The Power Of The Unseen: Depicting Sauron In Art

Twitter, as most are aware, can be the most exasperating of social media platforms, awash with people shouting into the void of political partisanship. And yet, Elon Musk’s platform can sometimes throw up little bits of light in Twitter’s corners. Fun, geek-friendly communities covering topics like anime, Star Wars, comics, and other areas of fandom exist in little bubbles, cocooning themselves away from the hot-button issues that characterize the rest of the platform. And one of the best of those communities is “Tolkien Twitter”, dedicated to sharing their love and wisdom on the works of the Lord of the Rings Author. Art plays a role in Tolkien Twitter, too, with all kinds of interpretations of his works. Some do it for fun, other users sell their works through partner platforms like Etsy.

One of the most interesting figures within this Tolkien art is, of course, the protagonist of Tolkien’s books – Sauron. There are several reasons for this, but the fact that we don’t know what Sauron looks like is the most compelling one. In the Lord of the Rings, Sauron never appeared, was never described (physically), and never spoke. He is the unseen villain, with the reader having a blank canvas to imagine him. For many, this is what makes him one of the best monsters in literature. We know what Count Dracula looks like because Bram Stoker described him. We know what Thanos looks like. We know what the Night King in Game of Thrones looks like. All worthy villains, but Sauron is all the more menacing and omnipotent because we don’t know. Of course, we have the Peter Jackson depiction (and we will get to that a bit later), but there is nothing from the source material.*

*Yes. Tolkien touched (lightly) on Sauron’s appearance in The Silmarillion and other works. But Sauron of the Third Age is wholly different

A blank canvas for artists

Leaving Sauron open to interpretation is, therefore, a gift for artists. They can draw upon exterior symbols and themes – the Great Eye, the Black Hand, or Barad-dûr, for example – and they can draw upon different versions of Sauron, including The Necromancer. The point, as such, is that this single character gives artists an opportunity to create unique variations. Is Sauron formless, or does he have a body? Can we see his face? Perhaps he is beautiful and cruel? Maybe he is misshapen? Can you think of any character from literature that is so open to interpretation?

A word, then, on Peter Jackson’s Sauron. In our view, it was a triumph for the art department and the team at Weta Workshop. Sauron’s appearance in the Prologue of the Fellowship of the Ring had to hit the mark, and it did. While it was a contentious choice to show Sauron on screen, the character was still wrapped in an air of mystery due to his armor and mask. We still didn’t know what was behind that mask. Jackson’s Sauron has become the dominant version, even influencing artworks in other non-Lord of the Rings media. To give you an example, check out the artwork of Dark King: Forbidden Riches from NetEnt, which features on this list of best slot games for June 2023. The Dark King character is clearly influenced by Jackson’s version of Sauron.

Moving away from Jackson

Of course, it is possible that future iterations of Sauron on screen allow us to move away from Jackson’s version. This does happen in cinema. For instance, there is a big difference between Tim Curry’s IT (1990) and the version depicted by Bill Skarsgard, and some will now think of the latter as the ‘right’ version. And yet, as we have explained, Sauron is much more malleable for artists. They may take inspiration from future series of The Rings of Power, and we should note that there are expected to be new movies after an agreement was reached by Warner Bros. It’s not clear whether Sauron will appear in the War of the Rohirrim (2024), a highly-anticipated animated LOTR film. Nonetheless, there will be plenty of interpretations on screen to inspire artists and perhaps veer them in new directions from the “Jackson Standard”.

Regardless of what happens on screen, artists will continue to interpret Sauron: The Enemy, Gorthaur the Cruel, The Dark Lord, Mairon, The Necromancer, Annatar, The Lord of Gifts – he goes by many names. We do not need to reiterate that he is one of the most fascinating characters in literature because he lives in our minds. He is a gift for artists, a blank canvas for interpretation of the sinister, of the omnipotent evil that haunts us.