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Old 07-03-2003, 09:53 AM   #19
Legolas
A Northern Soul
 
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Valinor
Posts: 1,847
Legolas has just left Hobbiton.
Sting

Quote:
"However, it also says that, Dwarves "..ill endure the domination of others..", they *can't* be turned to shadow, "

This "shadow" is evil, I think - not death. The dwarven ring-bearers were mortal just as the human ring-bearers were, and would still die. They simply did not turn to Sauron's evil ways, or become wraiths as the men did.
I said that before, and it is yet to be denied.

Letter No. 131 says this:

Quote:
The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. 'change' viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance – this is more or less an Elvish motive. But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor – thus approaching 'magic', a motive easily corruptible into evil, a lust for domination. And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron ('the Necromancer': so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit): such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.
Nowhere does it say that the Rings granted immortality to the bearer. The Men "lived" on as wraiths, but this is an entirely different matter. They still died, effectively; that is, their bodies were left to rot and their spirits left them...
There's no reason to think that, if dwarven ring-bearers did not become wraiths, that they would live forever.

[ July 03, 2003: Message edited by: Legolas ]
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