Would Sauron Be Good if Galadriel Was by His Side?

The biggest revelation of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power came in the season 1 finale when Halbrand was revealed as Sauron. But an equally big revelation was the fact that he admired Galadriel so much that he tried to recruit him to his side as his queen. He said that he wanted to “heal” Middle-Earth together with Galadriel, who we know has always been on the side of good. So, would Sauron have turned good if Galadriel had been by his side?

There was no way that Sauron would change and turn good if Galadriel were to join him. The Ainur were created to have predisposed virtues, and Sauron’s virtue was his love for order and perfection. Even if Galadriel were to try to change him, he wouldn’t have changed because of his very nature.

It was always the fact that Sauron loved order and perfection that eventually led him to Morgoth, who had the power that allowed him to see his designs coming to fruition. In that regard, not even the love of someone like Galadriel would have changed Sauron’s entire entity and nature. Instead, he would have been the one who changed her and turned her into a dreadful queen.

Why Did Sauron Try To Recruit Galadriel?

In the season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Galadriel was able to piece a few things together to find out who Halbrand truly is. This came about as a result of Celebrimbor’s words, which were fed to him by Halbrand during their moments together in his workshop. The very same words that Celebrimbor said, which were about the Unseen World, were the ones that Adar told Galadriel in relation to what Sauron had been doing before he “killed” him.

As such, Galadriel was finally able to confront Halbrand when she found out that the line of Southlander kings ended a thousand years ago. That was when Halbrand finally revealed that he was actually Sauron and that he had only been looking to heal Middle-Earth and undo the damage he did to it when he was with Morgoth during the First Age. Of course, he also tried to win Galadriel over to his side.

The reason why Sauron tried to recruit Galadriel was the fact that he admired her for what she did to him during the time when he was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life after he left Middle-Earth following his “death” at the hands of Adar. It was Galadriel who gave him the push and the direction he needed to once again pursue his designs on Middle-Earth, and that was what made him see her “light.”

Of course, there’s also the fact that Galadriel was always going to be a threat. Sauron saw that she was intent on destroying the very source of darkness on Middle-Earth and was going to do whatever it took to defeat her enemy. In that regard, if Sauron could win her over to his side, he would be able to eliminate the greatest threat to his plans on Middle-Earth. That was why he wanted to prove to her that all that he wished for was to heal the world instead of corrupting it as Morgoth did all those years ago.

Would Sauron Be Good With Galadriel By His Side?

We know for a fact that Galadriel has always been good, as she has been fighting on the side of the people of Middle-Earth against the darkness that has always been looming over the heads of the people living there. So, would she have been enough to change Sauron and make him good if she had joined him?

It is unlikely that Sauron would ever allow himself to be influenced by Galadriel’s goodness. He would never have changed if Galadriel had joined him. That’s because who and what he is has always been a part of his nature from the very beginning.

Sauron was created as an Ainur and part of the Maiar by Eru Ilúvatar before the dawn of time. He was created as a divine spirit that worked and learned under the great smith Aulë, who taught him how to become a great smith and craftsman as well. And that was when he was able to hone his skills as an artisan and his love for order and perfection.

From the very start, Sauron’s greatest virtue was always his love for order and perfection. This virtue was supposed to be good, but Sauron was so obsessed with order and perfection that it began to consume him to the point that he wanted everything in the world to be perfect and in order. That was when he realized that the only way for him to achieve his grand design was to join up with Morgoth, whose power would have allowed him to reach his goals.

Sauron’s goal was to control and put everything in the right order. He wasn’t the same kind of evil dark lord that Morgoth was, as he didn’t want to corrupt the world. Instead, he wanted to control everything to the point that he became a tyrannical ruler. This is exactly the reason why, in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf said that Sauron would never share his power with Saruman, as that would mean that he would lose part of his control over everything.

As such, even if Galadriel did join up with him, Sauron would have never changed. It was always part of his very nature to be obsessed with order and perfection such that the only way for him to achieve his grand design was to be in control over everything. Not even Galadriel’s light would have changed him and his very nature as a control freak that 

Would Galadriel Become Evil If She Joined Sauron?

In contrast, had Galadriel joined Sauron, he would have turned her evil. His influence and ability to corrupt were so much greater than Galadriel’s ability to turn someone over from the side of darkness. And the fact that Galadriel knew that Sauron would have turned her into a tyrannical queen was the reason why she didn’t think about joining him at all.

This was already hinted back in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. When Frodo offered Galadriel the One Ring, which had a large portion of Sauron’s power and essence, she turned into the dark version of herself as she said, “In place of a Dark Lord, you would have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the Dawn! Treacherous as the Seas! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth!”

That was what Halbrand told Galadriel when he said that he wanted her to be his queen. As such, Galadriel knew as much that she would have been a tyrant if she had chosen to be his queen. That’s why she never joined his side, despite the possibility that she may have felt something for him during the time that they were together.