XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On Sun, 8 Sep 2013 13:44:07 +0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig wrote:   
   >   
   > Stan Brown  schrieb:   
   >   
   > > The Rings were not flawed, not at least in the sense of being   
   > > defective.   
   >   
   > Except for the back door installed by NSA^H^H^HSauron into their   
   > basic operating system, so to speak, to make them subject to   
   > the One.   
      
   Well, I'm not sure what the PP meant by "flawed".  But usually when   
   we talk of a flaw we mean an unintended defect.  The one we were both   
   thinking of was not unintended.   
      
   But it's not clear whether Sauron actually built in a back door, or   
   created an after-the-fact trojan.  Remember that he had no part in   
   the making of the Three, yet they too were subject to the One.  The   
   One could control Rings that Sauron did not help to make, so it   
   didn't need "back doors" into the Sixteen.  That doesn't prove that   
   no such back doors existed, but I'm a fan of Occam's Razor. :-)   
      
   --   
   Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA   
                                     http://OakRoadSystems.com   
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