N.E. Brigand wrote:Good catch, and interesting interpretation. Or perhaps Tolkien simply overlooked Sauron's history when writing the several "PHAN" entries (I don't think he's mentioned there).
I suppose that is possible; certainly the PHAN entries go way off afield from anything related to LOTR. However, it is a work that is supposed to be about Words, Phrases and Passages in LOTR, and it is hard for me to believe that the main enemy of that work would be so completely out of Tolkien's mind.
Moreover, there are other indications of Sauron's independence scattered throughout the later Silmarillion (and related) material. He is, of course, the only one of Melkor's servants who is specified to have come of the people of another Vala, Aulë. There is a further statement that was included in the later Quenta version of the chapter "Of the Ruin of Beleriand" in which it states that Sauron "dwelt among the people of the Valar" before Morgoth drew him to evil, but that statement is omitted from the published
Silmarillion. The statement at the end of
the Valaquenta that Sauron "was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself" implies a degree of equality beyond that would normally be expected between a master and a servant. He managed to escape Melkor's fate when the first dark lord was first captured and chained. More telling is the description of his actions at the time of Morgoth's overthrow in the War of Wrath in
Of the Rings of Power:
Sauron put on his fair hue again and did obeisance to Eonwë, the herald of Manwë, and abjured all his evil deeds. And some hold that this was not at first first falsely done, but that Sauron it truth repented, if only out of fear, being dismayed by the fall of Morgoth and the great wrath of the Lords of the West.
This certainly implies a level of independence far beyond that of a spirit bound to Melkor's will.
But most telling of all are the "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion" printed in the "Myths Transformed" section of
Morgoth's Ring. There is, of course, the well-known statement at the beginning of that work that "Sauron was 'greater', effectively, in the Second Age than Morgoth was at the first age" and there are several other comments to the effect that Sauron was in some ways "wiser than Melkor/Morgoth". But the most interesting comment of all is that Sauron "probably knew more of the 'Music' than did Melkor." This certainly raises Sauron to a much higher level than I had previously considered.
I wonder if the Elvish sensory response to evil that Tolkien describes here --darkness and stink-- are connected to the Elves' response to the Black Speech in "The Council of Elrond": they "stopped their ears".
That's an excellent point!
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
