65d692f0   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: steuard@slimy.com   
      
   In message   
   <14911964-1775-46e6-9efd-3516e5e825a4@y9g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>,   
   solar penguin  wrote:   
   > Steuard Jensen wrote:   
   >> Also, we know from Letters that the Nazgul would be unable to   
   >> assault a declared Ringlord, so why did Sauron send them into this   
   >> conflict at all?   
      
   > This is probably a stupid question, but what makes "a declared   
   > ringlord," as opposed to someone who just happens to be in possession   
   > of the ring?   
      
   That's a good question. The clearest answer comes in Letter #246:   
      
      [The Ringwraiths were] in no way deceived as to the real lordship   
      of the Ring. The wearer would not be invisible to them, but the   
      reverse; and the more vulnerable to their weapons. But the   
      situation was now different to that under Weathertop, where Frodo   
      acted merely in fear and wished only to use (in vain) the Ring's   
      subsidiary power of conferring invisibility. He had grown since   
      then. Would they have been immunie from its power if he claimed it   
      as an instrument of command and domination?   
      
      Not wholly. I do not think they could have attacked him with   
      violence, nor laid hold upon him or taken him captive; they would   
      have obeyed or feigned to obey any minor commands of his that did   
      not interfere with their errand - laid upon them by Sauron, who   
      still through their nine rings (which he held) had primary control   
      of their wills. [...]   
      
      [Frodo's] will was much stronger than it had been, but so far it   
      had been exercised in resisting not using the Ring and with the   
      object of destroying it. He needed time, much time, before he could   
      control the Ring or (which in such a case is the same) before it   
      could control him; before his will and arrogance could grow to a   
      stature in which he could dominate other major hostile wills.   
      
   It goes on at substantially greater length, and it's quite worth   
   reading in this connection. (In fact, I think that the seeds of full   
   answers to most of my original questions are present in the parts that   
   I've quoted above.)   
      
   						Steuard Jensen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)