The One Ring and invisibility

[The Might]

One thing that you must not forget here is that the Ring did have a will of its own. We see Gollum seeing a wheel of fire on Mount Doom and hears the Ring speak. So clearly it could and would use the bearer to fulfill its needs.

‘Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.’

So the Ring could, depending on the need, exert a stronger or weaker force over the bearer. For example it might have tricked Bilbo into thinking it was a good thing so as to escape from the Misty Mountains, but later tried to slowly wear him down and make him a wraith.
Fortunately, he proved to be quite resilient.

[Galendor]

Originally posted by Legate of Amon
There is the well known "Hobbit-strength" and I also believe even in the case of the Nazgul "wraithifying" did not happen in several weeks or months but in years.

Originally posted by The Might
So the Ring could, depending on the need, exert a stronger or weaker force over the bearer.

Both very helpful observations, which greatly improve my thinking on the Ring. Thanks!

Although the Ring had a will of its own, it didn't seem capable of not performing its primary function when worn - transport of the wearer part-way into the wraith dimension (i.e., the mortal wearer turns invisible, whether the Ring 'likes it' or not). I wonder if you slipped the Ring onto a dog's tail if it would become invisible. Heh.

I also wonder what would become of a mortal (or immortal, for that matter) if he/she were to put on all of the rings at once (9 for men, 3 for elves, 7 for dwarf lords, and One to bind them). Spontaneous combustion? Transformation into a higher being? Sorry for my entrance into the realm of pointless speculation. But as far as I know, we really don't know what primary or secondary effects most of these rings had, do we?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

One thing that you must not forget here is that the Ring did have a will of its own. We see Gollum seeing a wheel of fire on Mount Doom and hears the Ring speak. So clearly it could and would use the bearer to fulfill its needs.

Ah. you're opening up an old, old battle here. The other half of the readership insist that it is Frodo speaking, while Sam sees with 'other sight.'

[Nerwen]

Which I why I decided not to comment on that one.

The Ring does appear to have some degree of sentience anyway, though, which was The Might's main point.