Sauron Wins...Then What?

[Belegorn]

There is no way Sauron could take his fight to Aman and hope to succeed. The Númenórean host his armies could not stand against barely set foot on Aman before they were dealt with. Only Melkor at the peak of his powers could hope to accomplish such a thing, as once upon a time he competed with them all.

Had Sauron reclaimed the One the Elves would be between a rock and a hard place because all their work with the Three would be laid bare. The West is Elven-home. All other species would still be there. Unfortunately for Men, the Dúnedain are few and are not much of a threat as they were in the 2nd Age. Not only that, Sauron has Dúnedain in his armies. They did not just breed out ruling over lesser men as the sons and grandsons of Castamir did.

Some people might give up, other might not. Guerilla warfare would perhaps ensue sort of like the Rangers of the North did with Orcs and other threats to Eriador. I also am not sure if Galadriel would turn tail. She seems to be the one to have been there to fight to long fight against Sauron and I'd think she'd be there.

[cellurdur]

Sauron would rule Middle Earth for thousands of years. There would probably be some resistance and eventually someone heroic enough would be either inspire men or do something amazing enough by him or herself to defeat Sauron. The key to this is that Eru would not allow Sauron to win forever. As Frodo says evil cannot conquer forever. Sadly this could literally mean thousands upon thousands of years with Sauron as a dictator.

Sauron did not need to gain the ring to win the war. His armies were too grand for anyone to stand up against him. At first Gandalf and the Wise did not realise just how strong Sauron had become until Denethor revealed what he had seen in the Palantir.

[Alfirin]

While I have no doubt that many of the Free peoples would try to go guerilla for a while, I'm not quite so sure they would "eventually" succeed. Sauron would just be too overpowered for me to believe that, given enough time (and he is technically immortal) a re-powered Sauron would not eventually squash down ALL non divine resistance. His Nazgul would be more terrifying than ever (and their ability to basically cause men's hearts to fail would probably be turned up to 11). Plus unlike previous times they can now FLY so it will be a LOT harder to evade/escape them.

Galadriel is a similar situation (as it Elrond). However much they are willing to stand their ground, they just wouldn't have the might. If Sauron has the One ring, they don't DARE use thiers, for ANY reason. They could try and hide in the forests and play Guerrilla from there, but I imagine that his time with Saruman in his employ has let Sauron see his methods, and the idea of "cut/burn down the forests where the elves are would probably be on his strategies pretty early. (he'd want the remaning ents dealt with eventually anyway, and no forests basically knocks them out.

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

Gandalf was as powerful. Who knows Valar would intervened directly!

No Gandalf was not as powerful.

Originally Posted by TTT, Bk. 3, ch. 5, p. 123

I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still.

Saruman was "higher in Valinórean stature than the others" and was not stronger than Sauron either. In the text of The Istari it is said that Saruman "was ensnared by that dark spirit, mightier than he."

The Valar used emissaries [the Istari] to deal with the Sauron problem, not to overwhelm the Children of Ilúvatar with their prowess, but to unite them. Basically what Gandalf did. They would be peers of Sauron, Maiar on a lesser level, and "they were forbidden to match his power with power" [RotK, Appendix B].

[Nikkolas]

Tolkien himself also states Olorin and Curumo are of lesser Maiar than Sauron.
http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showpos...11&postcount=1

The only hope they had to match his power was with the One. I don't think anyone except maybe Galadriel could stand up to Sauron. I can't recall exactly but I think i remember her getting a lot of hype in The Silmarillion... Might be misremembering though. She was never a favorite.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Nikkolas

The only hope they had to match his power was with the One. I don't think anyone except maybe Galadriel could stand up to Sauron. I can't recall exactly but I think i remember her getting a lot of hype in The Silmarillion... Might be misremembering though. She was never a favorite.

There is also Letter, #246, in which Tolkien discusses the possibility of someone else besting Sauron in a one-on-one contest for the Ring.

Of the others only Gandalf might be expected to master [Sauron]- being an emissary of the Powers and a creature of the same order, an immortal spirit taking a visible physical form. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', I 381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond. But this is another matter, It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power.

So from that only Gandalf was likely to really have had the power to keep the Ring from Sauron permanently. Keep in mind that even though Sauron's original "stature" as created in the angelic hierarchy was greater than that of the Istari, he had also spent his spirit with the ages-long effort of dominating other wills and commanding his slaves. So Gandalf could indeed have stood a chance against him. And that is without the power of the One, for that power would have been under the ultimate command of the victor between Sauron and the claimant.

[cellurdur]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

There is also Letter, #246, in which Tolkien discusses the possibility of someone else besting Sauron in a one-on-one contest for the Ring.



So from that only Gandalf was likely to really have had the power to keep the Ring from Sauron permanently. Keep in mind that even though Sauron's original "stature" as created in the angelic hierarchy was greater than that of the Istari, he had also spent his spirit with the ages-long effort of dominating other wills and commanding his slaves. So Gandalf could indeed have stood a chance against him. And that is without the power of the One, for that power would have been under the ultimate command of the victor between Sauron and the claimant.

Tolkien was talking about the forces of the West, but I think that we can be confident that Saruman too would have had the strength to vanquish Sauron. Interestingly that out of all the other Elves etc especially Elrond has the best chance of victory.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by cellurdur

Tolkien was talking about the forces of the West, but I think that we can be confident that Saruman too would have had the strength to vanquish Sauron.

Well, Saruman too was guilty of using his innate power as a Maia for domination, though for a far lesser time than Sauron. I think his pride too would have been a handicap ti him. It could be notable that through the palantíri Sauron was victorious over Saruman, giving him commands which were obeyed.