Being one of the underrated antagonists, Sauron is one of the prominent characters in JRR Tolkein’s writing. He was the Dark Lord and the biggest threat to the Second and Third Ages in middle earth.
As he is also a major villain in the movie, he is terribly powerful and capable of overwhelming anyone in Middle-Earth, and he has wreaked havoc several times there.
But during the process, he faced numerous formidable opponents and was killed by them multiple times. However, after a certain period of time passed after his death, he returned again and again.
So, how many times did Sauron actually die?
How many times did Sauron die?
There are a lot of people who admire Peter Jackson from the Lord of the Rings, and they know the fact that Sauron disappears and reappears a lot during the task, mainly after the end of the second age.
That was the time when One ring that he used to put on his finger was dispatched. In the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of power, we find out radar stating that he dispatched Sauron apart and eliminated him.
At this point, we can ignore Adar’s words as we haven’t actually witnessed the scene of ripping Sauron apart, and we all know that Sauron still exists somewhere.
We all know that Sauron has already died several times in JRR Tolkien’s writing. But the major interrogation that arose among the fans was how many times Sauron actually died.
If we decide to believe what is actually written in Tolkien’s writing, Sauron has died three times during the journey of his existence in the world.
His death took place during the Second and Third Ages. An incident occurred during the First age when he was almost on the verge of death, but he didn’t die.
During that time, he got converted into a werewolf, but he was utterly defeated by Huan(a gigantic wolf). Fortunately, he didn’t get killed and succeeded in getting rid of the Vampire form.
Putting that into consideration, Sauron faced his grave only three times, according to Tolkien’s writing. We also can assume that he died four times in total if the words spoken by Adar turn out to be the truth.
However, concerning the Tolkein Legendarium, Sauron has suffered three deaths as of now.
Who is the killer of Sauron?
If you are concerned about how many times Sauron died, you might also be hoping for an explanation of how he actually faced his death.
If it is so, worry not! We’ll help you out with the information that we’ve collected after various research.
Sauron’s death was first exhibited during the Second Age when he was captured at the hands of Numenoreans. He faced death when he got challenged by Ar-Pharaxon(the king of Numenor).
Sauron got contested by the King of Neuron because he called himself the King of Men, a title that Ar-Pharazon believed that the title was his. As a result, Sauron was overwhelmed and held captive by the Numenoureans.
While he was in his normal form at Numenor, he helped Ar-Pharazon by being one of his advocators. Sauron was the one who advised the King of Numenor to worship Melkor.
It is because Melkor was the only one who could give him immortal life. At the suggestion of Sauron, Ar-Pharazon and the Numenoreans went toward the Valinor to grant him and his people eternal life as soon as they became aware of imminent mortality.
Unfortunately, the Numenoreans were prohibited from entering the Valinor. Thus all of the Numenoreans were sunk into the sea by the Valar while enabling the earth to swallow the King of Numenoreans and his hosts while they were located at the shores of the Undying Lands.
This led to the elimination of Numenooreans to sink while Sauron was still on the island. Sadly, Sauron also faced his grave as he was way too weakened and couldn’t turn himself into his fine form.
Soon after his first death at the Numenor, Sauron reappeared in Middle-Earth and regained his potency as he had the Ring that gave him enormous powers.
However, he pretended the form of a Dark Lord that we have always been familiar with as he began to create a state of extreme fear and distress in Middle-Earth by combining with the army of Orcs.
When the second age ended, the final alliance challenged him in a legendary battle that granted Gil-galad(the high king of the Elves), the king of Gondor, and Elendil to battle against Sauron.
Sauron succeeded to all of them in a very tough competition and even killed two of the kings. However, both of them managed to deal with some injuries.
He couldn’t fight properly because of the injuries, and thus, he was defeated by Isildur after he took one of the broken swords of his father and dispatched One Ring from his finger.
Soon after the finger was dispatched from Sauron’s finger, he faced death as that ring held a massive amount of his malice and powers. This was the second time he died.
While Sauron was assumed dead during the end of the second age in the Last Alliance, he gradually regained his powers during the period of the Third till he became powerful enough to start a war against the people of Middle-Earth once again.
As the forces of Sauron wreaked havoc all over Middle-Earth, this was the battle of the Ring. However, his fate didn’t favor him as he didn’t know that both Frodo and Sam were missioned with the task of destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
So, when the ring got demolished, Sauron met the end of his life for the final time because it enfeebled him to the extent that he could never be a threat to the people of the Middle-Earth.
The Ring was his trump card, and he relied on its monstrous powers, but as soon as it got destroyed, he died a miserable death for the third time.
And if we were to add what Adar said that he killed his Sauron, then he got killed at the time of Second Age.
According to Adar, Uruk dispersed his after he was not able to bear seeing his Orcs suffering pain because of the experiments caused by Sauron.
Can Sauron die?
While putting this above question, some of the audience might get confused about why we are questioning if Sauron can actually die even though we’ve got evidence of him dying.
But the main point is that although he has died several times, he has made his appearance again and again after his death. So, can he actually die?
We know the fact that Sauron died, but when we talk about it, we’re about his physical form. It is because, when he is in his indispensable condition, he is an Ainur who is named initially Marion.
He is the mightiest of the Maiar and is originally a Divine Spirit that doesn’t have a physical form, actually. He just uses his energy to assume himself as a physical creature that dies after its body gets destroyed.
However, the Ainurs never face their death because these spiritual spirits are immortal. They won’t disappear ever, even after their physical form is demolished. However, they can become weak and cannot assume a physical form as soon as they die.
The same thing happened in the case of Sauron. He got weakened to the point where he couldn’t inherit any physical form every time he was physically dead.
Thus, he took time to get back again and again before getting to Middle-Earth in physical form as he needed to regain his powers.
However, when he last time, it was probably his last time dying in a physical form because the ring was also destroyed when he died for the last time.
As that One ring contained a massive amount of his spirit, it was the reason why Sauron was able to appear in physical form again and again.
So, the destruction of this Ring caused him to lose an enormous amount of his spiritual essence as he was compelled to drift into a weaker spiritual form which is not capable enough to take over into a physical condition that could be a threat to the people of Middle-Earth.
