What does the Ring do?

B

Brandon Lovesee

New Member
As we are moving into Frodo and Gandalf's conversation, there is a question I have always had that I think we can start discussing (though the answer I'm sure won't come until later - exactly what powers does the Ring grant? In other words, if Sauron were to retrieve the Ring, what would he suddenly be able to do that he couldn't do without it?

We know that the Ring grants power according to the person who is weilding it. In the hands of a hobbit (Frodo, Bilbo, Gollum, etc.) it turns them invisible and makes them see into the shadow/wraith world. We will learn other things later on about power to command others (in The Taming of Smeagol). The movies (I know, I know) suggest that Sauron uses it to project force or something.

I don't want to think of it in "D&D" terms (like it's a +5 Ring of Power), but this is just something I think we should keep in mind as we go on.
 
Besides what is described in the lore, I've often wondered if he did not partially craft the One Ring considering that his master, Morgoth, was banned from Arda after being defeated by the Valar. Perhaps Sauron also sought to "anchor" his being in Arda so that the same could not happen to him - and effectively succeeded in this the first time he was defeated by the Last Alliance.
 
One of the words that keeps cropping up with the Ring is Dominion (often capitalized). The other Rings of Power -- the Rings of Men, Elves, and Dwarves -- are somehow subject to the One Ring (although the Elf Rings seem to be "free" so long as Sauron doesn't have the One Ring).

The interesting twist, of course, is that there is an important group that is not subject to the domination of the Ring. The Hobbits end up being the one race that possesses the One Ring longer than anyone else. I suspect that their having been left off the list is what gives them the capacity to resist it.

I have wondered if the small Hobbits are the soft and sweet music that finally contends with the discord of Melkor in the Ainulindalë.
 
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