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The Red Star, the Great Eye, and the Third-Age Astronomer:  Theories and Headcanons

The world is bent, the morning star of Eärendil guards the Door of Night, and a red star on the southern horizon shines brighter as the October moon wanes…  What happens to the stars of Varda’s heaven now that the earth is globed? 

At the top of Barad-dûr, both in its original and reconstructed state, there is an astronomical observatory. The “Great Eye” of Sauron can be two things: it can refer to the power of Sauron’s intense concentration upon the lands of Mordor, sometimes merely the sensation of being watched, and other times manifesting as a physically oppressive or compelling force; and less frequently, when the the winds are right and the smog and volcanic ash clear to allow a rare view of very top of Barad-dûr above the clouds, it can refer to the glinting lens of an enormous telescope. 

When his shade is not busy micromanaging the troops, or searching for the One Ring, or haunting the palantir, Sauron is charting stars. Specifically, he is interested in the one red star that is only visible when the light of the star of Eärendil is on the far horizon. The red star is much dimmer than Rothinzil, and when the two share the sky it is scarcely visible. It is considered a bad omen in the western lands, though only the Edain know why– the star of Eärendil and the red star became visible in the heavens at the same moment at the closing of the First Age, one set to guard the other in an asynchronous orbit. They do not call the red star by any other name, but it is written in the annals of old Numenor that this is the last ember of Morgoth, imprisoned in beyond the walls of the world in the timeless Void. 

Sauron’s monitoring of the star began in the Second Age. During his reign as god-king of Mordor and Harad, the first citadel of Barad-dûr was not merely a fortress but a grand palace, the seat of power and a repository of wealth and knowledge. A great observatory was built upon its highest tower, accessible to the scholars and astronomers of Harad, whose knowledge of mathematics and astronomy was rivaled only by the star-charters of Numenor. During the Second Age, it seemed to Sauron that there might be a direct path from Numenor into the uttermost West, and beyond it the Door of Night through which his master was banished. Though impossible for one such as him to pass undisturbed into Aman, there might yet be a way to distract the powers that be long enough for a spirit to examine the portal… 

But whatever his plans had been for the invasion, the outcome was inconclusive. Numenor and the direct route to the West was destroyed along with Sauron’s body, and shortly after, the observatory at Barad-dûr. 

The Third Age progressed for many slow and frustrating centuries before Sauron was able to rebuild some semblance of what was lost to him. Lacking all but a shade of his physical body and much of his native power in his missing Ring, he sulks and plots a long campaign from his tower, alone. 

It is during this isolated period of observation and tracking, that he determines there are actually two sets of stars: one set that represents physical suns and planets that appeared after the world was globed, and those of Varda’s heaven as it was in the beginning. These two spheres have a complex, subtle interaction that represents the alignment of the Old Arda and the New. The stars of Varda’s heaven drift and grow dimmer as the Third Age progresses, perhaps due to the waning of the elves.

When the last of the Elves sail into the West, and the Age of Men truly begins, the Straight Road will likely dwindle from existence entirely, untethering Middle Earth from Aman completely. As much as he looks forward to the departure of the Elves, Sauron fears this eventuality; the Elves are the sands in an hourglass that marks the end of his ability to send aid to his Master– if the Straight Road vanishes, so too does his access to the Door of Night. 

The celestial spheres do not frequently intersect in his favor; the red star only rarely appears without its guarding satellite while positioned where the Straight Road points to it like the needle of a compass. He does not have his Ring, which he needs in order to have the strength to make a final assault on the West, and there are foes at his very doorstep causing an endless barrage of distractions. But if he could just find his Ring, there might still be a way forward. If he could just focus without interruption for a moment, he could finally thread the eye of the needle, before it shuts closed forever.