The Lord of the Rings: Sauron vs. Morgoth – which of the Middle Earth villains is more powerful?

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER

September 15, 2024 at 20:06

“The Lord of the Rings” shows Sauron as the ultimate evil. But of course his master Morgoth was the evil boss before him. Which Middle Earth villain is more powerful?

Amazon’s series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is currently in full swing. In the new episodes, Sauron becomes more and more powerful. As the epitome of evil, he seems invincible in Middle Earth, but Tolkien’s works reveal that there is someone who could stand up to him.

Anyone who has seen the “Lord of the Rings” films knows Sauron as the worst enemy of the free peoples of Middle Earth. The villain wants to subjugate elves, humans and dwarves, and in the prologue of “The Fellowship of the Ring” we learn that he almost succeeded if he had not been defeated in the Battle of the Last Alliance.

What only book experts know is that Sauron is not the original villain in Tolkien’s legendarium. His former master and predecessor as Dark Lord is Morgoth, who plunged Middle Earth and all of Arda into darkness in the First Age.

While Sauron is much more well-known in pop culture than Morgoth, and the latter has never appeared in a film or series, Tolkien aficionados know that the question of which of the two Dark Lords is more powerful cannot be answered by popularity. We investigate the question of whether Sauron is more powerful than Morgoth!

Maiar vs. Valar – the fight between Sauron and Morgoth is unfair from the start

Although Sauron is an extremely powerful and intelligent villain who can manipulate elves, men and wizards, he is still inferior to his former master in some ways. This is a question of what kind of beings they both are.

While Sauron is a Maia, Morgoth is a Vala. The difference is this: The Valar were created by Tolkien’s god, Eru Ilúvatar, to shape and rule Arda. The different Valar have different abilities, so one can control the winds of Arda, another the seas.

The Valar even helped Ilúvatar sing Arda into existence. The role in the larger universe that Ilúvatar gave them makes the Valar very powerful and in a way they can be called deities themselves. The Maiar, on the other hand, of which Sauron is one, are subordinate to the Valar.

They were created to support the Valar and often have similar abilities to their masters, which is why there are many parallels between Sauron and Morgoth. Before his fall, Morgoth had the ability to curse his enemies, was the physically strongest Vala and was incredibly tall.

His sheer aura could manipulate those around him. If we consider Tolkien’s parallels to the Bible, a connection could be drawn here to God and the devil, Ilúvatar as a god and Morgoth as a fallen angel in Tolkien’s legendarium.

It is obvious that Sauron has no chance against Morgoth by nature. Nevertheless, thanks to his wealth of cunning, Sauron hid in Middle Earth even after the fall of Morgoth until he had enough power to strike again.

Who ruled Middle Earth longer, Sauron or Morgoth?

• Morgoth: Reign from the Age Before Days and First Age: ca. 15,500 years
• Sauron: Reign in the Second and Third Ages: ca. 3,500 years

One difference between Sauron and Morgoth is that Sauron sought to rule over Middle Earth, while Morgoth simply sought to bring destruction to Arda. However, it is probably safe to say that Morgoth’s reign of terror and unrest lasted much longer than Sauron’s.

Morgoth already existed in the Age Before Days, which began before the First Age and the creation of the moon and sun. The time reckoning was different, but converted to our time, Morgoth’s persistent destructive rage comes only in the Age Before Days for at least 15,000 years.

In the First Age, the war against Morgoth really begins because he creates the Orcs. Morgoth is brought to trial by the Valar and banished to the Halls of Mandos in the west of Valinor for three centuries of the Valian calendar.

After serving his sentence, Morgoth is released and initially seduces a group of Elves, the Noldor, and causes discord. Eventually, Morgoth flees Valinor and strikes back together with the giant spider Ungoliant. All of this still takes place before the creation of the sun and moon.

After the creation of the sun, Morgoth wreaks havoc for another 590 years before Eru Ilúvatar steps in and banishes Morgoth into the void once and for all. In total, this means that the reign of terror lasts at least 15,500 years. Sauron has little to counter this.

It was not until around 1000 years into the Second Age that he began to build his fortress Barad-dur, and 500 years later he seduced the elves to forge the Rings of Power. It was a gradual process in which Sauron gradually attempted to take control of Middle Earth.

If we take the construction of his fortress as a starting point, we arrive at a reign of 2,500 years in the Second Age, during which Sauron was also imprisoned by the Númenóreans. After his defeat in the Battle of the Last Alliance (seen in the prologue of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”), it takes another 500 years before Sauron begins to gather his armies again.

If we count this as the starting point of his new reign, which is admittedly a generous interpretation, since Saruman speaks of peace in “The Hobbit” even 60 years before “The Lord of the Rings”, we would arrive at 1,000 years in the Third Age, which would give Sauron a total reign of 3,500 years, or just over a fifth of Morgoth’s reign of terror.

Did Sauron have the larger army or Morgoth?

Both Middle Earth villains have enormous armies. In terms of numbers, Sauron’s army during the “Lord of the Rings” films is around 825,000 strong, consisting of Orcs, Uruk-Hai, Haradrim, Easterlings, Oliphants, Cave Trolls, Nazgul and Fellbeasts (the winged mounts of the Nazgul). In “The Hobbit” he has gathered around 375,000 minions in Dol Guldur.

Sauron’s army reached its peak at the end of the Second Age in the Battle of the Last Alliance, where he had an army that exceeded 1.2 million in number (via Stack Exchange).

Since Morgoth’s army was never seen in a movie and only briefly at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, it is difficult to estimate how large his army was. Tolkien himself does not give any numbers in his works, but it is safe to assume that Morgoth’s army during the War of Wrath was significantly larger than Sauron’s at its peak.

If Eru Ilúvatar had not intervened to stop Morgoth, he would have won the battle against the Elves and gained control of Middle Earth. In addition to the Orcs and Trolls, Morgoth also had Balrogs and Dragons in his army, powerful beings that not even Sauron had in his army.

It is unlikely that we will see Morgoth in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” as the Dark Lord has already been banished by the time the series begins. With luck, there will be flashbacks. There are currently new episodes of “The Rings of Power” every week!