This all sounds very plausible. But I can also imagine that
Tolkien thought about it only later and maybe even changed his mind afterwards, concerning the question if
Sauron had
the Ring with him in
Numenor or if he had kept it in
Barad-dur... But in this case I would also rather tend to accept as canon what Tolkien said last about it, no matter if it was only a private letter, it shows that he thought about it again to make the matter more plausible. On the other hand, Tolkien has also revised his opinion (which he already had changed in the course of time) and then changed it again, see e.g. the origin of the
Orcs
I have argued before and reässert here that “
what fits best” is the best guide for determining how to pick and choose among the variegated tellings of Tolkien’s
non-canonical tales.
What Tolkien published himself during his lifetime is “canon,” or at least what most of us seem to agree is “canon.” This leaves
Silmarillion,
Unfinished Tales,
Letters, and the now fourteen volumes of
History of Middle-earth (including the one-volume
Index of volumes I-XII and
Nature of Middle-earth), all non-canonical, but valuable.
It also
places limits on JRR Tolkien’s musings toward the end of his life. In one clear example,
Road Goes Ever On describes
Galadriel as exiled from
Aman because of her leadership in the Rebellion of the
Noldor and her peremptory refusal to repent at the end of the
First Age:
Galadriel was therefore banned from returning to Valinor.
Yet in Tolkien’s later writings on Galadriel, she becomes an almost saintly figure, one he was at pains to distance from
Fëanor’s rebellion. Along with this,
Celeborn ceases to be a Sinda of
Beleriand and becomes a Teleri of Eldamar. How shall we interpret this discrepancy? To which version of the several Tolkien presented, particularly toward the end of his life, should we adhere?
My argument is,
Follow canon, and use what fits best in the greater legendarium for the rest. When we do that, Galadriel remains a Noldorin exile, the last of the royal
House of Finwë remaining in Middle-earth, the last of the leaders of the Rebellion of the Noldor. Her lament to the Company of the Ring as they depart
Lórien is heart-felt and incomparably sad: she believes her exile is permanent, and though she has rejected the Ring and will fight Sauron to the bitter end, she is convinced she will never leave Middle-earth without the severance of her body (
hröa) and spirit (
fëa): She will have to die to end her exile.
If you accept that interpretation, it also means that “what Tolkien wrote last” is not necessarily the correct guide to what is best to choose among the many entangled tellings of Tolkien’s tales.
As for his late musings on Orcs: whence came the Orcs that inhabited Middle-earth before the rising of the Moon and Sun if they were but the twisted descendents of
Men – Men who had not yet awakened?
In any case, no matter what he thought about it later, it shows that Tolkien was too inaccurate for the majority of the readers here.
Bosh, now! That’s why we have The Tolkien Forum!
However, all of this (along with a few other things not mentioned here) indicates that the power of
the One Ring was not just to manipulate the other ringbearers. The power of the Ring went far beyond that, especially when Sauron was in possession of the Ring.
Yes. I thoroughly agree with you!
In this context, by the way, I remember the discussion about the
Dark Tower: that on
the one hand it is said that Barad-dur could only be built with the help of the power of the Ring, while on the other hand this
fortress was first of all built before the creation of the Ring.
Sauron set the foundations of
Barad-dûr using his native strength, his powers as a
Maia. Though this was done several centuries before he forged the One Ring, this power was part of his strength (his natural mental and spiritual power, possibly along with what he had learned and obtained in
Arda (say, under
Morgoth’s tutelage)) he transferred into the Ring. As a result, the foundations of Barad-dûr could not be destroyed unless the Ring was unmade. The victorious
armies of the Last Alliance cast down the tower of Barad-dûr and all its fortifications, but they could not remove or impair its foundations.
This is much akin to Sauron’s physical being. He was disembodied twice near the end of the
Second Age: once in the Downfall of
Númenor, and again when
Isildur cut the One Ring from his hand. Yet because the Ring continued to exist, Sauron could slowly gather his strength and take a new physical form (
hröa).
Only two things could disrupt this. The first was the physical destruction of the Ring, as transpired when
Gollum fell into the Crack of Doom with it: Sauron’s power was forever dispersed, he lost his physical form and any hope of ever becoming anything more than “a mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in
the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape;” and the foundations of Barad-dûr were undone, so that its “[t]owers fell and
mountains slid; [its]
walls crumbled and melted, crashing down.”
The other was that another creature mastered the Ring. Galadriel believed she could, but with considerable effort, overcame the temptation to accept it when offered. Tolkien says that if Galadriel could master then Ring, then
Elrond could also. But Tolkien cautions that, “It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond’s words at the Council. Galadriel’s rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve.” (
Letter 246; recall also
Sam’s vision of “Samwise the Strong” causing
Gorgoroth to blossom into a garden.)
Then Tolkien considers what might happen had
Gandalf mastered the One Ring, even to the point of facing Sauron and keeping it for himself. “It would be a delicate balance. On one side the true allegiance of the Ring to Sauron; on the other superior strength because Sauron was not actually in possession… If Gandalf proved the victor, the result would have been for Sauron the same as the destruction of the Ring: for him it would have been destroyed, taken from him for ever. But the Ring and all its works would have endured. It would have been
the master in the end.” (
Ibid.) Gandalf understood this from the beginning of
The Lord of the Rings, as evidenced in his dramatic rejection of the Ring when
Frodo begged him to take it.
