Surrender after the War of Wrath by Uvatha the Horseman

Vanished

Sauron means to return to Valinor and stand trial, but keeps putting it off.

Vanished

Eregion, SA 1300

When he left Eönwë’s tent, he intended to seek out Manwë as quickly as possible. He practiced what he would say to Manwë, and to Aulë, when he saw them. He thought about his old home, and how it would be nice to be back.

He was exhausted, and didn’t leave for Valinor that first night. Over the next few days, he was so overcome with grief for Melkor, for everyone who fell in the War, he just sat and stared into space. For a time, he felt stunned, and was unable to make decisions.

A day at a time, he put off leaving. Eönwë’s camp pulled up and moved away. Eventually, he’d delayed so long, it started to be embarrassing.

He thought about the trial. He dreaded stepping into the Circle of Doom to answer charges and speak in his own defense. He hated being judged, and he was very afraid of being humiliated.

Would he have to renounce Melkor? He loved Melkor. He let him down in battle. He didn’t want to make it worse by recanting his allegiance, too.

Manwë would decide his guilt or innocence. Manwë was forgiving and kind, but his judgment would be fair rather than merciful. Mairon dreaded the moment at the end of the trial when the sentence was pronounced.

And then they would decide how he should be punished. They would debate the length of the prison term and the harshness of the conditions, while he stood there with his hands clasped in front of him, his eyes on the floor.

And when he finally emerged from prison and rejoined Aulë’s people, it would be as the lowest member of the household. He would be little more than a serf or thrall, assigned the tasks that no one else wanted. He was proud, and although he was able to humble himself when he had to, he couldn’t keep it up for very long.

And he was angry. He was so angry for what they’d done to Melkor. He couldn’t forgive the host of Valinor.

The Host of Valinor were gone. Beleriand collapsed into the sea. Arda was left in shambles. Why didn’t they stay and repair the damage from the war? He began to do it himself, to the extent that he could, and felt resentful that no one was helping him.

It occurred to him that, instead of rotting in a prison cell, he could atone just as well by doing anonymous good works. Besides, it served no purpose to lock up someone with his intelligence and energy, not when he was needed here.

He went into the East, where he helped primitive hunter-gathers learn to farm, and taught them to smelt ore into simple tools for cultivation. He taught letters and writing to people in a simple fishing village, and taught them to sing praises to Ilúvatar.

A life of anonymous good works was a quiet life, and a hard one. He was often bored. He regretted he couldn’t talk about his past, or let anyone get too close to him.

Twelve hundred years after the War of Wrath, he came west to Eregion and joined the Workshop of the Jewel smiths. Finally, he was in his element. He taught the most gifted among them everything that Aulë had taught him.

But it turned out that in the Workshop of the Jewel smiths, he as much the student as the teacher. In all his years of doing anonymous good works, that had never happened before.

The Elven Smiths were planning to do something that had never been done before. They wanted to forge rings that magnify one’s own natural abilities, and use them to prevent the decay of the beautiful things they loved. Such a project would never have occurred to him on his own, but he thought he might be able to help.