I neglect to mention a lot of stuff I know about ME. 
Read this to startand it will direct you to Unfinished Tales: “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn,” p. 238;
BTW: This does not support what I posted. I might be wrong about the belief Sauron did not touch it. Only that the Elves gave this out on their own.
Was there anything useful that the forces of good could have done with the One Ring other than keep it from Sauron or destroy it?
In the long term, I’d say not. The reason is that – and I’m sure the Qadmeister will correct me if I err – that the Ring drew its mojo from the Morgoth Element of Arda. Morgoth being pretty much the devil, the very nature of the power was corrupting. While it’s arguable whether any Man or Elf exposed to the Ring over a long period would have been irresistably filled with the urge to possess it, I think it’s clear that no one except for Iluvatar was going to be use its power without being corrupted…and of course Iluvatar would have no need for it.
Of course, one can also make a case that the entire history of Arda, all the travails and suffering of its mortal and immortal inhabitants, are an elaborate way the All-Father chose to purge himself of the evil aspects of his nature.
I don’t think you need to drag Morgoth into this. The Ring was a creation of his chief Captain and most of its power derived from Sauron himself. There might have been the influence of Morgoth in the corruption of Sauron but the Ring was Evil due to Sauron and not due to Morgoth the fallen Vala.
As to use of the Ring, I doubt an actual Valar would have been corrupted by the Ring and of course Tom Bombadil was immune to it. However I do not know if a Valar or Tom had any need of the Ring or if it would do anything for them.
The Valar were mainly afraid to interfere directly as whenever they did vast amounts of destruction usually happened.
I was engaging in hyperbole about only Eru being able to use the one ring (and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have fingers anyway). I’m sure any Vala, or even Melian, would have taken the ring, snickered, and said, “Well, I’ve been needing a paperweight anyway.”
But I disagree about Morgoth. I need to go pick up my mother-in-law, so I’ll have to go into detail later.
What, you’re going to ask her for first-hand information?
From FAQ of the Rings
More data available via that link.
Given what JRRT wrote about “Morgoth’s Ring” (in HOMES X “Morgoth’s Ring”) I’m inclined to feel that Sauron’s Ring enabled him (or any powerful enough wielder of The One Ring) to tap into the power that Melkor himself poured into Arda at its creation.
Can I prove that? No. But it seems to make sense to me, given what I’ve gleaned from the sum of what I’ve read by JRRT. Wish he was around to confirm or deny.
:eek:
That’s a theory that I do subscribe to, that it drew at least some of its power from that source.
Even so, Sauron had plenty of his own native power and malice, which he poured into the ring, to account for any amount of corruption, IMHO.
Remember, long before he forged the ring, and even before Melkor was overthrown, Sauron was already hard at work doing many cruel deeds, to elves, men, and anything else that sauntered or slinked by. In the guise of wolf, vampire, and child of Iluvatar he perpetrated a lot of nastiness. Only Luthien managed to give him a smackdown.
And JRRT did write that after Morgoth’s passing, Sauron’s evil waxed, in that he now served himself rather than another.
So if long-lost notes by JRRT his own self were uncovered, dismissing the damnfool notion of The One Ring drawing power from Arda, I’d have no trouble believing it was a terminally foul ring merely due to Sauron’s own influence.
Well I stand corrected. There is a good case for tapping Morgoth’s evil. An yet there was evil apart from Morgoth. Ungoliant comes to mind just as Tom is a counter example of good separate from the Valar.
Like the FAQ says, that would just result in the Nazgul themselves fading, and Sauron having to deal with a new and probably inferior Nine. Rather like how anyone else mastering the One Ring would have caused Sauron to fade away just as he did when it was destroyed.
Quite possibly. On the other hand, I’d think that would depend on just how it taps into the “Morgoth element”. Passively, like a artesian well ? Or actively, like digging with a shovel ? If the latter, then a Valar could find the Ring useful indeed; they could get more out of it than Sauron himself in that case, having more power to do the “scooping” with. And Morgoth being what he was, I’m sure even they would be corrupted.
Two questions: If Frodo had died, let’s say by the Watcher, who would have carried the Ring?
And if the Balrog would have somehow gotten his hands on it, would it have turned it over to Sauron, or just said “Eat fire whip, Blinky.”
Either Samwise or Meriadoc. It would have stayed with a Hobbit and never would have gone to Pippin while they had a choice.
The Balrog is a great question. It might have taken control of the Ring and swiftly supplanted Sauron himself. Balrogs were never shown to have much intelligence but of course this knew enough to keep a low profile for nearly 2 ages.
It’s been a while since I read it. What’s wrong with Pippin?
Fool of a Took*! Pippin was the Hobbit equivalent of a 15-year-old. Way too young and naive and irresponsible (at that point in the story) to be given that responsibility. Frodo and Sam were both in their mid-40s, Merry was in his mid-20s (all of those being equivalents).
*Sorry, Skald…I just HAD to use that in this instance…
**Jayjay **covered it well though he is a bit off in the ages. Sam was only 39 and Merry was 37. Frodo was 51 and Pippin but 29.
Now for Hobbits 33 = 21 (or maybe 18). Tolkien never specified. I believe 51 was more like mid to late 30s. Sam and Merry would be the equivalent to 20 somethings. Pippin was more like a 16-18 year old.
Pippin was consistantly careless and of course the classic line “Fool of a Took” was about him.
Samwise was steady and sure and maybe just a little slow. He was probably a nearly perfect replacement to carry the Ring and the Ring had problems working on him as it turned out. *Ooh, I will be the Great Gardener and have well ordered plants I shall plant the world with flowers, trees and taters. * At which point the Ring gave up in disgust and thought, this one is worse than a Dwarf.
Meriadoc was the leader of the conspiracy that ensured Frodo would not leave on his own. While Pippin and Frodo screwed up in Bree, Merry was just taking a walk. In Rivendell he studied the maps of where they might be going. In Fangorn he kept his head. Of course back in the Shire he proved to be the tactician and leader among the Hobbits. He was probably the second best Hobbit in all the Shire after Frodo himself.
Sorry…for some reason I thought Sam was closer to Frodo in age.
I’m supposed to unleash acid-spitting weasels or something to murder you at this point, but frankly I don’t feel like it, so we’ll just pretend I did.
Assuming Frodo died before the Fellowship was broken, I think the Ring has to go with Meriadoc. I understand **What Exit’s ** case for Samwise, but I also think he’s misreading the meaning of Sam’s dream of a world of gardens. That’s wasn’t the Ring being frustrated; that was the Ring starting to get a clawhold on him. Given time it would have turned him into the Middle-earth equivalent of an eco-terrorist–if only until it manipulated him into taking it within Sauron’s reach.
Another thought occurred to me yesternight. Suppose Gandalf had happened to realize that Bilbo had the One Ring much earlier? It’s not hard to imagine how; he had been to Gondor many times before the incidents we’re shown, and it’s not hard to imagine him chancing across Isildur’s diaries or whatnot earlier. So let’s say he realized within a year of the Quest of Erebor that Bilbo didn’t have a lesser Ring, or even one of the 7, but Sauron’s favorite bauble. What happeens then?
For 30-odd years, the phrase “consumed by dragons” rattled around in my brain, which interpreted it to mean that dragons ate jewelry…which, I suppose, could be some plausible property of dragons in some ancient legendarium.
And then, unexpectedly, the penny dropped. A more likely explanation is that the dragon ate the *dwarf *wearing the ring.