Q: Could Weakened Ainur Regain Their Former Strength?
ANSWER: Received the following comment and question:
I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of Ainur such as Sauron and Melkor becoming weaker because they have used their innate power to exert control over the world. I am not sure though how accurate that description is.
My question is, would there be ways for either of them to regain that power? Did Tolkien ever describe something like stealing the power of others as is common in a lot of fantasy? Would their power be returned to them simply because it is no longer stuck in Middle-Earth? With the destruction of the Ring, Sauron probably didn’t regain any of the power he invested in it…it just evaporated?
It’s very difficult for anyone other than J.R.R. Tolkien to explain what he had in mind. We can only read his private thoughts and extrapolate in terms we ourselves understand what he appeared to have in mind. I’ve engaged in many discussions with fans about the way Tolkien described the weakening of the Ainur, and there are different perspectives. No one’s in a position to clarify Tolkien’s words definitively.
Tolkien described three ways Ainur could become diminished in strength (or power):
- They could be slain while physically (self-)incarnated
- They could imbue other (living) things with their own native strength
- They could store their strength in an external object and then be separated from it
Melkor, Sauron, and Saruman were the only examples Tolkien provided of Ainur who were diminished in all three ways. Of these three, he only held that Melkor (might) one day recover enough of his strength to reconstitute himself. From the essay “Notes on Motives in The Silmarillion“, we learn the following things:
* “…To gain domination over Arda, Morgoth had let most of his being pass into the physical constituents of the Earth – hence all things that were born on Earth and lived on and by it, beasts or plants or incarnate spirits, were liable to be ‘stained’. Morgoth at the time of the War of the Jewels had become permanently ‘incarnate’: for this reason he was afraid, and waged the war almost entirely by means of devices, or of subordinates and dominated creatures…”
* “…Sauron, however, inherited the ‘corruption’ of Arda, and only spent his (much more limited) power on the Rings; for it was the creatures of earth, in their minds and wills, that he desired to dominate…”
* “…Morgoth was thus actually made captive in physical form,(9) and in that form taken as a mere criminal to Aman and delivered to Namo Mandos as judge – and executioner. He was judged, and eventually taken out of the Blessed Realm and executed: that is killed like one of the Incarnates. It was then made plain … that, though he had ‘disseminated’ his power (his evil and possessive and rebellious will) far and wide into the matter of Arda, he had lost direct control of this, and all that ‘he’, as a surviving remnant of integral being, retained as ‘himself’ and under control was the terribly shrunken and reduced spirit that inhabited his selfimposed (but now beloved) body. When that body was destroyed he was weak and utterly ‘houseless’, and for that time at a loss and ‘unanchored’ as it were…”
Tolkien described this houseless state almost tangentially in many notes and letters (Cf. “Did Sauron Die When the One Ring was Destroyed?”). He stated clearly and specifically more than once that Gandalf (and Sauron and other Ainur/Maiar) experienced physical death. That is, death for the self-incarnated is the same as death for all rational incarnates (including us). The spirit survives but the body perishes.
In “Notes on Motives”, Tolkien wrote “The Elves certainly held and taught that fear or ‘spirits’ may grow of their own life (independently of the body), even as they may be hurt and healed, be diminished and renewed.” While he posits this as an elvish belief, he goes on to say:
…The dark spirit of Melkor’s ‘remainder’ might be expected, therefore, eventually and after long ages to increase again, even (as some held) to draw back into itself some of its formerly dissipated power. It would do this (even if Sauron could not) because of its relative greatness. It did not repent, or turn finally away from its obsession, but retained still relics of wisdom, so that it could still seek its object indirectly, and not merely blindly. It would rest, seek to heal itself, distract itself by other thoughts and desires and devices – but all simply to recover enough strength to return to the attack on the Valar, and to its old obsession. As it grew again it would become, as it were, a dark shadow, brooding on the confines of Arda, and yearning towards it.
*=> It’s worth noting that Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam were allowed to sail over Sea so the Valar could help their spirits heal before they died.
Melkor was strong enough (it is supposed) to heal himself while in an “unanchored” state. Sauron, on the other hand, required the assistance of the One Ring – in which he had stored the greater part of his strength. In other words, the One Ring anchored Sauron and provided him with the means (even though separated from him) to recompose himself and reconstitute his self-incarnated form.
So long as the One Ring existed, Sauron could (theoretically) return to life (physically self-incarnate) no matter how many times he died, although it took him longer each time to do so. That was why the Council of Elrond (at Gandalf’s urging) decided the Ring should be destroyed (plus the fact that no one other than Sauron could attempt to use it without being corrupted by it).
Saruman might have succeeded in anchoring himself in creating his own ring of power – but as he noted to Galadriel when they met again on the road in Dunland, “‘I did not spend long study on these matters for naught. You have doomed yourselves, and you know it. And it will afford me some comfort as I wander to think that you pulled down your own house when you destroyed mine. And now, what ship will bear you back across so wide a sea?’ … ‘It will be a grey ship, and full of ghosts.’”
Saruman’s ring failed along with all the other rings of power when the One Ring was destroyed. He lost most of his strength, as had Sauron. But some people then ask, if both Sauron and Saruman lost most of their power when the One Ring was destroyed, why was Saruman still alive?
And I think the question is best answered by the fact that Sauron was in the Barad-dur when it fell. He didn’t merely lose most of his power with the One Ring – he died yet again – one last time in the destruction of the Dark Tower. It seems to me – based on the fact of Saruman’s own survival – that Sauron could have survived the destruction of the One Ring as a wizened creature, too weak to do anything other than annoy people.
That’s a point of view that contradicts Elrond’s prediction that Sauron wouldn’t be able to rise again if the One Ring were destroyed – but he doesn’t predict that Sauron’s self-incarnated form would die as a result of the Ring’s destruction. This is an ambiguous point that anyone is free to interpret (or argue) as they wish. The story simply leaves no room for debate: both Sauron’s final body and the Barad-dur were destroyed when the One Ring was destroyed. Had Sauron simply left the fortress before it crumbled (assuming he could get out of there safely and quickly), he might have lived. But we’ll never know for sure if Tolkien would have agreed with that.
As for all other Ainur who died – none of them were anchored (so far as we know) the way Melkor, Sauron, and Saruman had anchored themselves. The other Ainur who died as a result of physical trauma (including Gandalf) would have been very severely weakened. But Tolkien seems to imply they could not have healed before Time ran out.
Gandalf returned from death quickly (and with greater strength) only because of Ilúvatar’s intervention.
See also:
How Does Death Work in Middle-earth?
Did Sauron Die When the One Ring Was Destroyed?
Could Saruman Have Reincarnated Himself the Way Sauron Did?
Did Gandalf Really Die after Killing the Balrog?
If Melkor Returns in the Future, Will He be as Powerful as Before?
Why Did Frodo Sail to the Undying Lands?
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