Why all the Fuss over the One Ring?

[Holy Bovine]

Actually from what I have read (I am not the real Tolkien scholar - I'll get her to post when I show her this thread! ) the Ring gave its wielder the power of 'Command' over all the races of Middle Earth. There were multiple rings for this same power for each individual race (3, 7 and 9) the One Ring could, in the hands of the 'right' user over power them all and render the users subjects to the One Ring's will. To command an entire race in this manner would be to direct its future and its attitudes towards others. This kind of power would corrupt even the most noble of souls (such as Gandalf but he, at least, has the wisdom to recognize the folly of his taking the ring) and , as others have said, replace one Dark Lord with another.

Sauron could most definately be defeated by the One Ring - it was his greatest fear. Especially knowing as he did that anyone who wielded the ring could have commanded all of Suaron's own forces as well. Sauron's biggest flaw was that he couldn't envision anyone destroying the ring rather than use it. It just wasn't in his nature to think that way even though its destruction would lead to his own doom. Sauron put too much of himself into the ring for either to survive without the other.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It won't turn the tide of a war in your kingdoms favor if you have it.

Sure it will. It enhances each person who wears it according to his stature or power, and greatly enhances whatever powers or skills the person already has - as Tolkien wrote. That's why Sam envisioned being the greatest gardener in Middle Earth. If someone like Boromir, a great military leader and mighty warrior, or Aragorn, who was even more so (see his history; he was a powerul general in Gondor decades before we see him in the books - he's already 89 years old by the time of the Fellowship), Sauron's army could well have been defeated, even by a numerically inferior force. The more powerful the person is, the more powerfully the ring works. That's why hobbits were a good choice to carry it; they were the least powerful of Middle Earth's people. That's also why it didn't seem all that powerful when they had it.

 

[Gizzard]

Tangentially, I am curious if Alzrius' question comes after reading the book or seeing the movie. The characterization of the One Ring is a bit different in each. In the book, I think its clearer what exactly the Ring is all about. I think its easier to miss some of the subtleties in the movie. For instance:

It won't turn the tide of a war in your kingdoms favor if you have it.

Boromir says in the Council that "This Ring is a great gift. Let us take it and use it against our enemy." Galadriel gives her "Dark Queen" speech. But other than that, I dont think the movie really addresses the issue of exactly how powerful the Ring could be. (Not that I'd expect 2/3s of the movie trilogy to be as deep as 3 thick books.)

Also, in the movie, the Ring is a much more immediately corrupting influence, so proportionally, there seems to be more "fuss" over it. Ie, everyone is strongly and immediately affected. In the movie, only Aragorn and Gandalf have successfully withstood the test of the ring; while in the book it is closer to say that only Boromir and Saruman had failed.

It enhances each person who wears it according to his stature or power, and greatly enhances whatever powers or skills the person already has - as Tolkien wrote.

I thought more that it grants anyone a huge amount of power, but can only tempt them with visions of how they personally might use that power. So Boromir sees using the Ring to turn the tide of the war he is losing. Sam sees becoming a great gardener; but this would be gardening on an unimaginable scale.

Anyway, I always thought of the hobbits as being more immune to the temptations of the Ring because they are generally happy and sheltered from the cares of Middle Earth. The Ring has to start small with them; offering visions of gardens and food and maybe Lobelia stuffed in a wood-chipper. In a similar way, the Ring had to abandon poor Gollum, because it couldnt find a way to shake him out of his exile under the mountain. It could offer him dreams of power, but Gollum's world had become so small that he didnt need anything other than a handful of fish and the Precious.

 

[KenM]

I still say all they had to do is stick the ring in a leather bag, tie it tight. Use spells to make sure it could not be opened, or cut open. Give it to a hobbit, Put the hobbit on a giant eagle, the eagle flies over Mt. Doom, and the hobbit drops the bag into the lava of the volcano. Sounds alot easier then going in on foot, don't you think?

 

[jonesy]

Put the hobbit on a giant eagle, the eagle flies over Mt. Doom, and the hobbit drops the bag into the lava of the volcano.

It would also have made the little hobbit on the eagle a rather visible target for Sauron to notice.
Remember that he would have seen Frodo and Sam while they were nearing Mt.Doom on foot if it hadn't been for the distraction provided by Aragorns little army.

 

[Holy Bovine]

I still say all they had to do is stick the ring in a leather bag, tie it tight. Use spells to make sure it could not be opened, or cut open. Give it to a hobbit, Put the hobbit on a giant eagle, the eagle flies over Mt. Doom, and the hobbit drops the bag into the lava of the volcano. Sounds alot easier then going in on foot, don't you think?

And Suaron gets the ring when he intercepts the eagle and hobbit trying to fly over Mordor. Any magic put upon a bag to prevent someone opening it would not be able to stop Sauron. He was (in the Third Age that is) the single most powerful creature in Middle Earth. Not even Gandalf could have stood long against him (although Gandlaf gets ressurrected a few days later and now he's even more powerful )

 

[Umbran]

I note that "power by stature" is equivalent to "hidden power" if nobody of stature ever has the ring. In the books, the ring goes from Sauron to Isildur to the bottom of a river, to Smeagol to Bilbo to Frodo. After Isildur, nobody of stature ever has the thing, and there are few to no records of Isildur's time with it. All notions on what powers the ring actually has are thus speculative.

Part of the answer is in something Alzirus mentions - Gollum is addicted to the thing. Why? Because part of the ring's power is to make people want it!

Mind you, I thoroughly suspect that any magic ring imbued with much of the power of an angelic being (for such Sauron was), is going to be a pretty hefty item, if you can figure out how it works. But, that power is unneccessary to explain the desire folks have for the ring.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I thought more that it grants anyone a huge amount of power, but can only tempt them with visions of how they personally might use that power. So Boromir sees using the Ring to turn the tide of the war he is losing. Sam sees becoming a great gardener; but this would be gardening on an unimaginable scale.

I don't have the Tolkien quotes immediately available. What I recall is that the Ring enhances what is already possessed by the user. Had the Nazgul taken Frodo while he was wearing the Ring at the Ford of Bruinen, he wouldn't have been able to command them, for instance. If someone like Aragorn had been wearing it...who knows?

 

[KenM]

And Suaron gets the ring when he intercepts the eagle and hobbit trying to fly over Mordor. Any magic put upon a bag to prevent someone opening it would not be able to stop Sauron. He was (in the Third Age that is) the single most powerful creature in Middle Earth. Not even Gandalf could have stood long against him (although Gandlaf gets ressurrected a few days later and now he's even more powerful )

You still have Aragon with his army distract Sauron. You have a few more elves on eagles fly in with the hobbit. Then you can have the nazgul on dragons "dogfight" with the eagles.

 

[fba827]

One thing that has always puzzled me about Lord of the Rings:

Why do so many people want the ring so badly???

Because the DM needed a plot device to make the story work..


But seriously, if it's not for the reasons already suggested, I would state that one of the powers of the ring is the power to corrupt others to want it.