Every character in The Lord of the Rings has an origin story. From Galadriel to Elrond, Gandalf to Treebeard. Thanks to the richness of the Tolkien universe, fans have the luxury of combing through their favorite character’s history to find out what makes them tick, what motivates them, where they’re from, and where the allegiances lie. The same can be said for Sauron (a.k.a. the Dark Lord, Gorthaur the Cruel) who didn’t start out as an eyeball in a tower. He even once took physical form (an attractive one at that) and used his talents for manipulation and seduction to usher in some of the most devastating events on Middle Earth.