Let's talk about Sauron.
I like Lord of the Rings. I read and enjoyed the books (quite some time ago, mind you), the movies are good, all that stuff. But I've heard this argument a couple of times that just ticks me off. The argument here is that Sauron is in fact the good guy.
I don't know how far spread this theory is. Cracked used it as #1 in their 9 Famous Movie Villains Who Were Right All Along. The other time I heard it was from from some douchebag (pardon my language) who probably got it from Cracked himself. Now, I'm not hating on Cracked here. I like Cracked, and the rest of the list is actually pretty right on, particularly in regards to the hyenas from The Lion King. But this one is just stupid. Now again, I have to give them some credit, they were using the movies, which REALLY don't focus on Sauron and all the shit he gets up to. But to do an article on a story with as much background as Lord of the Rings and not use any of it? Really?. I'm researching this as I go, so perhaps I'll even change my mind by the end of this. Still, let's take a look.
The name Sauron is apparently derived from Thauron, his original name, which itself comes from the elvish word thaur, 'abominable'. Strike one. I know that some cultures DO give unpleasant names to children for various reasons (Mongolians sometimes do this to mislead evil spirits, according to Wikipedia), but seeing as Sauron was basically an angel I see no reason for this.
Now let's see what he actually did. He began as one of the Maia, who then began working for Morgoth, who wanted, as far as I can tell, to destroy the world because he was Jealous. Later, Sauron became known as Gorthaur the The Cruel, which just sounds like such a nice guy. After Morgoth was defeated, Sauron pleaded for mercy but didn't want to stand trial. He fled, possibly to South America. (HAHA GET IT?)
So then after hiding for a while, he comes out and starts building his army of orcs and trolls and "corrupting the hearts of Men with delusions of power and wealth". Then he disguised himself as "Annatar, Lord of Gifts" (free candy, anyone?) and advised the elves on crafts and art. The Elves made the Rings of Power and Sauron made the One Ring, sneakily attempting to control the other rings and enslave the Elves. When this did not work, he started a war. He might have beaten the Elves but for the intervention of the Numenoreans, who took him captive back to Numenor and, stupidly, started taking his advice. To this end they built a giant temple for Sauron to practice human sacrifice in. Eventually he convinced them that (forgive my use of non-Tolkienian terminology) an invasion of heaven was a great idea, and Numenor got Atlantis'd. Back in Mordor, he could no longer assume a 'fair' shape and "ruled now through terror and force".
Now we're getting closer to where the story picks up. Sauron holed up in his tower in Mirkwood, calling himself the Necromancer. He had some scraps with the White Council, and ultimately fled back to Mordor, also capturing Thorin Oakenshield's fater Thrain at some point and leaving him in the dungeons of Dol Goldur to die years later, senile and sick. Sauron told his BFF Saruman to build an army to take out Rohan, because they might get in the way of his conquest of Gondor the Elves. We all know the story from there.
What else? He apparently gave off a palpable aura of malevolence and hatred, and had a Cthulhu-like ability to drive all but the strongest minds to madness by his mere presence.
And the thing about his argument that bothers me the most is people's insistence on describing Sauron as some kind of civil rights activist, a Professor X to those mean old Elves, Men, and Dwarves' Rev. Stryker. They allege that because Sauron's army contains multiple species and races, as opposed to, say, Gondor's army of Gondorians, everyone else is a racist f*ck and Sauron was right to challenge them, to free the orcs, trolls, Southrons, and others from Oppression. The problem I have with this is that most of Sauron's armies were in fact slaves. Yes folks, those orcs, by one origin thought up by Tolkien, were once elves who were tortured and mutilated until they became the miserable, hate-filled monsters you guys are defending. You want to see a heroic orc? Look at any given elf. What's more, this is apparently the story used by the movies. Another idea Tolkien came up with is that some Orcish leaders were fallen Maiar, like Sauron. Still evil. Yet another theory he came up with is that orcs were humanoid animals, powered by his will. Not so great for them, kind of like mistreated attack dogs. The trolls were much the same, being to Ents what orcs were to Elves. The Haradrim and Easterlings seem to have been willing servants, at least on some level, although as both these peoples had their own kingdoms, it isn't really fitting to describe them as "racial minorities" being "oppressed" by Gondor and Rohan. It's also implied, as I recall, that the Haradrim were tricked or threatened into their alliance with Sauron. The Corsairs of Umbar were descended from the Numenoreans, who were all buddy-buddy with Sauron anyway. Honestly, I don't even think racism comes into it. The Gondorians sent their army of Gondorians to fight with Elves and Rohirrim, and the Haradrim sent their army of Haradrim to fight with the Easterlings and Orcs. Both sides were composed of multiple armies of multiple races.
Cracked also makes claims that Elves use Orcs for target practice. If they can back up this claim, I with give them a nice shiny quarter. Furthermore, they question what it means to belong to the "Free Peoples" of Middle-earth, when every country is a monarchy. Well, guys, democracy isn't the only definition of freedom- in this case, for example, I believe they are referring to the freedom to not be enslaved by Sauron, whose goal, as stated on the LOTR Wiki, was " to dominate the minds and wills of its creatures, as well as establish himself as the ruler of Arda...". OF COURSE!
This is your hero, ladies and gentlemen, have fun.
All info came from my memory and the Lord of the Rings Wiki.
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