We’ve been over this.
The Ring of Power corrupts those around it by promising to fulfill their darkest desires. It channels their urges to get what it wants.
It wanted Gollum to hide away under a mountain until its master could return with his armies.
Hobbits and River Folk don’t seek power. They want to be left along, smoke their pipes, and have lots of fat, happy children. As such, they have a natural defense to the ring’s influence, but they are not immune to it. It makes them covetous and protective of the precious, even if they don’t seek to use it for their own benefit.
We see the Ring of Power turns Gollum and Bilbo and Frodo invisible, but is that what it would have done for Boromir? For Gandalf? For Gimli or Galadriel? Almost certainly not. We saw in a flashback what it could do on Sauron’s finger, and the only thing it did for Isildur is quicken his death. Gollum was seduced and wanted to hide away. Bilbo was a burglar wanting to sneak past a dragon. Frodo wanted to sneak into Mount Doom.
So what does Sam want? The only thing Sam wants more than to return to the Shire is to ensure his best friend makes it home with him. Sam cannot carry the Ring, not because he is weak to its influence, but because his best friend wants it. Frodo has been corrupted, and would fight Sam if he tried to take it. They tried taking turns, but Sam learned what it felt like to want the Ring, and knew he couldn’t do it again.
But he could carry his friend, burdens and all. The ring could not drive a wedge between them, because Sam didn’t seek to separate Frodo from the Ring. Sam’s singular focus was getting to the end of their shared quest so that they could get home together.
If you put the Ring on a mouse, then whoever is carrying the mouse would be tempted to take it away, and the mouse would use the power of the Ring to keep it. Sam was resisting the temptation of the Ring, and the Ring was fighting back as hard as it could. It fully corrupted Frodo in the end, and it was only Gollum, who coveted the Ring more, who was able to take it away.
Fate, luck, the will of Eru, call it whatever you want, but Hobbits have the superpower of quiet contentment, and that’s the only thing that can beat a lust for domination of the Valar, the Maiar, of Elves and Men and Dwarves. It’s why Gollum hid away without conquering the goblins living above him. It’s why Bilbo could roll with dwarves and give up the Arkenstone. It’s why Frodo could walk into Mordor, right to the edge, knowing the journey was going to kill him. And it’s why Sam could carry Frodo the rest of the way.
As someone who often lifts a finger, types out the first two sentences of a comment and then just resigns: thanks for the well-written comment.
We see the Ring of Power turns Gollum and Bilbo and Frodo invisible, but is that what it would have done for Boromir? For Gandalf? For Gimli or Galadriel? Almost certainly not.
It would turn the mortals invisible and the immortals it wouldn’t.
Hobbits, Dwarves, Men would be rendered invisible. We see Hobbits and Isildur becoming invisible.
Gandalf and the Elves are immortals, they exist partially in the unseen world, just like Sauron. This seems to prevent the ring from shifting the wearer completely to the unseen world.
The ring wraiths have worn their rings so long they passed into the unseen world permanently and can only be seen by their cloaks. But Frodo can see them with the ring on.
My interpretation would be that the ring basically takes your position on the scale of “seen world” to “unseen world” and flips it - those previously fully anchored in the seen world will be sent to the unseen world, and those that exist in both will still exist in both. That includes Maiar like Sauron and Gandalf, and the elves.
We saw in a flashback what it could do on Sauron’s finger, and the only thing it did for Isildur is quicken his death.
He became invisible. That wasn’t just a film adaptation thing, that’s in Tolkien’s writings too.
They tried taking turns, but Sam learned what it felt like to want the Ring, and knew he couldn’t do it again.
I just listened to the books again. They didn’t really try to take turns. Sam thought frodo was dead so he took it to keep it from the orcs. And even after he gave it back he offered a few times to carry it again because frodo was so weak, but frodo wouldn’t let him and definitely was freaked out a when sam asked. The book describes frodo suddenly thinking sam was an orc or a thief trying to take the ring from him.
I had no idea it didn’t turn everyone invisible! The intention/desire makes so much sense. I always though Sauron’s flesh was invisible but it didn’t hid the armor. Thanks for the explanation.
As others have mentioned, it probably would. In the books, it turns Isildur invisible when he jumps into the water. The way the Ring works, it takes you to another dimension. But it also twists people, so anyone with power would probably be amplified with evil energy.
It’s been a long time since I read the books but I’m positive in the extended editions of the movies it turns Isildur invisible during the prologue. Is that a departure from source?
In the books, Isildur turned invisible by putting on the ring, and dove into a river to escape a band of orcs. The ring, under its own will, slipped from his finger and he was spotted by orcish archers, who killed him.
I’ve always thought that the “invisibility” aspect of the ring was that it shifted the wearer into the shadow realm. The Nine were invisible without their cloaks, but were visible when the ring was worn. It also made the wearer more visible to Sauron, iirc.
If that’s the case, then the power granted by the ring might mean that magic users (such as Gandalf or Galadriel) would more easily draw on power from the other realm into this one.
I’ve always thought that the “invisibility” aspect of the ring was that it shifted the wearer into the shadow realm. The Nine were invisible without their cloaks, but were visible when the ring was worn. It also made the wearer more visible to Sauron, iirc.
Yup, this is how I think about it: the ring takes your existing point on the scale from the seen/unseen world and inverts it.
So it works out as so:
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Mortal beings without the ring: 100% seen, 0% unseen
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Mortal beings with the ring: 0% seen, 100% unseen
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Immortal beings without the ring: 50% seen, 50% unseen
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Immortal beings with the ring: 50% seen, 50% unseen
For immortals, it doesn’t render them invisible because if you “flip” their position, it still basically stays the same.
It’s one power the ring posses. I think Galadriel implied that, with training, Frodo would be able to turn that automatic function off, and access more powers. But the process of learning to use it would inherently corrupt whoever attempted it. I always took it to mean that the ring gathered power from the Unseen world, and so someone with no presence there and without the ability to manipulate it would be inherently dragged in, but it’s not a core aspect or intended design, and nullifying that would not be a hindrance to using it. It’s just a bug turned feature for folks that want to remain unseen.
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As far as i know, Sam and Bilbo was the only two “mortals” ever able to willing give away the ring after wearing it. And if we consider how other hobbits was both instantly subjugated (Smeagle), or slowly corrupted (Frodo), this is quite something.
But too be fair, Sam only had it for a short time. Also in the movies he also struggles to give it back to frodo (I can’t remember the books). Watch it again and you can see him hesitating and only giving it back when frodo prompts him harsher. Though you could interpret it as him not being sure whether it is a good idea for frodo’s health that frodo gets the ring back. Same with bilbo where Gandalf had to influence him quite a bit.
I’ve seen this meme before with a follow-up comment along the lines of:
“Gandalf, as an immortal, extremely powerful being, is functionally doing this by putting the ring on hobbits and driving them to Mordor”
The only thing to learn from this is that you don’t let software developers write fiction.
Sauron tries corrupting Sam! He just has very little exposure time, and no idea what this weird little guy wants.
The ring is basically an inch from being dropped into oblivion and it is desperately trying to negotiate with a laborador retriever. It’s expecting a wolf. It’s offering a dark forest with tall deer and all the necks you can bite, and the lab’s like, I dunno, that sounds kinda scary, I’m’a just do the thing and go home. It almost gets there. Being carried gently in the mouth of this tired barnyard animal, it offers… a lake. A really big lake. And the the lab’s like, how big?, and the ring offers a lake the size of a sea, and the lab’s like no, that’s too big, but thank you. Ptoo. And then he goes home and only thinks of it in those dreams where his legs move.
I know it’s just a dumb meme but Boromir was still influenced just by proximity.
The reality is it’s another example of Hobbits being resistant to it’s influence
The ring wants who it wants. Frodo was just hotter get over it
Sam is a time traveling Tom Bombadil 100% confirmed.
Why couldn’t gandalf just get the huge bird to take frodo to drop the ring?
Skill issue TBH.
Nazgûl. Eagles can’t outfly the fell beasts, and Sauron would DEFINITELY spot eagles trying.
