XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: jcb@inf.ed.ac.uk   
      
   On 2018-11-05, Barry Schwarz  wrote:   
   > It is repeated several times in The Silmarillion that the Valar could   
   > not remove the Gift of Ilúvatar from Men.  So how is it that merely   
   > possessing the One Ring, not necessarily wearing it, could postpone   
   > the inevitable indefinitely.  The ring contained no power that was not   
   > inherently Sauron's to begin with.  And he was only a Maia.   
      
   Answer 1: don't ask embarrassing questions:)   
   Answer 2: this is why the book repeats several times that the Rings do   
   not give more life, they just stretch it out thinner and thinner.   
   Whether you find that a satisfactory answer, I don't know.   
      
   > How is it that wearing one of the Nine could do the same.  It was   
   > fashioned by Elves with presumably even less power.   
      
   Indeed. Furthermore, how could Isildur, a mere mortal, keep the men of   
   Erech back from true death until they fulfilled their oath?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)