Sauron - Physical form in The War of the Ring or not?

[Morzan29]

Though many here have theorized against the Eye as being Sauron's only physical form, I would like to mention a curious idea that has come to mind. Imagine Sauron as the Necromancer having a wraith-like form in the Hobbit book but afterwards returned to his homeland of Mordor to build his armies and regain his power. I believe fully that the Eye is his shade's form manifested. No matter what Smeagol said of his torture in Mordor, this Eye is the form in which Sauron takes shape since any spirit of his order (like Gandalf) can choose their body. The Eye doesn't bark around orders to every Orc, man, and slave under his control. That would be rediculus. Much like any king or lord, his advisers do the dirty work and speak for him on common errands to his subjects.
This body he has taken is not simply the Eye though. Sauron's mouth (his top human errand boy) is a speaker to his army and even talks to Aragorn on the battlefield since that point is an important moment that the direct speaker for Sauron must be at. Maybe the Mouth is the only thing that speaks telepathically to the Eye inside the Dark Tower. The Eye is Sauron! The Mouth or Sauron speaks, the Eye sees all, and what i find very cool but no one seems to notice is that the nine Ring Wraiths are his NINE remaining fingers...... This common theme of having a body parts being different characters but all a part of the bigger picture is very interesting. Sauron's power, much like any administration, is weaker without followers. The Eye is the mind. The body of administration does the mind's work. If Smeagol was tortured in Mordor by anyone besides orcs, it was the nine wraiths who could be taken as the quote by Smeagol about the Dark Lord's fingers.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Morzan29

Though many here have theorized against the Eye as being Sauron's only physical form, I would like to mention a curious idea that has come to mind. Imagine Sauron as the Necromancer having a wraith-like form in the Hobbit book but afterwards returned to his homeland of Mordor to build his armies and regain his power. I believe fully that the Eye is his shade's form manifested.

An interesting idea, but I just don't think that was the case. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien is a fascinating read. In a draft to Letter #246, Tolkien says of Sauron's form:

Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic.

Why could he not have been indeed in human shape, having one large, red eye, Cyclops-like?

Originally Posted by Morzan29

No matter what Smeagol said of his torture in Mordor, this Eye is the form in which Sauron takes shape since any spirit of his order (like Gandalf) can choose their body. The Eye doesn't bark around orders to every Orc, man, and slave under his control. That would be rediculus. Much like any king or lord, his advisers do the dirty work and speak for him on common errands to his subjects.

While I do agree that Sauron largely used servants to obtain his goals, I think the Eye was merely the symbol chosen by Sauron to represent himself, mainly for his minions.
Aragorn in the books notes that Sauron does not allow his name to be "spelt or spoken" by his servants, and that's in keeping with his desire to be both king and god to them. Having a personal name by which he was known could, in his mind, have detracted from the aura of awe and terror he wished to inspire, Therefore, why not have a fearsome, but impersonal symbol for his troops to regard?

Originally Posted by Morzan29

The Eye is Sauron! The Mouth or Sauron speaks, the Eye sees all, and what i find very cool but no one seems to notice is that the nine Ring Wraiths are his NINE remaining fingers...... This common theme of having a body parts being different characters but all a part of the bigger picture is very interesting. Sauron's power, much like any administration, is weaker without followers. The Eye is the mind. The body of administration does the mind's work. If Smeagol was tortured in Mordor by anyone besides orcs, it was the nine wraiths who could be taken as the quote by Smeagol about the Dark Lord's fingers.

The connection between Sauron's nine fingers and the Nine Nazgûl is interesting, but I think just coincidence. The Nine Rings were obviously made long before Sauron lost his finger, along with his One Ring.
As for the body part analogy, how does that fit with Saruman and his White Hand?

And by the way, welcome to the Downs!

[Zigûr]

Sauron was never an Eye. I think Letter 246 and Gollum's remark put this beyond doubt. From the end of the Second Age onwards, when incarnate, he looked like an unnaturally large man with burning skin and nine fingers. The Eye was his symbol and how his psychic presence was perceived by those who encountered him in or through the unseen world or how its manifestation was interpreted by those who observed his power (see the flash from the summit of Barad-dûr witnessed by Sam in Mordor).

Sauron did not act through agents and emissaries like the Mouth of Sauron and the Nazgûl because he was some giant telepathic eye but rather because there was absolutely no need for him to ever put himself into personal danger by confronting his enemies directly. His (staged) abandonment of Dol Guldur is testament to this. By the Third Age it had become a time consuming and demanding process for Sauron to become incarnate: he had had to do so quickly after his old body was lost in Númenor, and now he had to do so again.

The Ainur could become incarnate however they pleased (Yavanna as a tree, for instance) but I don't think it at any stage behooved Sauron's interests to become incarnate as an isolated body part - he could not have worn his own ring had he recovered it, for starters. We know that he could no longer assume a fair and pleasing form; is it possible that, like Morgoth before him, his 'Dark Lord' body was now the only form he could take?

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

The Ainur could become incarnate however they pleased (Yavanna as a tree, for instance) but I don't think it at any stage behooved Sauron's interests to become incarnate as an isolated body part - he could not have worn his own ring had he recovered it, for starters.

Indeed. The texts you cite make this quite clear. See also the sketch by J. R. R. Tolkien of Sauron at http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/File:...n_-_Sauron.jpg .

See also Gollum’s description in The Two Towers where Gollum says, “He has only four [fingers] on the Black Hand, but they are enough.”

In the films Saruman tells Gandalf that Sauron isn’t yet able to “take physical form,” but that is an invention by the film writers.

[Nerwen]

Welcome to the Downs, Morzan!

–Now, about your idea: the thing is, you can’t justify a whole elaborate theory simply by referring back to your own belief in it. Yes, you can think what you like, and you can share your thoughts with us, and all that– but if you’re going to put them forward for serious consideration, as you seem to be, then I’m afraid you have to come up with actual supporting evidence.

(But please don’t think I’m picking on you– what I’ve just said is pretty much “Nerwen’s Standard Lecture to Newbies”.)

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

The Eye was his symbol and how his psychic presence was perceived by those who encountered him in or through the unseen world or how its manifestation was interpreted by those who observed his power (see the flash from the summit of Barad-dûr witnessed by Sam in Mordor).

In line with that, I note that Frodo, as a Ring-bearer who had worn the Ring, seemed to have a special propensity to perceive the Eye. He saw it in the Mirror of Galadriel, and "felt" it while wearing the Ring on Amon Hen. Even earlier than that, while at Rivendell, it seems there was a psychic connection between Frodo and Sauron, via the Ring. Something as innocuous as looking at the night sky apparently put the Eye into his thoughts.

But low in the South one star shone red. Every night, as the Moon waned again, it shone brighter and brighter. Frodo could see it from his window, deep in the heavens, burning like a watchful eye that glared above the trees on the brink of the valley.

FOTR The Ring Goes South

[Nerwen]

Something I forgot to say earlier–

Originally Posted by Morzan

If Smeagol was tortured in Mordor by anyone besides orcs, it was the nine wraiths who could be taken as the quote by Smeagol about the Dark Lord's fingers.

Morzan, apart from the obvious point that there are nine Ringwraiths, not four (not to mention the quote being from perhaps the least likely character to speak in such complex, obscure metaphors) here’s what he's actually talking about:

"...Oh yes, [said Gollum] there were many tales about the Tower of the Moon."

“That would be Minas Ithil that Isildur the son of Elendil built,” said Frodo. “It was Isildur who cut off the finger of the Enemy.”

“Yes, He has only four on the Black Hand, but they are enough,” said Gollum, shuddering. “And He hated Isildur’s city."

–The Black Gate is Closed.
As you see, I don’t think it can be reasonably claimed that’s anything but a concrete description.

That’s basically the problem with that whole side of the argument: it rests on assuming total literalism in some cases and the reverse in others, without ever looking at the context.