Night King vs. Sauron: Who Would Win in a Fight? (Including Armies)

Two of the greatest fantasy worlds that we have seen on our screens and read in our books are the world of A Song of Ice & Fire by George RR Martin and the world of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. These two different worlds both have similarities with one another, as it is possible that Martin drew inspiration from Tolkien when he was writing his books. Of course, these two fantasy worlds have incredibly powerful supernatural villains in the Night King and Sauron. However, wo between the Night King and Sauron would win in a fight?

A battle between the Night King and Sauron could go either way. While Sauron is the more powerful entity because of his powers and immortality, the Night King’s army is a lot more fearsome. On top of that, Sauron doesn’t have anything he could use to kill the Night King in a fight that could end with either of them winning.

The thing about the Night King is that he was created to be the perfect foil to mankind, and that’s why there was hardly anything that the humans possessed that could kill him. Meanwhile, Sauron is one of the Ainur and is basically an immortal spirit that will never die. This is essentially a battle between two incredibly durable entities, and that is why we are here to look at who would win between them.

Strength

The Night King, as a supernatural entity, possesses strength that is so great that we were able to see him effortlessly using it in the Game of Thrones series. He is basically a stronger version of a White Walker, which are strong enough to shatter steel and push humans hard enough effortlessly. The Night King could also throw a spear so hard that he killed Viserion with an ice spear with a single shot, as his arm alone has the force of an entire scorpion ballista weapon, which was the only other weapon that could kill a full-grown adult dragon.

Sauron, due to his status as an Ainur, was always a lot stronger than regular human beings, as he was able to make quick work of the armies of Gondor during the Last Alliance. A single strike from his mace allowed him to create shockwaves that took down several well-armored Gondor soldiers. He was also able to easily overpower Isildur in their fight and was strong enough to shatter a powerful steel sword like Narsil by stepping on it. In that regard, it is possible that Sauron is stronger than a troll.

We cannot say for certain just who between the Night King and Sauron is physically stronger. The Night King showcased his display of strength by matching the power of a scorpion weapon with a single arm. On the other hand, Sauron could kill numerous soldiers with a single strike. This round is easily a toss-up.

Night King 0, Sauron 0

Powers and Abilities

The Night King, on top of his incredible strength, has a host of powerful abilities at his disposal. Chief among them is his ability to create White Walkers and reanimate the dead in an instant to create a large army composed of the undead. The Night King is also capable of freezing almost anything with a single touch and also has an influence over the weather because his presence alone is enough to create blizzards. He can also shatter ordinary weapons quite easily as well.

Sauron, as one of the Ainur, has a lot of different godlike powers at his disposal. On top of the fact that he has the ability to shapeshift and assume almost any kind of form, he is also a master blacksmith and craftsman that can create powerful weapons and creations. He is also known for his ability to alter the physical makeup of matter on sheer will. And Sauron was also known to be powerful enough to use necromancy and different forms of sorcery, as it was through his influence that the wights and the Nazgûl were created.

The Night King may have a lot of different powers and abilities at his disposal, but Sauron is basically a god because of his status as arguably the greatest of the Maia, which are the lower forms of the Ainur.

Night King 0, Sauron 1

Combat Skills

The thing about the Night King was that we never actually saw him engaging in single combat, but it is possible that he is a lot more skilled than a White Walker, which is capable of matching an incredibly skilled swordsman like Jon Snow, albeit not skilled enough to defeat him without the use of his weapon shattering. As such, we can expect that the Night King is skilled in the use of weapons and may even be better than most of the knights and swordsmen of Westeros.

While we saw Sauron’s brute force as a fighter during the events of The Lord of the Rings, he was much more of a skilled combatant in the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. As Halbrand, he showcased the ability to take on multiple Númenoreans all at once without a weapon in his hands. Halbrand also surprised Galadriel with his ability to handle a sword, as the Elf noted that this wasn’t something that a normal blacksmith should be able to do. And he displayed his prowess as a fighter when he joined the Númenoreans in their attack against Adar’s Orcs.

Because we never really saw enough of the Night King in single combat, it is safe to say that Sauron is most likely the more skilled of the two in terms of raw fighting prowess.

Night King 0, Sauron 2

Armies

The Night King commands the Army of the Dead, which is composed of undead soldiers and individual White Walkers that are capable of reanimating dead corpses as well. This army can be created at will as the Night King can reanimate a corpse at will in no time, and that’s why his army will only grow bigger and stronger when fighting an open battle with another army. Even with fire and dragonglass, the army led by Daenerys and Jon Snow struggled against this undead army as the only way to truly defeat the Army of the Dead was to kill the Night King.

Sauron commands legions of Orcs that all follow his will and are quite loyal to him. On top of that, he also commands other different creatures as well, such as trolls and dark entities that hide all over Middle-Earth. The Easterlings of the land of Rhûn, which is the eastern part of Middle-Earth, also bend to Sauron’s will. Of course, Sauron was able to win the allegiance of Saruman, who had a large army of Uruk-hai.

Objectively speaking, Sauron has a stronger and larger army. But the thing is that when the Army of the Dead kills soldiers, the Night King can reanimate them and make them a part of his own army. As such, he wins this round because he can reanimate the soldiers that are on the side of Sauron.

Night King 1, Sauron 2

Durability

The undead can be killed by fire, dragon glass, and Valyrian Steel, while the White Walkers are weak to dragon glass and Valyrian Steel. However, it is possible that the Night King could only be killed by Valyrian Steel, as he has shown the ability to withstand dragonfire and has not been shown to be weak to dragonglass. As such, because of how rare Valyrian Steel weapons are, it is incredibly tough to kill him. It was only through sheer luck that Arya was able to sneak up on him and stab him with her Valyrian Steel dagger.

Sauron is essentially immortal because the Ainur are immortal spirits that will never die. However, their physical forms can die, and their spirits weaken whenever they are killed while assuming their physical forms. In fact, Sauron has died a few times already in the writings of JRR Tolkien. However, when his physical form died upon the destruction of the One Ring, he lived on through a spirit that had become too weak to ever assume another physical form again.

While Sauron’s spirit is immortal, his body is not, and that means that the Night King can still “kill” him. On the other hand, the Night King can be killed, but we don’t know if Sauron has access to Valyrian Steel. As such, there is nothing that Sauron can do to kill the Night King.

Night King 2, Sauron 2

Night King vs. Sauron: Who Would Win In A Fight?

The truth is that this is an incredibly tough battle to call because both the Night King and Sauron are two of the most powerful entities we have ever seen in the world of fantasy fiction. Of course, as a godlike entity, Sauron’s powers and fighting skills are superior to the Night King. But the thing is that the Night King can reanimate the dead at will, and that means that a prolonged fight between his Army of the Dead and Sauron’s forces will always tilt toward his favor. 

But the one thing that makes this battle truly tough to call is the fact that Sauron has nothing he can use to kill the Night King, whose only confirmed weakness is Valyrian Steel. As such, while Sauron may be superior in a lot of different areas, we aren’t sure whether or not he could actually have something that could hurt or kill the Night King. That is why this battle is too difficult for us to call.