Chapter 14 - The Identity of the Necromancer
Rivendell, TA 2851
Sauron Gorthaur
The entire White Council assembled to learn what Gandalf saw inside Dol Guldur.
"I saw Sauron Gorthaur." Gandalf said.
There was a murmur around the table, and the hiss of indrawn breath. Saruman was shaken for a moment, but then he remembered, Gandalf was the only one of them who remained convinced the Necromancer was Sauron, even in the face of convincing evidence that it was a Nazgûl.
"How do you know it was Sauron?" said Saruman.
"He was about eight feet away when we made eye contact. I think we recognized each other in the same instant." said Gandalf.
"If it was Sauron, you'd have sensed his presence. But you didn't. You didn't recognize him until you saw him." said Saruman.
"I did sense his presence, but I mistook him for Eönwë." said Gandalf.
There was a snort, and then everyone around the table started laughing. Sauron and Eönwë were as different as light and darkness. Saruman didn't laugh, though. He couldn't tell Sauron and Eönwë apart by their presence either, and he knew them better than Gandalf did.
"What makes you think he recognized you?" asked Saruman.
"When I started running, he screamed my name, Olórin. Not Gandalf or Mithrandir or any of the other names I use in Arda. The name he would have called me in Valinor." said Gandalf.
Everyone around the table started talking at once. So now they knew. The Necromancer was Sauron, after all.
Back From The Dead
Saruman leaned back in his chair. There was a roaring in his ears and he thought he might faint. He drew a few deep breaths to steady himself.
His brother apprentice, presumed dead, grieved for and gotten over, had been found alive. Saruman should feel relief, but he didn't. He felt something like fear, quickly turning to rage. He felt threatened, like he might cease to exist. He was afraid he would die, not from being killed but from neglect.
When Sauron was gone, things started going well for Saruman. He became Aulë's most senior Maia. Aulë began to pay attention to him. Then he was chosen to lead the Istari, and was named Head of the White Council.
For the first time in his life, he felt important. He felt like he mattered. But with Sauron back in the picture, Saruman would lose all the attention he was getting when it shifted back to the renegade Maia. Unless he did something dramatic to put it back on himself.
I will find the Ring, and the White Council will call me a hero.
Where Is The Ring
Saruman reviewed what he knew about the Ring.
Isildur had it when he left Gondor. He carried it in a gold case on a chain around his neck. He couldn't touch it because it burned him, but he liked to keep it on his person.
He and his two older sons were going home to Arnor to rejoin his wife and youngest son after the War of the Last Alliance. He made the trip with a group of men-at-arms, even though the journey wasn't thought to be dangerous. They should have reached Arnor in forty days, but they never got there. Both the heirlooms he carried, his crown and the Ring, were lost with him.
Falling Into The Wrong Hands
The more Saruman thought about the Ring, the more he became anxious about it falling into the wrong hands. Any minor chieftain or warlord who found the Ring could quickly become a major tyrant.
If someone had found it and used it, it would extend their life and give them great power. But they knew of no warlord who wielded unusual power and measured his age in centuries. That kind of thing attracts attention. Since they hadn't heard anything, Saruman was sure the Ring was still lost.
The White Council would have to find the Ring, he decided. And once they did, they'd have to lock it up safely, to prevent anyone else from using it.
Saruman suggested the Ring should go into the vaults in Minas Tirith, and never come out again. Galadriel thought Imladris would be a good choice. Elrond thought Lindon would be better, because a ship could carry the Ring from the Grey Havens to the Uttermost West where Sauron couldn't follow.
"I don't question that the Ring could be locked up in any of those places, I just wonder how long it would stay locked up." said Gandalf.
"Sauron had never breached any of those strongholds." said Saruman.
"I'm not talking about Sauron. I'm talking about resisting temptation." said Gandalf.
I Will Find It
Of course, before they locked it up, they had to find it. And now that he knew Sauron was in Dol Guldur, close to the Gladden Fields, he felt under tremendous pressure to find it before Sauron did.
Something was bothering him. Sauron has lived near the Gladden Fields for almost four hundred years, but hadn't begun to search them. Couldn't he sense its presence? Why didn't he call to it and make it show itself?
And when it does show itself, I'm the one who's going to find it, Saruman thought.
We Must Attack Dol Guldur
Gandalf addressed the group. "We need to attack Dol Guldur and drive Sauron out. Immediately."
Voices around the table were raised in agreement.
Saruman rose to speak. "Remember our mission. We are forbidden to engage Sauron directly."
"But he's asking about the Ring, and Isildur's heir." said Gandalf.
"He's just asking. He doesn't even know the Ring was lost in the Gladden Fields." said Saruman.
"Besides, if we drove him out of Dol Guldur, he'd just go to Minas Morgul. He'd be closer to Gondor than he is now." said Elrond. "What's more, the Ithil Stone is in Minas Morgul. You're worried about encountering a Nazgûl in the Ithil Stone? From now on, Sauron's the one you'll face."
"It would be better if Sauron stays where he is." Radagast said.
Smoke Rings
On the way out, Gandalf pulled Saruman aside.
"We are forbidden to engage Sauron directly?" he said, exasperated.
"You heard Manwë. We're not to meet power with power, we're to advise and encourage." Saruman replied.
"But this is an emergency!" Gandalf was furious. "The Ring was lost in the Gladden Fields. Sauron is nearby. His presence will encourage the Ring to show itself. It wants to be found."
"But Sauron doesn't know it's there. He's not looking for it." said Saruman.
But I am. And if I'm going to find it, it's absolutely necessary that Sauron stay right where he is, thought Saruman.
Gandalf gave him a look that Saruman couldn't read. He blew a large smoke ring, then a number of smaller ones following it. He stretched out his arm and closed his hand around them. They fell apart and vanished.[1]
[1] J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales. The Hunt for the Ring.