The Hidden Meaning of the Eye of Sauron

A Deep Dive of Middle-Earth's Greatest Villain

Few villains in modern literature are as haunting, yet theologically rich, as Sauron. To this day, the fiery red eye from the Peter Jackson films has seared itself into the imagination of popular culture.

Though that literal eye was a cinematic invention, the idea of the Eye of Sauron comes straight from Tolkien himself. It not only explains why Sauron remains such a memorable villain, but also reveals an entire new depth to The Lord of the Rings that the films could never show.

Today, we’ll discuss the Eye of Sauron, to reveal the depths of Middle Earth’s greatest villain, and what it takes to defeat such spiritual evils.

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A Fallen Angel

First, let’s touch briefly on Sauron’s origins.

For those unfamiliar, Lord of the Rings is just the tip of the iceberg of Tolkien’s mythology. The full scope of his lore consists of over a dozen volumes that took decades of writing between Tolkien, and his son after his death.

Without getting too lost into the weeds, Sauron basically originated as a “maia,” (angel) created by Eru who is the almighty God of Tolkien’s universe. He was originally virtuous, but was corrupted by Melkor (Satan), and became a demon. As a demon, he sought to conquer and rule over Middle Earth.

Here’s Tolkien’s explanation of Sauron’s motives:

“Sauron represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible. He had gone the way of all tyrants: beginning well, at least on the level that while desiring to order all things according to his own wisdom he still at first considered the (economic) well-being of other inhabitants of the Earth. But he went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination, being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit.”

So Sauron’s evil is a God-complex out of a corrupted sense of Goodness.

When Sauron first rebelled, he believed his rule would bring order and make the world a better place. Yet in rebelling against God — out of a desire to become God — his spirit was deformed into evil itself. By the time he appears in The Lord of the Rings, his soul has been corrupted for millennia, now consumed by a will that seeks only death, ruin, and the damnation of Middle-earth.

In this lens, Sauron is quite literally Satanic. Yet his evil goes far deeper than what meets the eye (pun intended).

The Evil Eye

Remember, by the time we get to Lord of the Rings, Sauron had morphed his soul into the ring of power.

Though his body was destroyed in battle, his spirit lives on in the form of an eye. Hence, the “eye of Sauron,” is a demonic spirit that desires the ring of power, so Sauron can physically return and conquer Middle Earth.

In Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien describes the eye:

“The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will. It strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable.”

The imagery deepens when we consider the etymology of his name: Sauron derives from the Greek sauros, meaning “lizard.” So the Eye of Sauron is the Eye of the Lizard, or Serpent.

I’m sure you can see what Tolkien is doing here:

His villain is the “eye of the Serpent,” a fallen angel turned demon, striving to pierce, penetrate, and crush all creation under his will. It’s the psychology of Satan himself.

Tolkien confirms this, stating Sauron is the greatest evil in existence:

“I do not think there is such a thing as [absolute evil], since that is Zero… but Sauron represents as near an approach to wholly evil as is possible.”

Following St. Augustine, Tolkien portrays evil as a corruption of goodness, not an independent force. Absolute evil is nonbeing; the greatest conceivable evil is that which perverts and consumes all it touches. Sauron embodies this corruption incarnate: a demonic will whose sole purpose is to dominate and destroy…

And such is why the Eye of Sauron haunts popular imagination to this very day…

How can you possibly defeat such evil?

Tolkien’s answer is surprising, if not counterintuitive. He says there’s only one path to defeating this bottomless abyss of corruption.

To see it, we must turn to the humble hobbit chosen to bear the Ring of Power. It’s only through Tolkien’s writing that we get a full appreciation of Frodo, and discover why his heroism is the only path to defeating evil incarnate.