Sauron

"[...] and Sauron escaped from the Great Battle, and dwelt in dark places and perverted Men to his dreadful allegiance and his foul worship." ― Lay of Leithian, Canto VII

Sauron, originally Mairon, was the great subversive Maia who became the most trusted lieutenant of Morgoth and eventually the rebirth of evil, inheriting his old master's mantle as Dark Lord over most forces of Darkness and striving to turn Middle-earth and even Númenor into his dominions through guileful trickery or through his overwhelming legions.

Conquering much of Middle-earth, Sauron soon arose as the virtual uncontested Lord of the World, which earned him the envy and ire of King Tar-kalion of Númenor. Using his cunning wits, the Maia was able to ensnare his apparent rival and make himself into his hidden master in time, using him as a puppet to rule the inhabitants of the island, much to the dread of the faithful who found themselves persecuted by the blasphemous cult and oppressive policies the Enemy had engineered.

After the Downfall of Númenor, Sauron returned to Middle-earth where he amassed his massive armies once more, contriving to cow all those who stood in his way by strength of arms. Only the Last Alliance of Elves and Men united by High-Kings Gil-galad and Elendil dared oppose his tyranny and against all hope they prevailed and Sauron was thrown down. Bereft of his bodily shape, much of his power spent and his servants temporarily, the Dark Lord fled into the Iron Forest to slowly recover his forces.

Other names
In the earliest phase of the legendarium the character's first prototype is called Tû or Túvo, while the subsequent form for his proper forerunner is the Gnomish Thû - these names stem from the root THUS- ("stench, evil mist, darkness"); variations of Thû also appear such as Gorthû or the related Gorsodh - reworked into the Sindarin Gorthaur ("Terrible Dread") in the published works - which contained gor meaning "horror, dread", and Morthû, which contained mor meaning "black, dark". These later evolved into the Qenyan Sûr or Súro and eventually into the final Quenyan Sauron. His name in Adûnaic was given as Zigûr ("Wizard"). It appears that he was originally called the Quenyan Mairon ("Admirable") and his minions he would refer to himself as Tar-mairon, which contained tar meaning "king".

Among his many titles and epithets were:


 * The Dark Lord
 * The Dark Power
 * The Lord of Werewolves
 * The Lord of the World
 * The King of Kings
 * The King
 * The Enemy
 * The Shadow
 * The Necromancer

Appearances

 * The History of Middle-earth series
 * The Book of Lost Tales Part One
 * The Book of Lost Tales Part Two
 * The Lays of Beleriand
 * The Lost Road and Other Writings
 * Sauron Defeated
 * Morgoth's Ring
 * The War of the Jewels
 * The Peoples of Middle-earth
 * The Nature of Middle-earth
 * The Great Tales
 * Beren and Lúthien
 * The Fall of Gondolin