To Bear a Ring of Power...

[Diamond18]

I think it was more of an inner aloneness. An empty feeling that you can't share your burden. The only people who understand are others who are Ringbearers.

I think that's probably exactly what she meant. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I was thinking about Bilbo, and how after "The Hobbit" people started calling him Mad Baggins and stuff like that, when before he was well respected and all. But the more I think about it, it seems to have less to do with the Ring itself than just the fact that he had an adventure and didn't try to hush it up.

But still, that is an example of how (even though he was already an established bachelor) he became more "alone" after getting the Ring. Frodo didn't come along for a while, and at that point Bilbo was getting pretty lonely.

Would you attribute that to the Ring's influence on his attitude towards others, or simply the other hobbits attitudes towards him because of his adventure?