About 500 years into the Second Age, Sauron reappeared, intent on taking over Middle-earth and ruling it as a God-King. To seduce the Elves into his service, Sauron assumed a fair appearance as Annatar, "Lord of Gifts", befriended the Elven-smiths of Eregion, led by Celebrimbor, and counselled them in arts and magic.
The Second Age saw the rise of Sauron after the defeat of his master, Morgoth. During this period, Sauron built his armies, established himself as the Dark Lord, and built a fortress in Mordor called Barad-dur, also referred to as the Dark Tower.
It was 500 years into the Second Age when Sauron started to stir again. Sauron decided that the Valar had forgotten about Middle-earth and he once again turned to evil; many Men in East and South, already corrupted by Melkor, fell under the Shadow by following him.
Next, Sauron sought to bring the Elves into his service, so he disguised himself as Annatar, Lord of Gifts, to seduce them. The Elves helped Sauron forge the Rings of Power. In secret, Sauron also forged the One Ring, to rule all other rings, in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor.
The Dark Lord unveiled himself in dramatic fashion in the Season 1 finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which reveals that Middle-earth's Big Bad has been disguising himself as none other than Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) this whole time.
Indeed, at one point in the movie The Fellowship of the Ring, Saruman explicitly states of Sauron that 'he cannot yet take physical form' (though nothing comparable to this appears in the book).
In fact, Sauron during the Second Age was more powerful than Morgoth at the end of the First Age. Here's a quote from Christopher Tolkien's Morgoth's Ring that offers an extended explanation: "Sauron was 'greater', effectively, in the Second Age than Morgoth at the end of the First.
She already feels an outcast after Gil-galad tried to send her back to the Undying Lands, and she fears that if she reveals what she has done, it will be the final nail in the coffin. Instead, when Elrond pulls her from the river Glanduin, and she races back inside to Celebrimbor's forge, she chooses to stay silent.
In The Lord of the Rings, it is said that had Galadriel chosen to use her powers for evil instead of good, she would have been even more destructive and terrifying than Sauron himself. Galadriel was the greatest and most powerful of all Elves in Middle Earth in the Third Age.
It is therefore unlikely that Galadriel would have been able to save him or turn him towards the light if she had agreed to rule beside him. She even tells him this herself when she whispers: “No penance could erase the evil you have done.”
At the end of the Second Age, Sauron caused the downfall of Númenor, and was then defeated in Mordor in the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men united under Gil-galad and Elendil.
Assuming a consecutive lifespan, he is at least 56,000 years old. Vast Physical Strength: Sauron was very physically strong with the One Ring on, able to kill multiple soldiers in a single hit.
So Season 1 of The Rings of Power works basically as an origin story for Sauron. Instead of just seeing the villain being bad just because of a predefined conception of who he was, we saw him actually trying to be good for once, then embracing his evil nature.
Dwarves in Middle-earth have a reputation for being greedy, self-centered, and caring only for wealth. Because of that, many assume their absence from The Lord of the Rings means they refused to help defeat Sauron.
Sauron began his days as Mairon (“the admirable”), a powerful Maia—spirits who came to Arda to help the Valar shape the world. (Other Maia include Gandalf and Saruman.) He was a pure and orderly being in the beginning, who studied the craft of forging. But he grew selfish, and eventually aligned himself with Morgoth.
Sauron Actually Did Repent Once…
However, when he was asked to present himself in Valinor to face judgment for his crimes, he fled and went into hiding, later reemerging to continue in his old ways. For a moment in history, though, Sauron may actually have tried to atone for his wicked deeds.
All other men in the trilogy, even the underestimated and underappreciated Faramir, and his mighty brother Boromir, fall short of Aragorn's heroism. That is why Aragorn is the only one who could challenge Sauron in the Palantir, and win.
Sauron feared her
The author said that she was the “last remaining of the Great among the High Elves” in the Third Age, and consequently was the one person Sauron must have feared most among all his enemies in the War of the Ring.
Legolas was a nice little Elf princeling yet he was nothing next to the Elven king Gil-Galad. So no, Aragorn and Legolas could not defeat Sauron in hand-to-hand combat.
Though Galadriel doesn't share her news, Elrond is suspicious and wanders out to find the genealogy scroll that leads him to figure out that Halbrand is Sauron. Unfortunately, he finds this news too late, arriving back at the workshop just as the elven rings (the rings of power) are being completed.
In Lord of the Rings, Galadriel was not shown as a warrior, which makes the comparison with the character depicted in The Rings of Power jarring and difficult to reconcile. There's considerable contention surrounding the idea that she was a warrior with many battles under her belt.
The Dark Lord easily overpowers her, and after Galadriel rejects his proposal to join him, he traps her in illusions and leaves her to drown in the water.
Isildur took up the hilt-shard of Narsil and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, vanquishing Sauron.
No, Tom Bombadil could not have defeated Sauron. As Gandalf mentioned, Tom could not use the Ring's power - rather the Ring did not affect him.
In the First Age during the War of the Jewels, Dorbon was one of Sauron's strongest servants. He was originally a Maia of Aule, and his name was Maladhros.