From: mmikeda@erols.com   
      
   Sandman  wrote in   
   news:slrnm207va.671.mr@irc.sandman.net:   
      
   > In article , No One In   
   > Particular wrote:   
   >   
   >> > Sandman:   
   >> > Yes, that is the consensus, but it rhymes badly with the fact   
   >> > that the ring does have its own will, so mixing in fate   
   >> > and/or divine powers seems odd to me.   
   >>   
   >> Simply put, I believe that the higher power (Eru, perhaps?   
   >> Manwe, maybe?) made an executive decision and overrode the   
   >> Ring's will on the matter.   
   >   
   > I just think that that line of thinking has so many other   
   > implications. Wouldn't that be the only known intervention of a   
   > divine power in the story? Which of course lends the question -   
   > why the only one? Surely there were other more important things   
   > he/it could intervene with if something as trivial as this   
   > required his/its attention.   
      
   I wouldn't precisely call changing where the One Ring ends up as   
   being trivial.   
      
   My understanding is that there is some indication (Letters?  HoME?)   
   that Gandalf was permitted to return to Middle-Earth after his   
   "death" in Moria due to a special dispensation granted by Eru.   
      
   The destruction of Numenor and the resulting "changing" of the   
   world was apparently also the result of intervention by Eru.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)