Vad var syftet med Saurons mänskliga offer?

I balans har han förmodligen bara manipulerat Ar-Pharazôn

En av mina favoriter i Tolkiens essays, "Notes on Motives", diskuterar någonting Saurons syften med att inrätta "falska" religioner. mest relevanta, tror jag, är det här:

[Sauron's] cunning motive is probably best expressed thus: To wean one of the God-fearing from their allegiance it is best to propound another unseen object of allegiance and another hope of benefits; propound to him a Lord who will sanction what he desires and not forbid it.

History of Middle-earth X Morgoth's Ring Part 5: "Myths Transformed" Chapter VII "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion" (i)

Det var användbart för Sauron att presentera Morgoth som Guds slags som skulle låta Ar-Pharazôn göra någonting han ville göra ändå; nämligen att hämnas på sina ideologiska fiender (och påminna om att de troende hade varit ideologiskt motståndna mot kungarna vid ett tillfälle vid denna tidpunkt, med bara en kort paus under ar-Pharazôns föregångare Tar-Palantir).

Saurons yttersta syfte avslöjas också i denna uppsats: han vill subjugera och dominera Númenóreans och böja dem efter hans vilja:

Sauron was not a 'sincere' atheist, but he preached atheism, because it weakened resistance to himself (and he had ceased to fear God's action in Arda), as was seen in the case of Ar-Pharazon.

[...]

[T]hough Sauron's whole true motive was the destruction of the Numenoreans, this was a particular matter of revenge upon Ar-Pharazon, for humiliation. Sauron (unlike Morgoth) would have been content for the Numenoreans to exist, as his own subjects, and indeed he used a great many of them that he corrupted to his allegiance.

History of Middle-earth X Morgoth's Ring Part 5: "Myths Transformed" Chapter VII "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion" (i)