Sauron

[Legolas]

If any of this loses you, please go to the Encyclopedia of Arda.

It's a good resource and can answer many basic questions about Middle-earth. You can look up any of the terms below in it if they are unfamiliar to you.

Sauron is what is known as Maiar...or used to be, before he turned evil. Nonetheless, he is not a human, elf, dwarf, warg, orc, troll, or ent. He is an Ainu, an immortal spirit that existed before the world of Arda (that Middle-earth exists in).

From The Silmarillion,

With the Valar came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree. These are the Maiar, the people of the Valar, and their servants and helpers. Their number is not known to the Elves, and few have names in any of the tongues of the Children of Ilúvatar; for though it is otherwise in Aman, in Middle-earth the Maiar have seldom appeared in form visible to Elves and Men.

The beings known as the Ainur existed before Ea (Ea = creation, the universe, etc.). When he spoke it into existence, he allowed those that were more interested to enter. There ARE other Ainur that exist outside of Ea though. The greatest of these that entered Arda were the Valar, and their servants were the Maiar. The Ainur that exist outside of Ea are not classified as Valar or Maiar...they just simply members of the Ainur race. In HoME 10 (Morgoth's Ring), it is noted that "the Maiar" was originally written as "the beautiful." Put simply, they are the servants of the Valar. Each Maiar is associated with a specific Vala(r).

From Tolkien's Letter No. 20, on the nature of Ainur (the Valar and Maiar):

Those who became most involved in this work of An, as it was in the first instance, became so engrossed with it, that when the Creator made it real (that is, gave it the secondary reality, subordinate to his own, which we call primary reality, and so in that hierarchy on the same plane with themselves) they desired to enter into it, from the beginning of its 'realization'.
They were allowed to do so, and the great among them became the equivalent of the 'gods' of traditional mythologies; but a condition was that they would remain 'in it' until the Story was finished. They were thus in the world, but not of a kind whose essential nature is to be physically incarnate. They were self-incarnated, if they wished; but their incarnate forms were more analogous to our clothes than to our bodies, except that they were more than are clothes the expression of their desires, moods, wills and functions.

"Valar" and "Maiar" aren't races such as elves and dwarves, but designated titles that, in meaning, describe the role of the beings they include. As stated earlier, the Maiar are 'the servants of the Valar' and the Valar are 'the powers (of Arda)'...that is what makes them different from the other Ainur (those that exist outside of Ea).

The 14 Valar are Manwe, Mandos, Varda, Nessa, Vana, Tulkas, Irmo, Ulmo, Orome, Aule, Yavanna, Vaire, and Este.

Maiar that Tolkien told us about:

Ilmare, Eonwe, Osse, Uinen, Melian, Olorin (Gandalf/Mithrandir), Sauron (Gorthaur the Cruel), Salmar, Arien, Tilion, Curunir (Curumo/Saruman), Radagast, Alatar, Pallando, and "the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror."

Sauron was a Maia of Aule, but Morgoth, the first Dark Lord who was originally a Vala himself, corrupted him. Sauron was his second-in-command until Morgoth was thrown into the void.

If you're asking what he looked like, he could actually change appearance. In The Silmarillion, he takes the form of a wolf in one instance, but most of the time, he looks like a man.

One thing you might not know is that the wizards, too, were Maiar...not humans. That's why Gandalf was able to come back. The spirits of the wizards were sent in the form of old men to help Middle-earth battle Sauron. Gandalf's mission was not complete when his physical body gave out after the fight with the balrog, so the Valar sent him back to Middle-earth. (He was obviously the only one that stuck to the mission.)

[ October 28, 2002: Message edited by: Legalos ]