They were able to see that Aragorn was a level 50 Champion, with tons of hit points?
You…dwarf, you!
Well, we know when and by whom the most important lines were composed.
As Gandalf explains, quoting Saruman: “The Nine, the Seven, and the Three had each their proper gem. not so the One. It was round and unadorned, as it were one of the lesser rings; buts its maker set marks upon it that the skilled, maybe, could still see and read.”
Those marks, of course, are the most important part of the verse, which Gandalf quotes at the Council of Elrond:
Or, in the vernacular:
“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them.
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”
So the author of the key part of the verse was Sauron himself. Given that it is an integral part of the verse, I would assume that Sauron wrote the whole thing, as the incantation that summarised the power of the Ring.
As for when it became known, I seem to recall that he said the verse as he put the Ring on his finger for the first time, which is when the Elven Smiths of Eregion knew that they had been betrayed. Can’t find a cite for that just at the moment.
My answer to the OP: Aragorn was strong enough not to be tempted by the ring for the short period of time he was around it. Remember - he let Frodo go (essentially so in the book; more directly in the film), thus distancing himself from it. And in the last council after the battle for Minas Tirith, it was mentioned (by somebody) that the temptation to use the ring against Sauron had been fortunately taken away. Meaning if it had been right there just then, Aragorn, Gandalf et al would have been tempted in such desperate circumstances.
And, briefly, besides making you invisible the ring will give you power over others, in proportion to your own power to wield it.
Lastly, I got the midichlorians joke (and I’m no Star Wars fan) - let us not deign to explain things in Middle Earth in this sort of way. horrors.
Gasp. I just put my fingers in my ears (or eyes, this being a visual medium).
Yes, but did the windows darken as clouds suddenly rolled across your valley from out of no where? 
found the cite I was looking for. It’s also from the chapter on the Council of Elrond. Just after Gandalf quotes the passage from Isildur about the Ring, he says:
So it was Sauron who composed the verse, and right from the beginning, what he had said “was already known.”
Oh, I wouldn’t say the movies do that, love…
The Star Wars/Scientology thingy–(now that would be a great movie). Not to hijack my own thread, but wouldn’t Lucas be compelled to give world-compliant explanations due to his “work” being science fiction? (or is is more space fantasy? I think it’s crap, but I digress). Even in fantasy one cannot just let X or Y happen. There must be cohesion in whatever universe you’re creating. (which is why I mock the Eagles so much–JRRT’s, not the band, sillies!–they are just so very convenient yet strangely hard to find…
IIRC, the eagles are more or less direct agents of God, acting at the direction of Manwe. So maybe they only show up at the most critical moments as it’s only at those times that the gods feel a need to intervene. Also, isn’t their intervention always associated with Gandalf, another emissary of the gods?
I have pondered this question. I think the answer has to do with Sauron’s nature.
First of all the Balrogs, like Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron himself are Maia. Apparently the Moria Balrog at least is roughly equally powerful to Gandalf in his Grey incarnation, so less powerful than Sauron, but still very adept in spells and such. In addition the Balrogs are evil, so they would definitely be drawn to The Ring.
As noted above the Balrog would have no particular loyalty to Sauron, instead he used to work for Morgoth. So my guess is if things had gone badly for the Fellowship in Moria the Balrog would have claimed The Ring for his own. Presumably Sauron would be aware of this the instant it happened and would move to defeat the Balrog.
So now you have an extremely powerful, evil Maia wielding Sauron’s Ring. It would take some time to learn its full powers but my guess is Sauron would be hard pressed to gain The Ring back from the Balrog.
Now the question is, would The Ring allow itself to be used against its true Master in this way? This is where Sauron’s nature comes in.
The Ring was made by Sauron and contains much of his power, malice and cruelty. We also know that The Ring is deceptive just like Sauron, tempting people with visions of what they could gain, or seem to gain, if they claimed it.
In other words The Ring possesses pretty much all of Sauron’s characteristics. Including treachery. The Ring betrays Isildur, and Gollum as well. So I think if it came down to it, The Ring would ditch Sauron himself and allow itself to be wielded by the Balrog, and in the end help the Balrog defeat Sauron. The Balrog would then become the new Dark Lord.
No, but my computer screen flickered when I re-read my post… :eek:
No, all that proves is that he spoke the two lines about the One Ring. It’s quite possible that the remaining bits of the poem are made up by the Elves, especially since it talks about the Dark Lord in the Land of Mordor, “where the shadows lie.” Sauron isn’t likely to be running around talking about his hometown that way. 
Great resource. Thanks for posting.
I did want to come back and state that the Elves had no reason to think that the One Ring would actually corrupt its bearer. Even the lesser Rings were less intended for that than for making its wearers into wraith minions. It seems likely that Saruman, who apparently discovered and studied the rings a lot probably figured out what Sauron actually had done. I don’t think the Elves realized at any points that the One Ring actually was a part of Sauron’s spirit and will and malice.
Moreover, I think Isildur could have resisted the Ring’s influence long enough to get it to Mt. Doom*. That he didn’t even try or consider the action in as much as we know tells me the Elves wanted it destroyed for their own reasons, so no one else could ever even attempt to dominate their rings.
*It’s implied this wouldn’t much matter. I think JRRt says at one point that Sauron didnt think that anyone (short of a Valar) could actually have deliberately thrown it in Mt. Doom, not right in Morder and with the Ring’s full power bent on preserving itself.
Although the movie’s Faramir sequence may have dragged on a bit, I’m still not too keen on the idea of some men just being immune to the ring’s influence. I think it denigrates the role of the hobbits in the story. The way the ring seems to work is that it brings out and amplifies the wearer’s worst qualities. The elves are wise and seem to know what’s best for everyone, so one with the ring would become a tyrannical ruler. Dwarves love mining and treasure hunting, so naturally the ring would make them overly zealous and greedy. Men are courageous and charismatic, so a man with the ring would be able to lead groups of people to do their bidding.
Hobbits on the other hand, desire nothing more than eating 11 meals a day under a tree or in front of the fire. The ring has less of an effect on a hobbit because hobbits naturally don’t have very high aspirations. And in all the history of Middle Earth, this quality made it so they didn’t have any significant impact on the world, so that many people had never even heard of a hobbit. But suddenly a great peril falls over the world that no one is equipped to deal with. Enter the hobbits, who for the first time will influence the history of the world.
Note that this is just the impression I got from the books and movies, and I’m not familiar with the whole back story or the Silmarillion.
Yumblie, I think you’re mostly right and that is why I was appalled that PJ left the Scouring of the Shire out of the films. It is a coming of age for the hobbits.
I don’t agree that the elves know what’s best for everyone. The elves know what’s best for the elves. They’re just more artistic and mystical about it–the dwarves just get in your face and grab.
The more I think about it, the odder it is that Aragorn wasn’t tempted at all. If he was impervious to the ring, why not strike sooner against Sauron? Why wander and stride around for however long?
Word. I always liked Eowyn better than Arwen. Here’s how it would go if Aragorn had taken the Shield Maidenhead:
Aragorn: “Hey babe, I’m gonna go kill some orcs, be back in a few days.”
Eowyn: “Yeah right, I’m going with you.” She grabs a sword.
Aragorn: “Dammit, are you gonna show me up in front of the guys again?” He rolls his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. “Gimli is still going on about how you punked the Witch-King.”
Eowyn: “Oh quit your whining, old man. Race ya!” She grins and dashes off to the stables. Aragorn scrambles to catch up.
In other words, they really are dei ex machinis in the classical sense.
Someday I will finish reading the books; I just can’t stand Tolkien’s verbosity.
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Verbosity? Tolkien didn’t write nearly enough words!
'kay, eleanor rigby. I see the Boromir/Faramir thing in terms of a pair of brothers I knew in high school
Boromir, the older brother, is the star athlete on the small town high school football team, gets an exaggerated opinion of himself, wants to make the world safe for democracy and will use any means available 'cause he’s so dang sure that he’s RIGHT. His force will win the day!
Because his ego is so effing big, he thinks he can can rule the ring. He doesn’t see his own weaknesses.
Faramir, the younger brother, somewhat more effeminate (he reads, for goshsake, and thinks! and doesn’t just major in swordsmanship. His ego hasn’t been pandered to and plumped up since he was a wee one, swaggering and beating up the weaker ones on the playground. So he knows he can’t handle the Ring, and lets it go.
(Faramir marries Eowyn. Later realizes that she is more of a man than he is. He comes out and goes to get it on with the beauteous Legolas, a switch-hitter. Eowyn finds someone, I’m not quite sure who, who is more of a match for her.)
I always wondered if Jodie Foster could have found a role in the LoTR films.