The first and greatest of the Dark Lords, originally the mightiest of the Ainur - the angelic beings who shaped the world. Morgoth's desire to dominate and create according to his own will led him to rebel against Ilúvatar, corrupt the works of his fellow Ainur, and wage war against the Elves and Men of Middle-earth for millennia. Sauron was merely his greatest servant. Morgoth is the source of all evil in Tolkien's mythology - the original fall from grace.

The Dark Lord of Mordor, a fallen Maia who served the original Dark Lord Morgoth in the First Age and rose to become the greatest threat to Middle-earth in his own right. Sauron forged the One Ring to dominate all other rings of power and bend their bearers to his will. Defeated at the end of the Second Age when Isildur cut the Ring from his hand, Sauron has spent three thousand years slowly rebuilding his strength. He is a presence rather than a character in The Lord of the Rings - felt in every shadow, every temptation, every corruption of the Ring - but never seen face to face.