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Originally Posted by Formendacil
No, Tolkien is clearly saying of a certain group, only Gandalf could be expected to use the Ring successfully. Well, what is this "certain group". My own reading of it is that this group doesn't included Saruman at all, that when Tolkien was saying this, he had in mind the bigwigs of the West, the group highlighted in Davem's quotes of the previous post: Elrond, Galadriel, Aragorn, possibly Denethor- and Gandalf. Of the "ringleaders" of the West, looking at this list, it makes perfect sense to say that Gandalf was the only one that could be expected to best Sauron. He was the only one who was Sauron's peer WITHOUT the Ring.
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I wouldn't set even this limit. In the quote from The Last Debate I gave earlier Gandalf clearly states that Aragorn could have mastered & used the Ring. Galadriel's words are even clearer:
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'I would ask one thing before we go,' said Frodo, 'a thing which I often meant to ask Gandalf in Rivendell. I am permitted to wear the One Ring: why cannot I see all the others and know the thoughts of those that wear them?' 'You have not tried,' she said. 'Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. Do not try! It would destroy you. Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become far stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others. Yet even so, as Ring-bearer and as one that has borne it on finger and seen that which is hidden, your sight is grown keener. You have perceived my thought more clearly than many that are accounted wise.
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The Rings give some degree of 'power' to any possessor - according to their 'measure'. The statement in the letter is simply incorrect, as it contradicts statements made by characters
in the story itself.
Now, it may well be that Tolkien changed his conception of the nature of the Ring in the post-LotR period, but for his statement in the letter to be acceptable he would have had to re-write a good part of the story, change motivations & behaviour. If we are to take Tolkien's statement in the letter as fact we have to say that major characters from Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadriel, Elrond & even Sauron himself are either completely mistaken about the nature of the Ring, are lying, or are simply making stuff up. because they make what are apparently very clear statements about the nature & power of the Ring. It even smacks of some kind of conspiracy as all those characters, both good & bad, are telling the
same lie (including, let me add, the narrator of the story!).
Sorry, but the easiest way out of this 'dilemma' is to dismiss Tolkien's statement & let the story stand.