In fact, armies which had pursued him to Mordor had withdrawn вЂ“ possibly for logistical reasons, as neither elves nor Numenoreans had ports in the area.ДЄround 1800, Sauron extended his power eastward, building up his power among other peoples as he could not hope to face Eldar backed by Numenor at his present strength. But for the time, he withdrew to Mordor вЂ“ which with its mountains was extremely defensible, probably explaining why the Elves and Numenoreans did not march and finish him off. He would not make the same mistake of neglecting the navy again. The result was a complete obliteration of SauronвЂ™s forces. But the retreating host was then surprised and cut off by further Numenorean reinforcements which landed at Gwathlo.

Numenoreans brought in army from overseas, with Tar-MinastirвЂ™s fleet landing reinforcements at Lhun, which threw back SauronвЂ™s army. While Sauron was one step from defeating his enemies, that one step never happened. Much like in real life, naval superiority has proven a tremendous boost in warfare in Middle Earth. Yet this failed, for a simple reason: navy. With Eriador eradicated, Elves were besieged in Imladris and the Harbours. This failure may have caused him to burn the forrests of Eriador, thus negating the Elves their greatest advantage and also making a statement on Dominion of Middle Earth. But he failed to destroy the wooden elven realms in Lothlorien and Greenwood. While dwarves launched attack against his force in Eregion, Sauron used the opportunity to clear out the Edain from Vale of Anduin. Thus Sauron used his two-pronged attack to divide dwarven attention. They were also the central power of dwarvendom, and were allied to Edainic peoples living in Middle Earth. Longbeard Dwarves controlled Khazad-dum, most direct connection between Eregion and Lothlorien (and thus also Vale of Anduin). He also overran the Edainic peoples of Anduin and east of Greenwood, bringing down their alliance with Dwarves. Sauron used Numenorean devastation of forrests in the west to gain himself alliance with Gwauthirim. He also launched many diplomatic endeavours. At any rate, he spent those 90 years well, breeding more orcs and mastering the One Ring.

He also may have failed to plan for the possibility of failure, thus having to spend a hundred years building up his strength before he could launch a war, though different interpretation would be that he did not want risk Elves finding out about his goals. He however underestimated ElvesвЂ™ powers of perception and understanding, failling to anticipate ElvesвЂ™ sensing of his putting on One Ring. While this may have easily brought them into open conflict, Sauron decided to use this desire to coopt the elves for his own goals. His wish to bring order to the world was innately appealing to the Eldar, who wanted to create image of Valinor in Middle Earth, but one where they would be at the top, not the Valar.Д«oth Elves and Sauron were thus seeking control and influence. In 1200., he wins over the smiths of Eregion, the heart of Elven power. But he also attempted to win Eldar to his side, choosing a fair face of Annatar вЂ“ bearer of the gifts. In answer, Sauron вЂ“ who may not have had a permanent base before then вЂ“ went to Mordor and fortified it. Gil-Galad thus contacted Anardil, crown prince of Numenor (later king Tar-Aldarion) and started reinforcing Middle-Earth.

By year 1 000 of Second Age at latest he already started organizing remnants of MorgothвЂ™s creatures вЂ“ Gil-Galad learned of his activities by then, though he did not know it was Sauron. But he forgot why he was trying to bring order, and simply set order as his end goal. His love for order meant that he necessarily wanted to conquer whole of Middle Earth. After few centuries of freedom in Middle Earth, he came to believe that Valar had forgotten Middle Earth in their bliss, and in his pride he thought that there was no force which could stop him. He refused to subject himself to judgment of Valar вЂ“ and thus refused repentance вЂ“ out of pride. Through history, Sauron has adapted his strategies to overcome obstacles. Essentially, he failed to understand his enemies, whereas his enemies understood him. SauronвЂ™s strategy was logistically and tactically sound, but he made a very basic mistake.

War of the elves and sauron