bai-xue:

Seriously though, what makes Sauron so terrifying in the books is that we (the readers) never actually see him, or even hear him. Ever. Pippin is the only main character to really ‘meet’ Sauron face-to-face and speak with him, and it leads to Pippin being briefly possessed and leaves him severely traumatized. Even then, the readers don’t actually see or hear Sauron, they just see what happens when someone DOES actually see or hear him. The chapter when Pippin ‘meets’ Sauron is one of the most terrifying moments in all three books, and mainly because the reader sees what it does to the poor kid.

Unfortunately, because of the way Sauron is so literally depicted in the films, we have a rather benign idea of him. He’s kinda creepy looking, but at the same time also kinda cool looking and simultaneously kinda silly looking. Basically he looks like a death metal album cover.

Tolkien knew the basic principle of Horror Writing 101: don’t show the monster, and if you do, only show it once or twice at very crucial moments. The scene in the movies where Pippin gazes through the Palantir to see Sauron is thus kind of anti-climactic – we just see more flashes of the eyeball and ~spooky voice~ ….which has happened a dozen times already.