1 On Sauron’s Power Or on how Sauron wanted to rule them all Marco Mazzocca, Ph.D. University of Trento, Italy Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia (Final version published in Hither Shore, 18: (2021), 85–96) On Sauron’s Nature One of the most emblematic and, in a sense, mysterious characters of Arda is undoubtedly Sauron. Although he infrequently directly appears in Tolkien's tales, rumors, whispers, legends, old stories, and new signs of his rise appear everywhere in the Middle-earth of the third era. As Curren pointed out, “what makes Sauron such a grand enemy and still one of the most sinister antagonists in English literature is the fact that readers never actually see him; he is always alluded to, always feared, and yet never physically present” (Van Curren 2020, 6). From the very beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, one can feel the dread and sense of watchfulness generated by the Dark Lord in some of the characters of the saga. Indeed, someone might even go so far as to suggest that such a sense of disquiet and dread might derive from his Maiar nature. One might, in other words, think that the influence of Sauron over other creatures of Middle-earth derives from his semi-divine nature. This paper is based on a talk with the same title delivered at the Tolkien Seminar held at the University of Marbug (D), in October 2021. I am thankful to the organizer of the conference, Thomas Fornet-Ponse, for inviting me to collectmy thoughts on the topic and to the conference participants for their constructive feedback. The present versionhas been edited for publication and has further benefited from the reports of anonymous referees but retains the informal style of the original talks.