72 - Sauron

Ring study. And by the way, we just finished up with the Fellowship, and so if you want to join with us for the Two Towers and the Return of the King, then head over to patreon dot com slash Mythic Mind and become a Tier three patron and you can find that link in the show notes. Each of these weeks includes a short video that explores some aspect of law or philosophy and a longer video that serves as a companion for the reading, and we also have

weekly live meetings. Well, today I'm going to provide you with one of the short lessons, and this takes a look at Saluron's background in motivations and you can also watch this as a video by clicking the YouTube link in the show notes, and be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. As I'm currently building up that platform with some fresh content, but for now onto the show.

Many casual fans of Tolkien assume that Suran is the greatest villain in tolkien story, but that title actually goes to his former master, Morgoth, although, aside from brief references, more God does not appear in The Lord of the Rings. However, understanding a bit about this original villain will shed some light on the nature of evil in the character of Suran. Before he was known as Morgoth, which means something like

dark enemy, he was Melchor. The Vala. The Valor are the angelic like figures that were created to serve the good designs of Eru a Lubatar, the monotheistic god of Tolkien's mythos. The original form of the material world was framed through the singing of the Valar, or perhaps the einor more broadly, who harmonize in recognition of Alluvatar's goodness. In their recognition of divine honor, beauty abounded, and all things flourished around the goodness the truth in the beauty

of Eru Alluvatar. However, Melcor was not content with his station, and instead decided to introduce his own themes into the song, attempting to bend the music toward himself rather than toward a louvatar. Thus, the first disharmony in the story, the first Evil is explicitly portrayed as an attempt to seize divine honor. From that point forward, Melcor, later named Morgoth by the Elves, would continue to so disharmony in suffering

throughout the otherwise good world. Sauron, or Myron, as he was originally named, belongs to a class of beings that Tolkien calls the Mayar, which are something like lesser angels that serve the Valar. The Mayar include count other superhuman characters, including wizards such as Gandolf and Saramon, and even the balrogs, the most famous of which pulled Gandalf off the bridge of Kazadum. Along with other creative beings. Sauron was originally good,

and he served Alay, the valor most concerned with craftsmanship. This, of course, will be important when it comes time for Suron to do some crafting of his own. Early in this prehistory, Sauron was seduced into the service of Morgoth

and became one of his chief lieutenants. Despite this cosmic rebellion, he was not wholly without virtue, As Tolkien tells us that in all the deeds of Melchor and Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works, and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part, and was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another, and not himself. Serving the villainous Morgoth was not a great move, but Sauron was at least willing to humble himself beneath something,

and that is better than nothing. Service always has the potential to be re ordered, but rejecting service altogether leaves you with nothing but isolation and out of harmony with the great dance of the cosmos. Furthermore, Sauron had a desire for order, which continued even after the defeat of Morgoth. Service and order are good things, but as with all good things, they become bad things when they are removed from the proper context. Without an understanding as to what

makes order good. Such a desire, even if well intended, can easily turn into tyranny that at best mimics true peace. The First Age of Middle Earth came to a close when Elves men and even the Valor assembled to defeat Morgoth and cast him into the void. Saaran escaped the fate of his master, and for a time he appeared

to be repentant, that the very least out of fear. However, he was too ashamed to turn himself over for judgment, and so instead he slipped back into the rebellion of his former master by isolating himself from the goodness that could have secured his redemption. Desiring freedom, he rejected the very means of gaining freedom to live in harmony with his design, which is another way of saying that he refused the hard path of virtue. Taking up Morgoth's mantle.

Sauron would become the great villain from this point until the conclusion of the Lord of the Rings. During the Second Age, Sauron was moved by the desolation of the world that had taken place in the Great War against Morgoth. So his desire for order again moved him to action, as he developed a plan to bring Middle Earth into

harmony with himself at the center. Disguising himself as the good natured Anotar, the Lord of Gifts, he worked with the Elve to create and distribute great rings of power that he would distribute to people of significance throughout Middle Earth. These rings had various effects on those who wore them. The three rings for the elves provided the power to preserve nature. The seven rings for the dwarf stoked their desire for wealth. The nine rings for men provided power

and visibility and a version of immortality. The one ring for Souron was meant to control all the other. Now is worth noting that Sauran as the ring lord is surely based on the old Germanic tradition of lords giving rings their nobles as a means of securing their loyalty. By uniting the great forces of the world within his will, Sauron believed that he could finally bring order and healing to the fractured Middle Earth. Fortunately, things did not go

quite as he planned. When Sauran forged his ruling ring, the elves felt his presence and hid their own rings. At the end of the Second Age, a host of elves and men allied in a calm desire to purge Middle Earth of his counterfeit order by meeting Sauron in battle with great sacrifice, including of Alendel Ankle Galad, the free peoples gained victory as a sill door cut the ring bearing finger from Sauran's hand and brought it back

as a trophy for his people. With this artifact of power removed, Sauron was defeated, but his will still whispered through the ring. The silver story will be told another time, But of course he did not choose to destroy the ring, which allowed Saron's evil to continue brooding until it again haunted Middle Earth in a more tangible form in the Third Age. But with his defeat and the loss of his ring by the hand of a sil door, Saron was reduced to the shadow that he had in fact

already been for quite some time. By abandoning virtue in the broader context of reality beyond himself, he lost something of his personhood. He was reduced to an obscured image of what he was meant to be, an agent of glory that reflected divine honour above him. Augustine states this well in his City of God, by aiming at more, a man is diminished when he elects to be self sufficient and defects from the one who is really sufficient

for him. This, then, is the original evil man. Regards himself as his own light, and turns away from that light which would make man himself a light if he has set his heart on it. This evil came first in secret, and the result was the other evil which was committed in the opening. In his secret evil, Saron turned away from the light of God that gives life to the soul, and, desiring to be his own life,

he became a mere shadow, alongside Morgat before him. With the loss of his ring, Sauron's inner reality was exposed. Throughout the story of the Lord of the Rings, the once great and powerful Sauron is reduced to a whisper. By nature, he was greater than any of his would be servants, but by consequence of his lust for self sufficiency,

he became nearly nothing. He has an influence, he plots, and he wages war, but he does not make a physical appearance in the third age, at the very least in the actual narrative of the story, even if there are rumors that such an appearance was beginning to take place. The shadow may have been growing, but it could only ever become but so strong as long as it attempted to hold on to its own strength. Real strength comes through the humble path of virtue that surrenders power only

to receive it anew in the right way. This is something that Sauron can no longer understand, and this is something that would bring his final doom as lowly hobbits of the shire escape the vision of his great eye. Thank you for listening, and thank you to all my patrons, and by name, I would like to thank all Tier three patrons and higher and so many thanks to Mark by Aaron, Jamie, Mariah, Paul Tyler, Ann William And if you would like to support my work, you can go

to patreon dot com slash Mythicmind. Any amount of support helps, but be sure to sign on at Tier three if you would like to join the Lord of the Ring study. But that's it for now, until next time, God speak on the co The poll is an