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Originally Posted by denethorthefirst
He can't change or damage the geography like his master, he simply is not powerful enough. All the damage that he could inflict would be localized, superficial and relatively temporary (polluted rivers, destroyed forests and the like, maybe attempted genocide).
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Well, Glorfindel did remark that "Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills," so he could probably damage Middle-earth to a reasonable degree, but I think the issue isn't the damage to the landscape but rather the large numbers of Men the Valar would risk having to slay were they to invade Middle-earth. They weren't willing to do it to the Nśmenóreans. It's true to say that Morgoth had a fair number of Men in his army during the War of Wrath but it seems to be that the population Sauron could draw upon (and indeed would have to given that he didn't have dragons and the like) would be enormous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by denethorthefirst
I guess that the morale of his troops would not be very high (at least after the first crushing defeat)
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It probably depends whether Sauron had recovered the Ring or not. If he had he might have been able to drive his armies to the limit. It's worth noting that the "flight" of his armies at Umbar in the Second Age was deliberate: Sauron wanted to be captured. So presumably he could have made his armies fight the Nśmenóreans had he so desired (although they seemingly would have lost).