If Sauron had succeeded.

[rudeboy]

If Celembrimbor (Sp?) hadn't have discovered Sauron when he put on the one, and Sauron then controlled the ones who wore the 3 at the time, and anyone else who had any of the other 19 rings, would he have still went to war with the free peoples of middle earth, or would he had already done that?

[Darth Mithrandir]

If you are insinuating that the 'other 19' included the three of the Elves, then the story would have had a moot point.

Instead consider the meaning of the three elven rings. Yes, the ones with power similar to the Ainur in a fashion.

Sauron could have located the three easily with the 'ruling ring' yet war would still have been emminent as the goodness portrayed by them. The Istari would have all been involved with this war, and most likely the Ainur as well. It may well could have been a short battle as you would be placing Gods against their creations. smilies/eek.gif

[ArcticWyrm]

If Sauron had done all that, the Lord of the Rings would be a really boring epic of death, destruction, torture, enslavery...

[Eggy]

If the Big S man really did get the rullling ring back and the valar stayed out of the equation then surely "Big S" would have covered all of ME in a second darkness quite easily

[Jack]

Like I have said on other threads of this nature... There would be NO STORY and/or NO POINT...

[ArathorofBarahir]

Exactly, Lord of the Rings would have been a story of survival under the tyranny of Sauron, if the ring had not been destroyed, the story would have happy ending or hope for that matter, thus making the book utterly pointless and hopeless.

[yavanna II]

iF sAUrON suCCEEDed, then what the hell's the point of the LOTR? It will just be a nice boooooooring story .......WITHOUT SENSE!!! smilies/rolleyes.gif