I’m rereading Lord of the Rings. It’s been about twenty years since I had last read it. I’ve been thinking about the Greater Rings of Power. The Nine for men fed their thirst for power over others, which allowed Sauron to gain power over them. The seven for the Dwarves fed their greed, which Sauron could not capitalize on. The Three were untouched by The One.
Had Sauron known about Hobbits, would he have made Rings for them, too? What trait would they take advantage of? Hobbits are simple folk. What would tempt them that Sauron could take advantage of?
Hobbits prefer isolation but they’re not xenophobes. They’re gourmands but not gluttons. They love comfort but they’re not indolent. Our hobbit rings would presumably amplify those qualities for the worse, for what good it would do Sauron.
Nah, I agree with Thudlow_Boink that Sauron would probably not have bothered with Rings for Hobbits, any more than he made Rings for the Drug/Druadan or other “lesser” mortal peoples.
His goal was to get the powerful and wealthy elites of Middle-earth under his sway. That means world-recognized royalty among major-player peoples, namely Elves and Dwarves and (Numenorean) Men. I think he would have considered a bunch of little farmers taking on trappings of even minor Ringlords to be a travesty of the mightiness and terror of his imperial domination.
Celebrimbor did those 3 elven rings separately and secretly, and specifically for the elves. Sauron forged the 9 with the intent of subduing the elves. But when Sauron put on the One, the elves wearing the elven rings were aware of him and took their rings off, knowing they were betrayed. They spread the word that Sauron meant to subdue them, and hence elves refused the ‘gift’ of the rings that Sauron had forged.
One thought that just popped into mind…if Sauron twisted the Hobbits the way he twisted the elves and made mini, somewhat magic-resistant stealth orcs, they could be useful. Recon, theft, etc.
Gollum was sort of a hobbit himself. He, Bilbo, Frodo, and (briefly) Sam collectively held onto the One Ring for many years with some signs of corruption, to be sure, but not all that much. If the One Ring couldn’t get to them, it’s hard to imagine what any lesser rings could do to them.
Well, JRRT was always trying to rewrite his canon so the elves were not corrupted so much by Melkor as by the fact that Melkor corrupted all of Arda with his discord. JRRT wanted to re-write the origin of the orcs so they weren’t corrupted elves anymore, but didn’t get to it before dying.
Melkor (He who arises in might) is his actual name, he was given the epithet of Morgoth Bauglir (dark foe & constrainer) by Fëanor after he slew Finwë.
Yeah, it picks up after that, and that is also my favorite story in the book. I mean, they’re fighting werewolves and vampires, I’d love to see someone turn that story into a film or series.