[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Another thought, on the parley at the Black Gate: If Sauron had recovered the Ring, Gandalf as Narya's keeper almost certainly would have been aware of it, just as Celebrimbor et al had been when it was first forged.

Is Gandalf actually wearing Narya at this point? (Same question for Galadriel and Elrond.) It seems like, if you'd just sent the One into Mordor, and knew that Sauron could access all your thoughts in an instant with it if he captured it, taking your own Ring off would be the logical first step.

Doing a quick trawl for ' ring ' in RotK, there are only six mentions of the word in such a context prior to Book Six, and all are talking about the One. Nothing to prove Gandalf is still wearing Narya.

In fact, as Pervinca Took says, there is ample reason to believe he wasn't:

Originally Posted by RotK: The Siege of Gondor

‘There never was much hope,’ he answered. ‘Just a fool’s hope, as I have been told. And when I heard of Cirith Ungol---‘ He broke off and strode to the window as if his eyes could pierce the night in the East. ‘Cirith Ungol!’ he muttered. ‘Why that way, I wonder?’ He turned. ‘Just now, Pippin, my heart almost failed me, hearing that name. And yet in truth I believe that the news that Faramir brings has some hope in it. For it seems clear that our Enemy has opened his war at last and made the first move while Frodo was still free...'

'While Frodo was still free'. Gandalf's concern was most definitely that Frodo had been captured; he thought that Sauron's movements indicated that he had reclaimed the Ring. It was only after he heard the timing from Faramir that he figured out what had happened:

Originally Posted by RotK: The Siege of Gondor

'Let me see: some five days ago now he would discover that we had thrown down Saruman and had taken the Stone. Still what of that? We could not use it to much purpose, or without his knowing. Ah! I wonder. Aragorn? His time draws near. And he is strong and stern underneath, Pippin; bold, determined, able to take his own counsel and dare great risks at need. That may be it. He may have used the Stone and shown himself to the Enemy, challenging him, for this very purpose.'

It says a lot about Gandalf's intelligence that he immediately 'solved the case' like this. But what it also says is that he doesn't know the status of the Ring for certain.

There's only really two options here:

-That Gandalf is not wearing Narya, which I think would have to be for safety reasons.
-That he thinks Sauron might refrain from putting the Ring on until the crucial moment.

One final hint at the first option:

Originally Posted by RotK: The Grey Havens

As he turned and came towards them Frodo saw that Gandalf now wore openly upon his hand the Third Ring, Narya the Great, and the stone upon it was red as fire.

I've always placed the emphasis here on 'openly'... but is it possible that 'wore' is just as significant?

~

Jumping back to William Cloud Hicklin's post for a minute, I agree with the logic against Ringwraith Telepathy. It also explains why Sauron didn't flood the Misty Mountains with orcs the minute Frodo donned the Ring at Weathertop: if he knew instantly that the Ring was moving, he could/should have assailed Lorien immediately from Dol Guldur and struck for Rivendell. Yes, there were servants of the Enemy moving around, but not in the kind of numbers that the confirmed presence of the Ring of Power would evoke. (Once the Nazgûl managed to return to Mordor, he would assume that the location of the Ring had long since been lost; the idea that they would hang out in Rivendell for two months would have been far from his mind.)

I appreciate the confirmation of the timeline around the Tower; so the message about the prisoner arrived first? But it arrived by the 15th, which... let me check the map.

Okay, so it's about 60-70 miles from the Tower to Lugbúrz in a straight line. Assuming 36 hours as a timeframe, you could cover that in a continuous amble; a running messenger could do it and even take breaks. Assuming a Winged Messenger could make the return trip in an hour or so... yes, this is a consistent timeline.

I don't know about the idea that the Messenger just happened to be on final approach to the Tower when Frodo and Sam broke the Watchers and brought it down in a hurry. That sounds a bit too convenient. Perhaps he* was instead passing over on return to Minas Morgul, and broke his journey to investigate the happenings at the Tower he was bearing word about? That's a little less... neat.

*Do we actually know that the Nazgûl are all male? I know they're Men, but... y'know what, there's probably a thread about that around here somewhere. I'll take a look.