Não haveria, portanto, nenhum substituto para Sauron em uma forma "mitológica", que exclui dragões, Balrogs, Nazgul, etc: Sauron foi o adversário final.Manwe knew of Sauron, of course. He had commanded Sauron to come before him for judgement, but had left room for repentance and ultimate rehabilitation. Sauron had refused and had fled into hiding. Sauron, however, was a problem that Men had to deal with finally: the first of the many concentrations of Evil into definite power-points that they would have to combat, as it was also the last of those in 'mythological' personalized (but non-human) form.
O que teria teria sido, imediatamente ou eventualmente (Tolkien não diz) é um líder humano mau em algum tipo. Novamente, Tolkien não diz quem , então qualquer outra coisa é especulação.