Originally posted by NaugrimRegardless, the lightning was sent by the Valar, Sauron's supposed superiors, to KILL Sauron, and it failed utterly.
Not when Manwe was sending down bolts of lightning all across the island and the areas it did hit outside of where Sauron was shielding himself weren't completely leveled. Lol.
Sauron is CLEARLY their equal at the very least, but his display of strength here is enough to place him above the Valar, combatively.
"Now the lightnings increased and slew men upon the hills, and in the fields, and in the streets of the city; and a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder, and it was wreathed in flame. But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed; and in that hour men called him a god and did all that he would."
and again, his spirit survived a direct strike from Iluvitar.
Originally posted by darthbane77
Regardless, the lightning was sent by the Valar, Sauron's supposed superiors, to KILL Sauron, and it failed utterly.Sauron is CLEARLY their equal at the very least, but his display of strength here is enough to place him above the Valar, combatively.
"Now the lightnings increased and slew men upon the hills, and in the fields, and in the streets of the city; and a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder, and it was wreathed in flame. But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed; and in that hour men called him a god and did all that he would."
and again, his spirit survived a direct strike from Iluvitar.
Except it wasn't sent to kill Sauron... It was sent to punish the Numenoreans for their defiance.
You just made this claim... I just disproved the basis on which you made it. You have no evidence that that lightning bolt was directed at Sauron let alone meant to kill him.
No it didn't. The island sank because of Illuvatar. That has nothing to do with Sauron being able to survive or defend against an attack directed at him by Illuvatar. He managed to escape because he fled the sinking island when he no longer possessed a physical form. I.E. It's not difficult to survive on a sinking island when you can just fly back to Mordor as a spirit which is exactly what the text states he did.