Elrond is an exceptional leader and warrior. He's the only Elf that boasts relatives from ALL three of the original great Elven houses; Teleri, Noldor and Vanyar.
He literally has divinity in his blood.
Elrond spent most of the Second Age fighting Sauron's forces, it was through his leadership and might that a great many Elven refugees were able to find refuge or make safe passage to the Grey Havens.
It's important to note that Elrond's role changed over the millennia. As Sauron's power grew and the fighting capabilities of the Elves were diminished, Elrond likely surmised the best thing he could do for his people is establish the refuge of Rivendell. From here he could still offer guidance and leadership for the Elves, but he could also protect his ring of power from Sauron.
The War of the Last Alliance was thus named for a reason. It would be the last time the Elves would be able to muster in such strength that they could directly challenge Sauron.
By the time LOTR happens Elven strength in Middle Earth was essentially gone. Lothlorien and Mirkwood were the only two strongholds left with the strength to protect themselves from Sauron's attacks. But they could not hold out for much longer. Rivendell was never a stronghold, it was a refuge and the greatest weapon it had was it's secrecy, remaining hidden from Sauron.
Elrond played his part in LOTR, that of an Elven leader guiding the last of his people to the Grey Havens for their journey West. And where he could, providing council to those who still had a part to play in Middle Earth.
He may not have taken to the field of battle, but make no mistake, he was still a great leader in LOTR.
He knew that the Age of Men had dawned and the time of the Elves was over.
What did Sauron look like under his black armor and mask, or was there nothing underneath?
The big awful guy in black armor with a mace was Morgoth, not Sauron, and it is unclear to me why Peter Jackson chose to depict the latter as having the appearance of the former. I don’t believe there are any canonical descriptions by Tolkien himself describing Sauron as being clad in armor like that.
I always figured he looked pretty much the same as Annatar, but with flame and shadow bursting out from within. Annatar, but with a Balrog inside of him that he could not fully conceal anymore, constantly bulging out from cracks in the exterior, and possessed of a terrible gaze that could make flowers wilt. Sauron the fallen angel, unable to affect a non-menacing form, and what do you call a fallen Maia who can’t appear fair? Why, a Balrog of course… but Tolkien described his final form as a very tall man, very terrible to behold. So somewhere between Annatar the prettyboy and a demon of fire and shadow. Beautiful but horrific at the same time. The burning within was why he always ended up scorching to death those who grappled with him (that business where he roasts people just by grabbing them is the “evidence” for my theory that post-Annatar Sauron had undergone quasi-Balrogization, or more accurately could no longer fully conceal the de facto Balrog {fallen angel; i.e., Sauron himself} that had always been within him).
…with this trapped right inside the above veneer, with its flames and shadows ripping through here and there:
Just an idea.
I have no hate for Peter Jackson— but his concept crew didn’t really understand who it seemed they were making. While I find armored Sauron cool, I cannot grasp it being Sauron, rather I grasp it being Morgoth. You’ll notice how obvious they look alike.
Sauron in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
A close to the accurate illustration of Morgoth
Sauron never even was considered to wear any black armor or mask in the books. Morgoth had an iron crown and was clad in black armor. So it’s actually kinda funny that the Sauron you see in the movies is actually more close to what Morgoth would look like.
As for Sauron himself, he did have a physical form in the main books. It’s just that it’s subtle, threw the dialogue of Smeagol/Gollum, confirmed Sauron had a physical incarnation. As for what his appearance is like?
Third-age Sauron, although the first image could attribute to Second-age as well
He should be more terrible than anyone else in Middle-earth at the time of the War of the Ring. He never was once described as having armor. Even then… I doubt it would be close to appearing similarily to Morgoth.
First-age Sauron’s terrible form probably was a warped version of his own original beautiful one. Like this.
Gorthaur the Cruel
I like the Sauron design in the movies… but PJ should’ve done his research better. I mean the Balrog also looked different despite having a badass design in the movies. The book version? Well they are all considered to have a form of shadow and fire…. I feel like the image they put in the movie was far more accurate to what the Balrog would look like.
Looks more ethereal and demonic and less monstrous and “natural”. A Balrog should never look like a monster of natural shape and design… it’s a demon of shadow and flame and terror. Much like how Sauron should never look like a giant metal monster, rather a supernatural cryptid entity.
In the movie universe, it may be a reasonable assumption that Sauron always wears full-body armor to hide his ugly physical shape post-Númenor. (Then again, he is also shown wearing the same armor when forging the One Ring, which was before he lost the ability to form handsome bodies. Just heat insulation in that case, perhaps? It’s HOT inside Mount Doom …)
Yeah, coolest helmet since Darth Vader, we can all agree on that.
In the literary universe, it is not quite certain that Sauron wore any armor when he went out to fight Elendil and Gil-galad. Isildur in his scroll describes how Sauron’s hand was black and yet burned like fire (“and so Gil-galad was destroyed”), seemingly implying that Sauron’s skin was visible, at least on his hands.
Although it is unknown what he truly looked like under his armor after the fall of Númenor, it his stated that after he no longer had the ability to use his fair form, Sauron resembled a being or pure darkness, horror, and malice.
“Sauron was not of mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape in which he had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear fair to the eyes of Men……..dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure.”
Gandalf when quoting Isildur from his diary also describes Sauron as having a black burning hand that he used to incinerate Gil-galad
“Sauron's hand, which was black and yet burned like fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed; “
It is also stated that Mordor represented Sauron and could hint that Sauron would embody Mordor’s appearance, incinerated and ash filled skin with burning heat emitting from him.