Sauron is an eye

[Yazad]

Hiya everyone!

This is probably another old topic and probably more suitable in the books section, but it's really been bugging me with the Jackson film so I figured this is a good place for it.

What's the deal with Sauron being a disembodied eye? It has always been my interpretation that Sauron has a body, and I don't really think that that's disputable, is it?

At one point Frodo says to Gollum something like Isildur cut the finger from his hand. And Gollum replies "Yes, there are only 4 fingers on the black hand, but they are enough."

I think it's very cool that Sauron has to sustain physical disabilities which he suffered in an previous incarnation.

Anyway, Jackson & Co. are going all out saying that Sauron is nothing more than a single propane generated eye. I always liked the image of the eye as a symbol of Sauron (though I prefer the image of a dead eye (glazed, yellow as a cat's) rimmed with fire), but not as the entire physical form of Sauron.

What's the deal with that?

Yazad

[Khamûl]

I don't think that they mean that Sauron is only an eye. The way I see it (maybe it's just the books making me think this) is that Sauron has a physical form in Barad-Dûr. The eye is just his far-seeing manifestation.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Sauron could never take fair form again. Evidently his form became man like and somewhat larger than man size. His skin appeared black and burning hot.

[Diaxion]

well think of it this way if Saurun is just an eye than how would he have put the ring on?:eek:

[LuthienTinuviel]

SGH, i'd like to know more about that bit of the story, what part of what book is that in?

[Millane]

i always assumed ( cant remember if i saw it somewhere or in that case where it was sorry) that sauron was like a spirit in the darkness of mirkwood before he returned to barad dur and there he sits in his tower and sees all, all the while unable to assume a physical form.
i think what PJ was meaning was that all they need for the film is the Eye because they only had that little bit at the start of Fellowship with sauron in physical form, sort of like he said with treebeard they just had a huge talking head on set with Pippin and Merry, treebeard isnt really just a huge mechanical head...

[Sween]

sauron defintally has a physical form by the time of lord of the rings what use is the ring if he hasnt got a finger to put it on.

This was probably just an oversight by the producers

[Lefty Scaevola]

I expect that if disembodied, Sauron could have use a metaphysical 'finger' to use the ring. Just regaining would have greatly incresed his strenth, including to assume/change phsycical form.

[Diaxion]

Than again maybe PJ used the eye because it would be easier for the audiance to understand and it would make the movie able to flow better because the book flows because it is alowed to because there is no limit on pages but a movie has a limit and that is the time that the audiance can stand and the ability of people whou didn't read the book to understand it while staying true so that the people who read the book won't get mad

[cassiopeia]

When I was reading the book, I didn't picture Sauron as some guy walking around in a tower giving orders, but more of a malevolent presence. Perhaps that was what PJ was trying to get across to the audience.

[Arathorn]

I think that if Sauron is represented by a large burning eye and he was ever able to retrieve the One Ring, it would try to conform to him as it did with other ringbearers.

In Sauron's case, the One Ring will turn into one gigantic burning contact lens. :D

[Curunír]

In the early writings of Tolkien, he said that Sauron was a... CAT! :D
I found it in the book of lost tales I, foreword.

[Millane]

i think that at the top of Barad dur and in the fellowship when gandalf went to grab the ring in Bag End PJ had to put the eye there it would be hard to display in the movie that the carachters felt that he was watching them... like when frodo was on the seat at Amon Hen and he was searching and he felt the eye on him...
sauron a cat eh? well thats an idea i had never ever thought of

[Arathorn]

Hmmm...Sauron the cat searching for his collarbell of power:
One collarbell to rule them all
One collarbell to find them
One collarbell to bring them all
and in the litterbox bind them... :eek:

[Blackboar]

LOL:D

[Earniel]

Originally posted by CurunÃ*r
In the early writings of Tolkien, he said that Sauron was a... CAT! :D
I found it in the book of lost tales I, foreword.

I think this refered to Tevildo, the prince of cats who in the earlier writings and in the Book of Lost Tales was sort of Morgoth's righthand. Tevildo was dropped and Sauron came in the picture but I never actually thought about them being the same character.

Originally posted by Arathorn
Hmmm...Sauron the cat searching for his collarbell of power:
One collarbell to rule them all
One collarbell to find them
One collarbell to bring them all
and in the litterbox bind them...

Neh, neh, neh, good one! I believe Tevildo had a special collar too. :)

To get back on topic, I never really got the impression from the movie that Sauron was only a gigantic flaming eye, just that he kept an eye (yes, I know, bad pun :rolleyes: ) on his enemies and slaves through it.

[Elf Girl]

Sauron took the form of a man more than human stature, but not gigantic.

The Letters, No. 246

[Curunír]

Originally posted by Eärniel
I think this refered to Tevildo, the prince of cats who in the earlier writings and in the Book of Lost Tales was sort of Morgoth's righthand. Tevildo was dropped and Sauron came in the picture but I never actually thought about them being the same character.

I found it here:
"In The Book Of Lost Tales the princes of the Noldor have scarcely emerged, nor the Grey-elves of Beleriand; Beren is an Elf, not a Man, and his captor, the ultimate precursor of Sauron in that rôle, is a monstrous cat inhabited by a fiend ...

Book of Lost Tales I, foreword.
:o

[Earniel]

Hey, I wasn't saying I didn't believe you. :) But I guess I worded it wrong.

[SamwiseGamgeeOTS]

but, why only depict him as only an eye..and not the body too?:confused:

[TinuvielChild]

Originally posted by LuthienTinuviel
SGH, i'd like to know more about that bit of the story, what part of what book is that in?

I think it's in the Silmarillion. Go check it out. Maybe that's Morgoth I'm thinking of...

[Sister Golden Hair]

I believe you are right TC. I can't recall. It is either the Sil, the appen. to LotRs, or in Morgoth's Ring. Can't remember which.

[samwiselvr2008]

Wow, I geuss that this is a lesson to us all (or at least me), never trust anything writen about The Lord of the Rings unless it was writen by Tolkien himself. I always new that I shouldn't trust articles on the internet, but I recall reading in a published book about The Lord of the Rings, that Sauron was indeed an eye, the book was writen after the movie came out, but it wasn't based at all on the movie (well, I only read part of it, I mostly just look at the pictures, that were even illistrated by Alan Lee, and the book is still off???). I'll go and get it so that I can quote it, it's downstairs in my other room (yes, this dose make me sound rich and snoby, but I have two rooms- I sorda took over my brother's room when he moved out, so I have two rooms, my sister has one, my mom has one, and my brother has a bunk bed in a big building at Boot Camp:) ). I'll tell you exsacly what it says then, and who the auther was, ect.!

[gimli7410]

where did the ring wraiths live before sauron came back did they live in mordor??:confused:

[gimli7410]

sorry my last post should be in the books section..sorry about that