35 How could Ar-Pharazon of Numenor defeat Sauron while Sauron wielded the One Ring? (Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien FAQ, by William D.B. Loos loos@hudce.harvard.edu with numerous contributions by others.
35 How could Ar-Pharazon of Numenor defeat Sauron while Sauron wielded the One Ring? (Tolkien)
He did not actually defeat Sauron himself. The invasion fleet of the
Numenoreans was so powerful that Sauron's *armies* deserted him. Sauron
merely pretended to humble himself; to be carried back to Numenor as a
supposed hostage was exactly what he wanted. His plan was to weaken Numenor
as a war power by maneuvering them into sending a fleet to attack Valinor,
where it would presumably be destroyed.
He succeeded up to a point, but the result was disastrously more violent
than he foresaw, and he was caught in the Fall of Numenor. Only his physical
body perished since by nature he was of the spiritual order. Tolkien: "That
Sauron was not himself destroyed in the anger of the One is not my fault: the
problem of evil, and its apparent toleration, is a permanent one for all who
concern themselves with our world. The indestructibility of *spirits* with
free wills, even by the Creator of them, is also an inevitable feature, if
one either believes in their existence, or feigns it in a story."
(Letters, p. 280).
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