Sauron the Deceiver, Gorthor the Cruel, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur or Mairon the Admirable, a name not used for Ages. The names have been many for the dark lord. Now he was called the Eye. Probably related to the fact that he had taken the form of a flaming eye at the top of his fortress of Barad-dûr. His choices of forms became more and more reduced over time.
There was a time when he could turn into anything: Wolf, bat, horse. He had tested almost everything. But getting destroyed multiple times had somewhat curtailed his transformation choices. But he didn't worry too much. Soon he would recover his Ring and be able to return to his physical form. Then he could scratch that itch in the back of his eye. It had been going on for three hundred years and now he was fed up. Last he heard, the halfling had reached Imladris with Glorfi-Arwen! Arwen! Yes with Elrond's daughter. He didn't like this elf. Besides, if you asked him he would tell you that he doesn't like anyone. But he didn't like this particular elf more than the others.
Why ? Simple. He was wearing one of his elven rings. It wasn't even for him to begin with. Celebrimbor had given two to Gil-galad and the third to Galadriel. She he liked her even less. She had no respect. She dared to break into his fortress. Crumbled his favorite torturer (His name was Jerry) so that even necromancy couldn't bring him back. And kick him out of his own stronghold calling him a 'servant of Morgoth'. What blatant disrespect. Yes he had followed Morgoth in his quest for destruction but he was young at the time, easily influenced.
Mistakes happen to everyone. Some break glasses and others enslave people. What's more normal ? But the elves being what they are remain stuck in their received ideas. For them it was 'once a greedy dwarf, always a greedy dwarf', 'once a corruptible man, always a corruptible man' and finally 'once a servant of Morgoth, always a servant of Morgoth'. If they took even a little time to examine the facts, they would notice that all he wanted was to make this world a place of order and peace.
But he was getting off topic. What was he already talking about? Oh yes ! His Ring. He was on the latest news at Imladris. The Nazguls hadn't been able to catch him because of that damn magic river. It was his fault, he should have allowed them to take their fell beasts, they would have caught him a long time ago. But he wanted to make it a surprise during the war, imagine the picture. Hundreds of mens, elves and dwarves dead on the ground with his beautiful Nazgul on their winged beasts. A wonderful sight. But no matter, he would attack the elven house himself to recover his good, it's not as if they could use it, the strongest of them would be corrupted in less than a week. This war was set like clockwork, every minute was one step closer to his victory. Nothing could surprise him this time.
He then heard a ringing coming from his throne room, he saw the object fly in front of him and looked who was calling him on his Palantir. The most frequent calls came from Saruman or Denethor. The poor steward didn't realize that every time he called, Sauron was taking the opportunity to poison his mind and drive him mad. But all the same Sauron found this favoritism he had for his eldest son to the detriment of his younger one a bit cruel. Even he made sure not to choose among his soldiers, especially the Nazgul. Eru knows some of them are touchy.
But this time it was not Denethor but Saruman. He didn't know what to think of the Maia. For several centuries he had helped the men of Middle-earth then suddenly joined him and offered to take Rohan for him. He would soon launch an attack on Helm's Deep and overthrow the kingdom already defeated by these tricks. Sauron was afraid that Saruman was just another profiteer who would take the first opportunity to overthrow him. It was so hard to find trustworthy evil allies these days.
He answered the call and met the wrinkled face of the Maia. Who thought having the head of an old man to come to Middle-earth was a good idea? He waited for Saruman to speak but saw him hesitate. His interest was piqued and he struck up a conversation wondering what could upset the usually stoic Maia.
" What is it Saruman? Talk and don't waste my time. »He saw the Maia swallow and smiled mentally. Sauron had found the perfect tone to intimidate his opponents and allies. Very serious and we roll the s. Like a snake.
"My lord Sauron, I have received disturbing news to say the least. » He said in an uncertain tone, he was weighing his words to soften the news. Sauron said nothing and waited for him to continue what he did after a few seconds.
"My spies report to me that the Ring left Imladris with an escort of nine companions. »
'Nine? That's all ? They seriously think they can keep the Ring with nine guards?'
" Where are they heading?»
Sauron saw Saruman rocking to his feet as if afraid to say so. Sauron got fed up and pressed him. " Are you going to speak Maia! Where is my property?»
"It… it should be in Mordor soon…"
'Huh? '
" Be more specific. Your words are incoherent.»
"Yeah well...it looks like they've taken eagles as mounts and are heading your way to destroy the Ring in the fire of Orodruin." »
' Seriously ?'
Sauron laughed aloud at the absurdity of the maneuver and Saruman laughed awkwardly with him. " Well let they come! I will greet them with a volley of arrows. »Coming to Mordor on eagles is by far the dumbest tactic he's ever heard of. He just had to pass the order to shoot anything that moved in the sky and he would get his Ring back. He finished laughing and looked at Saruman who still looked anxious for some reason.
" They will never get past my defences, how soon will they arrive?"
Saruman laughed anxiously and looked away muttering his answer.
" I didn't hear your answer Maia. »Saruman swallowed and spoke faster.
"They should be there already..."
This stopped Sauron's laughter dead in his tracks as he stared at Saruman without moving. Then after a good ten seconds the info entered his mind and he shouted at the Maia.
"How come they should already be there?!" The change in tone caught the wizard off guard and he stepped back away from the Palantir. Sauron saw him do this and thought he was hallucinating.
" Saruman! Where do you think you are going? Come back here! Saruman! »But the call ended leaving the dark lord alone above his tower.
He dropped the Palantir directly, and it rolled over and stared frantically into the ashen skies of Mordor. The orcs on the plains of Gorgoroth looked up at the dark tower and watched the great eye turn its pupil in all directions looking for something.
"What do you think he's doing?" asked an orc to his companion Uruk-hai who continued to eat his stew without paying attention.
"Surely dark spells, too advanced for our poor primitive brains. After all he is a smart dark lord, he planned this war from A to Z, some might even say he is paranoid to be so prepared. »
The other orc stared at him blankly for several seconds before pointing his spoon at him accusingly. "You just invented that word. »
"All the words were invented. The Uruk replied intelligently. "But for your information, the paranoid personality is a state of personality functioning that manifests itself in a permanent way by overestimation, distrust, rigidity, false judgment and maladjustment in its environment. When it strengthens, paranoia can evolve into a delusional state called paranoid psychosis, or paranoia, which is structured around an idea of persecution, around the age of 40. Alcohol consumption can promote this development. » After he finished talking he picked up the pot and tipped it over his face to eat as much as he could. The other orc looked at him skeptically before shrugging and doing the same with his bowl. He lowered his meal and noticed several spots in the sky.
"And you who know everything, what is that up there? »
Sauron also noticed the small spots and zoomed in to see several large eagles mounted on riders each of different size.
'Oh shit.' Was all the Dark Lord thought when he saw the winged beasts getting dangerously close to Mount Doom. He shouted for his Nazgul to come and intercept them but realized that none of them were present in Mordor. Several were patrolling the border and others were directly in enemy territory.
Seeing his Ring getting dangerously close to the mountain, Sauron saw no other solution but to deal with it himself. He gathered all the strength in his possession and shot himself like an arrow towards the eagle where he could feel his ring crying out for help.
'Don't worry, dad's here.' He smiled almost on top of the eagle in question when one of the two riders stood up and turned to face him. Tall in stature, gray coat and beard, pointed hat. 'Shit, it's Mithrandir.' Said Mithrandir or more commonly known as Gandalf raised his staff to his right side and waited for the Dark Lord to approach. And when at last he was a few tens of meters from hitting the eagle Gandalf shouted loud and clear:
" You ! Shall not! Pass ! » And when Sauron was within range Gandalf swung his staff and slammed into the spirit of dark Maia who flew up into the clouds. Lightning flashes were seen upon impact and a cry of agony echoed through Mordor as the dark lord was sent out of the bounds of Eä to join his master in nothingness.
Or at least history will tell it so. Truly Sauron's spirit crashed somewhere in the dead marshes and did not witness the destruction of his ring, the source of his power and the last thing keeping him alive.