Jesus.
I know. I thought the same thing. But there is some plausibility if you understand the powers of all the Elven Rings and the One Ring. I reallyt don't understand why the story has to be tampered with, even here, but... we'll see.
Consider also: Think about how many people you actually see wearing the One Ring in the books. It's surprising how many there really are. But they really did! My point is that it's often easy to forget what was or wasn't in the story. Precedence implies possibility. Exploring the possibilities gives plausibility.
That said, now how on earth can they have changed what happens at Mt. Doom? I'm really rather nervous about this final film after reading all the changes that were made not only in the storyline, but in the characters themselves. I have a feeling that they became rather enamoured of Andy Serkis' Gollum and put too much emphasis on him.
But there is hope! Forgive me if this was already posted, but check out this comment, can it be our dearest hope may come to pass?
New Zealand designer Ngila Dickson (who also designed the costumes for Last Samurai) is quoted as saying .....
"I would love to have had more technical expertise on the Rings, but what I did have was people willing to destroy their lives. On a project like that, heart and soul were more valuable when you needed people 24 hours a day seven days a week. And it was 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a very long time."
By a long time, Dickson means "we just finished pickups (late reshoots) last July."
And then she drops a teaser - "and I'm already hearing rumours about next year." Pressed, she will say only it's for a "vast, gigantic" future DVD release of the entire trilogy.