Rachel Port
Well-Known Member
Is testimony evidence? We have the testimony of Elrond and Gandalf, though we don't actually see what has happened to Isildur, or Smeagol. We have heard from Gandalf the evidence of Isildur's own words. At the Council, most of the evidence comes from testimony.
I think part of the problem is that the idea of what the Rings were changed pretty radically over time, and some of the earlier conceptions were retained in the published book alongside later, contradictory conceptions. Elven rings appear early on - there were lots of rings scattered about to catch and wraithify whoever happened to pass by - elves, men, I'm not sure about dwarves. Would they have worked on other kinds of animals? Were there fox-wraiths? And at this point all the rings were made by Sauron. The Three were made by Sauron until pretty late in the composition. Then the story of Celebrimbor learning from Sauron entered, being seduced by this new skill. (Confession - I somehow left his last sentence unfinished, and when I just noticed it, I'm not sure what I intended to say.)
The greater rings, the rings of power came later, and their story fluctuated. In quite late versions of the Council of Elrond, they were still made by Sauron. It doesn't seem that they turned elves into wraiths. We don't exactly know how the Nine worked in the beginning. But they were made specifically for humans and were the most effective - the human kings must have been very vulnerable. Gandalf says the Witch King was originally the most powerful wizard (that must be before the wizards were five Maiar incarnated. In any case, we don't know if the Nine were made invisible before the became wraiths - perhaps at first they wore them all the time and were still visible and going about their lives, wielding their new powers and gradually becoming wraiths over time, or whether they became invisible from the start when they were wearing the rings, but didn't wear them all the time, which might have made the process slower.
The point is, we don't know. And maybe Tolkien didn't know. And maybe it doesn't matter. But we can postulate that the rings made for mortal men worked differently on mortals than the One which was meant only for Sauron's own use.
Both the first time reader and Boromir have the same evidence of the Ring's powers, and that comes from the testimony of Elrond, Bilbo, Frodo, and Gandalf. Frodo doesn't put it on, so Boromir doesn't even know for sure that it would make him invisible - he will be shocked later when he does see Frodo put it on. But he knows from the testimony that it has great power (it does) and he would like to put that power to use in defense of Gondor. I'm not sure that means he is giving it more power than it has, just that he wants it used as a weapon.
As for first time readers, I still think they see it as something magical and powerful. They know the history from Chapter Two, and how Frodo has been tempted to use it on the way to Rivendell, which is more than Boromir knows. But I really don't think most readers need or want to get more specific than that. Let them use their imaginations. Please.
I think part of the problem is that the idea of what the Rings were changed pretty radically over time, and some of the earlier conceptions were retained in the published book alongside later, contradictory conceptions. Elven rings appear early on - there were lots of rings scattered about to catch and wraithify whoever happened to pass by - elves, men, I'm not sure about dwarves. Would they have worked on other kinds of animals? Were there fox-wraiths? And at this point all the rings were made by Sauron. The Three were made by Sauron until pretty late in the composition. Then the story of Celebrimbor learning from Sauron entered, being seduced by this new skill. (Confession - I somehow left his last sentence unfinished, and when I just noticed it, I'm not sure what I intended to say.)
The greater rings, the rings of power came later, and their story fluctuated. In quite late versions of the Council of Elrond, they were still made by Sauron. It doesn't seem that they turned elves into wraiths. We don't exactly know how the Nine worked in the beginning. But they were made specifically for humans and were the most effective - the human kings must have been very vulnerable. Gandalf says the Witch King was originally the most powerful wizard (that must be before the wizards were five Maiar incarnated. In any case, we don't know if the Nine were made invisible before the became wraiths - perhaps at first they wore them all the time and were still visible and going about their lives, wielding their new powers and gradually becoming wraiths over time, or whether they became invisible from the start when they were wearing the rings, but didn't wear them all the time, which might have made the process slower.
The point is, we don't know. And maybe Tolkien didn't know. And maybe it doesn't matter. But we can postulate that the rings made for mortal men worked differently on mortals than the One which was meant only for Sauron's own use.
Both the first time reader and Boromir have the same evidence of the Ring's powers, and that comes from the testimony of Elrond, Bilbo, Frodo, and Gandalf. Frodo doesn't put it on, so Boromir doesn't even know for sure that it would make him invisible - he will be shocked later when he does see Frodo put it on. But he knows from the testimony that it has great power (it does) and he would like to put that power to use in defense of Gondor. I'm not sure that means he is giving it more power than it has, just that he wants it used as a weapon.
As for first time readers, I still think they see it as something magical and powerful. They know the history from Chapter Two, and how Frodo has been tempted to use it on the way to Rivendell, which is more than Boromir knows. But I really don't think most readers need or want to get more specific than that. Let them use their imaginations. Please.
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