After Sauron was vanquished it took him a great deal longer to rebuild but eventually he did:
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After the battle with Gilgalad and Elendil Sauron took a long while to re-build, longer than he had done after the downfall of Numenore (I suppose because each building-up used up some of the inherent energy of the spirit, which might be called the "will" or the effective link between the indestructible mind and being and the realization of its imagination).~letter 200 -pg 260
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that rebuilding resulted in the form described here:
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Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic. In his earlier incarnation[ie numenor] he was able to veil his power (as Gandalf did) and could appear as a commanding figure of great strength of body and supremely royal demeanor and countenance. ~letter 246-pg 332
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The eye was symbolic he never actually took that form. Sauron was as much an eye as Sarumn was a white hand(though the analogy is not perfect it does, i think, communicate most effectively me point).
[ June 21, 2002: Message edited by: Fingolfin of the Noldor ]