Sympathy for the Devil? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Boromir88 · 05-29-2009, 06:38 PM

I disagree, the fact that the Ring needed to be destroyed wasn't known until after the fact that Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's finger and Sauron reformed.

Sauron was a Maia, who was not bound to the laws that Gandalf and the other istari were about a physical form, he had enough power to reform whether he ever created the Ring or not. So, why would the fact that he could reform after losing the Ring indicate the Ring was not destroyed? Now once he created the Ring, his power was bound to it (or "in rapport" with Sauron as Tolkien describes in a letter to Milton Waldman), so when the Ring is destroyed so would Sauron and his power would be gone, but when did Sauron figure this out? The bond between the Ring's power and Sauron's could have just been kind of like a side effect, or an unintended consequence. Hindsight bias makes things as clear as mud.

Hakon · 05-29-2009, 07:09 PM

I think he would have known that destroying the ring would destroy him. The ring is him, he made the ring so it seems obvious that he would have known that if the ring was destroyed he would lose his power. He poured all of his power, cruelty and more into that ring. It makes sense that he would know that he would either lose all his power or lose a lot of his power if the ring was destroyed. He still had a link with the ring once it was lost but he needed someone to put the ring on to sort of activate that link.

05-29-2009, 06:38 PM	#1
Boromir88 Laconic Loreman Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: USA Posts: 7,521	I disagree, the fact that the Ring needed to be destroyed wasn't known until after the fact that Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's finger and Sauron reformed. Sauron was a Maia, who was not bound to the laws that Gandalf and the other istari were about a physical form, he had enough power to reform whether he ever created the Ring or not. So, why would the fact that he could reform after losing the Ring indicate the Ring was not destroyed? Now once he created the Ring, his power was bound to it (or "in rapport" with Sauron as Tolkien describes in a letter to Milton Waldman), so when the Ring is destroyed so would Sauron and his power would be gone, but when did Sauron figure this out? The bond between the Ring's power and Sauron's could have just been kind of like a side effect, or an unintended consequence. Hindsight bias makes things as clear as mud. __________________ Fenris Penguin

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05-29-2009, 07:09 PM	#2
Hakon Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Twilight Zone Posts: 736	I think he would have known that destroying the ring would destroy him. The ring is him, he made the ring so it seems obvious that he would have known that if the ring was destroyed he would lose his power. He poured all of his power, cruelty and more into that ring. It makes sense that he would know that he would either lose all his power or lose a lot of his power if the ring was destroyed. He still had a link with the ring once it was lost but he needed someone to put the ring on to sort of activate that link.