Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-33719810-20180927020210/@comment-26322120-20180927150658

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.