Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-33719810-20180927020210/@comment-26149161-20180927170113

Catfishperson wrote: High King Ithilion wrote: Hot take: Fingolfin. More or less every time we see Sauron enter physical battle, he loses. It's clear that he's not a fighter. He fell to Huan, fled before Eonwe, and only fought Gil-galad and Elendil when there was no other way out--and even then they slew him, though they died in the process. The greatest Noldorin warrior of all time could very likely take Sauron in a straight duel. It's in treachery, manipulation, and deception where Sauron truly excels.

Ithilion, Discussions Moderator (Auta i lómë) I'm not saying you're wrong necessarily, but bear in mind that each of those examples is something of a special case. As Xerped mentioned, Sauron had fate against him when he fought Huan, Eonwe was a maia with, and when he fought Elendil and Gil-galad he was crippled from his surprise swim (not to mention them double teaming him.)

When Fingolfin fought and wounded Morgoth, Morgoth had already lost so much of his power that his might was but a shadow of what it had been before. I don't think Fingolfin would have found victory against Sauron at his prime as easily as you presume. Even in the third age, without his Ring, crippled Sauron was more powerful than Gandalf, who was a maia in possession of the most powerful of the elven rings. That's true (though afaik Sauron wasn't super limited by his drowning in the fall of Numenor). But it's still telling how much he seems to lose in fights. The only time we see him win is when he dueled Finrod, and even then it was a battle of spellcraft and not a physical duel.

Morgoth had lost a lot of his latent power, and Sauron was greatest at the end of the Second Age. But let us not forget that at that same time he was defeated by Gil-galad and Elendil. So while Sauron would surely be a strong foe and it would be a hard-fought battle, there's a strong chance Fingolfin would triumph, almost certainly against Third Age Sauron and potentially against Second Age as well.

Ithilion, Discussions Moderator (Auta i lómë)