Actually I think Tom wins that fight (as long as it’s on his territory). I’m not sure there is anything in middle earth that can defeat Tom. He may get corrupted eventually but not before he has defeated everything else - last as he was first
The main objection to giving Tom the Ring is not that he’d be corruptible, but that the powers and policies of the great ones out in the wider world meant nothing to him. The danger was that he’d forget where he put it or otherwise fail to guard it from the Enemy. Gandalf and Elrond drop in—“Tom! Where’s the Ring?” and he just goes “Ring a ding dillo! Old Tom threw it in the Withywindle, take a chillo-pillo!”
While Sauron’s strategic acumen is… questionable, at times ; I doubt he’d have deliberately blinded himself OR his grunts in his own house. Orcs see in the dark. The Eye presumably sees from the spirit realm anyway.
He certainly was last year, when he edited his Father’s translation of Beowulf.
I’ve never seen it. Like I’ve said before,
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The astonishing part is, if you stick to Tom’s actual appearances, he simply comes across as an entirely practical guy who asks perfectly relevant questions and equips our heroes with stuff they’ll need easy as telling 'em how to summon him for further assistance – and they of course do wind up needing him, and he of course comes through for the rescue.
He doesn’t fail to recognize much of anything; instead, after telling 'em all about the Barrow-wights before supper, Tom turns the after-dinner conversation to his guests: “He appeared to know much about them and all their families, and indeed to know much of all the history and doings of the Shire down from days hardly remembered among the hobbits themselves.”
(And, after the rescue and the equipping, he gives 'em the pedigree of those gleaming weapons: “these blades were forged many years ago by Men of Westernesse: they were foes of the Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dûm in the Land of Angmar.” He then goes on to say rather a lot of sensible things about the Black Riders; it’s as if the dude knows every player in the game, y’know?)
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Ask me to sum the guy up in one word and I’d reluctantly go with “sensible”.
Return to Eagles hijack, just one more time, for fun.
I happened across this explanation about why they didn’t use the Eagles, and it bears reading.
“Fly, you fools!”
Exactly. The hobbits could do it because the idea of the Hobbits being able to do it was so far from Sauron’s mind that even catching Frodo wearing it didn’t clue him in to the plan.
People seem to forget that letting the Hobbits carry the ring was not just because they were the least affected by the ring. It was also because Sauron would not expect a lowly Hobbit to be able to do anything. Anyone strong would fight him for the ring (the vast majority of them losing), and anyone weak would eventually just hand it over.
And he was technically correct. Frodo couldn’t do it. It was the ring that led to its own destruction, by making Gollum covet tut so much that he didn’t worry about staying alive.
No, the Scouring doesn’t work because the Hobbits go home and everything is exactly the way it was before they left.
It would have to be an actual deleted scene, one that doesn’t fit with the rest of the narrative as given.
Oh, and BTW, while I agree that the Eagles plan is unfeasible, any arguments based on knowledge that came after the Council of Elrond is irrelevant. The question isn’t “Would it have worked” but whether Elrond et al would have thought it would work.
For example, they didn’t plan on Gandalf the White, either.
Okay, sure, but how about this?
Suppose the USS Enterprise is in orbit above Middle Earth. Could they beam the ring up from Rivendell, then beam it down into the Cracks of Doom? And if they could, would they even need to? Couldn’t they just beam it into its component atoms, then shut off the transporter and leave it that way?
Did you seriously suggest subjecting William fucking Shatner to the temptation of the Ring of Power and seeing how that goes ?
Not – necessarily. Patrick Stewart also has a USS Enterprise. WITH a transporter room.
Anyway, even if it’s Shatner, nobody has to handle the damn thing. Just put it in a crate of, I dunno, tribbles or something.
In tonight’s episode, the part of Sean Bean will be played by Colm Meaney.
So, you’re saying you want an exponentially-growing horde of Dark Fuzzy Lords?
You probably need something with fingers.
Actually Shatner’s ego and obsession with himself might be strong enough to block out the lure of the ring entirely. Sure if he took it , hewould have an ultimate power, but eventually he would go bald, and not care!
Counterpoint : the Ring expands and contracts to fit the finger of its wearer (or slip from it, depending on what it feels like doing right now).
The Ring of Power is basically a sphincter. Tribbles are not entirely different from gerbils.
(this conversation has taken a turn for the weird, hasn’t it ?)
Well, at least nobody’s talking about eagles any more.
You’re welcome.
The Enterprise could just beam Frodo on an Eagle to the Crack of Doom.