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Day 18 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

If you wonder where prompts 16 and 17 are, no worry, they will appear later. I did this prompt out of order in the hope of achieving a fan art stamp for this challenge on SWG site! Those stamps are pretty addictive, and today's the last day of the Jubilee challenge.

Today's prompt: Fan Art/Fancast/Fanmix. Create fan art of your character.

I did! I was inspired to draw Mairon in his terrifying First Age form: Gorthaur, the Lieutenant of Morgoth.

You can find the fan art on the SWG site!

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Day 12 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Down Memory Lane, Part Two. Think about the rites of passage your character went through. These can be mundane things like learning to walk, their first kiss, or taking an exam; formal ceremonies like a coming-of-age ritual, graduation or wedding; or life-changing events. Which steps did your character take on the way to who they are?

According to Wikipedia, a rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a change of status in society. This definition in mind, I'll make a list of such events in Mairon's life.

1. Entering into Eä
Not all Ainur entered into the created universe, but Mairon was among those who did. (We never hear about those other Ainur). This connects him to the world in a fundamental level. It's an irreversible step and connects him to the Arda until the end of the world.

2. Joining Melkor
This is a step that changes Mairon's whole narrative, and turns him, previously the "golden boy" of the Ainur, an outcast and an enemy. He leaves his old life behind, severing all contact with those who were important to him. He never seems to regret his radical choice (unless briefly when meeting with Eönwë in the aftermath of the War of Wrath).

3. Leaving Melkor
This is another important milestone in Mairon's life. There is some debate on when this happens. Did he flee and hide from Melkor's scorn and wrath after Lúthien and Huan defeated Mairon in Tol-in-Gaurhoth, as some people think, or did he eventually return to Melkor so that they were only separated when Melkor was imprisoned in the War of Wrath? My personal headcanon is the latter option, but the text sources can really be read either way. In any case, after this step, Mairon starts to operate as an independent agent, instead of serving someone else. A big step for a Maia. It seems that this is also an extremely difficult step for him, for it takes hundreds of years for him to do anything worth mentioning.

4. Becoming Annatar
Mairon was a shapeshifter and master of disguise, but at this point, he tries something completely new: to maintain a disguise and a persona for hundreds of years in a hostile (for him) environment to achieve his goals. My headcanon, as a Silvergifting shipper, is that this period, and especially his relationship with Celebrimbor, involuntarily changed his character in ways he had not expected. I think that this was the time of his greatest personal development – first for the good, and then, for the worse. But the worse part is linked to the next, crucial step.

5. Creating the One Ring
I always read it so that the One Ring has a part of Mairon's spirit in it. The Ring is a part of him, and by creating it, he does something to himself, an alteration that can be seen as distortion and breaking of his psyche. He also becomes obsessed with his initial plan and loses his ability for empathy and love.

6. Losing his ability to take a fair form
Mairon's body was destroyed in the downfall of Númenor, but he fled in spirit. However, he was never able to take a beautiful form again. This must have hit him hard, for from this point on, he stopped calling himself Mairon. He knew he wasn't "the admirable one" anymore.

7. The Ring destroyed
Together with the Ring, the whole of Sauron's realm in Mordor collapsed and his weakened spirit was blown away. This can be seen as the ultimate death of the Maia once known as Mairon. It was the end – or was it? Some fans, and fanfic writers, don't think so, but continue his story even from here.

8. New life in Valinor
This is full headcanon and fanon territory, but some fanfic writers (myself included) like to think that Sauron's spirit survived the cataclysm. Most often, he ends in Valinor in some form or other (a spirit, a cat, an eldritch monster, or his previous admirable self). It's the time of new beginnings and second changes. Thankfully, Elves can be re-embodied, and the Door of Night may open some day.
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Day 11 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Drop Everything and Read, Part Two. Take at least a half-hour to read meta and scholarship written about your character.

My chosen reading was this paper:

Bourquein, Cameron (2024) "The Nameless Enemy: How Do You Solve a Problem Like “Mairon”?," Journal
of Tolkien Research: Vol. 20: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol20/iss2/3

I wanted to return to the previous theme of Sauron's original name from an academic view after writing my own musings down in the last prompt. As a casual Tolkien fan, I don't often read academic papers, but this paper was hugely interesting and thought-provoking, especially as I had just faced the question myself in a very fannish way.

I strongly recommend you to read the article yourself, but I want to point out the part of it which I found the most interesting: that the writer introduces several ways how Sauron is severed from his origins as Mairon, which thus becomes "a most marginal name", only found in an obscure comment by Tolkien, and is actively deleted in the histories in-universe.

I find it fascinating that in the fandom context, the fandom has happily adopted the name Mairon: this is how he's called in many fics and fan arts and headcanons. (Just like here in this blog.) I think this shows the marginal and transformative nature of fandom and certain fandom activities like fanfic writing.

I also found a list (by the author of the previous paper) of Tolkien scholarship related to Sauron, which I have now bookmarked:
A Sauron Bibliography (Part 1)
.

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Day 10 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: What's in a Name? Research the meaning of your character's name. Think about how that name fits the character but also what the name might more subtly imply about your character.


Ah, Mairon. He has perhaps more names than any other Tolkien character, and yet, I learned his original name only when I returned to fandom in 2020. Was I aware of it before? I don't think I was. Learning that he was called "the admirable one, precious", changed the whole perspective of seeing him as a character for me. Mairon was not a faceless villain – Sauron, the abhorred one – but a multidimensional character whom someone had once named "precious" - like other people, much later, named the One Ring that perhaps had a piece of his spirit inside.

Mairon - "the admirable" and Tar-Mairon "King excellent" were the names he preferred to use for himself, at least until the fall of Númenor. (See also my day 1 post on this). I think that the name Mairon suits him very well. It's related to the Quenya adjective maira that means admirable, excellent, precious, splendid, sublime [Source: Eldamo]. Some of these words sound like something you describe a beautiful object, some of them speak about great skill. Mairon had many skills (metal-craft and con-lang maker, shape-shifter, inspirer, singer and poet) and he was beautiful to look at if he wanted – until he lost the ability to take a beautiful form in the downfall of Númenor.
Tar-Mairon is how he wanted to be remembered, but the claim is wildly exaggerated. He never was an excellent ruler.

Sauron was how the Elves and other free peoples of Middle-earth called him, and it sounds like it is a distortion of the name Mairon. It is related to Quenya adjective saura, meaning cruel, evil, vile; stinking, foul; bad, unhealthy, ill, wretched [Eldamo]. This adjective is used to describe stinking, bad smelling things, and Tolkien had mentioned that the Maiar had a definite smell and for the evil spirits it was an unpleasant one. The name Sauron could be translated as "Stinky", then. Did the good-looking Maia of many skills become a stinky spirit in the end? That's what Tolkien seems to point at here. Many of these descriptive words sound more like food gone bad than something formidable and scary. Even his villain-name has more ambiguity than being a simple villain. For all we know, he could be a piece of excellent cheese gone moldy.

Linguistic source: Eldamo

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The Cunning God: Loki’s similarities with Mairon

 

Again, this post includes personal and fannish interpretations on the characters.

 

Mairon, like Loki, has many names. He is known as Gorthaur, Annatar, the Necromancer, and of course, Sauron. His original name Mairon means the Admirable One, either because of his good looks or his excellent skills in crafting and making. In Prose Edda, Loki is also described as pleasing and handsome in appearance. His cunning nature and an ability to create tricks for every purpose are also noted. Both Mairon and Loki are clever beings who offer their help to others – for a variety of motives. Both of them are willing and able to construct an elaborate plot to get what they want.

 

Early in the history of Arda, Mairon left the home of the Ainur and joined forces with Melkor who had already become the enemy of the Valar. Loki stayed in Asgard longer and only during Ragnarök he joined the opposing forces. Mairon becomes the lieutenant of Melkor and fights for him in many wars of Middle-earth, whereas Loki takes fire giant Surtr’s side during Ragnarök and leads the army of jötunn (giants), monsters and the dead into battle.

 

Mairon doesn’t want to destroy Middle-earth, though. He wants to shape it according to his own ideas. Loki, too, enjoys wandering in Midgard, the realm of humans in Norse mythology, and in many tales, he helps its inhabitants to thrive. Only after a series of ill events he joins the destructive forces.

 

Both Mairon and Loki are often pictured as a good-looking male with flaming red hair, linked to the element fire. Loki’s transformational aspect is connected to a flame of a candle, or fire in a hearth. Mairon is linked to the creative fire of a forge.

 

Mairon and Loki are known shapeshifters; they can change their appearance at will or become different animals. Mairon is known to become a (were)wolf and a bat. Loki in lore has taken the shape of a fly, salmon, and a mare for example. Usually they both use shape-shifting as a means to an end. Mairon is able to fly as a bat. Loki can fly with his sky-walker shoes or by borrowing Freyja’s hawk-feather cloak. In the end, both of them lose their shape-shifting abilities. Mairon loses this ability partially after the fall of Númenor and totally after losing the One Ring. Loki is not able to transform himself anymore when the Æsir capture him and bind him underground.

 

Loki is not hesitant to change his gender or to use seduction as his weapon to achieve the wanted result. He happily dresses as a bridesmaid and plays the role 100% if the task needs it. As a mare, Loki seduces a magical stallion in order to prevent a disaster in Asgard. As a result of this short affair, Loki becomes pregnant and gives birth to an eight-legged horse Sleipnir. It is hinted that this is not even the only time he gives birth. Mairon in fanon is also heavily genderfluid. There are fan fics where Mairon becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child with uncommon traits.

 

Both Mairon and Loki are described as sexually attractive and often using seduction. Loki is said to have slept with everyone in Asgard. In fanon, Mairon is most often shipped with Melkor or Celebrimbor, but also with various others, and seduction is often present at some point in his relationships.

 

Loki is a father of three monstrous children with his jötunn lover Angrboda. One of these is a giant wolf Fenrir. In the First Age, Mairon lived on an island called Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves where he bred werewolves for his army. Sauron’s messenger Thuringwethil (“woman of secret shadow”) who lives there reminds somewhat of Fenrir’s half-corpse sister Hel.

 

Loki is skilled in crafting; he is said to be the creator of the fishing net – a crucial invention in ancient times. His trademark is creating solutions to problems (which he may or may not have caused himself). He can also enhance the creativity of others. Spiritually he is often connected with creative fire. Many of the most valuable tools and weapons of the Æsir are courtesy of Loki. Loki’s interaction with the Svartálfar, the best smiths of the nine worlds, leads to the manufacture of those treasures – with some deception from Loki’s part. The Æsir are very happy with the end result, anyway, and Loki deserves a byname “Bringer of Gifts”.

 

Mairon, too, is extremely skilled in crafting and making. He’s connected to the forge fire. He used the name Annatar, “Lord of Gifts” while living with the Elven-smiths of Eregion and enforcing their creativity, inspiring them to create the Rings of Power – with some deception included.

 

As the Lord of the Rings, Mairon has a powerful rival in Gandalf who, like Mairon, is a Maia. Gandalf and Odin (especially in his wanderer aspect) share many characteristics, and Gandalf’s fight to end Sauron’s dominion is not far from Odin’s desperate efforts to prevent Ragnarök where Loki has a major role in the opposing side.

 

At first glance Loki’s trickster aspect is not prominent in Mairon’s character, but I think we can see glimpses of it. Mairon is said to laugh at his own tricks, which is shown especially malevolently during the downfall of Númenor. However, it may be that by the Elf-smith Celebrimbor’s influence Mairon’s trickster traits become apparent. In my personal view, Celebrimbor enhances Mairon’s latent trickster attributes, which is sometimes seen in their fanon portrayals. I can imagine various pranks they must have made together. In Eregion, Mairon could have chosen a different path and evolved into a trickster figure, but sadly, it didn’t go like this in canon. Still, based on Mairon’s other similarities with Loki, I dare to think there is potential for a different story.

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