XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On 12 Oct 2014 12:55:25 GMT, Michael Ikeda wrote:   
   > I would suggest that the fact that Sauron distributed nine of the   
   > Rings under his control to Men and none to Elves does suggest that   
   > he thought Men would be more vulnerable to the type of corruption   
   > represented by Rings of Power.   
   >   
      
   I would suggest that he was pretty darn sure that a Ring given to an   
   Elf would be wasted. Remember: the moment he put on the One Ring,   
   before he could dominate the three Elves who were already wearing   
   Rings, they took them off. That happened years (literally) before he   
   got possession of the Seven and the Nine. It suggested pretty   
   strongly that any of the great among Elves would be proof against   
   Sauron's trap; and what would it gain him to give a ring to a lesser   
   Elf?   
      
   I suspect also that Sauron was surprised that the Rings didn't work   
   on Dwarves.   
      
   IIRC, There _was_ an earlier draft in which Tolkien had Sauron giving   
   Rings to Elves, and the Elves becoming wraiths. I think Tolkien was   
   right to abandon that, as it would have involved him in numerous   
   contradictions.   
      
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