...and Gandalf suddenly had a brilliant idea of how to win the war.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by the phantom

No. In this case it had nothing to do with it being wrong to use a weapon of the enemy. It had to do with the fact that it wouldn't have worked ... If the new bearer wins, he becomes the next Dark Lord and once again evil wins.

Well, it would have defeated Sauron, so it would have realised the original cause, even if it gave rise to another.

If the ring had no corrupting powers and could be wielded safely there would be no problem with using its power to overthrow Sauron.

The point is that it couldn't be wielded safely precisely because it was a device of the Enemy. I can think of no better illustration of the proposition that, by using a device of the Enemy, one becomes no better than him. In the case of the Ring, one does in fact replace him.

To my mind, the situations are very similar. Had one of the Wise set about a policy of breeding Orcs to defeat the existing Dark Lord, then they would be setting themselves up to be the next Dark Lord. At least that's how, in my opinion, it works in Tolkien's world.

In real life, things are a bit more complicated.