XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies   
      
   In message    
     Sandman  wrote:   
   > In article ,   
   >  Lewis  wrote:   
      
   >> > Only, that was not something done by the ring. He lusted for power in   
   >> > the same way most people would. The ring for him was a means for that   
   >> > power. I am trying to make a distinction between Sarumen being   
   >> > "corrupted" simply by wanting to have more power, and "corrupted" as   
   >> > an active force by the ring, which incidentally doesn't actually seem   
   >> > to exercise a force to make you want to use it for world dominantion   
   >> > (in spite of what Tolkien himself says).   
   >>   
   >> I disagree. The Ring, inasmuch as it was possible, was searching for a   
   >> power able and willing to wield it. That is not to say that it was   
   >> active in its search;lets think of it, perhaps, as a force like gravity,   
   >> bending the world around it so that things fall toward it. Saruman fell.   
      
   > Gandalf explicitly states that the ring wanted to be found and wanted   
   > to get back to its master, not that it sought someone powerful to   
   > wield it.   
      
   "Wield" was wrong, it was seeking its master.   
      
   > There is nothing in the books that suggest that the will of the ring   
   > had any remote effect at all upon Saruman. The corruption of Saruman   
   > was solely the inherit corruption in himself - i.e. lust for power.   
   > The ring was a means for that lust, not a source of it.   
      
   I'm not sure there is any evidence that the Ring had a will. Yes,   
   Gandalf speaks of the ring 'wanting' but that seems to me simply a word   
   that is used because the word that is needed doesn't exist. I don't   
   think the Ring had a will, other than an inherent tendency to happen   
   into the paths that might lead it back to Sauron. I think ascribing an   
   intelligence or even agency to the Ring is a mistake.   
      
   Why did Bilbo find the ring? Because Bilbo was going to take it out into   
   the world. Did the ring do something specific to be found? No, but some   
   power draw the ring to be lost where Bilbo would find it. That's why I   
   described it as something more like gravity. Or simply that it was   
   attracted to the power of Sauron, and as his power grew so did the   
   affinity the Ring had to seek that power. This is why, after all, Bilbo   
   and Frodo kept the Ring on a chain, is it not?   
      
   Still, I liken it to a marble on a tilting table more than to any will   
   or intelligence on the part of the Ring. Magnets. That's it, lots of   
   magnets.   
      
      
   --   
   If it wasn't for the pirates, I bet Star Wars: Ep III would have mad $50   
   million its first DAY!   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)