XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: mmikeda@erols.com   
      
   Paul S. Person  wrote in   
   news:iqqa3a5e2d9eimhipnf73g1m678m8lpg6j@4ax.com:   
      
   > On Wed, 08 Oct 2014 07:14:11 +0200, taxalot   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >>> Because the greater part of his native strength was put into   
   >>> the Ring. Who would know the consequences of its destruction   
   >>> more than Sauron himself? Elrond clearly knew it when he   
   >>> advised Isildur to cast it into the Fire.   
   >>   
   >>     Did he know about Sauron returning ?   
   >>   
   >>     Or did he fear the ring, inherently evil object, and the   
   >>     men who are so   
   >>easily corrupted ? For all we know, Elrond might have been   
   >>afraid of a new dark power arising because of that ring.   
   >   
   > Is this "men who are so easily corrupted?" from the book? Or is   
   > it just an abomination of PJ & accomplices? I ask because it   
   > sounds an awful lot like a quote from Galadriel's voiceover at   
   > the start of the first /LOTR/ movie.   
      
   The chapter "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" in "The   
   Silmarillion" says specifically "Men he found easiest to sway among   
   all the peoples of the Earth" and "to Men he gave Nine, for Men   
   proved in this matter as in others the readiest to his will".   
      
   ("He" being, of course, Sauron.)   
      
   >   
   >>     There are many things people who we thought we'd know about   
   >>     things did   
   >>actually not. When the Istaris were sent to Middle Earth they   
   >>were made to investigate a dark power in Mirkwood ; they had no   
   >>idea it was Sauron from the start. You'd think the Valar would   
   >>have known that too.   
   >   
   > IIRC, in the books (not necessarily /LOTR/ and certainly not   
   > /TH/), the Istaris were sent /specifically/ to help Men defeat   
   > Sauron. What, if anything, PJ & accomplices come up with in the   
   > third Hobbit movie remains to be seen (literally). But I could   
   > be wrong.   
      
   Not just Men.  Appendix B says "It was afterwards said that they   
   came out of the far West and were messengers sent to contest the   
   power of Sauron, and to unite all those who had the will to resist   
   him; but they were forbidden to match his power with power, or to   
   seek to dominate Elves or Men by force or fear".   
      
   The chapter "The Istari" in "Unfinished Tales" gives more details   
   but I think the above is a good summary.   
      
   Presumably they were also forbidden to dominate Dwarves and Hobbits   
   by force or fear but this is not specifically mentioned.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)