I am halfway thru reading Return of the King, and I started thinking about the characters tempted by the ring, or tempted to aquire the ring:
Arangorn, Boromir, Gandalf, Galadriel, Bilbo, Gollum, Frodo, Sam (did I miss someone, other than Sauron?)
My question is if there is a part in the book where either Legolas, Gimli, Merry, or Pippin are tempted to get the ring for themselves? Did all the fellowship become tempted to get the ring for themselves?
I’m not aware of any such universal temptation.
Of course, I don’t exactly recall Aragorn, Gandalf, or Galadrial being tempted - unless you include their observation as to the potential power of the ring and their resolve to resist temptation.
Yes, the parts when Frodo offers them the ring, and each of them stares at it for a while before saying they cannot have it… I read it as if they were tempted, but resisted it.
Finish the book, else you’ll get spoilers.
Eh…I do not mind for spoilers…as I said, I’m halfway thru the last book, and have already read or know a bit of what will happen…I’m just curious, do Legolas and Gimli (especially those two) ever get tempted? Or maybe I miss that part.
About half of them are obviously tempted at one time or another, the possible exceptions being Pippin, Meriadoc, and Legolas and Gimli. In any event, however, the Ring was able to get a grip on only Boromir, because of his fear for Gondor and need to defend it. Gandalf was tempted, which is why he refused to tough it. He knew darn well he couldn’t resist it like that. Aragorn knew the Ring could give him what he wanted.
I agree with your exception. I think that those four untempted ones were either to innocent and stouthearted (halflings), to wise in the ways of evil creatures (Legolas) or too damn stubborn (Gimli) to take notve of the Ring’s call.
[bold]Dinsdale[/bold] Galadriel was temted when they visited her in Lothlorien. Gandalf’s temptation he avoided and said little on, it was in any event an off-screen thought. Aragorn was tempted but refused when Frodo offered him the Ring just before breaking the Fellowship.
But Sam, Frodo, and Bilbo are also halflings, and until their adventures, very stouthearted. In fact, I consider Sam to be more innocent than Merry or Pippin, but they are not interested in the ring, whereas Sam is tempted to use it.
Yeah - I was well aware of the scenes where Gandalf, Galadriel, and Aragorn indicated what might happen if they used it. I guess their strength or wisdom was such that they were able to resist the temptation. Perhaps I focused on their strength, instead of their temptation. But I did not really consider it temptation if they were aware of it, and actively and successfully resisted it.
Tho I’ve read the books many times, the last time was probably 5 years ago. Do Galadriel and Aragorn indicate that it is a tremendous effort to resist it? And I seem to remember Gandalf refusing to take it, saying if he did, the temptation would be too great.
Did Sam have any temptation before he had possession? But once he had it, he wanted to use it and not give it back.
And let’s not forget good old Tom Bombadil. No temptation at all, and no effect when he put it on.
Ah, yes…Tom Bombadil…but I was thinking more about those that could be tempted…Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin are all near the ring and its bearer, and the rest of the Fellowship was tempted, they didn’t give a thought.
Although Pippin was tempted to use the palantir, and so was Arangorn.
Sam, Bilbo, and Frodo had no temptation until they got possession of the ring. Maybe that’s why neither Pippin nor Merry are interested, no contact with the ring. But that leaves (yet again) Legolas and Gimli… both powerful.
I’m far from the expert, but was Legolas - or any elf - one who “could be tempted?” I seem to remember Elrond pretty cursorily dismissing the option of keeping it in Rivendell.
And again, I thought Galadriel acknowledged the possibility of her taking it, but dismissing it. Almost as tho recognizing that it was not something for the elves. I interpreted her thought process more as intellectualizing, rather than emotional temptation, longing, or desire.
Tolkien eschewed any attempt to do allegory or such, but insofar as the Ring has any analogue in the real world or the world of ideas, it “is” the lust for power – perhaps even to do good, but to arrogate to oneself power that is not willingly given you by uncoerced other free souls. Sauron was from the earliest days interested in what he could do to manipulate people through this desire for more power than they had. (Cf. Ar-Pharazon and Sauron in the Akallabeth.) The Ring “is” that lust for power – including Sauron’s own – made “incarnate” in a physical entity.
(The above is not to be construed as an attempt to commit literary criticism in the first degree, but just to understand the story as an epic heroic fantasy, given our own existence as a parallel, with the nature of those things incorporated therein taken into account.)
Resisted temptation is still temptation nonetheless, so Gandalf et al still get credit, I would say. You might also include Faramir, along the same note, and I would be surprised if Elrond were not tempted as well, even if there’s no “on-stage” indication of it.
Neither Elves nor Dwarves are immune to corruption, but Dwarves at least are very difficult to control. Pretty much their only weakness is their love for wealth/beauty: The Seven were able to enhance this weakness, but not nearly to the degree that Sauron had hoped or expected. The Elves have certainly been corrupted a time or three, though, just not by their Rings (which were never touched by Sauron). The Silmarillion is pretty much a whole book of Elves falling to corruption, via the Silmarils, love, pride, bigotry, and all the other “mortal” sources of corruption.
D’oh! I was thinking of Faramir when I wrote the OP, but forgot to include him…
Speaking of rings: All they know about the dwarf’s rings is that they are either with dragons or with Sauron, right? I remember the council asked Gimli and/or Gloim about them, and they said dwarves didn’t have them…
dinsdale, Galadriel was tempted in a big way. To her the ring represented the possibility of attaining all the desires she pursued since leaving Valinor in the first age. Remember her quote in FOTR “I pass the test. I will diminish, and go into the west, and remain Galadriel.” And in the published iteration of Galadriel’s history, it was this refusal that allowed her to return to the west.
Nothing to add except a couple nitpicky additions to the list in the OP. I would include Saruman in the list of people tempted to acquire the Ring, although oddly enough unlike most of the others he apparently never laid eyes on it.
You could also maybe include Denethor. At one point he criticizes Faramir for not bringing the Ring to him when he had a chance to seize it from Frodo. Denethor sees the Ring in the same way Boromir did, as salvation for Gondor.
Either Merry or Pippin, I forget which, figures out that Grishnashk the Orc from Mordor knows about the Ring, and that is why he tries to steal the young Hobbitts from the Isengarders and the Men of Rohan just before they encounter Treebeard. So you could say that Grishnashk was tempted to acquire the Ring, but he may have only wanted to seize it for his Master (Sauron). Similarly, the Nazgul certainly wanted to acquire the Ring, but not for themselves.
As to the Palantir, don’t forget that Aragorn wasn’t so much tempted to use it despite Gandalf’s warnings, but that this was the one time Aragorn knew better than Gandalf; he knew he was he was the only one who could use the Palantir safely and confront Sauron because he’s the King.
Heh…Pravnik, that spoiler is given at the beginning of the FOTR…I do not know why people make it so secret. Ok, secret perhaps to one that hasn’t seen the first movie nor read about the council in Rivendell in the book, but not afterwards.
It’s a long time since I read the books, but I particularly remember Gandalf’s remarks re wanting to use the ring to cast his mind back and “know the unimaginable hand and eye of Feanor.” (I think that was the name; some major figure of the First Age?)
P.S. Before I opened the thread, I thought it was a poll of SDMBers – are YOU tempted by the One Ring?
(Who, me? Uh, well, YES! For intellectual pursuits, only, of course. Like Gandalf.)
What copy are you reading? Unless you know Elvish, there aren’t even hints of it until the second half of that book, and it’s not made obvious to the typical first-time reader until the beginning of the third one. Heck, Pippin didn’t even know until then.