What if an eagle took the ring and flew so high that the ring entered orbit? Can the eagles of LotR fly that high? What if Gandalf was riding one of the eagles and gave it a little extra boost? Fuck, he’s a demi-god; surely he can make a little projectile action?
Look, could you please leave his love life out of this discussion? :mad:
Gandalf and Magneto walk into a bar…
Nitpick: Gandalf is actually one of a large order of Angels. Lesser in power than the Valar who numbered only 15. So he is not a demi-god. He is fully divine as Olórin and only partially divine in his corporate form as Gandalf.
I do not see where achieving orbit would do any good. What do you suppose that would do?
Jim
My nit is happy for being picked. Regarding the orbit question, would not sending the Ring into space courtesy of an eagle/Gandalf/rocket/??? get it out of the hands of Sauron forever? I thought the main goal was to get the ring away from Sauron, not necessarily to destroy it. Maybe I majorly misread one of my favorite books 
No, it was believed that destroying the Ring would destroy Sauron and this proved true. Just removing the Ring from him would only greatly limit his power. Even in his greatly limited power, Western Middle-Earth was not in good shape to defeat him. There was no great and powerful last Alliance to ride to the Gates of Moria and defeat him. The Dunedain had dwindled. The Elves had greatly diminished. Sauraman & Wormtounge had sapped much of the might of Rohan. The Dwarves had no numbers left of significance. They were hard set fighting goblins led only by Goblin Kings.
No, destroying the ring was the only good option, no matter how hopeless it seemed.
Jim
Wow, I knew the West had diminished in the time of the War of the Ring, but I had no idea it was that drastic. Honestly, I think I almost cried just now. I feel very strongly about the majestic glory of the olden days of Middle Earth, and I thought that the world in the time of LotR had contained more of that splendor than what you just told me. I’m sad now 
Here’s a bunch.
Well, tis a lovely place to nuke things, if you want to be sure.
The strongest remaining Elf Kingdom was probably Thranduil’s Silven Elves. Not known for their great prowess in war. Rivendell had but a few great lords left. They are fortunate that Glorifindel had return, probably with Gandalf if we trust Tolkien conjecture in his Letters. Elrond for all his greatness was not an Elf of the Light. Galadriel’s people were not strong except defending their “Enchanted Woods”.
Cirdan’s people were no warriors.
The Khazad were scattered and only slowly reproduced. They number perhaps in the only the thousands are the time of the war. Indeed in an exchange between Gimli and Legolas, Legolas mentions that the days of Elves and Dwarves were over and in would now be the human’s time.
There was no strength in the north. The Rangers of the Grey Company represented a goodly part of the remaining powers of the North. Think of it as a company of heroes, but remember at 30 strong, it was all the strength that could be mustered in a short time. They were scattered and unlikely to number more than a few hundred total. There was no offensive strength in the Hobbits.
So you had Gondor and Rohan standing against the might of Harad, Umbar and all the Orcs of Mordor and the Nazgul. It was the darkest hour since Melkor had been thrown down.
Jim
Damn, I forgot how funny the Catapult slideshows were. Thanks.
Every great kingdom of Middle Earth eventually passes away …
The Last Resort
She came from Doriath,
born in Beleriand
where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin’
Spoke about the Edain’s way,
and how they loved the land
They came from everywhere
to the Great Sirion
Seeking a place to stand
or a place to run
Up in Gondolin’s bars,
out for a good time,
can’t wait to tell you all,
what it’s like out there
and they called it paradise
I don’t know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
while the town got high
Some Maia came and raped the land,
Nobody caught him
Made a bunch of ugly rings, and
Jesus, people wore 'em
and they called it Numenor
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind,
sail off to Aman
Just like Eärendil so many years ago
He called it Valinor
I don’t know why
You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye
Forgive my ignorance, but would not the Harad and Umbar also be diminished from times past? They were Men right? I thought the diminishing “power level” (forgive the vernacular) was global to the entire sphere, not just the West.
The Orcs, on the other hand, I can understand being constant. They were always almost bestial and primal in strength. It’s hard to see how the fading of the bloodline of the Valar and the rescindince (sp?) of heroism would affect the orcs very much.
No not really. Men were not less in number. It was that the Dunedain were less in number and quality. As I mentioned, Rohan and Gondor still had numbers. Vast number compared to what anyone could muster in the north.
Humans entered a brief Golden Age following the War of the Ring. Under the Guidance of King Ellesar and King Eldarion his son, they expanded the Reunited Kingdom to larger than it had ever been.
During this time a small number of Thranduil’s people had moved down to the Forests of Ithilien and Gimli led a group of his people to establish a new dwelling at Aglarond.
Hobbit expansion was great, the size of the Shire had increased by nearly a third if I estimate the West March correctly.
In this same time, Lothlorien was left much emptier by the time of Arwen’s death and many of the oldest Noldorians all made the final voyage and indeed after Aragorn’s death, Gimli and Legolas also departed over the sea.
The Elven Rings were without power after the Ruling Ring melted. So human number were ever growing everywhere but the north apparently.
panamajack: Standing Ovation from me. Well Done Good Sir.
Jim {QtM, will probably correct a few of my error tomorrow, but the gist is all correct}
Wow. You truly are a master of Lotm knowledge. If your humble student can ask a question, was Gimli the only dwarf to ever sail across to Valinor? If I could WAG, I would say yes, but Middle Earth is always full of surprises!
If Gimli did sail over*, he was the only one, for it was a wonder that a Dwarf would even be willing to leave Middle-Earth.
- The Red Book of Westmarch leaves this a little open. I like to think he and Legolas did set sail together, but it is not a certainty.
Jim {BTW: that is one of the best compliments you could pay me, but **QtM ** is without doubt the Tolkien Lore Master of the Dope}
Don’t forget that classic, “One of These Wights.”
Or the ever-popular “Take it Easy.”
*I was runnin’ down the road,
with the One Ring as my load,
Got seven Nazgul right behind . . . *
That’s 'cos all the goblins get +1/+1 and Mountainwalk, silly! 
And had gone over Sea with their Bearers: Galadriel, Elrond and Gandalf.
Didn’t Gollum get the ring from inside the fish that gobbled it out of Sauron’s hand? After the hand was cut and fell into the river, I mean.
So, apparently a fish can gobble the ring with no noticeable effect (other than perhaps a lowering of its ability to evade fishhooks, but we have no way to measure this pre- and post-gobble).
The Ring, as I am given to understand it, is quasi- to fully-sentient, and retains an unspecified power to affect the world around it. I am thinking that any concrete block it were to be placed inside would crack and let it out at the most inconvenient time, any catapault it were to be loaded into would fail, field-goaling the ring right through the spires of Barad-dûr, and so forth. Remember, it was assumed that the Ring chose to hop from Smeagol to Bilbo, and chose to keep with Frodo because it thought (correctly) it would eventually corrupt him.