We’ve become accustomed to seeing Sauron in his all-seeing-eye form that many of us forget that he once had a physical form, as well.

It’s hardly our fault we didn’t realise the truth of this Lord of the Rings detail sooner – there’s just so much lore to unpack.

Having recently learnt where the Middle-earth saga actually takes place, perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked by further surprises, yet here we are, open-mouthed again.

Seeing as we’ve yet to pick our jaws off of the floor, what’s one more surprise?

When one Lord of the Rings fan queried whether Sauron had ever been anything other than the “lidless eye” we see in the films, the response they got opened their eyes to the reality of the Dark Lord’s long reign of terror.

On the Tolkien forums, user CWOBrien asked, “Did Sauron in fact have a body during the Third Age?”

They then added, “I like to imagine, if he was weakened by the loss of the ring, he might have conducted himself like the Almighty in the (admittedly awful) film 10,000 BC.”

This theory assumes that Sauron is too “frail” to take form, and thus acts “from behind the scenes”.

Fans have long debated what is lurking under Sauron’s armour; what his “true appearance” is, and thus such curiosity isn’t all that surprising given how enigmatic the character is.

User Starbrow might have the answer you’ve been desperately searching for.

“Sauron had a physical body,” they said, “Gollum says, ‘Yes, He has only four fingers on the Black Hand, but they are enough.’”

With a new Lord of the Rings RPG on the way that coincides with one of the new films, we can’t help but wonder what other tidbits of lore will escape our notice.

One thing’s for sure, every day is educational.