It was rare to find a description of Sauron fighting someone directly in The Lord of the Rings, but there were a few characters to claim this dubious honor. Most of the fighting Sauron did in Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was made up by the show, including Sauron’s fight with Galadriel. Meanwhile, watching the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, where Sauron is a giant, ghostly eye, it is easy to imagine that Sauron never fought anyone in person at all. The truth that Tolkien laid out is more complex.

High fantasy creator J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in his lifetime, referring distantly to some of the stories that saw Sauron fight in single combat. It was only after he passed away that his son, Christopher, published his father’s wider legendarium in The Silmarillion, and subsequently the 12-volume The History of Middle-earth. In these books, Sauron directed battles, joined battles, and every once in a while, faced named characters of extraordinary talents in critical duels to the death, proving himself as one of Middle-earth’s most powerful beings.

Finrod Felagund, The Brother Of Galadriel

First Age

Galadriel fought Sauron in The Rings of Power season 2 finale, but it was her brother who fought him in the legendarium in the First Age. Although, Finrod can actually be seen in The Rings of Power carrying the wounds that he died with canonically, lying sadly dead as Galadriel stands over him. So, the show appears to honor Finrod’s Sauron duel, as well as inventing a Galadriel duel for good measure.

In The Silmarillion, Finrod Felagund went undercover to Sauron’s fortress, Tol-in-Gaurhoth, with a band of Elves. They were unfortunately discovered, resulting in a magic standoff between Sauron and Finrod, during which “Felagund strove with Sauron in songs of power.” Songs were more than just music in The Lord of the Rings, with the Music of the Ainur visualizing the whole world at the start of time.

Tolkien never finished “The Lay of Leithian,” but it can be read in The Lays of Beleriand.

In a meta twist, appropriately, The Silmarillion gives detail of the song duel in poem form, providing a snippet of “The Lay of Leithian,” an in-universe Elvish poem of great renown. Losing the duel, “Finrod fell before the throne,” and was imprisoned, fighting a werewolf to save Beren’s life but losing his own life in the process. This explains the scratches on Galadriel’s dead brother in Rings of Power.

Lúthien, The Elf Princess

First Age

Finrod wasn’t the only Elf to face Sauron in single combat in the First Age; Elf princess Lúthien also did. Technically, Lúthien was only half-Elf, also half-Maia, as the daughter of Melian the Maia and King Thingol of Doriath. Sauron was a Maia, meaning Lúthien was arguably even more equipped to fight Sauron than Finrod, possessing blood of the same magical race. Lúthien featured in the same story as Finrod – Lúthien went to Tol-in-Gaurhoth to rescue Beren, who was with Finrod.

Tolkienian Age
Event Marking The Start
Years
Total Length In Solar Years

Before time
Indeterminate
Indeterminate
Indeterminate

Days before Days
The Ainur entered Eä
1 – 3,500 Valian Years
33,537

Pre-First Age Years of the Trees (Y.T.)
Yavanna created the Two Trees
Y.T. 1 – 1050
10,061

First Age (F.A.)
Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
Y.T. 1050 – Y.T. 1500, F.A. 1 – 590
4,902

Second Age (S.A.)
The War of Wrath ended
S.A. 1 – 3441
3,441

Third Age (T.A.)
The Last Alliance defeated Sauron
T.A. 1 – 3021
3,021

Fourth Age (Fo.A)
Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, Elrond, & Galadriel sailed to Valinor
Fo.A 1 – unknown
Unknown

Lúthien, as well as Finrod, weaponized magic song, weakening the fortress when she arrived. But Sauron’s werewolf kindred answered, coming to meet her. Sauron was, in fact, Lord of Werewolves, and Tol-in-Gaurhoth was the Isle of Werewolves. Luckily, Lúthien had her trusty dog to help her, and he faced the werewolves sent by Sauron. Eventually, Sauron himself came out and lunged at Lúthien, but she managed to best him with Maia magic.

Lúthien’s dog was no ordinary dog but was rather a semi-divine wolfhound called Huan.

Only momentarily, Lúthien flung her magic cloak out between herself and Sauron, sending him into a drowsy state that paused him briefly. Lúthien would have lost this fight sorely had her dog not attacked Sauron while he was sleepy, but she still faced him one-on-one and lived to tell the tale, emerging triumphant, which is certainly more than any other Elf, Man, or Dwarf (bar Finrod) can say.

Huan, The Hound Of Valinor

First Age

After Lúthien temporarily stunned Sauron with her sleep spell, Huan assaulted Sauron and won the fight. Huan, the Hound of Valinor, was originally a gift to Elves from one of the 15 Valar – Tolkien’s demigods. Huan was a huge, super-powered wolfhound, and good-natured to boot. Given by the Vala Oromë to the Elf Celegorm, Huan quickly detected Lúthien’s moral superiority and ditched Celegorm for her.

Huan is one of only three people in all of Arda… confirmed by Tolkien to face Sauron in person alone for any more than a minute.

Out of every single race and species, Huan is one of only three people in all of Arda – the world Middle-earth is situated in – confirmed by Tolkien to face Sauron in person alone for any more than a minute. Since Sauron went to battle himself on a few occasions, he would have fought more people than just this, but their names never made it into Elvish lore, so their resistance of Sauron, momentary or not, was lost to the mists of time.

Huan’s victory was decisive and was polished off nicely by his master, Lúthien. Somewhat extraordinarily, Sauron tackled this fight as a giant, terrifying wolf – as befit the Lord of Werewolves. This dog fight, described at length in “The Lay of Leithian,” ended with Huan’s teeth around Sauron’s neck and Lúthien offering Sauron the choice between the death of his body and facing Morgoth’s wrath disembodied, or the surrender of his fortress. Tellingly, he chose surrender.

Celebrimbor, The Lord Of Eregion

Second Age

Along with Finrod and Huan, Celebrimbor was the third and final person described by J.R.R. Tolkien to face Sauron alone and in person, and even this was only described in an apocryphal Tolkien story buried in Unfinished Tales. Like The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth, Unfinished Tales was compiled of stories that Tolkien never published while alive, but some were decidedly quite finished, whereas others weren’t.

“Celebrimbor, desperate, himself withstood Sauron on the steps of the great door of the Mírdain” in “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn.” This was a fight that Celebrimbor lost completely. Sauron grappled him and tortured him for information on the whereabouts of the Rings of Power that they had forged together. Tolkien didn’t describe the exact process of Celebrimbor’s gruesome death, but Celebrimbor died shot full of arrows and carried by Sauron into battle as a banner.

Saint Sebastian was an early Christian Saint and martyr who died shot full of arrows, and it may be the case that J.R.R. Tolkien had that in mind while writing Celebrimbor. Regardless, Celebrimbor’s work as a smith and an enemy of Sauron was thankfully never forgotten in the lore of the Elvish Eldar. The Rings of Power season 2 showed Celebrimbor’s death in faithfully horrifying detail.

Elendil, The King Of The Dúnedain

Second Age

In “Of The Rings Of Power and The Third Age,” the final story in The Silmarillion, Elendil saw to Sauron’s defeat in the Second Age. This king among kings proved his valor by fighting Sauron face-to-face on the slopes of Mordor itself. It wasn’t detailed whether Celebrimbor fought armed or not, whereas Finrod used spells against Sauron while Huan fought tooth and nail. Elendil, on the other hand, used his sword, the famous Narsil.

Elendil fought Sauron on the battlefield in the traditional sense, making this moment of glory the most memorable of all of Sauron’s in-person scuffles. However, Elendil couldn’t have done it without Gil-galad, the High King of Elvendom. The two approached Sauron together, and the likelihood is that neither of them could have taken him on alone. Together with Gil-galad, Elendil subdued Sauron for long enough for his son, Isildur, to cut the ring off Sauron’s finger, which incapacitated him fully.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power seasons 1 and 2 can be streamed on Amazon Prime and show Elendil on his home island of Númenor.

While it was Gil-galad and Elendil who fought Sauron, it was Isildur who hacked a finger off his prone form, finishing him for good. In this sense, Elendil and his allies won the fight. But simultaneously, Elendil lost it, slain by Sauron before he fell to the floor. Without the One Ring, Sauron’s spirit departed to slowly rebuild another body. Meanwhile, Narsil shattered, leaving it to be reforged many years in the future before Aragorn Elessar claimed the throne as Isildur’s heir.

Gil-Galad, The High King

Second Age

Gil-galad joined Elendil in Mordor in fighting Sauron in person, verifying himself as one of Lord of the Rings’ greatest heroes. As a prominent character of the Second Age of Middle-earth, Gil-galad is portrayed by Benjamin Walker in Rings of Power. Focusing on the Second Age, the show is likely to adapt Gil-galad and Elendil’s fight with Sauron in its last season, which will likely tackle the Last Alliance.

Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring prologue shows this fight with Sauron but misleadingly, shows one person tackling Sauron before Isildur moves in, instead of two. The prologue is also misleading in that it shows Isildur as the one to neutralize Sauron. In this sense, the movie definitely sold Elendil and Gil-galad short. As the last High King of the Noldor, Gil-galad represented a dying era. And indeed, the Second Age died with him, with Sauron’s fall marking the start of the Third Age.

Gil-galad used a spear called Aeglos in battle, which he carried with him into the War of the Last Alliance. It was enough to fight Sauron with, enabling Gil-galad to help Elendil throw Sauron to the floor. But like Elendil, Gil-galad paid the ultimate price for these heroic final moments. Slain along with Elendil, Gil-galad was permanently enshrined as one of the greatest Elves in The Lord of the Rings.