One Ring To Rule Them All,

One Ring To Find Them,

One Ring To Bring Them All

And In The Darkness Bind Them!

Devoted readers of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, know this ominous verse by heart. In fiery Tengwar script, in the language of the Black Speech, the verse is the only identifying mark by which to tell this Ring from any other small plain golden band.(1)

These were the words Sauron himself spoke when he crafted the One, in the hopes of dominating all of those who bore the other rings--the Three hidden by the Elves, the nine which found their way into the hands of Men, and the seven which were distributed to the Dwarf lords.(2)

The Ring was Sauron's ultimate weapon, made to conquer all, imbued with his malice, deceit, greed and craving for power. The Wise feared it. Celebrimbor, when he heard the Ring come into being, hid the Three from it, lest they be sullied.(3) Gandalf feared to take it even for safe-keeping. (4)Elrond knew the only hope of the world was its utter destruction. Saruman desired it for the power it would bring him.(5)

One of the Ring's powers was to cause those who possessed it to become obsessed with it--it would become "precious" to them, above all other things. And it would create in others the lust to possess it, so that their craving for it would overcome their sense, and they would desire it above all things.

The Ring was powerful and irresistible. Right?

Well, let us look at its actual "track record". Sauron, its maker and rightful Lord, most certainly desired it, one it was gone from his possession. In fact, elucidating on the Ring in a letter, JRRT said …so great was the Ring's power of lust, that anyone who used it became mastered by it; it was beyond the strength of any will *(even his own)* [emphasis mine] to injure it, cast it away, or neglect it. So he thought. It was, in any case on his finger."(6)

But it *was* his, after all. So we will begin with the others who came in contact with it over the ages, beginning with those who actually *bore* the Ring.

Isildur was the one who struck the Ring from Sauron's hand, and as we know, he refused the council of the Elves to destroy it then and there, taking it instead as "weregild" for the deaths of his father and brother. This action has been portrayed by many as showing that Isildur very quickly fell to the Ring's lure. Indeed, he kept it for a while, and wrote of it as "precious to me". We are told that he was ambushed by Orcs near the Gladden Fields, and was slain by an arrow when the Ring slipped from his hand, betraying him to his attackers. This is the account as it is given in both LotR and The Silmarillion. But in Unfinished Tales we are given a bit more of the story. Isildur *admits* to his son: "I cannot use it. I dread the pain of touching it. And I have not found the strength to bend it to my will. It needs one greater than I now know myself to be. My pride has fallen. It should go to the Keepers of the Three."(7)

Leaving aside the question of whether it would have been wise to give the Ring up to Elrond or Galadriel or Círdan, it is clear that somehow, Isildur has managed to come to the point of considering giving the Ring up, when he is slain. Whether he could have actually done so or not is thus rendered moot.

Still, if the Ring had so powerful a hold on him, could he have even thought of giving it up?

The Ring settled to the bottom of the River, and there it remained for over two thousand years--until it was found by Déagol, and then immediately claimed by Sméagol. Déagol scarcely had the Ring long enough to tell what his reaction would have been to it, but it is clear that the effect on Sméagol was immediate: he murdered his friend in order to possess it, and then spent centuries obsessing over it, as he evolved into the creature Gollum. The Ring's power over him seems to bear out the strength of its corrupting power.

And yet, it is conceivable that if Sméagol had been a different sort of person, the Ring might have taken a good deal longer to have an effect on him. Gandalf tells us that Sméagol was "small and mean". He was always looking "downward". In the 478 years that the Ring was in his possession, Sméagol became Gollum, a creature afraid of the light, who lived a solitary life in the darkness, a nasty little murderer.

Along came Bilbo.

Of course, as Gandalf said, "Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its Maker…(8) Unlike the previous owners of the Ring, there was no malice in Bilbo. Sauron was malicious by nature, and so was Gollum. Isildur's malice was directed at Sauron, whom he slew--not an evil malice, but malice nonetheless. But Bilbo simply *found* the Ring. It was, to him, simply a lucky little trinket.

Unlike its Maker, he had no wish to dominate. Unlike Isildur and Gollum, he did not come into its possession by violence. It would have been the prudent and easy thing for him to do--to slay Gollum in order to escape. Instead, we have one of the most remarkable deeds of the entire tale, which takes place mostly in Bilbo's head:

"A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo's heart: a glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering. All these thoughts passed in a flash of a second. He trembled. And then, quite suddenly in another flash, as if lifted by a new strength and resolve, he leaped.

No great leap for a man, but a leap in the dark…"(9)

Many years later, when Frodo says that it is a pity Bilbo did not slay Gollum, Gandalf replies: "Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.(10)

We have been told that Bilbo is the only person in the long history of the Ring that ever actually voluntarily parted with the Ring--and that he needed all of Gandalf's help to do so. We are also told he could not "cast it away". It was only by giving it to someone he trusted that he was able to leave it behind.

Bilbo possessed the Ring for sixty years. He used it frequently during his Adventure with no ill effects, save for not being entirely honest with the Dwarves as to how he acquired it. And it's quite clear that he used it from time to time once he returned home, if only to avoid unpleasant relatives. It was not until the end of that time that he began to feel "thin and stretched". (11)

He was and remained a hobbit of kindliness and generosity, and even though he lost his reputation for respectability, he seems to have still been well-beloved by the hobbits who lived around him, and by many, if not all, of his relatives. He certainly showed generosity in taking the orphaned Frodo in and adopting him. If the Ring had a corrupting influence on him, it was certainly minimal in its effect.

Frodo received the Ring, and it remained in his possession for seventeen years before he learned the truth about it. We are not told if he ever used it during that time--but there is an implication that he did not.

It would be difficult to examine all of Frodo's interactions with the Ring during the course of his journey without quoting back most of the story. However, we see that he actually *deliberately* puts it on his finger only four times before he reached Mount Doom. The first was in the house of Tom Bombadil; the second was on Weathertop; the third was to escape from Boromir, and the fourth, to leave the others behind when he made the decision to go to Mordor alone. (Some might even argue that those latter two were really one occasion--but he did remove it when he left Amon Hen, and put it back on when he took the boat.) And of course, he put it on accidentally (or through the Ring's intent) in The Prancing Pony.

But let us look at a time when he did *not* put on the Ring, in spite of pressure to do so from the searching Ringwraiths, and from the danger in which he found himself. Most notable was his temptation in the Barrow: "…a wild thought of escape came to him. He wonder if he put on the Ring, whether the Barrow-wight would miss him, and he might find some way out. He thought of himself running free over the grass, grieving for Merry, and Sam, and Pippin, but free and alive himself. Gandalf would admit that there had been nothing else to do.

But the courage that had been awakened in him was now too strong: he could not leave his friends so easily. He wavered, groping in his pocket, and the fought with himself again; and as he did so the arm crept nearer. Suddenly resolve hardened in him, and he seized a short sword that lay beside him, and kneeling he stooped low over the bodies of his companions. With what strength he had he hewed at the crawling arm near the wrist, and the hand broke off…"
(12)

Later, Gandalf tells Frodo that this moment in the Barrow, in which he was so sorely tempted, was the "perhaps the most dangerous moment of all". Yet somehow Frodo still managed to overcome that temptation.(13)

Once he had made his offer to carry the Ring to Mount Doom, it was placed on a chain around his neck, and there it remained until the breaking of the Fellowship. We are not privy to many of his thoughts during this portion of the Quest, yet he does not seem to have been so sorely tried again until much later.

However, it got more and more difficult for him as he drew near to its place of origin and to its Master. We are told that it actually grew heavier, and once he entered Mordor, it soon claimed all of his attention, so that he had no thought to spare for anything else.(14)

In the end, he did fail, and he did claim the Ring. And yet in spite of that, he remains the hero of the story and the saviour of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. Of Frodo, JRRT says:

"I do not think Frodo's failure was a moral failure. At the last moment the pressure of the Ring would reach its maximum--impossible, I should have said, for any one to resist, certainly after long possession, months of increasing torment, and when starved and exhausted. Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) and had produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved. His humility ( with which he began) and his sufferings were justly rewarded by the highest honour; and his exercise of patience and mercy towards Gollum gained him Mercy: his failure was redressed." (15)

Finally, we should consider Sam, the other Ring-bearer. He was in possession of the Ring for a very short time. Perhaps not long enough for it to consolidate a hold on him? Yet it took Gollum in far less time.

Unlike Frodo, Sam was not *given* the Ring; however, unlike Gollum, he did not *steal* it either. Instead, he took it because he was--as he thought--the last one left to carry on the duty laid on Frodo: to see the Ring carried to its place of destruction.

Still, the Ring was in a very powerful position: on the very borders of Mordor. And Sam was in a weakened state, in grief and despair over his master, whom he thought dead; in exhaustion from the trek up the Endless Stair; and from the battle with Shelob. And it was necessary for Sam to put the Ring *on*, in order to escape the Orcs.(16)

Once he followed the Orcs into Mordor, he took it off. But it was then the trial of his resolve began:

"As Sam stood there, even though the Ring was not on him but hanging by its chain about his neck, he felt himself enlarged, as if he were robed in a huge distorted shadow of himself, a vast and ominous threat halted upon the walls of Mordor. He felt that he had from now on only two choices: to forbear the Ring, though it would torment him; or to claim it, and challenge the Power that sat in its dark hold beyond the valley of shadows. Already the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and resolve. Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dûr. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be.

In that hour of trial, it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command."(17)

Sam renounced the Ring, and did not doubt that renunciation. And when he rescued his master, he returned the Ring--and though he felt a certain amount of reluctance, he handed it over anyway.

Looking at the above Ringbearers, it appears that it had consolidated its hold on two: Sauron and Gollum, had a tenuous hold on Isildur, failed to hold either Bilbo or Sam, and was only able to take Frodo at the end by overwhelming him with sheer force.

Not an especially good track record for an object that is supposed to inspire irresistible lust for it.

But what about those who came into the orbit of the Ring, through their association with the Ring-bearers? Were they tempted to seize it?

It is not possible to say what sorts of temptations those who were in the vicinity of Sauron or Isildur felt. While Sauron held the Ring, I am certain his own force of having a *right* to be the Lord of the Ring through being its maker probably kept others from casting lustful thoughts in its direction.

It is possible that some of those who surrounded Isildur wanted the Ring--yet there are no hints of that in canon whatsoever.

Sméagol/Gollum solved the problem of others wanting his "precious" by hiding away beneath a mountain for nearly five hundred years, so once more there is no evidence that anyone else would have wanted it.

Bilbo had the Ring during the remainder of his Adventure. As covetous as Dwarves are painted as being in "The Hobbit", we do not see any of them coveting his Ring, even once they knew about it. They were far more interested in the dragon-hoard and the Arkenstone.

He kept the Ring secret after returning to the Shire, so we have no accounts of other hobbits trying to get their hands on it. They did not know it even existed: with two exceptions--Frodo, whom Bilbo told himself (18) and Meriadoc Brandybuck, who found out for himself, and kept the secret for many years.(19)

Neither of them made any attempt to claim the Ring.

Gandalf rejected the Ring outright, when Frodo offered it to him, though he was clearly tempted, tempted by the idea of using its power to do good. Only his sure knowledge that any such attempt would backfire made him able to reject it.(20)

The Ring meant nothing to Tom Bombadil; indeed, it had so little power over *him* that he was not even rendered invisible when he tried it on!(21) Strider knows what Frodo carries. Yet he tells Frodo: "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will." Though the hobbits do not realize it, the Heir of Isildur has sworn fealty to Frodo Baggins.(22) If the Ring holds any temptations at all for *this* Man, we are never privy to them, and he fights them off by himself.

In Rivendell, at the Council of Elrond, the general consensus is that the Ring must be disposed of: either by dropping it into the Sea, sending it over the Sea, or destroying it. Only Boromir indicates any doubt of this--it is now we first see the theme develop of the Ring as a weapon. He thinks that sending Frodo into Mordor to seek the Cracks of Doom is "folly". It is, perhaps, the first indication of his eventual fall to the Ring's call.(23)

And yet we see no sign of the Ring acting upon anyone else, not in Rivendell, and not on the Quest--until Lothlórien.

Lothlórien is interesting when looking at the Ring's effect on people. Galadriel tests the loyalty and resolve of the Company, and we do not know that any of them were offered the Ring, or merely a chance to go home--Sam and Merry hint that it was merely the latter. But though it is never overtly stated, it does seem fairly conclusive that Boromir's test involved the Ring in some manner. It seems that it is this test that finally tips him in the direction he eventually takes.

And then, there is Galadriel's own temptation. Hers is truly a trial of the Ring's power. She confesses that she has often wished to have the Ring in her possession--this desire could be her downfall. She knows, as does Gandalf, that she has the strength to wield it.

Her temptation was clearly a *serious* one. Frodo actually *offers* to give her the Ring if she will take it! We see her taken aback by his offer, and then she begins to speak of what she would do if she had it. But in the end, she makes her rejection plain: “ ‘I pass the test,’ she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.’”(24)

The one real chance the Ring had in snaring one of the bearers of the Three, and it fails. We will examine this more, later on.

However, Boromir does not seem to be completely immune to the Ring’s siren call, as we see when they leave Lothlórien. He has not forgotten his thoughts that it might still be possible to use the Ring as a weapon, and it seems clear that he did not pass the test Galadriel gave the members of the Company. We see signs of it on the river-journey: “Boromir sat muttering to himself, sometimes biting his nails, as if some restlessness or doubt consumed him, sometimes seizing a paddle and driving the boat close behind Aragorn’s. Then Pippin, who sat in the bow looking back, caught a queer gleam in his eye, as he peered forward gazing at Frodo.”(25)

Then the Company reaches Parth Galen, and we come to the crucial point in the breaking of the Fellowship. Boromir finds Frodo alone, and makes at first an impassioned plea, then a demand, for the Ring. When Frodo does not comply, he attempts to take the Ring by force. This is another scene we shall look at in more detail later.

What happens next? Frodo puts on the Ring and escapes.

And: “Then catching his foot on a stone, he fell sprawling and lay upon his face. For a while he was as still as if his own curse had struck him down; then suddenly he wept.

He rose and passed his hand over his eyes, dashing away the tears. ‘What have I said?’ he cried. ‘What have I done? Frodo, Frodo!’ he called. ‘Come back! A madness took me, but it has passed. Come back!’”(26)

At this point, Boromir is no longer under the Ring’s spell. His fall has broken the temptation--even though he temporarily fell to its enthrallment, as soon as he realizes his actions, he renounces them as madness. He does *not* seek to go after Frodo--for even invisible, it’s certain that Frodo would have left traces of his flight. If the Ring truly had him firmly in its grasp, he could not have resisted following it. He returns to the Company, and in the event, he gives his life to save Frodo’s cousins as an atonement for his betrayal.

In other words--the Ring failed to consolidate its hold over him.

Now the Ring is across the River, and is moving closer to its Master, and to its greatest source of power. It’s clear that the closer they get to Mordor, the more of a drag it is on Frodo.

Yet the journey is interrupted in Ithilien, when the Ringbearers are captured by Captain Faramir.

Faramir is Boromir’s brother, and one might think him as subject to the Ring’s pull as his brother had been. Yet he completely rejects the idea of taking the Ring, or of taking the Ringbearers anywhere near Minas Tirith. Indeed, even with his suspicions of what Frodo might have, he rejects the Ring *before he even knows what it is*! “ ‘I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.’” Then, when Sam spills the beans about the Ring and their mission, Faramir reiterates his rejection, even though he now knows what the Ring is.(27)

As with Aragorn, we do not know if the Ring even tried to tempt him--it would be surprising if it did not. But if it did, it failed again.

Yet, it’s clear that the Ring did indeed incite lust for its power, and drew evil after it. We see it all through the books: it is a beacon for the Nazgûl when they seek the Ring in the North, and it comes close at least to revealing Frodo when the Ringbearers and Gollum are in the Dead Marshes, and again when they pass near Minas Morgul. It seems to draw the evil creatures after Frodo in Moria, and of course Gollum is able to follow its trail like a hound.

And there are three who, never even coming close to the Ring, still lust for it: Saruman, Denethor and Grishnákh.

It’s quite clear that Saruman had been searching for the Ring for centuries. In The Silmarillion we are told of his treachery: “Thus the Wise were troubled, but none as yet perceived that Curunír [Saruman’s other name] had turned to dark thoughts and was already a traitor in heart; for he desired that he and no other should find the Great Ring, so that he might wield it himself and order all the world to his will.”(28)

Saruman’s treachery was active. He was in communication with Sauron through the palantír, but he was planning to betray him as well.

Grishnákh is a bit of an anomaly. He is clearly a fairly low-level Orc officer, yet somehow he has a knowledge of the Ring.

The thought came suddenly into Pippin’s mind, as if caught direct from the urgent thought of his enemy. ‘Grishnákh knows about the Ring! He’s looking for it, while Uglûk is busy: he probably wants it for himself: cold fear was in Pippin’s heart, yet at the same time he was wondering what use he could make of Grishnákh’s desire.” Pippin--and then Merry, when he catches on to his cousin’s ruse--trick the Orc into thinking they have the Ring, by hints and making a “gollum” noise. It’s obvious that the Orc *does* indeed know about, and wants, the One Ring. We are left to speculate as to how he came by knowledge not generally given to underlings.(29)

Denethor was not a traitor. He was, however, unwittingly in Sauron’s power through his use of the palantír, and his notions of the Ring were influenced by his desires to defeat Sauron by any means. When he discovers what Faramir has done in allowing Frodo to go, he rages at Faramir, and says “Would that this thing had come to me!”

As Boromir had done, he calls the plan to send the Ring to the Fire “madness”, and then in the dispute with Gandalf that follows says:

“Nay, it should have been kept, hidden, hidden dark and deep. Not used, I say, unless at the uttermost end of need, but set beyond his grasp, save by a victory so final that what then befell would not trouble us, being dead.” (30)

Denethor was not evil, but he was filled with pride and despair, a bad combination, that can lead men who are not evil to *do* evil, and Gandalf knew this.

JRRT describes Denethor as a “politician”--“Denethor was tainted with mere politics: hence his failure, and his mistrust of Faramir. It had become for him a prime motive to preserve the polity of Gondor, as it was, against another potentate, who had made himself stronger and was to be feared and opposed for that reason rather than because he was ruthless and wicked. Denethor despised lesser men, and one may be sure did not distinguish between orcs and the allies of Mordor. It he had survived as victor, even without use of the Ring, he would have taken a long stride towards becoming himself a tyrant, and the terms and treatment he accorded to the deluded peoples of east and south would have been cruel and vengeful. He had become a “political” leader: sc. Gondor against the rest.”(31)

At any rate, it seems clear that the decisions of Gandalf, Aragorn and Frodo to keep the Ring away from Minas Tirith was a correct one!

We can see then, through the temptations of Gandalf and Galadriel, and through the temporary fall of Boromir, and through the Ring-lust of Saruman, Grishnákh and Denethor, that the Ring *did* have a great power of corruption even upon those who never came within grasping distance. And yet, upon most of those who *did* come within grasping distance it either did not succeed at all, or only partially succeeded.

Why?

Here we enter a realm entirely of speculation. All that we are openly *told* about the Ring emphasizes its great power--yet all that we are actually *shown* about the Ring indicates that its power was not nearly so great as was believed.

It is my theory that there are a few reasons for this, and they are related.

First of all, there is the nature of the one who made the Ring, and the way in which he made it: “He only needs the One; for he made the Ring himself, it is his, and he let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so the he could rule all the others.”(32)

“…he had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power (a frequent and very significant motive in myth and fairy-story) pass into the One Ring. While he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced. But even if he did not wear it, that power existed and was in ‘rapport’ with himself: he was not ‘diminished’.”(33)

“Sauron made the One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to its and to last only so long as it too should last. And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring…”(34)

In other words, the Ring is a reflection of Sauron himself. And from what we are told of Sauron, he had a real blind spot: he could not conceive that anyone else would not want that sort of power that *he* wanted.

Gandalf gives us a succinct account of Sauron’s personality:

“Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall pass out of his reckoning.”(35)

In other words, Sauron had a blind spot about the motivations of other people, and therefore, the Ring had that blind spot as well.

This accounts for its utter failure with the hobbits. It could not offer any of them anything they truly wanted. Hobbits in general dislike power over others (not exclusively, of course, as Gollum, Lalia and Lotho all prove to be exceptions). But those hobbits with whom it came in contact did not want power--they were motivated by love: love for the Shire and devotion to one another.

Aragorn and Faramir--and ultimately Boromir, though he fell briefly--were motivated by honor and duty, another concept that the Ring could not wrap its “mind” around, because neither could its Master.

Gandalf and Galadriel were clearly tempted. They were used to, and had no compunctions about, wielding power as necessary to complete their tasks--and they longed to do “good” with the power. But beneath that, it was their love and compassion for others that motivated their use of power. It was the good they could accomplish and not the power in and of itself that appealed to them. Therefore they were able to forestall the Ring’s appeal.

“It appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond. But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. But this the Great had well considered and had rejected as is seen in Elrond’s words at the Council. Galadriel’s rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve.”(36)

Gandalf called upon this resolve when he rejected the Ring, and while it briefly filled Galadriel’s mind with those “imaginations of supreme power” she was able in the end to call upon that resolve.

Faramir unwittingly rejected the Ring even before he knew what it was: Not if I found it lying by the side of the highway would I take this thing.”(37) When he realizes what the Enemy’s token is, he holds himself as a man of honor, bound by that word--even though he did not know what he meant at the time. He also was able to call upon previous resolve in spite of his essential ignorance of the Ring.

Because of Sauron’s obsession with power, the Ring was obsessed with power. This was also a crucial mistake made, as the Ring tempted those it tried to claim. We only see three people actually grappling with the Ring’s “imaginations”: Galadriel, Boromir and Sam.

“ ’I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would not that have been a noble deed to set to the credit of his Ring, if I had taken it by force or fear from my guest?

‘And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!’

She then reveals her ring to Frodo, and for a brief instant he sees her as she described, and then she laughs.(37) It is the laughter that I think shows the weakness of this temptation--the Ring, in its “imaginations” went too far, and she realized just how silly “all shall love me and despair” was. In other words, the Ring went over the top, and so ruined all its efforts to take her, as her good sense and previous resolve asserts itself.

We have already looked at Sam’s temptation, but I would like to look once more at this portion: “And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be."(38)

And it is right after this part, that Sam’s love for his Master, and his “hobbit-sense” asserts itself. Once more, the Ring offered too much--being a reflection of Sauron, it could not offer less than such great power, and by doing so it went too far. It was not offering what Sam truly wanted.

Yet we see that Boromir does succumb, if only briefly. Why did it succeed in his case?

Well, first of all, Boromir had no “previous resolve”; he had taken no oath when the Company left Rivendell. And as we know, he was infected with the pride and despair of his father. But let us look at what the Ring offered him:

“ ‘We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend outserlves, strength in a just cause. And behold! in our need chance brings to light the Ring of Power. It is a gift, I say; a gift to the foes of Mordor. It is mad not to use it, to ouse the power of the Enemy against him. The fearless, the ruthless, these alone will achieve victory. What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do? Or if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the host of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!’

Boromir strode up and down, speaking ever more loudly. Almost he seemed to have forgotten Frodo, while his talk dwelt on walls and weapons and the mustering of men; and he drew plans for great alliances and glorious victories to be; and he cast down Mordor, and became himself a mighty king, benevolent and wise.”(39)

Boromir was a soldier, the Captain-General of Gondor. He was accustomed to thinking of power in terms of conquest and battles--and so the Ring was able to offer him just exactly what he wanted: these were the sorts of motives it could understand. Yet it’s conceivable that if it had continued in that vein--perhaps showing him casting down his own father, or becoming an Emperor of the world, he too might have realized what was happening, and his honor would have reasserted itself. Sadly, we will never know.

There is another factor as well: Sauron could not conceive that any would destroy his Ring, and so the Ring could not conceive that either--not until Frodo was at the very precipice of the Cracks of Doom did it realize its own danger, and seek to overwhelm him with raw power.

So, with these weaknesses built into the Ring by its maker, if it were not all that powerful, why was it necessary to destroy it?

The answer to that is clear. First and foremost, it was the only way to completely destroy Sauron himself. And secondly, “not as powerful as some people believe” does not mean it was not very powerful indeed.

It could and did, dominate the Nine, turning their bearers into slaves of great power and malice. It could and did, dominate the Seven--though all it achieved among the Dwarves was to kindle their greed, it managed to see that all of the Seven were ultimately destroyed.

It could, though it did not, dominate the Three. Only by hiding the Three, and never using them while the Ring was active, did the bearers keep those from being “sullied” by Sauron. And as they were made by Sauron’s knowledge, its destruction also meant the destruction of what had been wrought by the Three.

And it is also clear that given enough time, it could wear down the resistance of its bearers eventually, as it had begun to do with Bilbo after sixty years. And with enough power from its source, it could overwhelm the resistance of its bearer, as it did with Frodo.

The One Ring was indeed a thing of great and mighty power. But its power was flawed. It was never as powerful as its maker thought it, because *he* was never as powerful as he thought he was.

He forgot he himself was a mere creation, and that Love, Mercy and Grace came from One far more Powerful than himself.

____________________________

FOOTNOTES:

1 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
2 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter II, “The Council of Elrond”
3 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter II, “The Council of Elrond”
4 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
5 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter II, “The Council of Elrond”
6 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter # 131
7 Unfinished Tales, Part Three, The Third Age, Chapter I, “The Disaster of the Gladden Fields”
8 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
9 The Hobbit, Chapter V, “Riddles in the Dark”
10 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
11 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter I, “A Long-Expected Party”
12 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter VIII, “Fog on the Barrow-Downs”
13 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter I, “Many Meetings”
14 The Return of the King, Book VI, Chapter III, “Mount Doom”
15 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #246
16 The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter X, “The Choices of Master Samwise”
17 The Return of the King, Book VI, Chapter I, “The Tower of Cirith Ungol”
18 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
19 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter V, “A Conspiracy Unmasked”
20 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
21 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter VII, “In the House of Tom Bombadil”
22 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter X, “Strider”
23 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter II, “The Council of Elrond”
24 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter VII, “The Mirror of Galadriel”
25 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter IX, “The Great River”
26 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter X, “The Breaking of the Fellowship”
27 The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter V, “The Window on the West”
28 The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”
29 The Two Towers, Book III, Chapter III, “The Uruk-Hai”
30 The Return of the King, Book V, Chapter IV, “The Siege of Gondor”
31 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #183
32 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter II, “The Shadow of the Past”
33 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter # 131
34 The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”
35 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter II, “The Council of Elrond”
36 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter # 246
37 The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter V, “The Window on the West”
38 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter VII, “The Mirror of Galadriel”
39 The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter X, “The Breaking of the Fellowship”