Ainur like Sauron could shapeshift in The Lord of the Rings, but Sauron lost this ability from multiple angles. Ainur were the first-created species of Lord of the Rings’ One god, Eru Ilúvatar. They were ëalar, innately spirit beings, who could ᴀssume fanar (bodies) if they chose. Meanwhile, Elves and Men had fëar (spirits) and hröar (bodies). Ainur could communicate with each other, making communication without bodies (telepathy) their innate speech. Telepathy was harder the more incarnate beings were (Morgoth’s Ring). So, Elves could master it, and even some Men. But even Elves couldn’t hack shapeshifting.

Lord of the Rings’ five Istari were Maiar – the order of Ainu below the Valar – their shapeshifting ability was limited by the veiling of their power, instructed by the Valar to avoid the kind of worship Sauron sought (Unfinished Tales). But other Ainur at full power “may clothe themselves in their own thought,” with Ulmo wearing a “foam-crested” helm and Morgoth appearing “as a mountain that wades in the sea.” At full power, Sauron had this same ability, but like the Valar, he often chose humanoid forms to fit in – until he lost the ability entirely.

How Sauron’s Shape-Shifting Ability Works In The Lord Of The Rings Lore

Ainur Were Inherently Male Or Female But Could Choose Any Fanar

Sauron’s shapeshifting ability in The Lord of the Rings gradually decreased over time until his final bound state. At full power, Ainur shapeshifting was fairly fluid. A gigantic, watery Ulmo appeared as if by magic to Tuor in Unfinished Tales, before departing just as inexplicably, while Sauron shifted fluidly “from wolf to worm, from monster to his own demon form” in “The Lay of Leithian.” Amazon Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power invented material that captured this for the season 2 finale, as Sauron shifted fluidly between the forms of Halbrand, Annatar, and Galadriel.

Fanar ranged from elemental (literal mountains or waves) to almost exact replicas of Children of Ilúvatar. The Istari were “clad in bodies as of Men, real and not feigned,” but unnaturally “hale in body” and slow to age – these fanar replicated human biology closely but not fully (Unfinished Tales). The Istari ate and smoked. Sєx and sleep were implied for both Tulkas and Morgoth, though rarely, suggesting biological approximation to Elves or Men, while Melian even had a baby. Sauron was inherently male in Lord of the Rings but could have chosen a fanar of any Sєx.

Sauron Can No Longer Use His Fair Form After The Fall Of Númenor

Sauron Could Shapeshift In Line With His Nature & Power

Sauron lost the ability to take fair form after the death of the body he used in Númenor. In The Silmarillion, Pharazôn kidnapped Sauron, which Sauron accepted to brook the Fall of Númenor from the inside out, manipulating his enemy state into doom, but he didn’t anticipate the consequences. Eru sunk the island and Sauron drowned. The death of this body left his innate self so weakened, he could no longer hide his evil in subsequent incarnations. What this meant exactly remained undefined and was left subjective, for the reader to decide.

Sauron’s spirit fled back to Mordor, “dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise,” which was “an image of malice and hatred made visible.” Tolkien said in a letter that “it took some time to build up” new bodies. The Rings of Power inventively visualized Sauron slowly regenerating from black liquid into his desired form, consuming prey to imitate their genetic structure. Few could endure “the Eye of Sauron the terrible“ after Númenor fell, inspiring Peter Jackson’s “eye” Sauron. But in reality, he could’ve been ghostly, demonic, or “look fairer and feel fouler,” how Frodo suggested Sauron operated.

Sauron Fully Loses His Shape-Shifting Power During Battle of Dagorlad In The Second Age

Sauron’s Shapeshifting Power Was Declining Until It Stopped

Sauron “was robbed… of that shape” he used in Númenor when it fell, implying he was not robbed of other shapes, retaining some shapeshifting ability until his final form. Rings of Power explored Sauron’s fair form in Lord of the Rings, named Annatar and used in Eregion to deceive the Elves into crafting rings. This was the height of Sauron’s power. Sauron’s form was fluidly changeable until Númenor fell. Then it became the image of hatred used in the Battle of Dagorlad, killed by Elendil and Gil-galad. But Sauron was reborn in the Third Age, this time bound to his body.

British fantasy pioneer J.R.R. Tolkien detailed Ainur shapeshifting in “Ósanwe-kenta,” an essay in Morgoth’s Ring. Ainur ability to shapeshift decreased with time spent in the body, the enjoyment of bodily faculties, and the furtherance of personal purpose against the will of Eru. As such, evil Ainur like Lord of the Rings’ Morgoth, Balrogs, and Sauron “became wedded to the forms of their evil deeds.” Sauron lost his shapeshifting power increasingly, not just because he furthered his personal purpose continuously, but because “each building-up used up some of the inherent energy of the spirit” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien).

Tolkien confirmed how “The impossibility of re-building after the destruction of the Ring, is sufficiently clear.” Sauron’s final form was so diminished that he couldn’t regenerate all ten fingers, missing the one that Isildur hacked off during the Battle of Dagorlad. His touch burned, he could torture with one look or word, and his hand was “black,” although this could have been metaphorical. Smartly, Tolkien avoided pinning down an exact physical description, allowing readers to decide what made sense to them. Regardless, “if… bodies were taken from [bound Ainur] or destroyed, they were nullified” in The Lord of the Rings.