Could Sauron have resisted against Ar-Pharazon?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

A question for the better memories: does it say anywhere that Sauron actually tried his hardest to win that battle with Pharazon? Did he even expect to defeat Numenor on the battlefield? Or was his plan to get behind the scenes all along, if not in the guise of friend then in the guise of prisoner? I do recall that he was secretly very happy that Pharazon took him to Numenor.

According to the Akallabêth, when Sauron saw Ar-Pharazôn's army, he immediately concluded he had no chance of militarily defeating him. It was only then that Sauron conceived the plot to use his guile to achieve Númenor's end.

I would suspect, too, that Sauron's defeat by the forces sent by Tar-Minastir earlier in the Age fed his sense of hopelessness. After all, Pharazôn's army was much larger.