"Morgoth's Ring" or Sauron's Ring?

[Fingolfin II]

This is a very interesting topic, Angry Hill Troll.

You said-

Also, this answers the question: if making magic rings was a surefire way to increase one's power, why didn't Morgoth make one? Well, since it was his power to begin with that the One Ring ended up using, what would be the point? He dispersed his power consciously in an attempt to gain control over the physical world.

I think that somewhere, Tolkien said that Sauron used his Ring not to gain domination over the physical Earth itself, but over the minds of the Free Peoples of Arda. This meant that Sauron sought not to rule Arda (as he knew he could never match the Valar), but rather to rule it's lesser inhabitants.

Arda contains the being of the Valar (with a disproportionate share from Melkor).

While this is true, I believe that rather than the Three Elven Rings containing the dispersed power of Manwe, Ulmo and Aule, they are similar in temperament and purpose to these three Valar, as you picked up on very well.

My personal opinion is that Morgoth's will was not prevalent in Sauron's One Ring, but that Sauron followed his former masters lead in being evil and gathering evil creatures to him. Remember, Sauron only wanted to rule the people of Middle-Earth while Morgoth coveted the whole of Arda for his own.

Unfortunately, I only own a copy of LoTR so I can't use any quotes to back up my arguments, like you have done to good effect. This is a very interesting topic though and is subject to opinion (so either of us could be right ), so congratulations on thinking up a thought-provocative topic, which is certainly going to cause a lot of debate.