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Originally Posted by The 1,000 Reader
Yes, Sauron is really just an idiot with power and too many names. A session with Silmarillion and UT reveals this, though not directly. I know Tolkien wanted good to win, but I also get the feeling that he was trying to say that evil was dumb.
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This 'problem' is just down to
The Hobbit being written way before Sauron was thought up. In TH, Thrain is just captured by 'the Necromancer' - an evil figure that's left in the dark. We aren't told what the Necromancer wants or even what he is - he's just a far off villain that Gandalf goes to confront. We don't know if he has any interest in Erebor or Smaug.
The problem comes when Sauron becomes the Necromancer - because we knopw his objectives, suddenly he seems stupid for letting such an opportunity slip through his fingers. Perhaps it just would have been better if Tolkien had Sauron in Mordor all along and the Necromancer as a separate villain.