Balrog and The One Ring

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Marwhini

As I pointed out in my prior post, the issue has less to do with Sauron's Faithfulness to Morgoth, and more to do with the Balrog's.

I quote from Morgoth's Ring (in my previous post) a note that Tolkien made regarding Balrogs, and how they remained the most Faithful of Morgoth's servants.

The latter part of that post contains a response to your last question.

And... I suspect you will find that Tolkien was less specific on the effects of the One Ring than you imagine.

His descriptions dealt merely with those who sought to use the One Ring, or withhold it from its Rightful Owner. Absent in those descriptions are what effects it has upon co-evals of Sauron and Servants of Morgoth of similar power and "kind."

Can we really assume that the effects of the One Ring are similar in effort upon/between those who are "Good" (Capital-G) and those who are already "Evil" (Capital-E)?

Would not that assumption require the thing that Tolkien himself failed to reach: a Functional Metaphysics for Middle-earth that would have allowed him to define the mechanism by which the One Ring operated?

MB

You make the claim in a previous post that the Balrogs followed Morgoth "robotically". Funny thing, a Balrog wisely fleeing the imprisonment of his master, like another Maia, Sauron. One would think a robot would have laid down its life for its master, rather than running and hiding. That would indicate to me a being with a will of its own, and completely uninterested in sharing his master's fate.

It's also interesting that you make the assumption that the One Ring would be radically different in the hands of one set of Maia as it would be wielded by another, as if the E and the G would make much of a difference if the Ring was presented to one or the other. It's true the only Evil characters seeking the Ring were the Nazgul and they were already in thrall to the One Ring, and so do not count in the equation. I would say that, given the information we do have, that the Ring is inherently addictive, so much so that Saruman the Maia became obsessed by it without even seeing or touching it. And I think its fairly clear in the story that if he found the Ring he would not be handing it to Sauron.

Here's an interesting question: do you think if Morgoth returned to Middle-earth and Sauron was in possession of the Ring, would he, at the end of the 3rd Age, surrender it to Morgoth?