Real name: Dr. Karl Lykos
Other aliases: None
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware that Dr. Lykos was Sauron, and did not know Sauron existed.
Occupation: (current--as Sauron) Would-be conqueror, (former--as Lykos) Geneticist, hypnotherapist
Legal status:Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Place of birth: Unrevealed
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: None
Base of operations: (current) Unrevealed, (former) New York City; Savage Land
Group affiliation: (former) Brotherhood of Evil Mutants V, Savage Land Mutates
First appearance:(as Lykos) X-MEN (first series) #59, (as Sauron) X-MEN (first series) #60

History: As a young boy Karl Lykos went with his father on an expedition to Tierra del Fuego near the Antarctic Circle. Along with them on the journey were a physician, Dr. Andersson, and his daughter Tanya, who was about the same age as Karl.

At one point during the trip Tanya became lost, and Karl found her in a cave being attacked by gigantic pteranodons, a form of flying reptile from the age of dinosaurs. (In actuality, these pteranodons were from the Savage Land, the tropical region in Antarctica where prehistoric creatures still live. Apparently, the pteranodons had traveled to Tierra del Fuego through natural subterranean tunnels.) Karl drove the pteranodons off with his walking stick, but not before he was severely bitten. Traumatized by their experience, neither Karl nor Tanya remembered the pteranodons, and Dr. Andersson used his medical skills to save Karl's life. Grateful to Karl for saving Tanya's life, Dr. Andersson allowed Karl to live with him and Tanya after Karl's father died.

In a way that has never been explained, the pteranodon bites somehow changed Karl, apparently altering his genetic structure. Karl discovered that he needed to drain life energy from other living beings to survive. His first unintentional victim was his dog Jager, whom he drained of energy simply by touching him. Karl kept his condition a secret, even after he found himself forced to drain energy from other human beings. However, he killed none of them, merely leaving them temporarily weakened.

As Karl grew older he fell in love with Tanya, but the stern Dr. Andersson refused to let her marry Karl because of his lack of financial means. So Karl Lykos set off for medical school, vowing to become wealthy so he could marry Tanya. Lykos became a hypnotherapist, but his need for life energy increased as he became an adult. Hence, he constructed devices through which he could drain his patients' life energies into himself.

Lykos met the geneticist Professor Charles Xavier under circumstances that have yet to be revealed. Together they worked on the secret "Project Mutant." It has yet to be explained exactly what this project was, why it was secret, what results it might have had, and who, if anyone, had commissioned it if not Xavier himself. Xavier knew about Lykos' need and ability to siphon the life energy of others into himself, but he never told his students, the X-Men, about it.

Following a battle between the X-Men and the robotic Sentinels, the mutant Havok, at that time unable to control his superhuman abilities, tried to kill himself by releasing his full power. The resulting explosion buried him in rubble, nearly killing him. Aware of the connection between Xavier and Lykos, the X-Men rushed Havok to Dr. Lykos' Manhattan office, believing he was the only physician they could trust with the knowledge that Havok was a mutant.

After treating Havok's wounds, Lykos began using his equipment to drain life energy from him. However, this was the first time that Lykos had ever siphoned energy from a superhuman mutant, with a result that he had never experienced before. The energy triggered his metamorphosis into a creature that resembled a half-humanoid pteranodon, who retained his human intelligence and ability to speak. However, the transformation distorted Lykos' personality, turning him evil. Hence, Lykos took the name Sauron, after the arch villain of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Sauron soon battled the X-Men, but fled when Havok awoke, causing him to begin to change back to human form. Soon afterwards, Lykos had an argument with Dr. Andersson, who still refused to permit him to marry Tanya. Then Lykos drained energy from the mutant Lorna Dane, the future Polaris, causing him to transform into Sauron again (see Polaris). After siphoning more energy from the Angel and Havok, Sauron flew to the Anderssons' home to kill them. The Anderssons recognized Sauron's voice as that of Lykos just before the X-Men arrived and Sauron fled.

Sauron flew all the way to his father's cabin in Tierra del Fuego, and then reverted to human form, having expended the mutant energies he had absorbed. Horrified at having tried to kill Tanya, Lykos decided to starve himself to death. But several days later, Tanya arrived, followed closely behind by the X-Men. Feeling the urge to drain Tanya's life energies, Lykos instead fled, only to fall over a precipice. Tanya and the X-Men assumed he had been killed.

However, Lykos somehow survived and made his way, presumably through underground passages, to the Savage Land. There he managed to remain in human form, draining energy from animals, until many months later the X-Men arrived. Compelled to siphon energy from the X-Man Storm, Lykos briefly reverted to Sauron once more. But when the stolen energies faded, he returned to human form and proved to be an ally to both the X-Men and the jungle lord Ka-Zar. Lykos reverted to Sauron once more sometime later and teamed up with the Savage Land Mutates against Ka-Zar, the Angel, and Spider-Man. But Sauron again returned to human form and this time was reunited with Tanya Andersson.

Years later, however, the mutant known as the Toad captured Lykos and Tanya Andersson and used her life energies to transform him back into Sauron. (It is unclear whether or not Tanya was killed in the process.) Sauron then joined the Toad's new version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Since then Sauron has battled the X-Men and other mutant teams on several occasions, either in the United States or in the Savage Land. In his current condition Sauron appears to be incapable of reverting to human form, even when his energies are depleted.

Height: 7 ft.
Weight: 200 lbs.
Eyes: Red, (as Lykos) Brown
Hair: None, (as Lykos) Brown
Other distinguishing features: Lykos's Sauron form resembles a large crested pterodactyl extinct except in the Savage Land. Unlike true pterodactyls, Sauron has a toothed beak and a basically humanoid build, with legs as long as a human being's. Sauron has a wingspread of twelve feet, and razor-sharp claws.

Strength level: Superhuman Class 10, (as Lykos) Normal

Special skills and abilities: Accomplished medical doctor, geneticist, and psychotherapist employing hypnotism

Known superhuman powers: Aside from the above listed attributes, Sauron has the ability, in both his forms, to drain the life force from living victims into his body. He also has the ability to hypnotize victims by making eye contact with them and thereby induce hallucinations.

Special limitations: Sauron has to absorb the life energies from living victims to sustain his life; he would normally revert to human form if he did not regularly absorb the life force from superhuman beings, although this is not currently the case.