Sauron's name

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

If Tolkien did have it somewhere in notes, I still wouldn't put much stock in it. Other things in "notes" were to have Bilbo be the main character in LOTR, and for Legolas and Gimli to leave the Fellowship and head home after Boromir's death.

Oh I don't know, if it's not contradicted by anything written later I'm willing to give it the time of day personally. I mean, it's not like trying to say Sauron was also Tevildo the Cat-Lord or something, is it? Or even that his name was Thû.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Oh I don't know, if it's not contradicted by anything written later I'm willing to give it the time of day personally. I mean, it's not like trying to say Sauron was also Tevildo the Cat-Lord or something, is it? Or even that his name was Thû.

Thû for Sauron at least appears in published work as collected by Christopher Tolkien, and I'm unaware that the same could be said for Mairon.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I'm not sure why JRRT notes in Parma should be considered of lesser canonical "rank" than similar notes published by CT, any more than we should disparage the Rateliff, Flieger, and Hammond/Scull publications of his papers.

I would place "Mairon", if I had to, alongside the elf-lord Argon.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I'm not sure why JRRT notes in Parma should be considered of lesser canonical "rank" than similar notes published by CT, any more than we should disparage the Rateliff, Flieger, and Hammond/Scull publications of his papers.

I would place "Mairon", if I had to, alongside the elf-lord Argon.

I guess my main issue is the question of whether The Maia Soon To Be Known As Sauron would have been well-known enough to the Elves before his following of Melkor, to have been given a name meaning "the admirable". It's possible I suppose, since he was originally a follower of Aulë, and the Noldor were close to that Vala. So I guess the answer to the original question of this thread is "maybe".

[gondowe]

Included in the work "Words, phrases and passages", (PE17) a compilation for TLOTR greater than that published once in "A Tolkien Compass".
Under the root SAWA-, disgusting, foul, vile.... (for the name Sauron), the professor ends with the paragraph: " Sauron's original name was Mairon, but this was altered after he was suborned by Melkor. But he continued to call himself Mairon The Admirable, or Tar-mairon (King Excellent) until after the downfall of Numenor."
So in my opinion its absolutely canonical, and really defined as his "extraoficial" real name.

Greetings

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by gondowe

Included in the work "Words, phrases and passages", (PE17) a compilation for TLOTR greater than that published once in "A Tolkien Compass".
Under the root SAWA-, disgusting, foul, vile.... (for the name Sauron), the professor ends with the paragraph: " Sauron's original name was Mairon, but this was altered after he was suborned by Melkor. But he continued to call himself Mairon The Admirable, or Tar-mairon (King Excellent) until after the downfall of Numenor."
So in my opinion its absolutely canonical, and really defined as his "extraoficial" real name.

Well, there it is then.

You know, that brings another question. The Elves named Melkor, "He who arises in might", and Mairon, "The Admirable". Those two were later the prime enemies of Eldar and Edain in Arda. Did elven flattery in the names feed their pride and tip them toward greater evil?