Anthony Lawther
Well-Known Member
I missed the live class for Episode 184 due to work reasons and have only just listened to it.
Corey spent much time pondering the passage 'But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One. It would be better if the Three had never been. That is his purpose.'
This lead me to think about the possibilities of what would happen if Sauron regained the One.
First some assumptions:
The Elven Rings are supporting the efforts on the spiritual front of the war as well as having effects in the physical realm
Celebrimbor had warning that the One had been forged, and the purpose of the One, before Sauron put it on.
If these assumptions are true then Celebrimbor had time to remove his Ring(s) before Sauron put on the One, preventing any remote control attempts.
The current bearers would not have any such warning, so the moment Sauron put on the One they would be ensnared and controlled (like the Nazgul.)
Even with such a warning, i.e. if they had reasonable suspicion that Sauron had recaptured the One but not yet 'equipped' it and so removed their own Rings, they would lose control of all they had wrought with them, which as Corey suggested would be a strong motivator to not remove their Rings until it was too late.
What is not known for certain is whether the One would then have uncontested control of the Three and all they wrought, or whether the Three need to be worn for the control to be exercised. As Corey stated, Celebrimbor didn't really have much time (a mere decade) to do anything of consequence before removing his Ring(s).
Even if the One only allowed inspection of what had been done with the Three, that would still reveal the 'minds and hearts' of the bearers, giving Sauron an advantage that he otherwise wouldn't have had.
This, I think, is what is meant by 'all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing': The fact of it being unlikely that the bearers would remove their rings until too late, and that even if they do take them off in time the whole history of the use of the Three would be open for inspection allowing their efforts to be used against them. No more security through obscurity.
Corey spent much time pondering the passage 'But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One. It would be better if the Three had never been. That is his purpose.'
This lead me to think about the possibilities of what would happen if Sauron regained the One.
First some assumptions:
The Elven Rings are supporting the efforts on the spiritual front of the war as well as having effects in the physical realm
Celebrimbor had warning that the One had been forged, and the purpose of the One, before Sauron put it on.
If these assumptions are true then Celebrimbor had time to remove his Ring(s) before Sauron put on the One, preventing any remote control attempts.
The current bearers would not have any such warning, so the moment Sauron put on the One they would be ensnared and controlled (like the Nazgul.)
Even with such a warning, i.e. if they had reasonable suspicion that Sauron had recaptured the One but not yet 'equipped' it and so removed their own Rings, they would lose control of all they had wrought with them, which as Corey suggested would be a strong motivator to not remove their Rings until it was too late.
What is not known for certain is whether the One would then have uncontested control of the Three and all they wrought, or whether the Three need to be worn for the control to be exercised. As Corey stated, Celebrimbor didn't really have much time (a mere decade) to do anything of consequence before removing his Ring(s).
Even if the One only allowed inspection of what had been done with the Three, that would still reveal the 'minds and hearts' of the bearers, giving Sauron an advantage that he otherwise wouldn't have had.
This, I think, is what is meant by 'all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing': The fact of it being unlikely that the bearers would remove their rings until too late, and that even if they do take them off in time the whole history of the use of the Three would be open for inspection allowing their efforts to be used against them. No more security through obscurity.