"Sometimes I hate this world."

"Do we make that poor a show of ourselves?"

"In more respects than you would like to know."

"I'd probably like to know, but it might be somewhat of a tangent from removing this particular poor showing."

"True."

"What else do you need to know, strategically?"

"The size and organization of his army, composition..."

She doesn't know every single detail of those, but she has some pretty firm estimates, and a good idea of how certain each estimate is.

Sauron's army is large for the modern day, though much smaller than the armies of old. It's enough to take on Gondor's armies in the field and win easily, though the primary strike force would have trouble if Minas Tirith managed to force a siege and then got relieved by the entirety of Rohan's army. Individual orcs are fairly weak, but they're exceptionally well trained, and their commanders are intelligent. She suspects their morale and formations would hold up against even dragons, though last she checked they didn't have good anti-dragon weapons. Still, Sauron fought alongside the dragons of the First Age - if the dragons of the Third Age are at all like those, he'll know their strengths and weaknesses.

The primary commanders of Sauron's armies are the Wraith Kings. Nine undead, once great kings of men, now bound into Sauron's service. Their greatest war power is a supernatural fear effect.

(Should have brought a priest. A surprising thing for the mortals to invent, a fear ward, but then, they have cause enough.)

Do the Wraith Kings burn?

"You can disrupt their bodies - people've managed that before - but Sauron just reforms them. Still, they're not reckless with injury, so it probably at least inconveniences them."

"Good to know."

"I suspect something similar applies to Sauron himself. I rarely hear of him having a physical form."

"How does he usually manifest?"

"A demanding voice in your head. He doesn't show himself to underlings much. The rumor for what he looks like - fire and smoke and ash, mostly. The older stories have him appearing as - whatever he wants. A pretty elf, a powerful figure in black armor..."

"Inconvenient."

"Somebody probably would've finished him off millennia ago if he wasn't."

"I'm sure he has plenty of enemies."

"Practically everyone in the world by this point."

"It is a pity more of them aren't actively fighting him."

"Some of them have other enemies, or are building their strength - armies don't pop up out of nowhere. Gondor's been scurrying about their fortifications and rebuilding their professional army to a larger size, though, I think. The wood elves were busy defending their borders against orcs and giant spiders until Dol Guldur fell, the western dwarves didn't have a government really until recently... Rohan's not built for breaking sieges, too, they're almost entirely cavalry with an atrophying infantry. The nearby nations in northern Harad and western Rhun are either fighting among themselves or considering allying with Sauron to get help against their neighbors."

"Poor leadership."

"An old problem."

"Sadly so."

"Is it one you're looking to turn around, then?"

"If you are still planning on going to Mordor on a mission of assassination, I am not sure I wish to share that sort of plan with you."