|
Another question that occurs to me, did the ring being destroyed actually destroy Sauron or did it simply weaken him to the point where he could be destroyed. In other words, the moment the ring was destroyed, did Saurons hroa simutaneously go kaput or did he just lose so much power that he was no longer able to effectively take care of himself, and "died" in the collapse of Barad Dur. Here's sort of the situation I was wondering about. Image someone (say Gandalf) had claimed the ring sucessfully, but for some reason never actually confronted and/or destroyed Sauron (yes I know Tolkein said that the confrontation was basically inevitable for anyone who claimed the ring, they'd either bring it to Sauron or destroy Sauron and take his place, but just imagine for a second). What would Sauron be left as? The same invisible formless ghost he became upon destruction? or would he retain his hroa, becoming basically a mortal man for all intents and purposes (that's the best descriptor I can thing of for a Sauron who still had a physical body, but was stripped permantly of the power embodied in the ring, a being similar Sauruman post staff break).
|