Sympathy for the Devil?

[Annunfuiniel]

Originally Posted by alatar

And so why should we have any sympathy for its Maker, as many many mere mortals are in the proximity of the Ring and yet resist its temptations? Sauron *chose* to do this thing.

I think Sauron chose many things, beginning with the forging of the rings and then going on with his war even after the Ring was lost and especially after it was found again. But after the One Ring was made I doubt he had the ability to resist its temptations. For it was an essential (even indispensable) part of his very being:

"And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring; for the power of the Elven-rings was very great, and that which should govern them must be a thing of surpassing potency;" (Silmarillion: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age)

And from the Letters: "if the One Ring was actually unmade, annihilated, then its power would be dissolved, Sauron's own being would be diminished to vanishing point, and he would be reduced to a shadow, a mere memory of malicious will."

He could of course, as witnessed, "live" without his ring but I'd imagine it as something equal to having your right hand amputated. Or rather – both hands and legs. And he undoubtedly experienced the phantom limbs –phenomenon, in its extreme: the most vital part of his being (not his physical body; this has been discussed earlier) was no longer there, yet he could definitely feel it and one can only imagine how it must have "itched" and "burned"... Maybe it wasn't pain as we mortals experience it but then again, maybe it was something "more", beyond our comprehension and endurance. Can't explain this very well...

Yet, to set the record straight, I have no empathy for Sauron. He caused such irreparable damage and suffering that it would be near impossible to forgive him even had he chosen to repent. I'm loth to deliver death penalties (as I'm quite unable to give life to those that die but deserve to live...); had things gone otherwise and Sauron had lived despite the destruction of the ring I'd rather that he had been imprisoned and would suffer until the Last Battle. Or better yet: he should have been sentenced to community service to try and amend some of his evildoings (there would have been a loooot to do in the Brown Lands, for example).