Sauron: The Lord of the Rings Needs a More Nuanced Big Bad!
The Lord of the Rings' Next Chapter: A Chance to Reimagine Sauron
The Lord of the Rings universe is expanding like crazy, bringing those epic Middle-earth tales to new audiences! This massive expansion means there are great chances for deepening the lore—especially surrounding those characters! And there’s a massive, almost criminal under-use, for a supremely important character that could drastically reshape the direction of new storytelling; a creative choice to reshape that incredibly important iconic villain. Sauron could easily get reimagined.
Warner Bros. Discovery is releasing several new LOTR films – the animated The War of the Rohirrim (late 2024), The Hunt for Gollum (2026), plus a new live-action film, and all this adds immense opportunities for a new generation of movie-going audiences; many more opportunities for this incredibly creative effort! All these present amazing chances to develop those complex character arcs. Especially concerning those who haven't yet appeared sufficiently well or completely lacked detail–specifically the extremely iconic antagonist known to everyone who's familiar with Lord of the Rings! This iconic villain has barely received development, but could easily be reworked, and create even more memorable impact on audiences.
Peter Jackson's Sauron: The Giant Eye and Missing Depth
Peter Jackson's LOTR movies largely sidestepped Sauron's physicality and personality. He's mostly represented as that all-seeing flaming eye. The Hobbit movies showed a shadowy Necromancer which became that armored version later in Jackson's trilogy. He admits that emphasizing the “eye” severely limited Sauron's involvement in those specific plots! And there was very little complexity – only ambition, hatred and that massive desire to conquer and destroy!
That choice to create an extremely visually oriented way to convey Sauron’s power wasn’t actually bad; showing that lack of wholeness during his quest to fully gain control through his regaining of his One Ring! This worked well. Tolkien’s books made Sauron's presence largely abstract. This visually represented the villain's true state at that exact point! And Jackson was very smart about it, realizing the importance behind his creative design choice; showing that lack of completeness in very creative ways! However, a simple, visually-emphasized approach prevented more complexity!
A New Sauron: What Tolkien REALLY Intended!
Warner Bros. has the chance to give Sauron a massive reimagining, closer to Tolkien's vision! Tolkien actually gave only some vague details—his writings include a variety of additional information. The fact that Sauron's true nature as one of the Ainur (capable of many forms) provides amazing opportunity for developing plots in completely unanticipated and unexpected ways, not found elsewhere!
Tolkien's letters even specify certain details! He mentions a physically imposing yet non-gigantic humanoid shape, making this far more unique. And don’t forget Gollum's reference ("Sauron has only four on his Black Hand"); making a powerful detail concerning that severely wounded, older Sauron! Showing he bore scars and wounds. This implies physical reality within Sauron's presence. His monstrous forms (werewolf, serpent, vampire) demonstrate the range which Tolkien has always implicitly emphasized!
And let's be clear: that Eye? Symbolic! Tolkien writes the descriptions like "Eye of Mordor," “Window of the Eye,” etc.; referencing the symbol of Sauron, but showing an abstract image of something watching! In the Third Age, that visual imagery actually becomes his primary icon, demonstrating those deeper symbolic and abstract undercurrents which would never really translate correctly and would often result in an entirely new image; demonstrating that creative writing involves both creativity but is tied closely to how these details actually translate through artistic and other artistic means; emphasizing just how tricky transferring that idea into artistic expression could be. And those complexities have largely gone undeveloped.
Amazon’s Rings of Power: The First Successful Physical Sauron
Amazon's Rings of Power showed just how interesting Sauron can truly be! He’s fully realized through multiple forms– Halbrand, Annatar, etc., as noted by numerous sources who commented on those key plot elements; making Sauron's actions as he changed forms into that darker version through time. Even getting “killed,” he still remains that amorphous black mass!
That Rings of Power take also revisits the visual representation, as this article points out from Adar's speech (“Sauron’s eye bores a hole while the rest of him slithers in.”) That's a very potent way of showcasing Sauron's ability to manipulate – not some brute force but that terrifying cunning and intelligence.
(Note: Rings of Power’s most successful scenes concerning those reveals and plot points regarding Sauron—Episodes S1.E6, S2.E7 and S1.E8 received overwhelmingly good reception as pointed out by IMDB’s reviews.)
Future Lord of the Rings Films: Where Might Sauron Appear?
Sauron's involvement in The War of the Rohirrim is possible—it’s about the war between the Rohirrim and Dunlendings (those involved later with Saruman and his army against Sauron). Even though Sauron's active presence is somewhat unclear and unspecified from that particular timeline during this period in time; this period involved multiple political decisions; that lack of complete specification concerning those events remains significant. There is plenty of opportunity.
The Hunt for Gollum is another big possibility! It revolves around that moment where Gandalf sends Aragorn to find Gollum – who later enters Mordor, is captured and tortured, giving an amazing moment where Sauron himself is seen! This directly creates several additional plot and narrative development elements.
Conclusion: Reimagine Sauron for a New Era of Lord of the Rings!
Jackson's Sauron was iconic—yet limited and lacking that crucial depth needed. That is really something missing that greatly impacts the viewers. It is absolutely fixable and already partially solved. The future LOTR movies should totally show this incredibly compelling antagonist: someone manipulative and possessing cunning – not merely a big-eye symbol representing nothing else but brute force. This would make the whole series something new – giving something entirely missing previously – and adding incredibly detailed new complexity, and bringing many audience members to once again re-evaluate their experience!
