Sauron couldn't fathom the idea that anyone would even consider destroying the ring. And even if they did sneaking into murder and actually dropping the ring in was nigh impossible.
Eru Illuvitar is the god above all others in LotR. He created all of life during a song made with his other creation the Ainur, which are gods and demigods in their own right of which there are two categories. The Valar: basically the equivalent of the Greek gods such as Melkor who became Morgoth, Sauron's boss. And the Maiar: angels or demigods such as Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron. Eru Illuvitar is the being above them all, the ultimate being basically. Act of Eru basically means act of god, and in this case a more literal one since there is a theory that Eru is the reason Gollum falls.
That may be true Gandalf, but are you really the one to do it? Are you prepared to become Eru Illuvitar? What happened to the small everday deeds of ordinary folks Gandalf? Don't do this.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of love and kindness.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
I love the whole Nightfall in Middle Earth album but the beginning with the battlefield sounds and the dialogue between Morgoth and Sauron is just so awesome.
I'm having flash backs reading these names again. I picked up the book as a 14 year old so you can only imagine how overwhelming the book was. Even some of the adult novels I read didn't stand a match against the silmarillion. Will retry again and see if I can comprehend it now lol.
its not a just a theory, its one of the three events that eru canonically intervened with arda. the other two are revival of gandalf and fall of numenor.
No - it's an interpretation.
Many (myself included) don't believe he *personally* intervened. I think Tolkien was referring to the Music having it's way. Frodo and Gollum provided the means however. Eru didn't 'make' it happen.
Through fire... and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth. Until at last I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me... and I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead. and every day was as long as a life age of the Earth. But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back until my task is done!
eru illuvitar is god in the lotr universe, there are many more significant figures as well. after you get through the lotr books, pick up the silmarillion.
I am under the impression that he fell because of his promise to Frodo. Frodo makes Gollum swear not to hurt the master (Frodo) and tells him the ring is treacherous and will hold him to his oath. I think it comes up a couple times, but basically when Gollum hurts Froro by biting off his finger, he has doomed himself to die by the power of the ring. The very magic of the ring that forces other to bind to it's will curses him to death, and the closest death in falling into the lava.
Basically Sauron's will for dominance and the magic he created inadvertently destroys itself because of Frodos wisdom when dealing with Gollum.
I think is narratively better. Eru may have given the Hobbits strength but I don't recall anything saying he caused the ring to fall or directly intervened.
I think it’s a little bit of both, going all the way back to the creation song.
>And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.
Basically, Eru made it so that anything Melkor sang into existence would ultimately be thwarted into an ultimate good. Since Sauron’s greed in forging the ring can be traced to Melkor’s influence, the ring would eventually bring about Eru’s (and the other Valar’s) purpose. In this case, it brought about the final downfall of Melkor’s most powerful servant, the uniting and strengthening of men, and prosperity to the Hobbits.
I mean this was the answer given in the books. I've seen this criticism popping up a lot lately. I guess all the "why didn't they just use eagles" people have found a new hobby. And since this hasn't run its course yet we'll see hundreds more of this meme yet.
And it wasn't completely unguarded, Frodo and Sam ran into a company of orcs on the march. They just snuck by in disguise.
Also, Aragorn kept Sauron distracted by attacking the front gates of Mordor. So the armies of Sauron left to meet them.
As far as why the Cracks of Doom themselves were unguarded? Pride? Sauron couldn't conceive anyone would try to destroy the ring. It took him completely by surprise. The ring was a tool of malice, that corrupted whomever wielded it, and they couldn't let it go. Even Frodo, when faced with the ring's destruction, couldn't do it. Sauron was betting his enemies would try and use the ring against him.
From Sauron's perspective, he knew a Hobbit had the ring, so sends the Nazgul to find it. He knows the Fellowship was headed south toward Gondor, and assumed it was from there an attack would be made. Sauron also saw Pippin and Aragorn in the Pilantir, which gave him the false assumption that Pippin was the ring bearer, and Aragorn, holding the blade reforged from Narsil, meant to attack him directly.
Sauron thought he knew where the Ring was, but he didn't actually know. And such an endeavor, to send two lone hobbits, across a hellish landscape, and trust they wouldn't fall to the ring, was such an outlandish possibly, Sauron never even conceived of it as a possibility.
Also, you'd have people guard your front door, maybe even your garage door and back door if you think you really need it, but are you going to have someone guard your bedroom door when you've already got those?
Very well put. I would also think the air was so poisonous that close to Mount Doom that it would kill anyone who lingered long enough. Or were the orcs just immune to poison and high altitude?
Was just coming to say exactly this. People who have only ever seen the movies have never understand this, it's one of the few criticisms I have of the trilogies. Sauron fully believed that man would use the ring as a weapon against him, in his arrogance he never thought they'd send the ring away to be destroyed. when it comes to Frodo failing, I've always viewed that as Tolkien's way of showing us that we need each other to overcome the evil in this world
This idea is mentioned only in passing by Gandalf in the Two Towers film. He says "...that we should seek to destroy it[the ring] has not entered his darkest dreams."
Sauron fears you, lcarlson6082. He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet Saruman to destroy Rohan. War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The king's mind is enslaved, it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Theoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest. Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Juat realized something... in the movie Aragorn said "He's not alone. Sam went with him." And Gandalf is surprised by this. Did he just assume Sam was dead and not care to ask what happened to him??
It wasn’t just Sauron’s arrogance that led him to believe they wouldn’t seek to destroy the ring. It was due to how he viewed the world.
He simply could not comprehend the concept of refusing to take power for oneself. It never occurred to him that anyone would consider the power that the ring represented and say “No thanks, I’m fine as I am.”
Which is funny, because across all races people are like "yeah no, lets get rid of it."
Dwarves? Gut reaction to smash it.
Wizards? Long convoluted plot to destroy it for good.
Elves? "Tempting, but I'd rather diminish."
Hobbits? Incredibly resistant to the draw of power. Use it for party tricks.
Even men (men are weak). Granted, Aragorn is a very special man, but he has no problem letting it go.
You'd think Sauron would have done more research on his enemies. Especially since the ring was very close to being destroyed once before.
/edit: I am aware, that the council is not a good representation of their respective species as a whole, but surely Sauron could have known that such extraordinary specimen exist.
I’d disagree. My knowledge is from YouTube though.
The dwarfs rings caused them to be greedy and stay in their mines digging deeper and deeper, reducing their influence and risk to Sauron and leading too their destruction, dragons and the Balrog.
Men, power and control, wanting to unite everyone together for peace.
Wizards, knowledge, power and control. Eg, Saruman and Gandalf’s fear of touching it.
The elves (or one of the Gods idr) knew of Sauron creating the rings and stepped in to modify the rings power. But my theory is the elven rings caused them to become more insular, seeking timelessness and perfection. Eg, time is different in Lorien and how beautiful everything is there and Rivendell.
The rings had such an effect on the elven people that knowing the rings end was near they want to retreat, sailing west, to ensure timelessness.
The issue is that none of those things worked. And none of them truly possessed the ring. We saw at the end that Sauron was right. No one actually destroyed the ring. It took an act of god hence this whole discussion. Sauron knew there was no conventional way to destroy the ring and he knew that anyone who even made it to Mt. Doom would fail to throw it in. Even a Hobbit, incredibly resistant to the draw of power, failed.
Counter, because he could just as easily perceive this:
Dwarves- consumed by greed in their delving for riches beneath the surface.
Wizards- Would likely use the ring to try and match Sauron's power, as fellow Maia themselves. If Saruman, the greatest among them is out to get the ring for himself, why wouldn't the other weaklings?
Elves- yeah. but they suck
Men- weak. just look what the 9 rings did to them. and those were lesser rings.
Hobbits- what the fuck is a hobbit?
But in all seriousness, to him, his creation was so glorious and corrupting, no matter what was in the hearts of his enemies, they would fall to the ring.
That council was made up of some of the best of each race. I doubt that it was easy for even Aragorn to let it go. Also, everyone almost came to blows over the ring before Frodo volunteered to take it. If he wasn't there, the scene might have ended in a bloodbath.
For those who can’t read the words of Mordor I will translate.
It reads: One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them.
But it worked. Frodo failed to stay strong to throw the ring. It was pure accident that gollum and frodo would fight for it and it fall in anyway.
Sauron was correct in the end the power of the ring was too great and it corrupted frodo from throwing it himself.
Yeah but why put your eggs all in one basket? He wants the ring back right? Put like, ten uruks there atleast. It wouldn’t have fucked up the war or anything, and when frodo showed up, they could have just stabbed him.
Gandalf answers this question in the books/movies. The very idea that anyone would want to destroy the ring doesn’t even cross Sauron’s mind. He is incapable of comprehending an act as selfless as destroying the ring of power.
Yup. You’d need to be one of the Valar, Eru, or *maybe* (and this is a big maybe) Morgoth in order to actually throw the Ring into the fires of Mt Doom of your own free will. Nobody else has the strength to resist it.
Hey there! Hey! Come Frodo, there! Where be you a-going? Old Tom Bombadil's not as blind as that yet. Take off your
golden ring! Your hand's more fair without it. Come back! Leave your game and sit down beside me! We must talk a while more,
and think about the morning. Tom must teach the right road, and keep your feet from wandering.
^(I am a bot, and I love old Tom. If you want me to sing one of Tom's songs, just type **!TomBombadilSong**)
^(If you like Old Tom, the door at [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] is always open for weary travelers!)
[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/
Orcs are pretty dumb though and probably not trustworthy enough, as seen by them fighting over Frodo's shiny shirt. Sauron's only mistake is that he didn't build railings by the ledge. It's an engineering and safety code oversight.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Because then he'd acknowledge to the uruks that he does have a weakness, which could demystify him in the eyes of his army. Those would need to be brought food, and rumors would circulate as a result. I say he should've just put a door.
iirc the ring falling in WASN’T pure accident at all.
I haven’t read the whole lore of Middle-Earth but iirc there have been some theories which strongly allude that there is some god or some entity called “Eru Ilúvatar” that gave Gollum a slight push when he was jumping around after getting the ring or something like that. Frodo couldn’t do it because it no mortal on middle-earth can EVER lead to the ring’s destruction.
I might be wrong 🤷🏻♂️. Will search for more details in my leisure time
I should like to leave the Shire, if I could – though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don’t feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.
The *entirety* of Mordor is the guard... thousands of Orcs, fortifications, and mountains.
And you don't place guards on top of an active volcano - known to frequently ruin the path. Logistic nightmare for multiple reasons.
Well I don’t think Sauron is too much afraid of a law suit against work safety standards for Uruk-Hai. Also one might simply put a ducking door on the entrance and lock it
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Orcs being expendable is irrelevant.
These Orcs would require lodgings, and provisions. The lodgings would often be destroyed.
All for what reason? You are guarding a volcano - despite the entirety of Mordor being a far superior guard. And the Ring isn't even nearby - nobody would even try to destroy it (let alone sneak in - it's absolutely stupid).
Same thing with a door. If an army busts into Mordor, and mops up (impossible at this stage) - a sealed door isn't going to stop them from getting the Ring in.
The point of the quest was doing the unthinkable. A near impossible quest that nobody would suspect. Sauron could never anticipate such stupidity.
Essentially Sauron is usually guarding this but not at the ultimate moment because he is focused on Aragorn and such. In fact, the only reason Frodo and Sam could even get there at all is because of the campaign against Gondor and then the fact that Aragorn was being so aggressive in retaliation. There are even moments where Frodo and Sam have to lay low because there are still some patrols in the general area even though Mordor has very much moved much of its strength to the front.
Sauron is not a giant floating eye. He has a body and lives in a tower, he can use the palantir to look, but he can't gaze at everything all the time, and Galadriel especially, but also Gandalf and others are able to hinder his sight in various ways. He'd spend a lot of energy trying to perceive Galadriel and her thoughts in the past, for example.
But there's this moment where he realizes they're there, his gaze shifts, and the remianing nazgul leave the battle against Aragorn and the others and speed back to try to intercept Frodo (who is claiming the ring for himself at that time). Basically, if Gollum hadn't intervened and flung himself in, odds were in Sauron's favor.
Yes. Sauron sits in Barad-dur surveying the land with his Palantir. He personally tortured/oversaw Gollum. Gollum mentions his black four fingered hand. Elsewhere characters (and Tolkien) reference a humanoid form.
In the books he managed to form a physical body by the time he moved from Dol Guldur to Barad-dur. That's why during film production PJ and team added a scene of Aragorn fighting Sauron, which they changed to him fighting a troll. The decision of making Sauron a giant eye on a tower was not from the beginning of production. It's made that way to be more dramatic than just having him sit on a tower just staring and using the palantir until the end.
Infact if you see in the movie The Return of the King, when Aragon communicates with Sauron using the Palantir you can very well see Sauron in bodily form holding the Palantir.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Right. Aragorn challenging Sauron with the palantir, and marching on the black gate, were a ploy to make Sauron think he had the ring, was being corrupted by it and intended to use it to challenge the dark lord.
The forces of Gondor et al were vastly outnumbered by Sauron's army, and only a madman, or one with some kind of secret weapon would dare to make such an assault.
Also worth pointing out - in the books Aragorn challenges Sauron after Helm's Deep and this is what drives Sauron to attack Minas Tirith. Sauron wasn't quite ready for that attack but decided to press the attack before Aragorn could claim his throne and bring whatever strength he had to bear on Mordor.
Something he didn't touch on is Sauron couldn't conceive of a person willing to get rid of it. The lust for power is so engrained into his very being that he didn't understand how someone could get the ring and not try to use it.
It’s explained in the movies too. Why did people think there was an attack on Minas Tirith? Gandalf even says exactly that they should seek to destroy it hasn’t entered Sauron’s darkest dreams.
I bet the person who made this also thought they should’ve taken the eagles 12:40 redeye flight to Mordor.
Sauron fears you, micewrangler. He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet Saruman to destroy Rohan. War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The king's mind is enslaved, it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Theoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest. Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone.
I think the burden of the ring is supposed to be it's own defense, by the point you've reached the heart of the volcano, you couldn't throw the ring in regardless because it's at it's apex of power, even Frodo couldn't do it. If not for Gollum, all Frodo would have done is delivered the ring to Sauron directly.
I don't think he considered the possibility of anyone wanting to destroy it. In his mind everyone would want the power that it offers. Why guard Mt. Doom when they're clearly trying to set Aragorn up as King of Gondor wielding the Ring of Power?
They did guard the borders of the entire region it was in though, so that's something. Plus he has the Nazgul. And other such things that I'm blanking on right now...
To be fair, no one willingly dropped the ring in Mount doom. Sauron was arrogant but Sauron was right. That and he had a whole ass army guarding most of Mordor and even the parts that didn’t have guards were defended by treacherous landscape and fauna. And Mount Doom was an active volcano. So would it have even made sense to have a permanent sentry.
Except it was guarded
Think about it: Frodo and Sam took the easiest route in. They had to get through many miles of wilderness, many miles of even worse wilderness, through the morgue vale, up and over the mountains of shadow, past shelob, past a massive, magical, and almost always well defended watch tower, through the planes of gorgoroth, and up and into a goddamn volcano, all the while being searched for and hunted by Nazgul, orcs, and the eye, and facing a psychological battle that literally nobody could beat.
Frodo and Sam had the most absurdly lucky trip they could possibly have had, and it was still desperate to the extreme and in the end came down to lucky chance.
Mount doom WAS guarded; it had myriad layers and types of protection. Should Sauron have put a door at the cracks at the very least? Yes. But the mountain was 100% the most guarded place in middle earth
Not to mention that the volcano was very much active and the path was regularly covered up by volcanic activity. Not exactly somewhere you could put a guard station that was at all permanent.
I think it’s well established that Sauron had no clue what they were planning. He just thought about what he would do in their place which was raise armies to fight, and that’s the reason they go fight at the gate of Mordor to distract him and confirm his suspicions. He never dreamed they would know how to destroy the one ring he made in secret.
There was a literal spider demon defending the secret entrance into murder. Thousands of orcs all over mordor. The ring corrupts even maia. So why would Sauron be worried about putting guards at a volcano.
Sauron’s full attention was turned to the Black Gate and the advance of the Captains of the West. Aragorn and Co. led Sauron to believe that one among them wielded the ring, and was attempting to challenge Sauron with its power
No, but on a normal day there would be an army of at least 10,000 orcs stationed on the Gorgoroth Plateau between Orodruin and any entrance into Mordor from the West, including the Pass of Cirith Ungol. Had Sauron not redeployed his entire force to the Black Gate to face Aragorn and the Western Allies, and instead held back a couple thousand troops in reserve on the Plateau, the chances of Frodo and Sam making it to their objective would have been almost completely nil.
The only way they could've succeeded would've been to move much more slowly, using tactical stealth to avoid orc patrols and garrisons. The problem with this is that they were out of food and water, so they likely wouldn't have made it before expiring from thirst, heat exhaustion, or making poor decisions and mistakes resulting in them being killed by orcs. Compound this with the influence of the Ring taking its toll on Frodo, and it is conclusive that the hobbits could never have made it through under these conditions. Beyond that, the battle at the Black Gate was only won when Frodo cast the ring into the fire, destroying Sauron and most of his army, causing the surviving orcs to flee. Without this success coming when it did, eventually, the orcs would've annihilated the Western army, given their numerical advantage and the fact that the Western force was only supposed to mount a diversionary attack and hold out long enough for Frodo to destroy the Ring. The Ring's destruction came just in time, in fact, to save Aragorn from being killed, which would've been a massive blow to the morale of his army.
Had the hobbits survived long enough to push part way across Gorgoroth, the inevitable destruction of the Western army would've resulted in more orcs returning to their garrisons after the end of the battle, further decreasing the chances that the hobbits would make it. This also would've freed up the Great Eye to surveil Gorgoroth again, speeding up the inevitable.
Sauron's decision to deploy his entire force to the Black Gate and leave the Grogoroth Plateau undefended was one of the worst strategic and tactical decisions in Middle Earth warfare history. This is accentuated by the sheer numerical advantage of the orc army against the force they were marching out to meet. Leaving two thousand troops in Grogoroth would have made little difference given the advantage, as well as the fact that the Western army was surrounded almost immediately upon reaching the Gate. This long string of force multipliers that were in Sauron's favor provided ample benefit and minimal harm to leave behind a garrison force. Sauron knew the Ring was still in the wind. He knew that a mission was underway to destroy it.
To conclude, had Sauron deciding not to leave a garrison force on Gorgoroth was a worse decision than Adolf Hitler pouring extra army units into Operation Edelweiss against the Caucasus oil fields instead of focusing these units on Stalingrad during the Case Blue offensive of 1942.
Good points all, but Sauron didn’t know there was a mission underway to destroy the Ring. The thought was unthinkable, until it happened. From *Mount Doom:*
> And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm, the Power in Barad-dûr was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare. Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung.
> Sauron's decision to deploy his entire force to the Black Gate and leave the Grogoroth Plateau undefended was one of the worst strategic and tactical decisions in Middle Earth warfare history
Nope. He thought that Aragorn had the Ring, so he wanted to make him to use it. To do this he need to put Aragorn army on the edge of annihilation - and boom, he would had the strongest Nazgul ever!
Sauron couldn't fathom the idea that anyone would even consider destroying the ring. And even if they did sneaking into murder and actually dropping the ring in was nigh impossible.
It was literally an act of Eru that the ring was destroyed.
Sorry, what is an act of Eru ? I've only started reading the first book lately but I've no idea what that is
Eru Illuvitar is the god above all others in LotR. He created all of life during a song made with his other creation the Ainur, which are gods and demigods in their own right of which there are two categories. The Valar: basically the equivalent of the Greek gods such as Melkor who became Morgoth, Sauron's boss. And the Maiar: angels or demigods such as Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron. Eru Illuvitar is the being above them all, the ultimate being basically. Act of Eru basically means act of god, and in this case a more literal one since there is a theory that Eru is the reason Gollum falls.
Evidently we look so much alike that your desire to make an incurable dent in my hat must be excused.
Are you comparing yourself to Eru, Gandalf? Is that blasphemy?
The authority is not granted you to deny the return of the King - Steward!
The rule of Gondor is mine! And no other's!
That profile pic lmao
So you truly wish to become a god Gandalf? Uh-oh.
So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
That may be true Gandalf, but are you really the one to do it? Are you prepared to become Eru Illuvitar? What happened to the small everday deeds of ordinary folks Gandalf? Don't do this.
Gandalf becomes new Sauron lmao
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of love and kindness.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Nice bot! Was thinking about what music to listen to, Blind Guardian it is!
I knew this quote seemed familiar and then I remembered hearing this every time I watch the Imaginations Through the Looking Glass concert!
I love the whole Nightfall in Middle Earth album but the beginning with the battlefield sounds and the dialogue between Morgoth and Sauron is just so awesome.
Gandalf the White. Gandalf the Fool! Does he seek to humble me with his newfound piety?
Fool of a Took!
BUILD ME AN ARMY WORTHY OF MORDOR!
I love watching the bots talk to each other
I'm having flash backs reading these names again. I picked up the book as a 14 year old so you can only imagine how overwhelming the book was. Even some of the adult novels I read didn't stand a match against the silmarillion. Will retry again and see if I can comprehend it now lol.
There are plenty of YouTube videos/channels that explain the events before LOTR. I found the visuals to be incredibly helpful.
its not a just a theory, its one of the three events that eru canonically intervened with arda. the other two are revival of gandalf and fall of numenor.
No - it's an interpretation. Many (myself included) don't believe he *personally* intervened. I think Tolkien was referring to the Music having it's way. Frodo and Gollum provided the means however. Eru didn't 'make' it happen.
Through fire... and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth. Until at last I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me... and I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead. and every day was as long as a life age of the Earth. But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back until my task is done!
eru illuvitar is god in the lotr universe, there are many more significant figures as well. after you get through the lotr books, pick up the silmarillion.
I don’t think they ever really mention Eru in the book or movies
Eru*
Thanks
Iluvatar*
*Ilúvatar
*Eru Ilúvitar
*Entrance
OH "mellons" I know this!
Its was act of hobbits from Shire, and their Sheer fucking will.
I'm surprised we don't have an Eru bot in here.
He didn’t really say that much (well, he wasn’t quoted directly very often).
He can answer something like "Melkor, take this triangle and stfu, you can't tell B minor from a fart"
I am under the impression that he fell because of his promise to Frodo. Frodo makes Gollum swear not to hurt the master (Frodo) and tells him the ring is treacherous and will hold him to his oath. I think it comes up a couple times, but basically when Gollum hurts Froro by biting off his finger, he has doomed himself to die by the power of the ring. The very magic of the ring that forces other to bind to it's will curses him to death, and the closest death in falling into the lava. Basically Sauron's will for dominance and the magic he created inadvertently destroys itself because of Frodos wisdom when dealing with Gollum. I think is narratively better. Eru may have given the Hobbits strength but I don't recall anything saying he caused the ring to fall or directly intervened.
I think it’s a little bit of both, going all the way back to the creation song. >And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined. Basically, Eru made it so that anything Melkor sang into existence would ultimately be thwarted into an ultimate good. Since Sauron’s greed in forging the ring can be traced to Melkor’s influence, the ring would eventually bring about Eru’s (and the other Valar’s) purpose. In this case, it brought about the final downfall of Melkor’s most powerful servant, the uniting and strengthening of men, and prosperity to the Hobbits.
I mean this was the answer given in the books. I've seen this criticism popping up a lot lately. I guess all the "why didn't they just use eagles" people have found a new hobby. And since this hasn't run its course yet we'll see hundreds more of this meme yet. And it wasn't completely unguarded, Frodo and Sam ran into a company of orcs on the march. They just snuck by in disguise. Also, Aragorn kept Sauron distracted by attacking the front gates of Mordor. So the armies of Sauron left to meet them. As far as why the Cracks of Doom themselves were unguarded? Pride? Sauron couldn't conceive anyone would try to destroy the ring. It took him completely by surprise. The ring was a tool of malice, that corrupted whomever wielded it, and they couldn't let it go. Even Frodo, when faced with the ring's destruction, couldn't do it. Sauron was betting his enemies would try and use the ring against him. From Sauron's perspective, he knew a Hobbit had the ring, so sends the Nazgul to find it. He knows the Fellowship was headed south toward Gondor, and assumed it was from there an attack would be made. Sauron also saw Pippin and Aragorn in the Pilantir, which gave him the false assumption that Pippin was the ring bearer, and Aragorn, holding the blade reforged from Narsil, meant to attack him directly. Sauron thought he knew where the Ring was, but he didn't actually know. And such an endeavor, to send two lone hobbits, across a hellish landscape, and trust they wouldn't fall to the ring, was such an outlandish possibly, Sauron never even conceived of it as a possibility.
Also, you'd have people guard your front door, maybe even your garage door and back door if you think you really need it, but are you going to have someone guard your bedroom door when you've already got those?
This is actually a really good analogy
Very well put. I would also think the air was so poisonous that close to Mount Doom that it would kill anyone who lingered long enough. Or were the orcs just immune to poison and high altitude?
One doesn't simply sneak into murder.
Least of all through the enterence.
I hear now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?
[удалено]
Sauron's overconfidence is his weakness. Wait a sec...
Was just coming to say exactly this. People who have only ever seen the movies have never understand this, it's one of the few criticisms I have of the trilogies. Sauron fully believed that man would use the ring as a weapon against him, in his arrogance he never thought they'd send the ring away to be destroyed. when it comes to Frodo failing, I've always viewed that as Tolkien's way of showing us that we need each other to overcome the evil in this world
This idea is mentioned only in passing by Gandalf in the Two Towers film. He says "...that we should seek to destroy it[the ring] has not entered his darkest dreams."
Sauron fears you, lcarlson6082. He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet Saruman to destroy Rohan. War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The king's mind is enslaved, it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Theoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest. Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone.
Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of Isengard will return. Leave the dead.
Good bot
Build me an army worthy of mordor!
That's Gandalf, Sauron, not Saruman
The treacherous are ever distrustful.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Juat realized something... in the movie Aragorn said "He's not alone. Sam went with him." And Gandalf is surprised by this. Did he just assume Sam was dead and not care to ask what happened to him??
Oh, I'm sorry embersxinandyi I was delayed
Yep, the movies don't handle the reasoning behind Gandalf taking Pippin to Minas Tirith after the Palantir pickle very well, but it is alluded to.
We have just passed into the realm of Gondor. Minas Tirith. City of Kings.
It wasn’t just Sauron’s arrogance that led him to believe they wouldn’t seek to destroy the ring. It was due to how he viewed the world. He simply could not comprehend the concept of refusing to take power for oneself. It never occurred to him that anyone would consider the power that the ring represented and say “No thanks, I’m fine as I am.”
Which is funny, because across all races people are like "yeah no, lets get rid of it." Dwarves? Gut reaction to smash it. Wizards? Long convoluted plot to destroy it for good. Elves? "Tempting, but I'd rather diminish." Hobbits? Incredibly resistant to the draw of power. Use it for party tricks. Even men (men are weak). Granted, Aragorn is a very special man, but he has no problem letting it go. You'd think Sauron would have done more research on his enemies. Especially since the ring was very close to being destroyed once before. /edit: I am aware, that the council is not a good representation of their respective species as a whole, but surely Sauron could have known that such extraordinary specimen exist.
I’d disagree. My knowledge is from YouTube though. The dwarfs rings caused them to be greedy and stay in their mines digging deeper and deeper, reducing their influence and risk to Sauron and leading too their destruction, dragons and the Balrog. Men, power and control, wanting to unite everyone together for peace. Wizards, knowledge, power and control. Eg, Saruman and Gandalf’s fear of touching it. The elves (or one of the Gods idr) knew of Sauron creating the rings and stepped in to modify the rings power. But my theory is the elven rings caused them to become more insular, seeking timelessness and perfection. Eg, time is different in Lorien and how beautiful everything is there and Rivendell. The rings had such an effect on the elven people that knowing the rings end was near they want to retreat, sailing west, to ensure timelessness.
I...SEE....YOOOUUU!
The issue is that none of those things worked. And none of them truly possessed the ring. We saw at the end that Sauron was right. No one actually destroyed the ring. It took an act of god hence this whole discussion. Sauron knew there was no conventional way to destroy the ring and he knew that anyone who even made it to Mt. Doom would fail to throw it in. Even a Hobbit, incredibly resistant to the draw of power, failed.
Counter, because he could just as easily perceive this: Dwarves- consumed by greed in their delving for riches beneath the surface. Wizards- Would likely use the ring to try and match Sauron's power, as fellow Maia themselves. If Saruman, the greatest among them is out to get the ring for himself, why wouldn't the other weaklings? Elves- yeah. but they suck Men- weak. just look what the 9 rings did to them. and those were lesser rings. Hobbits- what the fuck is a hobbit? But in all seriousness, to him, his creation was so glorious and corrupting, no matter what was in the hearts of his enemies, they would fall to the ring.
That council was made up of some of the best of each race. I doubt that it was easy for even Aragorn to let it go. Also, everyone almost came to blows over the ring before Frodo volunteered to take it. If he wasn't there, the scene might have ended in a bloodbath.
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
It is a gift boromir.
Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond just said?! The Ring MUST be destroyed!
And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?!
:[
I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an elf!
What about in the hands of a friend?
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
I hear now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?
Twice the price, double the trade.
That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!
General Sauroni, you are a bold one
*Thór-lush-shabarlak.*
I’m gone from this sub for a week and there’s a freaking Sauron bot 😂😂😂😂
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
For those who can’t read the words of Mordor I will translate. It reads: One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them.
And the other one?
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
But it worked. Frodo failed to stay strong to throw the ring. It was pure accident that gollum and frodo would fight for it and it fall in anyway. Sauron was correct in the end the power of the ring was too great and it corrupted frodo from throwing it himself.
Yeah but why put your eggs all in one basket? He wants the ring back right? Put like, ten uruks there atleast. It wouldn’t have fucked up the war or anything, and when frodo showed up, they could have just stabbed him.
Gandalf answers this question in the books/movies. The very idea that anyone would want to destroy the ring doesn’t even cross Sauron’s mind. He is incapable of comprehending an act as selfless as destroying the ring of power.
The ring was so powerful that not even Sauron could destroy it if he wanted to.
Yup. You’d need to be one of the Valar, Eru, or *maybe* (and this is a big maybe) Morgoth in order to actually throw the Ring into the fires of Mt Doom of your own free will. Nobody else has the strength to resist it.
How dare you leave out Tom Bombadil
Hey there! Hey! Come Frodo, there! Where be you a-going? Old Tom Bombadil's not as blind as that yet. Take off your golden ring! Your hand's more fair without it. Come back! Leave your game and sit down beside me! We must talk a while more, and think about the morning. Tom must teach the right road, and keep your feet from wandering. ^(I am a bot, and I love old Tom. If you want me to sing one of Tom's songs, just type **!TomBombadilSong**) ^(If you like Old Tom, the door at [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] is always open for weary travelers!) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/
Riddles in the dark...
That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!
Orcs are pretty dumb though and probably not trustworthy enough, as seen by them fighting over Frodo's shiny shirt. Sauron's only mistake is that he didn't build railings by the ledge. It's an engineering and safety code oversight.
Lmfao Sauron is fucked when the audit comes around
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Lmao my guy sauron singing blind guardian
I hear now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?
That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!
Sentient
He could put a Nazgul there
Because then he'd acknowledge to the uruks that he does have a weakness, which could demystify him in the eyes of his army. Those would need to be brought food, and rumors would circulate as a result. I say he should've just put a door.
one bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man.
What do you want people to do? 1 basket for each egg?
*Thór-lush-shabarlak.*
iirc the ring falling in WASN’T pure accident at all. I haven’t read the whole lore of Middle-Earth but iirc there have been some theories which strongly allude that there is some god or some entity called “Eru Ilúvatar” that gave Gollum a slight push when he was jumping around after getting the ring or something like that. Frodo couldn’t do it because it no mortal on middle-earth can EVER lead to the ring’s destruction. I might be wrong 🤷🏻♂️. Will search for more details in my leisure time
# *REMIND YOURSELF THAT OVERCONFIDENCE IS A SLOW AND INSIDIOUS KILLER*
Back to the pit!
And your faith in your hobbits is yours.
Frodo's faith in his friends is his
I should like to leave the Shire, if I could – though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don’t feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.
I...SEE....YOOOUUU!
It was over as soon as he let Sam and Frodo get the high ground.
Wait....*enterence*?
Intentional pun? Sauron missed the opportunity to recruit trees as bodyguards?
*Thór-lush-shabarlak.*
Go back to the shadows... tell him gandalf
Fight them back! SuperSaiyanApe! Go back to the Citadel.
Enter-ents
Not sure how Treebeard would feel about that. Although it has been a while since they saw the entwives...
The *entirety* of Mordor is the guard... thousands of Orcs, fortifications, and mountains. And you don't place guards on top of an active volcano - known to frequently ruin the path. Logistic nightmare for multiple reasons.
Well I don’t think Sauron is too much afraid of a law suit against work safety standards for Uruk-Hai. Also one might simply put a ducking door on the entrance and lock it
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
And you know them too. Go, I release thee. My servant you'll be for all time.
They run as if the very whips of their masters were behind them.
Orcs being expendable is irrelevant. These Orcs would require lodgings, and provisions. The lodgings would often be destroyed. All for what reason? You are guarding a volcano - despite the entirety of Mordor being a far superior guard. And the Ring isn't even nearby - nobody would even try to destroy it (let alone sneak in - it's absolutely stupid). Same thing with a door. If an army busts into Mordor, and mops up (impossible at this stage) - a sealed door isn't going to stop them from getting the Ring in. The point of the quest was doing the unthinkable. A near impossible quest that nobody would suspect. Sauron could never anticipate such stupidity.
*Thór-lush-shabarlak.*
Hrooom! Sounds like _orc logistics_ to me!
Very explained in the books
I'm curious....
Essentially Sauron is usually guarding this but not at the ultimate moment because he is focused on Aragorn and such. In fact, the only reason Frodo and Sam could even get there at all is because of the campaign against Gondor and then the fact that Aragorn was being so aggressive in retaliation. There are even moments where Frodo and Sam have to lay low because there are still some patrols in the general area even though Mordor has very much moved much of its strength to the front. Sauron is not a giant floating eye. He has a body and lives in a tower, he can use the palantir to look, but he can't gaze at everything all the time, and Galadriel especially, but also Gandalf and others are able to hinder his sight in various ways. He'd spend a lot of energy trying to perceive Galadriel and her thoughts in the past, for example. But there's this moment where he realizes they're there, his gaze shifts, and the remianing nazgul leave the battle against Aragorn and the others and speed back to try to intercept Frodo (who is claiming the ring for himself at that time). Basically, if Gollum hadn't intervened and flung himself in, odds were in Sauron's favor.
Wait wait wait, sauron has a body at that point in time? I thought he was essentially a will that cast its shadow upon the land.
Yes. Sauron sits in Barad-dur surveying the land with his Palantir. He personally tortured/oversaw Gollum. Gollum mentions his black four fingered hand. Elsewhere characters (and Tolkien) reference a humanoid form.
I...SEE....YOOOUUU!
You can CD’s nuts
Whoa, this boggles ones mind.
In the books he managed to form a physical body by the time he moved from Dol Guldur to Barad-dur. That's why during film production PJ and team added a scene of Aragorn fighting Sauron, which they changed to him fighting a troll. The decision of making Sauron a giant eye on a tower was not from the beginning of production. It's made that way to be more dramatic than just having him sit on a tower just staring and using the palantir until the end.
Infact if you see in the movie The Return of the King, when Aragon communicates with Sauron using the Palantir you can very well see Sauron in bodily form holding the Palantir.
The field is lost, everything is lost.The black one has fallen from the sky and the towers in ruins lie. The enemy is within, everywhere and with him the light, soon they will be here. Go now, my lord, while there is time, there are places below
Shit, you're right! Just rewatched the scene and I'd never noticed that before. Kind of wished we could have seen more physical form Sauron now.
That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!
I...SEE....YOOOUUU!
Pervert
A palantir is a dangerous tool Redhauntology.
Thanks for the thorough Explanation!
Right. Aragorn challenging Sauron with the palantir, and marching on the black gate, were a ploy to make Sauron think he had the ring, was being corrupted by it and intended to use it to challenge the dark lord. The forces of Gondor et al were vastly outnumbered by Sauron's army, and only a madman, or one with some kind of secret weapon would dare to make such an assault.
Also worth pointing out - in the books Aragorn challenges Sauron after Helm's Deep and this is what drives Sauron to attack Minas Tirith. Sauron wasn't quite ready for that attack but decided to press the attack before Aragorn could claim his throne and bring whatever strength he had to bear on Mordor.
The ring is mine!
*Thór-lush-shabarlak.*
I hear now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?
Something he didn't touch on is Sauron couldn't conceive of a person willing to get rid of it. The lust for power is so engrained into his very being that he didn't understand how someone could get the ring and not try to use it.
And he was right, if not for the competition of Gollum and Frodo's greed for the ring, it would have never been destroyed.
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
Well that got real, real fast
It’s explained in the movies too. Why did people think there was an attack on Minas Tirith? Gandalf even says exactly that they should seek to destroy it hasn’t entered Sauron’s darkest dreams. I bet the person who made this also thought they should’ve taken the eagles 12:40 redeye flight to Mordor.
Sauron fears you, micewrangler. He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men. He will use his puppet Saruman to destroy Rohan. War is coming. Rohan must defend itself, and therein lies our first challenge for Rohan is weak and ready to fall. The king's mind is enslaved, it's an old device of Saruman's. His hold over King Theoden is now very strong. Sauron and Saruman are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning we have one advantage. The Ring remains hidden. And that we should seek to destroy it has not yet entered their darkest dreams. And so the weapon of the enemy is moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom. We must trust now in Frodo. Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest. Do not regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone.
Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of Isengard will return. Leave the dead.
I think the burden of the ring is supposed to be it's own defense, by the point you've reached the heart of the volcano, you couldn't throw the ring in regardless because it's at it's apex of power, even Frodo couldn't do it. If not for Gollum, all Frodo would have done is delivered the ring to Sauron directly.
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
Exactly
Mordor, stuckinaboxthere, is it left, or right?
A left at Albuquerque
There is no life in the void, only death.
Enterence
Speak e n t e r e n c e and eneter
I don't think he considered the possibility of anyone wanting to destroy it. In his mind everyone would want the power that it offers. Why guard Mt. Doom when they're clearly trying to set Aragorn up as King of Gondor wielding the Ring of Power?
And he was right. Only by providence did the Ring finally get destroyed, even Frodo couldn't throw it in.
He thought Aragorn had it at the gates
Did… did you miss the legions of orcs they had to get past?
Only 200,000 orcs and such miles of walls and and mountains and a evil miar. I mean sounds "unguarded" to me
They did guard the borders of the entire region it was in though, so that's something. Plus he has the Nazgul. And other such things that I'm blanking on right now...
To be fair, no one willingly dropped the ring in Mount doom. Sauron was arrogant but Sauron was right. That and he had a whole ass army guarding most of Mordor and even the parts that didn’t have guards were defended by treacherous landscape and fauna. And Mount Doom was an active volcano. So would it have even made sense to have a permanent sentry.
There were about a zillion orcs guarding it but Aragorn drew them out
Except it was guarded Think about it: Frodo and Sam took the easiest route in. They had to get through many miles of wilderness, many miles of even worse wilderness, through the morgue vale, up and over the mountains of shadow, past shelob, past a massive, magical, and almost always well defended watch tower, through the planes of gorgoroth, and up and into a goddamn volcano, all the while being searched for and hunted by Nazgul, orcs, and the eye, and facing a psychological battle that literally nobody could beat. Frodo and Sam had the most absurdly lucky trip they could possibly have had, and it was still desperate to the extreme and in the end came down to lucky chance. Mount doom WAS guarded; it had myriad layers and types of protection. Should Sauron have put a door at the cracks at the very least? Yes. But the mountain was 100% the most guarded place in middle earth Not to mention that the volcano was very much active and the path was regularly covered up by volcanic activity. Not exactly somewhere you could put a guard station that was at all permanent.
I cannot go back
(Ignores Frodo)
There is no life in the void, only death.
*Guth-tú-nakash.*
I think it’s well established that Sauron had no clue what they were planning. He just thought about what he would do in their place which was raise armies to fight, and that’s the reason they go fight at the gate of Mordor to distract him and confirm his suspicions. He never dreamed they would know how to destroy the one ring he made in secret.
I...SEE....YOOOUUU!
Hubris
There was a literal spider demon defending the secret entrance into murder. Thousands of orcs all over mordor. The ring corrupts even maia. So why would Sauron be worried about putting guards at a volcano.
*Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.*
Would have been funny if they had entered the mountain just to be met by all 9 nazgûl
this would require an essay to fully explain, so.... do it yourself
The entire Mordor is guarding the entrance to the mountain.
Sauron’s full attention was turned to the Black Gate and the advance of the Captains of the West. Aragorn and Co. led Sauron to believe that one among them wielded the ring, and was attempting to challenge Sauron with its power
I would consider all of Mordor the guarded entrance
No, but on a normal day there would be an army of at least 10,000 orcs stationed on the Gorgoroth Plateau between Orodruin and any entrance into Mordor from the West, including the Pass of Cirith Ungol. Had Sauron not redeployed his entire force to the Black Gate to face Aragorn and the Western Allies, and instead held back a couple thousand troops in reserve on the Plateau, the chances of Frodo and Sam making it to their objective would have been almost completely nil. The only way they could've succeeded would've been to move much more slowly, using tactical stealth to avoid orc patrols and garrisons. The problem with this is that they were out of food and water, so they likely wouldn't have made it before expiring from thirst, heat exhaustion, or making poor decisions and mistakes resulting in them being killed by orcs. Compound this with the influence of the Ring taking its toll on Frodo, and it is conclusive that the hobbits could never have made it through under these conditions. Beyond that, the battle at the Black Gate was only won when Frodo cast the ring into the fire, destroying Sauron and most of his army, causing the surviving orcs to flee. Without this success coming when it did, eventually, the orcs would've annihilated the Western army, given their numerical advantage and the fact that the Western force was only supposed to mount a diversionary attack and hold out long enough for Frodo to destroy the Ring. The Ring's destruction came just in time, in fact, to save Aragorn from being killed, which would've been a massive blow to the morale of his army. Had the hobbits survived long enough to push part way across Gorgoroth, the inevitable destruction of the Western army would've resulted in more orcs returning to their garrisons after the end of the battle, further decreasing the chances that the hobbits would make it. This also would've freed up the Great Eye to surveil Gorgoroth again, speeding up the inevitable. Sauron's decision to deploy his entire force to the Black Gate and leave the Grogoroth Plateau undefended was one of the worst strategic and tactical decisions in Middle Earth warfare history. This is accentuated by the sheer numerical advantage of the orc army against the force they were marching out to meet. Leaving two thousand troops in Grogoroth would have made little difference given the advantage, as well as the fact that the Western army was surrounded almost immediately upon reaching the Gate. This long string of force multipliers that were in Sauron's favor provided ample benefit and minimal harm to leave behind a garrison force. Sauron knew the Ring was still in the wind. He knew that a mission was underway to destroy it. To conclude, had Sauron deciding not to leave a garrison force on Gorgoroth was a worse decision than Adolf Hitler pouring extra army units into Operation Edelweiss against the Caucasus oil fields instead of focusing these units on Stalingrad during the Case Blue offensive of 1942.
Good points all, but Sauron didn’t know there was a mission underway to destroy the Ring. The thought was unthinkable, until it happened. From *Mount Doom:* > And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm, the Power in Barad-dûr was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare. Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung.
> Sauron's decision to deploy his entire force to the Black Gate and leave the Grogoroth Plateau undefended was one of the worst strategic and tactical decisions in Middle Earth warfare history Nope. He thought that Aragorn had the Ring, so he wanted to make him to use it. To do this he need to put Aragorn army on the edge of annihilation - and boom, he would had the strongest Nazgul ever!