The two main villains of The Lord of the Rings are often compared, but Sauron emerges victorious for a few reasons, with a significant advantage. Morgoth is Lord of the Rings' original villain, described in detail in The Silmarillion. Casual Lord of the Rings fans may not be aware of him, as he does not appear in the franchise's titular novel or film trilogy. But his importance cannot be underestimated – he was the one who corrupted Sauron in the first place. Meanwhile, Sauron is the eponymous villain of The Lord of the Rings and its best-known antagonist.
Sauron appeared as a terrible Dark Lord in the prologue of Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring film. From then on, the character hooked the viewer, although he was probably already the greatest villain in literature before that. Top Videos The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power released in 2022 to critical acclaim, with Sauron's role in the show continually developing. Through it all, Sauron proved how he became the best villain in the world. The Lord of the Rings and broader fantasy in general, even against the titanic Morgoth.
Morgoth is the strongest Lord of the Rings villain, but Sauron is more interesting
Sauron is a better villain than Morgoth
Morgoth may have been stronger than Sauron while they were both in Arda, but Sauron is a more complete villain as far as the story is concerned. Not to mention that Sauron was more powerful at the end of Lord of the Rings' Second Age Morgoth was at the end of his reign of terror. It's important to point out that Sauron existed in Morgoth's shadow, at least initially. Sauron was good for many years, then had to forge his own path under Morgoth. This made for an intriguing journey and motives that go beyond Morgoth's nihilistic evil.
Morgoth was cast into the void after his defeat in the War of Wrath, which was so cataclysmic that it ended the First Age and began the Second. “Sauron was effectively “greater” in the Second Age than Morgoth at the end of the First,” according to one of Tolkien's letters, proving that Sauron could have defeated Morgoth in the Second Age if Morgoth had been around. However, It's Sauron's overriding influence and depth that makes him the best villainwith enough bizarre sides to his character to keep readers and viewers debating for years.
Sauron's motives in LotR make him more compelling than his former master
Sauron has marginally more relatable motives than Morgoth
While it remains an interesting question whether Sauron or Morgoth was stronger, Sauron's complex psychology makes him the more versatile villain. Morgoth is intriguing because he operates from hatred and destruction, which is difficult to compare to most human psychology. Murderers and those who commit aggression sometimes come from an attempt to destroy what they cannot possess. But Morgoth's semi-divine intelligence and power elevated his dominance and destructiveness to a cosmic scale. About that, Sauron is a little more relatable.
No one was bad in the beginning Lord of the Ringsor even, in JRR Tolkien's Catholic worldview. Galadriel pointed this out in the first lines of Rings of Power. Sauron was “starting with righteous reasons,” as Tolkien commented in a letter. Morgoth's desire to create life was innocent enough at first, but it belied the desire to contradict the will of the One Eru Ilúvatar. Sauron's righteous motives were to order useless attrition in Ardaand he wanted to cure him after the War of Wrath. This identifiable core of good within him, becoming more and more distorted, makes him compelling.
Sauron benefits from JRR Tolkien's focus on his reign
Sauron is the main villain of the Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings the villain Sauron is given a prominent place in JRR Tolkien's Legendary, so he becomes the superior character overall. Morgoth appears in The Silmarillion and its surrounding textsoften appearing in The History of Middle Earth. This 12-volume series is comprised of Tolkien's essays, stories, and drafts from across the era and helps explain the editorial choices Christopher Tolkien made to The Silmarillionwhich his father entrusted him to edit and publish. But Sauron also appears in these texts, although he has a leading role in the LOTR itself.
Sauron's threat, kingdom, scope, and power are given a lot of definition in these novels, while also maintaining an air of mystery.
Tolkien retroactively fitted Sauron into his first published work on Middle-earth, The Hobbitalso. Tolkien did not originally intend the Necromancer to be Sauron, but edited The Hobbit to fit it into the larger story. This move placed Sauron at the center of all of Tolkien's most detailed tales. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are written like comprehensive novels, unlike The Silmarillion and The History of Middle Earth. Sauron's threat, kingdom, scope, and power are given a lot of definition in these novels, while also maintaining an air of mystery. This helps make Sauron the main villain of Middle-earth.
While Sauron is covered in Tolkien's best-known works to a much greater extent than Morgothwhich is only mentioned in the appendices of Lord of the RingsIt also gets a surprising number of layers throughout the Legendarium. The vengeful, cruel, and sadistic torturer of the novel was also remorseful and wasting away in shame and fear of his various persecutors, including Morgoth. A perfectionist to the end, this mysterious and neurotic villain is the best of The Lord of the Rings and will continue to be fascinating in adaptations like The Rings of Power years in the future.