Sympathy for the Devil?

[Mithadan]

One of the tragic themes of LoTR is the grief of the Ringbearers. A person's inability to possess or loss of the Ring is a supreme torment. The mere glimpse of the bauble leads Smeagol to murder his best friend in order to possess it. Bilbo, after carrying it for only a matter of hours, has it slip off his finger in front of a cadre of Orcs and his first instinct is neither to flee nor defend himself, but rather to search his pockets for the missing Ring. Gollum traverses the length and breadth of Middle Earth pursuing Bilbo and his lost Precious. Bilbo accuses Gandalf of trying to steal it after his Birthday Party. Gandalf fears to handle it. Galadriel lusts after it. Saruman is corrupted by his desire for it. It drives Boromir to near insanity. Gollum starves himself to near death first guiding Frodo and then chasing him through Mordor. Frodo, despite knowing that it is utterly evil and after a year's travel and efforts focused upon destroying it, cannot do so. Even after it is destroyed it torments him. The Ring becomes the focus and compulsion of all who have possessed it and deeply affects even those who merely know of it.

The Ring was found by Deagol in T.A. 2463 and was destroyed in 3019, 556 years later. Over this span of time the Ring, or the inability to posess the Ring, worked tremendous grief upon many people. Examining the discussions of Gollum and Frodo in LoTR, it appears the loss of the Ring is an almost physical torment; an aching loss incapable of being assuaged. We feel sorrow for Frodo and even learn to have sympathy for Gollum, unlikeable creature that he was. And why should we not have empathy for Gollum's agony? Think of it! He lost the Ring in 2941 and spent 78 years of pain without it. The pain of its loss shrivelled him and ground him down like wheat between two stones.

But, let's see. Isn't there someone who was forced to endure it's loss for an even greater period of time? Say, 3019 years? Shouldn't we have some sympathy for Sauron?