Cool! Great vignette!

A drabble from Sauron's POV! That's awesome! You did a great job - I really enjoyed this!

I found that part too. It's something, to say the least. Chills.

Oh this has a potential sequel that I would really like to see written.
How does Sauron explain to Frodo his inability to get beyond that line...

I have read this so many freaking times I can't believe I never reviewed it. It's hard to read, in a way, because I've grown very fond of Sauron in the last few years, and this just tugs on something in my chest a little too hard.

The first time I read this, I had top pull The Fellowship off my shelf and reread that part. I had completely missed the word admirable until you'd written this. There is no way that word's presence in that line was coincidental, which makes this all the harder to read.

But it's the ending: "the last creation of one who could be called the admirable," that really gets me.

In my own head canon, his time in Eregion with Celebrimbor really was a time of possible redemption for him. He started fixing things, and for a while at least I think genuinely wanted to make the world as it was supposed to have been, to forget what he had become under Morgoth, make real friends, and not have to feel haunted by his reputation. I sort of imagine the One Ring was something he'd been considering, but hadn't gotten around to, (out of fear or a possible lack of necessity?) and he only wound up making it out retaliation when he and Celebrimbor had their falling out. He was so overwhelmed by fear and anger he didn't stop to consider his actions, or he didn't care, or didn't even realize (until far too late, if ever) that his incantation really did apply to everybody. It was as you said so perfectly, 'the final death-knell.'

It really was the last thing of beauty he made, and everything after its making stripped him of all that he was until he a shadow of himself. That single line sums up all the horrors he face between the Second and Third Ages so simply and beautifully. It makes me cringe every time I read this thing.

This is a beautiful piece. The emotions in it are palpable, and Sauron's struggle to read the book is portrayed well. I hate and love this piece. It's brilliantly insightful, but it causes too many feelings.

At some point I really do hope he can find it in himself to pick the book up again. I think his commentary on other parts of the story might be interesting. I'd be curious to see what he makes of Sméagol and the Hobbits' trek through Shelob's lair.

This is a wonderful piece. And I apologize for my earlier rambling.

Oh, that's brilliant! Really totally perfect. I love it.

Are there other stories in this universe?

Ha. Yeah, never noticed that before, but I know it will stick to my head now. Admirable. Frodo can be freakishly perceptive at times.

Oh my gosh, Skye, this was absolutely brilliant. Of your stories that I’ve read so far, I think this one tops at my favorite. I feel like I’ve been hit with a sledgehammer of revelation, but it feels absolutely delightful! Though I must say that I feel slightly jealous that you caught on to this fascinating tidbit when I had never noticed it before. But now I’m sitting here thinking: how in the world did that never pop out at me, with all the times I’ve read that passage? This was a beautiful, brilliant insight and I’m so glad you noticed it. It’s moments like these when I have this eerie feeling that the Professor really did simply translate the book, because this coincidence feels almost prophetic, like something that was Doomed to be, if you know what I mean :D I really, really believe at this moment that when Frodo wrote those words, it was Fate, along with his own connection to the Ring – after spending so much time with a part of Sauron’s essence, how could he not use the word of Sauron’s essence to describe it?

To start off with, the idea of Sauron reading the Red Book is beautiful in a sad sort of way in and of itself, as well as having that lovely tinge of sweet humor that your lighter stories often seem to have. I now desperately want to go off and read the “Fallen” universe to see how Sauron got in a position where he’d have the chance to read the Red Book, on top of wanting to catch up with the posted chapters of the sequel to “Redemption” that I’ve been watching you post chapters for and haven’t had time to start reading because of my grad classes. I could probably spend my entire Christmas break on a high from Sauron feels from all your stories, but I probably should stagger myself :)

It’s so wonderful seeing this Sauron, who has obviously experienced some level of healing and redemption at this stage, but he’s still very much himself, in the sweet, innocent way that your redeemed Mairon always is. I can clearly imagine our curious little Maia just having to take a peek in this book to see what Frodo wrote about him and what the story was like from his former enemies’ perspectives. And I loved the phrase “But the Maia was nothing if not stubborn” as that sums Sauron up exquisitely well in a darkly humorous way. I think that’s something that no one would dispute about him – with the amount of things that go wrong for him and the amount of times he gets beaten, he has a truly amazing sense of determination and persistence, much to the chagrin of his opponents. It’s something about him that you almost can’t help but admire, even when he’s awful and terrible.

Another thing I’ve always loved about Sauron is his sense of humor that we get brief glimpses of in Tolkien’s writing, even if the humor is decidedly dark when it shows itself. Even before I really came to know and love Sauron as I know and love him now, I always enjoyed the TTT passage about Sauron calling Shelob “his cat” as I found it a humorous glimpse into Sauron’s rather unique personality. In this light, I can see Sauron taking amusement in Bilbo’s prank and appreciating its humor and cleverness. I love the picture of your Sauron curled up with the Red Book snickering at all the silly little hobbits who are clueless about the Ring, while he knows *exactly* what’s coming!

However, after the initial humor, you move into an appropriately solemn and sad mood as Sauron moves into the second chapter. In a simple paragraph, in a few well-crafted sentences, you show us how painful this is for Sauron. I don’t know how long after his fall this is supposed to take place, but after what the Ring did to him, I can imagine it would be a long, long time before he’d heal from the damage done, if he ever is able to completely heal. Even though he wrote the Ringspell, the agony of being reminded about how, through that spell, that evil part of him enslaved all that still remained good in him at that point in his life has got to be overwhelming for him. I feel intensely for him in this paragraph, his pain, his sorrow, his loss, but I also admire him deeply for his resolve to work his way through it and face his former torment. The fact that he’s able to do that, I think, speaks volumes about the level of healing he has already found.

And then you bring out the sledgehammer. From just the summary, I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t anything as powerful as what it turned out to be. I’ve thought about Sauron a lot in the last 12 years and had a number of revelations about him myself, but this was a truly WOW moment for me. As I said above, somehow this had managed to slip past me all those years, and for a moment, I was like “wait – what, is that actually in there!” And I ran and opened up my copy of FOTR and found it and was like “OMG, this is AMAZING!” Thank you for opening up my eyes, Skye!

I think it’s easy to focus on the “precious” half of that sentence, since that’s such a key word in regards to the Ring throughout the entire trilogy. The innocuous other little word “admirable” is easy to skim right over. But of course Sauron wouldn’t skim over it, since what he’s seeing is actually his old name written there. You draw out that whole passage brilliantly – I can feel Sauron’s shock mingled with my own delighted surprise. His revelation dawns as a parallel to mine, as you lead us from the raw sentence step-by-step to his old name: Mairon. Like I said, it’s almost so significant that I can’t imagine it being anything other than some deep Doom set in the fabric of Arda.

It’s so ironic, darkly beautiful, and sad though, which you illustrate perfectly in the sentence: “That one word that formed the core of his old name, that innocent, laughing child who had died by slow degrees until the creation of the Ring had been the final death-knell?” It’s fairly recently (within the past two years) that I’ve really thought about Sauron as a victim of the Ring’s malevolence, just like any of the other Ring-bearers, inspired by Tolkien’s comments along those lines in both “The Unfinished Tales” and his letter that prefaces my copy of “The Silmarillion”. It’s just about enough to bring tears to my eyes, especially knowing the back story of your particular version of Sauron and the self-hatred and darkness that Melkor has inflicted upon him. The image of that last small bit of the beautiful, little child that was Mairon being destroyed in order to create the Ring I feel is true to Tolkien’s image, a truly tragic moment as this once-glorious, powerful being submits to the choking darkness that Morgoth poisoned his spirit with. And yet, as this story shows, not even the Ring was enough to *completely* destroy the good in Sauron – that is my enduring hope for him and I am delighted to see it played out here.

I love how you end it, with Sauron’s poignant observation. Leave it to Sauron to be the best to eloquently express such a complex and amazing revelation in such simple, yet beautiful language. It’s a melancholy moment – Sauron is clearly still hurting deeply – but it’s also a recognition of his own self-worth and self-admirableness, things he’s been deeply lacking since Morgoth destroyed him.
I just love stories like this, ones that open my eyes and give me a moment of revelation, and when it’s about Sauron, it’s even better. I seem to fall in love with him again every time I read one of your stories. This was an amazing experience, and I’m so glad you shared your insight. Hannon le and keep writing! Cheers!

-Sauron Gorthaur

That passage. OMFG. It's genius and awfully sad at the same time.

OMG this is so cute :) :) I now have to read fallen :) :)

This is the best thing since I realized what Gimli putting Galadriel's Silmaril-light hair in three crystals meant. And "maira" and "admirable" are pronounced the same... You're a genius! (Hey, also, read my story "Feanaro's Epic Fail".

Wow. This would've never even crossed my mind, but I'm so glad it did yours! It's so fascinating to read Sauron's thoughts on the Red Book even before he hits that one fatal word, and after, oh my goodness... This equates Sauron and the Ring in a completely new way, shows just how much of essence was truly a part of it.

Wonderrful!
-Crackers

I did not notice before but now... WOW. I have to wonder if JRRT wrote it like that intentionally or it was just coincidence.
I read Fallen some time ago and I liked it, so when I came across this, it cheered me up and intrigued. Even more intrigued I felt after reading. I enjoyed whole idea of Mairon studying Red book and how you described his thoughts. I had also some nostalgic feels. And then I reached that "admirable thing" and you amazed me. It is reason for thinking and makes me a bit grievous about what happened to Mairon.

This is amazing. I never caught the significance of Frodo's use of admirable before, and you have worked it into a great short story here.

nope nope nope can't handle this