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human
[Lord of the Rings] From the perspective of Sauron, was he the good guy?

Evil and good is all about morals and perspective. Could Sauron possibly be good? Taking out the fact that in a way he wanted to control the entirety of Middle Earth, but don’t most kings control whatever land they own? To an orc couldn’t he possibly be a savior? I personally don’t recall many times when characters in the story exactly said what made Sauron so evil. He restored their lives, gave them jobs and a purpose. The orcs are a mistreated race in Middle Earth, he technically saved them, giving them promise of their own land and “county.” He was forward thinking and industrialized Middle Earth. Honestly it was just another war for territory and power. They often spoke about fighting for their freedom, but does freedom actually exist? They live in a land full of monarchies. All of them were fighting over the same thing. Land, power and a prosperous future. Granted Sauron had a few shady tactics, but it’s a war. When talking about which age we were in class we established that we might be in the 5th or 6th age. When you think about it Sauron was more or a 5th/6th age man. Trying to gain land, and making weapons. He had a lot of forward thinking going on. So what exactly made Sauron so evil?
gpt
>Taking out the fact that in a way he wanted to control the entirety of Middle Earth, but don’t most kings control whatever land they own?

These are two different statements. He doesn't own the entirety of Middle Earth, so controlling is done through conquering it.

Sauron doesn't care about the orcs, they're tools to him. I'll use this wonderful passage about the usefulness of Shelob:

"And as for Sauron: he knew where she lurked. It pleased him that she should dwell there hungry but unabated in malice, a more sure watch upon that ancient path into his land than any other that his skill could have devised. And Orcs, they were useful slaves, but he had them in plenty. If now and again Shelob caught them to stay her appetite, she was welcome: he could spare them. And sometimes as a man may cast a dainty to his cat (his cat he calls her, but she owns him not) Sauron would send her prisoners that he had no better uses for: he would have them driven into her hole, and report brought back to him of the play she made."

>Granted Sauron had a few shady tactics

"A few shady tactics" is really underselling it. The guy came to the different races representing the gods, and acting like you give them a gift in an attempt to let every race destroy themselves from the inside until you can control them completely.

The industrialisation you speak of is used for nothing but war. We don't see any technology that houses orcs, feeds them, or improves their quality of life. We see explosives and battering rams.

Sauron had good intentions in the beginning. Above all else, he values order. He values order so much that his ideal world involves no free will with everyone bowing down to him. There's no endgame, no plans for what he will do to improve the world once he's taken it all. The only thing on his mind is conquest.

If you believe not caring about your own people, intentionally letting a giant spider snack on them so you have a pet guardian and to inspire fear among your people, killing mercilessly, conquering for the sake of conquering, and doing your best to erase the very concept of free will in favor of your own definition of order are all perfectly acceptable, then no, Sauron wasn't evil.