That’s what’s wild though. Didn’t they each also possess the ring in their lives?
Sure he’s got some millennia of Ring time over them and whatever qualities of character even permitted that. But also Sauron gave them fell beasts and they can smell the Ring
ohhh. is there a hard description of what the other rings actually do to a mortal? I know big ring just does whatever is required to satisfy your ambitions but can we power-scale it with the others to understand what exactly happened to Shmeagle?
The effects of the Nine on the Men were that they each acquired great power and wealth, became powerful Sorcerers and appeared to have eternal life, for they did not age. After a time however, life became unendurable to them, and when they put the Rings on, they often beheld the phantoms and delusions of Sauron.
But this kind of sounds like the Nine are pretty similar to the One ring, with the exception of dying. Both fulfill your ambitions, both make you serve Sauron. But maybe not dying is what made Golem the master-tracker. Or maybe ring-lust is a quantifiable characteristic that the living possess far more of
For sure. Maybe I’m robbing the mystique by wanting to understand the rules. Part of me thinks that they’re just fun to speculate on. Also I think that if you identify them they kind of have this weird way of tying in to the themes of the story. like Tolkien seems to have a lot to say about human ambition and greed, the rings seem to have powers concerning ambition and greed of mortals.
He also hits nature vs industry themes pretty hard constantly throughout, and a lot on hubris. Denethor believed that he was too cunning to be affected by the palantir, and Sauron’s downfall ultimately was his belief that no one could resist the power of the one ring, so it never occurred to him that they would attempt to destroy it instead of use it against him. He could have just had some guards posted up at Mount Doom lol. Also just all of Saruman.
That’s what’s wild though. Didn’t they each also possess the ring in their lives?
Sure he’s got some millennia of Ring time over them and whatever qualities of character even permitted that. But also Sauron gave them fell beasts and they can smell the Ring
They had rings of power, but never the ring
ohhh. is there a hard description of what the other rings actually do to a mortal? I know big ring just does whatever is required to satisfy your ambitions but can we power-scale it with the others to understand what exactly happened to Shmeagle?
https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Rings_of_Power
Right. Wikis to save the day.
But this kind of sounds like the Nine are pretty similar to the One ring, with the exception of dying. Both fulfill your ambitions, both make you serve Sauron. But maybe not dying is what made Golem the master-tracker. Or maybe ring-lust is a quantifiable characteristic that the living possess far more of
I’d say most of the magic in Tolkien’s works is pretty hand-wavy and vibe-based, rather than explicit. I really enjoy the mystique it creates.
For sure. Maybe I’m robbing the mystique by wanting to understand the rules. Part of me thinks that they’re just fun to speculate on. Also I think that if you identify them they kind of have this weird way of tying in to the themes of the story. like Tolkien seems to have a lot to say about human ambition and greed, the rings seem to have powers concerning ambition and greed of mortals.
He also hits nature vs industry themes pretty hard constantly throughout, and a lot on hubris. Denethor believed that he was too cunning to be affected by the palantir, and Sauron’s downfall ultimately was his belief that no one could resist the power of the one ring, so it never occurred to him that they would attempt to destroy it instead of use it against him. He could have just had some guards posted up at Mount Doom lol. Also just all of Saruman.
Right? All this stuff has thematic implications.