Making a Villain - The problem with Showing Sauron

Sauron is an interesting antagonist. If you compare him to the modern antagonists, Thanos, Hannibal Lector, Anton Chigurh, Freddie Kruger, Darth Vadar, Itachi, the main difference is that we never really see Sauron. The most we see him in the movies is when he fights against the combined elves and humans and Isildur. But that's in the first movie. From there on, for a combined three hours that's the last we see of him. In the books, I can't remember a description of him beyond the lidless eye.

It's hard to think of or imagine another villain with so complete or ominous a presence, yet never comes on stage. There's no evil dialogue, no triumphant laugh as Aragorn and the remnants of man go out and march on the black Gate. In their last attempt to give Frodo a chance to destroy the ring or simply die together before the might of Sauron.

Because it's actually how little we see of Sauron that makes him truly unique. He's a villain without a face. A presence without a body or voice. What this does is simply let the reader imagine and wonder what kind of being Sauron is. It's a trick stories use because almost always what the audience imagines is often better than any definite answer. Think of Lost or any other mystery where there was a grand mystery that seemed utterly inexplicable to the audience and we'd watch each episode trying to imagine and fit what answer could connect all these pieces together. Then the answer comes and it's a dud. Now you likely couldn't get away with having a mystery story and then never explaining it, but there are stories that try to dangle that and let the audience imagine fill in what could have happened.

It's one of the greatest aspects of Lord of the Rings is how the world feels so vast and real that i would spend hours imagining what could and would happen in each of the far corners of the mp. Who lived in the Blue Mountains. What kind of people or creatures lived in Rhun? What were the lands of the Haradrim like or the corsairs? All these mysteries left unanswered allows the audience to fill in the gaps. It's a tough point to build because it requires the audience to fall in love with the world and story to the point where they are imagining their own adventures just to live in middle earth.

This is the problem if Sauron. Because everything the audience has imagined for all the years since is going to feel better than anything that a TV show can come up with. This is the tricky part that the writers are going to encounter. How do you create a character around this faceless omnipresent evil? Making him human will lower him, and make him seem more ordinary. He's just a guy. And if you make him have reason and logic and humor, this faceless evil is completely pulled back.

The physical appearance and character of Sauron we see on screen is going to heavily impact how we imagine this antagonist. It could ruin it or explain how such an evil could take power. This is the danger that any writer comes to if they try and put such a villain on the screen and give him dialogue.

I couldn't find the artist for the image, so if you know please post it below and I can credit it properly.
I found it on https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-sau....

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