Just how smart is The One Ring, really?

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Reddy_Mercury

That’s an interesting line of thinking. I do think it had a mind of its own to some degree - At the very least, it had the ability to plant fantasies into people’s head based on what they most desired. It at least had some analytical ability, to be able to interpret people’s deepest wishes and produce for them enlarged, and seductive fantasies of the same.

Does it, though?

I mean, we’re kind of getting into the weeds here – to the extent that “magic” means “can do anything” – but for all I know, the ring just mindlessly pumps out a signal that lowers the inhibitions and amplifies the cravings of the current wearer, and maybe even occasionally acts as a hallucinogen (bearing in mind that, here in the real world, there of course are hallucinogens that are just unthinking chemicals, just like addictive substances can be unthinking chemicals too).

Just to switch universes for a moment, IIRC the X-Men once had an up-and-coming member who could hit folks with a “now see the illusion of your greatest fear” power; and until that illusion appeared, even she didn’t know what was going to pop up: the idea is, she just switches her power ‘on’, and then it just triggers the key part of someone’s brain without her reading the guy’s mind or whatever.

If the Ring had gone to Tom Bombadil, I think Bombadil, for lack of more eloquent terms, would’ve mindfucked it right back. It’s said though that Bombadil would lose interest in the Ring and disregard it, might misplace it. It’s said that Bombadil was meant to perhaps embody the Earth’s spirit - literally, the Earth in a physical form - like the elemental spirits of old tales. If worn by Bombadil, it perhaps would’ve been at first very, very confused, overwhelmed by a mad rush of images of life in its varying forms - rocks, rivers, trees, plants, flowers. Bombadil wanted nothing

I know that someone or other says that about Bombadil – but what always has me scratching my head, is what Bombadil actually does, on his own initiative:

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

The thing is, other characters (a) talk smack about Tom Bombadil, and (b) readily admit that they’ve never met the guy and don’t know much about him.

But whenever we actually see Tom, he’s pretty much the most practical and interested guy this side of Superman: he shows up to save our heroes, and then tells them how to summon him if they need him again – which they do, at which point he of course shows up again to get the job done – and he asks them relevant questions when he’s not busy giving them useful equipment and magic weapons.

And so I figure it’s a Who-Are-You-Going-To-Believe-Me-Or-Your-Lying-Eyes thing.

It’s just a jumps-out-at-me point I keep coming back to, is all.