# LOTR Question - Who else could have carried the ring? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810 "2006-04-15T21:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/141 "2006-04-21T01:00:29Z")
Eh, let’s just give the thing to Dream of the Endless. He’ll just lock it up in a chest for a few milennia, until it learns to behave. > [@Anaamika](#): > > I dunno who Shrike is… From _Hyperion_, and sequels, by Dan Simmons. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/142 "2006-04-21T01:02:44Z")
A Lensman might be able to do it. Kinnison _pere_ would be pushed to his limit; Kinnison _fils_ should be strong enough and incorruptible enough to resist even the Ring. **well he’s back** , it would be interesting to see Roo or Piglet pick up the Ring. How long do people think they themselves would hold out before the Ring corrupted them? If I’m in one of my bad moods – five minutes, tops, then I go all Dark Lord on everyone. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/143 "2006-04-21T01:10:13Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > A Lensman might be able to do it. Kinnison _pere_ would be pushed to his limit; Kinnison _fils_ should be strong enough and incorruptible enough to resist even the Ring. > > **well he’s back** , it would be interesting to see Roo or Piglet pick up the Ring. > > How long do people think they themselves would hold out before the Ring corrupted them? > > If I’m in one of my bad moods – five minutes, tops, then I go all Dark Lord on everyone. I think any of the Children of the Lens could probably resist. But then they would have been quite a match for the Nazgul too. I would give into the temptation to use it and I would fail. **Lightray** : The mission is to destroy it, to merely keep it from Sauron would not be enough to stop Sauron. This is why bringing back to Tom was not good enough. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/144 "2006-04-21T01:26:35Z")
> [@Der Trihs](#): > > Paksenarrion or any another paladin from her universe, as they are divinely immune to mental influences, but that would be cheating. Nope, Paks spent close to a whole book agonizing over her failure to uphold the standards of the paladin when she was brought low in captivity. She was later redeemed and her failure was transformed into a strengthening experience, but unless I’m remembering way wrong she went down so low that she barely remembered who she was. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/145 "2006-04-21T01:38:39Z")
Right, _destroy_ the ring. Well, I’d contend that Dream would certainly be capable of destroying the One Ring. But as he’d also just re-create it later in an “improved” form so that it’s story could be told, that’s not much of a solution either… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/146 "2006-04-21T01:44:26Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > The problem is going to be that the One Ring _will_ its wielder what he or she desires – twisted, to be as evil as possible. > > For someone like Spock, it’s going to give him the non-emotional logic he wants to achieve. He’d end up a particularly brutal and compassionless Dark Lord. > > … plus, we’d have to endure some hack writing a crossover novel named _Dark Spock_, and then I’d have to toss someone into Mt. Doom. > > I’m thinking that the only option is someone who’s not-quite-human enough to have any desires for the One Ring to hook on to. Maybe Aslan. Oh, \*\*definitely \*\* Aslan–especially the post-Stone Table version. He’s God, after all. The ring couldn’t affect him at any more than it would have Eru. But if it existed in his universe, I don’t he’d deal with it directly; he’d send someone on a quest. Of the 8 friends of Narnia, I’d say Lucy had the best chance of succeeding, Susan (obviously) the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/147 "2006-04-21T02:00:31Z")
As for the question about carrying it, not me. I wouldn’t be Evil but I certainly could use a new car, say. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/148 "2006-04-21T02:02:36Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > You misspelled Eowyn Of course I did, old boy. So many damned names to invent, _you_’d get a few wrong too. Worst of it, though, wasn’t writing the bloody thing, but all those darned foreigners who’d keep writing to me - or worse still turning up at my bloody door without an appointment - pointing out my mistakes and asking me all these damned fool questions about genealogy and what not. Told one particularly annoying fellow, who had pitched up in a large motor car wearing a brightly coloured waistcoat and for some reason only known to himself would respond to each of my observations with a cry of “You the man”, as if I were in his debt for affirmation of my sexuality, exactly where he could put his “Tolkien for President” badge, of which he desired to divest himself by foisting the ghastly bauble upon me. You know, the problem with the Jewess wasn’t her infernal “poetry” (whose only merit was that it made Shakespeare readable - not that I ever read her “modernist” guff myself), no, you see, it was the notion she’d got (or “gotten” as she would say in that dreadful nasal whine of hers) into her head that conversation was somehow the preserve of women as well as of men. Extraordinary woman! ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/149 "2006-04-21T02:25:20Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > A Lensman might be able to do it. Kinnison _pere_ would be pushed to his limit; Kinnison _fils_ should be strong enough and incorruptible enough to resist even the Ring. A Lensman might be cheating a bit–they’re incorruptible by authorial fiat, as I recall. The Ring might trick or confuse them, but never corrupt them. Of course, a Lensman might well draw too much attention to complete the task. Maybe one of Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds could pull it off. We know they’re not entirely incorruptible, and most of them aren’t all that powerful on their own (the Herald-Mage Adepts aside). The interesting element would be the Companion–could the Ring corrupt or deceive the Companion as well? What would happen if the Ring-bearer’s Companion repudiated him/her? Of course, we come back to the problem that such a pair wouldn’t exactly be inconspicous; the Companion would be at least as noticeable as an elf-lord. > [@](#): > > How long do people think they themselves would hold out before the Ring corrupted them? > > If I’m in one of my bad moods – five minutes, tops, then I go all Dark Lord on everyone. I’m rather hobbit-like by nature, actually. I have no interest in power or wealth for their own sake. I hate telling people what to do. My ambitions are modest–I don’t particularly want anything beyond what I need to live a comfortable life and enjoy the company of my family and friends. That would likely last right up until one or more of my friends was in serious danger, which wouldn’t take long on the mission to destroy the Ring. Then all hell would break loose; the Ring would have no trouble encouraging me to use it to “protect” them, and soon it would have me. I suspect that I would be a particularly terrible Dark Lord; there are few things worse than a tyrant who tells you that “it’s for your own good.” ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/150 "2006-04-21T02:38:23Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Maybe one of Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds could pull it off. Well, I remember Vanyel resisting large amounts of evil despite being offered power and hot mansex. But even if he and his magic talking horsie managed to get to Mt Doom without someone noticing the big white things moving across Mordor, they probably would have just thrown themselves over the edge and taken the ring with them. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/151 "2006-04-21T02:46:20Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Give it to Thomas Covenant. He’d be more than happy to get rid of it. He’d destroy the ring, but only after managing to destroy all of Middle Earth first. It would be SLIGHTLY better than putting Sauron in charge, though. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/152 "2006-04-21T03:14:52Z")
Valentine Michael Smith… nah… anyone trailing that many hot women would be sure to be noticed by Sauron. Ah, Manny Davis, the protagonist from The Moon is A Harsh Mistress. Just the fellow. Cynical and pessimistic enough, but it’s really just a front from someone who will save the planet if he can get a little from Wyoh once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/153 "2006-04-21T05:01:42Z")
> [@elfbabe](#): > > they probably would have just thrown themselves over the edge and taken the ring with them. No, wait, I take it back! They would somehow destroy Sauron ALMOST completely, then hide the ring again so that eventually it could be found and Mercedes Lackey could write more books. > [@elfbabe](#): > > He’d destroy the ring, but only after managing to destroy all of Middle Earth first. It would be SLIGHTLY better than putting Sauron in charge, though. Oh, and I forgot to say that Thomas Covenant would manage to destroy the ring, but only after someone else had done the majority of the work. Sam would have had to carry him from about Minas Morgul onward… plus he would have whined about it. To offer some more nominations… From A Song of Ice and Fire, Ned Stark would do a great job for a while, but eventually he’d do something stupid because it’s the moral thing to do… like not stabbing an orc in the back, or giving Boromir the ring when he asks because Boromir is technically higher-ranking or something. From Dr. Strangelove, President Merkin Muffley - he brought the Russian ambassador into the War Room, then gave the Russians all the bomber information. He was willing to accept a less desirable outcome for himself and those closest to him in order to try and stop everyone from getting blown to bits. Or how about Waldo, of Where’s Waldo? As long as you could get all the orcs to wear red and white, no one would be able to find him!! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810/154 "2006-04-21T05:24:52Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > Nope, Paks spent close to a whole book agonizing over her failure to uphold the standards of the paladin when she was brought low in captivity. She was later redeemed and her failure was transformed into a strengthening experience, but unless I’m remembering way wrong she went down so low that she barely remembered who she was. _Before_ she became a paladin; she was captured as a paladin-_candidate_, who are actually _more_ vunerable than normal people to mental/spiritual evil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-question-who-else-could-have-carried-the-ring/352810.md?page=7)