Dark, imposing, devious, powerful beyond measure, Sauron is evil personified in the Lord of the Rings universe. He is the pinnacle of villainy in the Lord of the Rings tale. This is one of the main reasons why The Lord of the Rings is considered the pinnacle of epic fantasy storytelling. But he's not an overly complex villain, with morally gray motivations that, some will argue, are necessary if an evil character, especially the central character, is to be seen as important and beneficial to the plot. But the genius of Sauron's villain lies in his lack of complex reasoning or motivations that could be considered not entirely evil. His only goal is to destroy the world of men. We cannot reason with him or sympathize with him, and this explains this insatiable, all-powerful and purely destructive nature of his villainy so vital to the Lord of the Rings. Sauron and his purely evil nature are the constant against which each protagonist relies and is tested, and the podium on which Tolkien presents the character growth of this novel's many protagonists from the beginning of the story until the end. Everything Tolkien uses to describe Sauron defines him as this massive, untouchable power that is unlikely to be defeated, if at all. It's no mistake that the story begins in the lush, innocent Shire, where innocent hobbits frolic without a care in the world, while Sauron is in Mordor, almost anywhere in the world. This immediately defines him in the reader's head as an almost God-like entity in an untouchable place. So, when Gandalf informs Frodo what exactly the Ring that Uncle Bilbo gave him is, it is that it is "the Master Ring, the One Ring to rule them all" and who it belongs to, the n.... . in the middle of the paper... in his hands, and a light surrounded him. "Aragorn is just one example of a protagonist who changes from the beginning to the end of the story, and everyone improves in their own way. Whether it's Legolas and Gimli's friendship which flourishes even though one is an elf while the other is a dwarf, or of Faramir's ability to accept himself, despite his father's approval of Boromir, there are dozens of characters who change When. your villain is one-dimensional, it provides you with a basis to change your other characters effectively and efficiently Without the danger that Sauron poses to the entire world and the evil that extends to many different people and places, affecting them all, Tolkien would not have been able to create such depth of character in so many characters in such an organic and natural way, and this is what makes his nature vital to the story as a whole.