2bc4bc9e   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: joedoe3@gmail.com   
      
   derek schrieb am 17.09.2011 03:19:   
   > On Sep 16, 12:32 pm, "Clams Canino"  wrote:   
   >> "Stan Brown"  wrote in message   
   >>> Unless you think the Ring chose Sm agol over D agol?  That seems   
   >>> pretty far fetched to me.  We understand that in some sense it was   
   >>> always "trying" to get back to its Master, but I can't think that it   
   >>> could make fine character distinctions between two Stoors.   
   >>   
   >> I'm not so sure. I think the Ring chose it's own ilk when possible.   
   >> It may have well picked up on Smeagol's flawed character.   
   >   
   > Yes.  I think it chose Smeagol, but made a mistake, so it chose to   
   > find a new "host", when it slipped off his finger for Bilbo to find.   
   > It may not have been able to "choose its own ilk" there, but it knew   
   > that Bilbo was the only creature around who might get it closer to   
   > Sauron.   
      
   i very much doubt this: any Orc would have been better in this respect   
   (getting the Ring to Sauron). Recall that according to Gandalf "another   
   Power was at work there". Moreover,   
      
   I think the "choosing" part is much less active: the Ring clearly has   
   influence not only on its bearer (cf. Boromir, the Orc in the Tower of   
   Cirith Ungol, Grishnakh, Saruman) and I think the Smeagol/Deagol affair   
   just showed that Smeagol was much more open to the Ring's temptation   
   than Deagol - and hence the more promising target for the Ring.   
      
      
   > It did the same with Isildur - it may not have actually chosen   
   > Isildur, but it would certainly have preferred Isildur to the others   
   > present who might have taken it in hand - and yet when it came to it,   
   > Isildur didn't advance its agenda, so it slipped off his finger at an   
   > inopportune time (if you're Isildur - not so inopportune for the   
   > Ring).   
      
   certainly Isildur was the most promising target around at Orodruin after   
   Sauron's defeat. It is not so clear to me why the Ring did not stay with   
   him - he probably would have become a quite powerful Dark Lord himself   
   and might have saved the Ring a couple of boring centuries before Sauron   
   would be back to take over...   
      
   I somehow did not get the impression that the Ring was explicitly doing   
   Sauron's bidding but just advanced his own agenda of world domination.   
   (except that Isildur's end is an argument against that view - unless   
   already here "another Power" is at work, saving Isildur from a terrible   
   fate and laying the groundwork for Frodo's quest)   
      
   regards   
    Geza   
      
   --   
                               Now come ye all,   
   who have courage and hope!  My call harken   
   to flight, to freedom       in far places!   
                                         Lays of Beleriand   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)