[HairOfTheDog]

Oh yes.... in the books, the real world faded and became dark...

And when Frodo wore it, he was aware of this. But we don't hear Bilbo talk of it being scary to wear.

Here is a thought. During the time that Bilbo had the ring... Sauron was without form and powerless... So perhaps the ring did not feel its master's "call". And as time wore on, and Sauron regained his strenth, the control over it was returning. Perhaps the ring was getting scarier by the time Frodo had it, as Sauron's ability to drive it increased. In the book, it began to give Frodo visions of far off things... always towards Mordor, the eye, and the dark tower.

[Corin Stormhands]

During the time that Bilbo had the ring... Sauron was without form and powerless... So perhaps the ring did not feel its master's "call". And as time wore on, and Sauron regained his strenth, the control over it was returning.

That's what I was thinking reading through the discussion here. Help me out here with the capture/release/escape, etc. of Gollum. Could Sauron have still considered the ring lost and not have begun looking for it until Gollum came along? I'm fuzzy on the sequence of things.

But would Sauron have known that Gollum had the ring for those hundreds of years? Otherwise, why would they have considered Gollum of any value? Or was it that Gollum went looking for the ring and then got caught...

I think I've got to start reading them again...