Couldn't Sauron resurface in the future?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by TheLostPilgrim

What I don't understand is...When the Ring is destroyed, it marks the final and total defeat of Sauron. Why? Yes, he's without the Ring, which had a great portion of his power--But he was without that power, the source of much of his strength, after being defeated by the Last Alliance, and still without the Ring, he posed a great threat to Middle Earth.

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

I read that recently, too. I find it hard to understand how that could destroy Sauron, though - would Gandalf sort of channel the Ring's power into himself and thus a huge part of Sauron's power would be sucked away from him and engulfed? I know these are Tolkien's own words; I'm just trying to work out for myself how it would work.

I think it's easier to picture it as an analogy. Imagine a rich man who deposits most of his savings in a bank. Now, with his money locked up somewhere, does he have it in his hands for his use? No. It's not with him. But is he still rich? Certainly. It's still his money. But if someone hacks into his account and steals all the money, or maybe the bank goes bankrupt, or whatever, and suddenly all his savings disappear - he's not a rich man anymore whichever way you look at it. He basically goes permanently bankrupt.

In a pretty similar way Sauron has lots of power, and places most of it in his power-bank - the Ring. When the Ring is lost to him it's like he's not in a bank right now, so he can't access his account to take the money from it - but he still owns it. But when the Ring is destroyed, Sauron is power-bankrupt.

[blantyr]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I think it's easier to picture it as an analogy. Imagine a rich man who deposits most of his savings in a bank. Now, with his money locked up somewhere, does he have it in his hands for his use? No. It's not with him. But is he still rich? Certainly. It's still his money. But if someone hacks into his account and steals all the money, or maybe the bank goes bankrupt, or whatever, and suddenly all his savings disappear - he's not a rich man anymore whichever way you look at it. He basically goes permanently bankrupt.

In a pretty similar way Sauron has lots of power, and places most of it in his power-bank - the Ring. When the Ring is lost to him it's like he's not in a bank right now, so he can't access his account to take the money from it - but he still owns it. But when the Ring is destroyed, Sauron is power-bankrupt.

Not bad. Not too terribly absurd. Still, if your bank and all it's records had been washed to sea in hurricane Sandy, and if you were in California living quite happily without any access to your bank, would you suddenly turn into a column of smoke to get blown away by a west wind?

The Ring is a plot device needed to tell a good yarn. The magic is vaguely consistent, within acceptable bounds for suspension of disbelief if one doesn't look too closely. I have seldom been impressed attempts to look very closely.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by blantyr

Not bad. Not too terribly absurd. Still, if your bank and all it's records had been washed to sea in hurricane Sandy, and if you were in California living quite happily without any access to your bank, would you suddenly turn into a column of smoke to get blown away by a west wind?

You might, if the knowledge that in one day you went from a rich man to someone who has no money lead you to self-immolation...

It would be a horribly wicked plot twist if, some 100 years later, the people of ME find out that Sauron was not actually just destroyed by those heroes, but he committed suicide...


Jokes aside, though, you're right. Suspension of disbelief is key.