[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

That's interesting, however, I still think that Sauron was just evil and extremely sadistic. He was also influenced by Melkor, so that's part of it. And, I'm sure Sauron just liked power. Or maybe his daddy didn't give him hugs when he was little, and decided to hug the mailman instead (I'm waiting fot LePetitChoux or doug*platypus to pick up on this one). But seriously, I really think that there is no reason behind it at all. YOu need an antagonist. You need a villian and a conflict. It's a neccessary part of creating a novel. Tolkien just threw him in to be the 'bad guy'. I'm sure there are other reasons, but this is the simplest and most logical.

[ February 28, 2003: Message edited by: MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie ]