XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On Sun, 9 Oct 2005 10:54:08 +0000 (UTC) in rec.arts.books.tolkien,   
   Zip favored us with...   
   > In trying to figure out why Elrond did not simply force Isildur to throw the   
   > ring into the flames of Mount Doom, one can only conclude that the influence   
   > of the ring was so strong, that he could not bring himself to stop Isildur   
   > from walking off with it... Afterall, the Ring of Power protects itself by   
   > ingratiating itself with the owner and the others near it...   
      
   I don't agree.   
      
   It seems equally plausible to me that Elrond and Cirdan did not   
   compel Isildur because they valued the autonomy of the person.   
      
   Compelling Isildur to give up the Ring would be acting like Ring-   
   lords themselves. By "winning" they would lose.   
      
   A slightly different way to look at it: compelling Isildur to destroy   
   the Ring is physically impossible. They would really have to take it   
   from him by force (which they could have done) and then destroy it.   
   But someone who takes the Ring by force from someone else isn't going   
   to destroy it; he's going to try to keep it.   
      
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