The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Which of the Fellowship would have gone ring mad?

**The Saucepan Man** · 01-23-2004, 09:38 PM

The question of who would have been the best character, other than Frodo, to bear the Ring has come up quite a lot. But this is a slightly different one, although connected.

Since Frodo would not have given up the Ring voluntarily, anyone trying to take it from him would have had to have done so by force. I think that Gandalf is the least likely to have done so, since he was a Maiar with a strong sense of purpose and a deep love for Hobbits.

Second to Gandalf would be Sam. His love for Frodo would have helped him hold out against the Ring's call to him. He could not have contemplated attacking Frodo unless he was completely under its influence. And for much the same reason, I think that Merry and Pippin would have held out for a long while too. Added to that the fact that I have always been of the view that Hobbits have a particular resistance to the pull of the Ring. Pippin, in particular, has recieved rather bad press on this thread, unfairly in my view, so I hope that this redresses the balance somewhat. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Difficult to choose between Legolas and Gimli. I don't see anything special about Elves that would make them particularly resistant to the Ring. Galadriel was sorely tempted by it, after all, and she was probably the most powerful Elf in Middle-earth at that time. I'd probably put Gimli before Legolas, given that the Dwarf Lords were not susceptable to the "enwraithing" properties of the Seven Rings. But Gimli would have succumbed to the temptation of the One Ring given time, I am sure.

And last, I am afraid, comes Aragorn in my list. He was a Man, after all, albeit a particularly noble and worthy one. He may have had a greater tolerance than Isildur, but he was of Isildur's line nevertheless.

So: Gandalf - Sam - Merry/Pippin - Gimli - Legolas - Aragorn.

Edit: Incidentally, just to illustrate the difference between this question and the issue of who, other than Frodo, should have borne the Ring, my order of preference on the latter issue would be:

Pippin - Merry - Sam - Gimli - Legolas - Aragorn - (Boromir) - Gandalf

But the details of that are for another thread. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 10:46 PM January 23, 2004: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]

01-23-2004, 09:38 PM	#20
The Saucepan Man Corpus Cacophonous Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: A green and pleasant land Posts: 8,436	The question of who would have been the best character, other than Frodo, to bear the Ring has come up quite a lot. But this is a slightly different one, although connected. Since Frodo would not have given up the Ring voluntarily, anyone trying to take it from him would have had to have done so by force. I think that Gandalf is the least likely to have done so, since he was a Maiar with a strong sense of purpose and a deep love for Hobbits. Second to Gandalf would be Sam. His love for Frodo would have helped him hold out against the Ring's call to him. He could not have contemplated attacking Frodo unless he was completely under its influence. And for much the same reason, I think that Merry and Pippin would have held out for a long while too. Added to that the fact that I have always been of the view that Hobbits have a particular resistance to the pull of the Ring. Pippin, in particular, has recieved rather bad press on this thread, unfairly in my view, so I hope that this redresses the balance somewhat. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Difficult to choose between Legolas and Gimli. I don't see anything special about Elves that would make them particularly resistant to the Ring. Galadriel was sorely tempted by it, after all, and she was probably the most powerful Elf in Middle-earth at that time. I'd probably put Gimli before Legolas, given that the Dwarf Lords were not susceptable to the "enwraithing" properties of the Seven Rings. But Gimli would have succumbed to the temptation of the One Ring given time, I am sure. And last, I am afraid, comes Aragorn in my list. He was a Man, after all, albeit a particularly noble and worthy one. He may have had a greater tolerance than Isildur, but he was of Isildur's line nevertheless. So: Gandalf - Sam - Merry/Pippin - Gimli - Legolas - Aragorn. Edit: Incidentally, just to illustrate the difference between this question and the issue of who, other than Frodo, should have borne the Ring, my order of preference on the latter issue would be: Pippin - Merry - Sam - Gimli - Legolas - Aragorn - (Boromir) - Gandalf But the details of that are for another thread. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] <font size=1 color=339966>[ 10:46 PM January 23, 2004: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ] __________________ Do you mind? I'm busy doing the fishstick. It's a very delicate state of mind!