparation for a final war against Men and Elves he bred immense armies of Orcs, augmenting them with Men from the east and south whom he had deceived into his service.
At the beginning of the period covered by The Lord of the Rings, the wizard Gandalf discovered that the Ring had been found. He went for advice to Saruman the White, leader of the wizards' council, but discovered that Saruman had been seduced by Sauron through his use of the palantÃr in his possession, and that Saruman also secretly planned to gain the Ring for himself. Gandalf was held captive for some time, but eventually managed to escape with the help of the giant eagle Gwaihir.
Meanwhile, following the capture and torture of the former Ring-bearer Gollum, Sauron learned that the One Ring has been found by a Hobbit named "Baggins". Sauron sent the Ringwraiths to the Shire, Bilbo's home, only to find that both Bilbo and his nephew, Frodo, had gone.
At the behest of Gandalf, and unknown to Sauron, Frodo and his friends set out to take the Ring to the elven stronghold at Rivendell. There the half-elf Elrond convened a high council of the peoples of Middle-earth to discuss the crisis and decide on a course of action. The council determined that the Ring must be destroyed, and Frodo and Sam joined the Fellowship of the Ring, accepting the council's mission to destroy the Ring forever by casting it into the fires of Mount Doom, in the heart of Mordor.
Pretending to act on behalf of Sauron, Saruman raised a vast army of his own and invaded Rohan, but thanks to the intervention of Gandalf and the giant tree-people of Fangorn, the Ents, Saruman's armies were routed and his stronghold at Isengard was overthrown; soon after, his power was broken by Gandalf.
During Saruman's confrontation with Gandalf, the palantÃr of Orthanc fell into the hands of the Fellowship. Aragorn, the heir of Isildur and rightful owner of the palantÃr, was able to exploit it to create a ruse which he hoped would distract Sauron long enough to allow Frodo to reach Mount Doom and destroy the Ring. Sauron was led to believe that Aragorn had (or would soon have) the Ring. Sauron therefore attacked sooner than he had planned by sending an army commanded by his strongest servant, the fearsome Witch-king of Angmar, to overthrow Minas Tirith. (See Battle of the Pelennor Fields.)
Although the Witch-king and his army were destroyed, the forces of the West were greatly weakened and Sauron still had sufficient armies in reserve to make his military victory certain. He was outwitted, however, by the strategy of Gandalf, who urged the captains of the West to march on the gates of Mordor in another action to divert the Dark Lord's attention long enough to allow Frodo to finally reach Mount Doom.
The battle was joined and was going very poorly for the West as Frodo reached his goal, but he failed at the last. Unable to resist the power of the Ring at the place of its forging, he put it on his finger and claimed it for his own. At that moment Sauron discerned the truth and turned his gaze to Mount Doom, sending his Ringwraiths to capture the Ring. The attempt was futile. Gollum attacked Frodo and bit the Ring from his finger, but as he gloated over it he lost his footing and fell with it into the fire.
At the Ring's unmaking Sauron's power was immediately broken and his corporeal form in Middle-earth was destroyed. His departing spirit towered above Mordor like a black cloud, but was blown away by a powerful wind from the West. Barad-dûr crumbled and Sauron was permanently crippled, unable to ever take shape or effective action again. However, in the Silmarillion it is said that Sauron will return for the Final Battle when Morgoth, the original Dark Lord, frees himself from the Void.
