Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
I thought of something driving to work this morning. Sauron made the ring to control all the others and bring Middle Earth into darkness.
Isildur knew full well what the ring was, but chose not to destroy it. He hope to harness it's power so that his kingdom will not fall. Isildur was killed at the massacre of the Gladden Fields.
Deagol found the ring and was murdered by Smeagol. Smeagol used the ring for mischief until he was driven out of the village. He went under the Misty Mountains and used the ring to turn invisible and fish in the lake and pick off a few unsuspecting little orcs.
Bilbo found the ring and in the Hobbit used the ring to turn invisible. In the Shire, he used the ring to turn invisible and hide from Sacksville-Bagginses. Frodo inherited the ring and used it a small number of times (once by accident in the Prancing Pony) and twice turn invisible and escape. (Weathertop and Boromir).
Boromir lusted for the ring because his aim was to use the ring much like Isildur did.
Galadriel lusted for the ring because she had rebelled against the Eldars and went into exile. She determined that she would set herself up as Queen of Middle Earth. She was forbidden passage to the Gray Havens until she repented. When she refused the ring and refused to act on her "rebellion", then she rewarded and allowed to come to the Gray Havens.
Sam used the ring to hide from Orcs and follow them after they found Frodo in Shelob's cave.
Frodo, at last claimed the ring on Mt. Doom put it on and disappeared.
Now, there is a brief history of the ring.
Okay... why bring all that up? I wonder if the ring can only corrupt you if you know what you have in your possession.
The one who had the ring the longest was Smeagol. A simple Stoor Hobbit. And even he doesn't wish to become a dark lord. In the Two Towers he holds a conversation with himself and says... I will keep the ring and become Lord Smeagol... Gollum the great. Then he listed what he would do... he would repay Sauron for torturing him, and Sam for being rude to him, but to Smeagol, the main benefit of the ring was to provide him fresh fish from the ocean three times a day. Smeagol doesn't want the ring for power. He wants the ring because it is precious to him and by it he gets food.
The danger of the ring was that it would get to Sauron who would know how to use it. I wonder if any of the above-mentioned (with the exception of Galadriel) would ever be so corrupted that they would have replaced Sauron as the Dark Lord.
The ring tempted Deagol, Smeago, Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam according to their own little ambitions and I can see where the ring would eventually hold out that "Ruler of Middle Earth" carrot. But it seems to me that they wouldn't have the strength to achieve "Dark Lord" status and would all end up shriveled like Gollum.
I don't remember if this is from the movie or the books--but somewhere the idea is expressed that the Ring and Sauron are really one, so it is ultimately impossible for another to wield the full power of the Ring for their own ends. Of course, this poses the question, why would Sauron then be afraid of someone trying to use the Ring against him? This idea may have come more from the movie than the book.
I am confident that either LOTR or the Silmarillion say that Sauron poured much of his own power into the One Ring. This is why he is destroyed when the Ring is destroyed. I believe the language Gandalf uses is that Sauron's fate is "bound up" with that of the Ring.
What exactly would happen should someone else try to use the Ring is less clear, except that it would be bad.
Sauron was afraid that Aragon would use the ring against him. And Aragorn had the strength to do it too. After all, he did win the palantir battle.
Sauron was afraid that Aragon would use the ring against him. And Aragorn had the strength to do it too. After all, he did win the palantir battle.
My guess is that the Ring would have eventually betrayed and/or abandoned Lord Smeagol, just as it once betrayed Isildur and later abandoned Gollumn the first time. The opportunity would have a risen for the Ring to enslave someone of greater power, and that would have been the end of the Imperial Fish Fest.
"Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came."
I'm enjoying reading these threads. I'm gonna have to re-read the trilogy with some of all y'all's thought in mind!
But, remember--Sauron's strength was diminished by the lack of the Ring. If Aragorn had come under the influence of the Ring, he could not have resisted its corrupting influence. Once the Ring had him in its power, would it have been satisfied with a mere man, or would it have bent its will to be reunited with its true master?
Sauron bested the Numenoreans at the hight of their glory (prior to the destruction of his attractive form, and before the creation of the One Ring, I believe.)Much of his power was then placed in the Ring. Once Aragorn fell under it's spell, would he have fared any better than his ancestors in resisting the seduction of Sauron?
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