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Sauron gets killed by his finger being destroyed and comes back as a giant flaming eye. Why is that? Why couldn't he return in his previous form?

Movies?

Sauron became a giant eye so he could gaze over all of Middle Earth

=|

He DID return to a weaker form, in Dol Gulder, as The Necromancer, I think he was called.

Gollum met Sauron face to face, and that he was still missing his finger.

I think they just needed something to represent him in the films. It'd be pretty crap if you never got to see the main bad guy.

He was a Giant Eye in the Book =|

Originally posted by King-Fingolfin
He was a Giant Eye in the Book =|
Not really. The eye was more of a metaphor for Sauron's will after all Gollum did see him as a humanoid figure. The only time Frodo sees the "eye" is when he looks into the Mirror of Galadriel.
A quote that truly shows that the eye is Sauron's will is this. "The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable."

No, it said he was in the form of a giant eye in the books.......

Originally posted by Incanus
No, it said he was in the form of a giant eye in the books.......
As I said that is an metaphor for his will. The only time anyone actually sees the Eye is when Frodo looks into the mirror og Galadriel. Plu Sauron has a body.

Its has been stated multiple times in the book he cant take physical form. As a big Eye of Fire, he is NOT technically taking physical form, but the form of a "base element" Saurons will is also stated to have been the Ring. But Sauron cant take physical form, he dosnt have a body. H is a giant eye, whether u like it or not, take it up with Tolkiens ghost. (DONT DISTURB THE MASTER NO PRECIOUS)

Originally posted by Incanus
Its has been stated multiple times in the book he cant take physical form. As a big Eye of Fire, he is NOT technically taking physical form, but the form of a "base element" Saurons will is also stated to have been the Ring. But Sauron cant take physical form, he dosnt have a body. H is a giant eye, whether u like it or not, take it up with Tolkiens ghost. (DONT DISTURB THE MASTER NO PRECIOUS)
Nope. It is a metaphor. Infact in MOrgoth is also called an "eye" in Morgoth's Ring. Tolkien also says in The Silmarillion that "the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure" even before his body was destroyed in the BotLA. ALso in one of Tolkien's letters he talks about how Sauron looked sayin "Sauron should be thought of as very terrible. The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but not gigantic."

Well, i didnt read Morgoths Ring, but didnt his son write it? But anyways, it was stated that Sauron couldnt take physical form in the books, so is it possible that what u stated was around the time he was brought to Numenor? As then he retained his shape shifting abilities, AND he didnt have said abilities in the Third Age, he was stuck in 1 form.

It was never made perfectly clear in the books as to what form Sauron took, if any. Numerous references to the Great Eye and Sauron "sitting" in Barad Dur. Then there's Gollum's statement about "four fingers" on his hand, though that may have been hyperbole.

The answer to this question lies with the fall of Numenor, which I won't get too far into - long story short, Sauron was seated in a Temple in the royal city of Armenelos when ruin came to Numenor(Isildur escaped the destruction along with others who stayed loyal to the Valar), and he was hurled into the abyss. Being of the Maiar, he was not destroyed, BUT *here's the kicker* he could never again assume a shape that was pleasing in the eyes of Men. As spirit, he rose from the depths, passed over the sea as wind and shadow and returned to the Dark Tower, in the land of Mordor. There, reunited with the One Ring, he became the all-seeing Eye of Sauron the Terrible (obvi, shortly before that, he assumed the form you saw in the first five minutes of LOTR Fellowship).


Rumor had it that Sauron's Eye was in talks with Visine for a slew of promotion gigs and commercials, but his spokesperson has declined comment.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
It was never made perfectly clear in the books as to what form Sauron took, if any. Numerous references to the Great Eye and Sauron "sitting" in Barad Dur. Then there's Gollum's statement about "four fingers" on his hand, though that may have been hyperbole. something doesnt have to be human to sit,or lay

Sauron was never a human to begin with, he's a Maia.

What he said.

because a movie audience needs something physical to see and hear when it comes to an epic villain like sauron. take the metaphor from the books and with one not too terribly hard step you've got a physical manifestation of a giant red eye on one of the two towers.

it's harder to grasp the idea of a spirit that you can't see, most movie audiences need something they can identify the villain with. sauron=evil=mordor=big red evil eye that can see into anything!!

a simplification, but one that gives the characters something to fixate on, and something that give some scenes more cinematic sense. like the diversion battle just before the ring goes plop in mount doom - they are trying to keep a metaphoric eye on the battle... but it's sooo much easier to actually see an eye casting its gaze on the battle field, and also it's much, much cooler to see the eye "die."

and Sauruman is called the white hand of saruman sooo yeah ...

Sauron was a deceiver; he could take many forms and guises. However, after the aforementioned Downfall of Numenor he could never take a fair form again, so, when his mortal form was "slain" at the Siege of Barad Dur, he assumed his spirit form which was a flaming eye...Now, how he could have assumed a mortal form without fingers if he would have gotten the Ring back, I don't know...

thats his form not his shade . His spirit could wield the ring and cause him to gain immortal form again

Originally posted by Vjer
Sauron was a deceiver; he could take many forms and guises. However, after the aforementioned Downfall of Numenor he could never take a fair form again, so, when his mortal form was "slain" at the Siege of Barad Dur, he assumed his spirit form which was a flaming eye...Now, how he could have assumed a mortal form without fingers if he would have gotten the Ring back, I don't know... It's reasonable to assume that reacquainting himself with his Ring would allow him to fabricate a new body.

As a Maia, Sauron can take an shape he wants. So if he wanted to take a form of a Giant Eye, I am guessing, he could. Though, in the books, Sauron has a body indeed. Gollum remembers seeing him. The use of the term Sauron's eye refers more to his gaze being drawn, not some giant eyeball attached to the Barad-dur. The same king of term is used to describe Melkor, but he never lost his physical form until he was cast into the void.