Sauron (Animated Films)

NOTE: This article is only for the Ralph Bakshi and Rankin-Bass versions of Sauron as the implied version of Sauron from Gene Deitch's short film was not voted as Inconsistently Heinous, thus only the Ralph Bakshi and Rankin-Bass versions of Sauron's info and crimes must be put here.

Inconsistently Heinous

Full Name

Mairon

Alias

Dark Lord Sauron

Dark Lord of Mordor
The Ring-Maker
The Dark One
The Dark Power
The Dark Lord
Lord of Mordor
Lord of Barad-dûr
Lord of the Black Land
The Lord of the Rings

Origin

Middle-earth

Allies

No information

Powers / Skills

Dark magic

Control over the One Ring
Command over vast armies and many servants
Immortality
Leadership
Mind control
Genius-level intelligence
Corruption
Manipulation
Corruptive influence
Deception
Intimidation
Charisma

Goals

Find and reclaim the lost One Ring to regain his former power.
Enslave the races of Men and Elves.
Conquer and rule all of Arda forever in eternal darkness and have dominion over all life.
Ralph Bakshi
Destroy the Men and Elves in the Battle of The Last Alliance (failed).
Corrupt and rule over Middle-earth through the Rings of Power (partially succeeded).
Rankin-Bass
Destroy Aragorn and Gandalf's forces at the Battle of The Black Gate (all failed).

Worst Actions

Attempting to conquer all of Middle-earth

Kill Count

Thousands

Crimes

Mass murder
War crimes
Ecocide
Psychological torment
Brainwashing
Usage of dark magic
High treason
Torture
Conspiracy
Spiritual corruption
Mass enslavement
Grand theft animarum
Mass destruction
Abuse of power
Forgery
Mutilation
Defilement
Mind breaking
Pollution
Animal cruelty

Type of IH

Unseen Warlord

“	Long ago, in the early years of the Second Age, the great Elven-smiths forged rings of power. Nine for mortal men, seven for the Dwarf lords, three for the tall Elf Kings. But then, the dark lord learned the craft of ring making and made the Master Ring, the one ring to rule them all. With the One Ring, Middle-Earth is his, and he cannot not be overcome. As the last alliance of men and Elves fell beneath his power, he did not notice the heroic shadow who slipped in. It was Prince Isildur, of the mighty Kings from across the sea, who took the ring. But because he did not destroy it, the spirit of the dark lord lived on, and began to take shape and grow again. But the ring had a will of its own, and a way of slipping from one hand to be found by another, so that it might at last get back to its master. And there, the ring lay at the bottom of the great river Anduin for thousands of years. During those years, the dark lord captured the nine rings that were made for men and turned their owners into the Ringwraiths. Terrible shadows, under his great Shadow, who roamed the world... searching for the One Ring. In time, the Ring was found. Two friends were fishing in the great river one day.	„
	~ The opening narration of Ralph Bakshi's 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings

Sauron is the main antagonist of the animated Middle-earth film series. He is the overarching antagonist of Rankin-Bass's 1977 adaptation of The Hobbit and the main antagonist of their 1980 adaptation of The Return of the King (also the name of Part III of the novel The Lord of the Rings) and the main antagonist of Ralph Bakshi's 1978 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

His Evil Ranking[]

What Makes Him Heinous?[]

Rankin-Bass[]

Sends the Lord of the Nazgûl to lead an army to destroy the kingdom of Gondor. However, the invasion is thwarted.
His actions led to the deaths of King Théoden and many more in the invasion.
The people of Gondor and Rohan, lead by Aragorn and Gandalf, go to Mordor to distract Sauron from Frodo, who was attempting to destroy the One Ring by throwing it into Mount Doom.
Has his forces try to destroy the people of Gondor and Rohan in the Battle of the Black Gate. However, Frodo succeeds when Gollum bites off Frodo's finger that the One Ring was on and falls into Mount Doom itself.

Ralph Bakshi[]

Forges the "master ring" to gain control over the 19 others.
He corrupts 9 Men into Nazgûl using 9 rings.
Wages war upon the Elves and Men, only for Prince Isildur to chop off his finger
The ring goes to Smeagol and Deagol who fight over it, leading to Deagol getting killed and Smeagol escaping to the mountains to hide. Eventually, Bilbo steals the ring from Smeagol, now known as Gollum, thousands of years later.
Decades later, Bilbo has his 111th birthday party and passes down the One Ring to Frodo. Gandalf reveals to Frodo that the ring is Sauron's and that the ring was corrupting Bilbo.
Gandalf has Sam and Frodo go on a journey to Mordor to destroy the ring while Gandalf himself goes to Saruman for council where it's revealed Saruman has become corrupted into a Pure Evil by Sauron.
His actions led to Saruman attempting to conquer all of Middle-earth, including Sauron himself, starting with the people of Rohan.
The film ends with the Battle of Helm's Deep and no sequel to the film was made, leading Sauron and Saruman to get away with all their crimes.

What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]

In both continuities, Lord Sauron is the ultimate textbook example of the "Generic Doomsday Villain" incarnate. In both films, he does not have a single line of dialogue, he barely appears on-screen at any given time, and his reasoning for wanting to subjugate everyone is never made known at all. In fact, the only thing that implies him to be a man instead of an eldritch beast is him forging the One Ring in the prologue of Ralph Bakshi's film, and even this is only shown for a total of four seconds. Furthermore, the Eye of Sauron in Rankin-Bass canon has less than thirty seconds of screen time.