Give the Ring back to poor old Gollum

[TrackerOrc]

So if Elrond and Co are all supposed to be so clever, why not have the Quest be just that - find Gollum, give him the Ring back and escort him back to his nice cool cave under the Mountains. Maybe they could 'accidentally' leave him a member of the Fellowship or two for the nutrition (I'm looking at you, cross rude hobbit).
He's looked after it for centuries with only the odd Orc as collateral damage (regrettable, but understandable really), and it seems that the trouble only really started when the Thief Baggins arrived on the scene.
As long as everyone keeps quiet about the whole thing I reckon Middle Earth would have been a much more relaxed place overall!

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

Sauron would have eventually overrun everything, if the Ring was still in existence. Even if it was not in Sauron's direct possession.
Gondor would not have held out forever. Sauron had the greater military might. I expect places like Rivendell and Lothlórien would remain as 'safe islands' for a while, but they would not have the might to truly resist Sauron, or protect the lands outside.

With Sauron in complete control, he would then more easily be able to search the lands for his missing Ring. I'm afraid Gollum would not last very long once he was discovered.

The destruction of the Ring was the only way to defeat Sauron, as it made him too weak to ever again take physical form or shape things in the world to his design.

 

[TrackerOrc]

Sauron would have eventually overrun everything, if the Ring was still in existence. Even if it was not in Sauron's direct possession.
Gondor would not have held out forever. Sauron had the greater military might. I expect places like Rivendell and Lothlórien would remain as 'safe islands' for a while, but they would not have the might to truly resist Sauron, or protect the lands outside.

With Sauron in complete control, he would then more easily be able to search the lands for his missing Ring. I'm afraid Gollum would not last very long once he was discovered.

The destruction of the Ring was the only way to defeat Sauron, as it made him too weak to ever again take physical form or shape things in the world to his design.

Well Elrond and Co managed a fair few victories over Sauron (and Saruman) in the canon, and they had no idea where the Ring was at any given moment.
Just think of the headaches they could cause Sauron and Friends with the full knowledge that the Ring was tucked away safe and sound with good old Gollum; Aragorn could reveal his lineage, Saruman could be sidelined as per the book - and would Sauron ever dream that the poor old creature he had (possibly) tortured in Mordor was in possession of the Ring again?
I mean, I'm not saying there wouldn't be the odd unpleasantness, but there's quite a lot of that happening anyway, so why not give it a shot?

 

[Ent]

why not give it a shot?

It's certainly worthy of consideration. But the text doesn't indicate it was even a glimmer of a thought.

One of the consistent themes spoken to is "the ring has moved on." "the ring has grown." Mentioned particularly at Bilbo's ernest if misguided offering to take the ring back and go to Mordor, to see what he'd started to its end.

Giving the ring back to Gollum would at best have been a delaying tactic - something I believe is also mentioned with regard to some other suggestion made somewhere. The ring would ultimately find its way back into the affairs of the world again. (Even if Gollum overcame the 'delusions of grandeur' it seems he may have begun to court at one point. He has even begun to think he might be able to make Sauron pay, for the way he treated him.)

So why not give it a shot?
In my thinking, the Council was right. A permanent solution needed to be found.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

From Letter 246, Sauron would have won eventually regardless of whether he found the Ring or not, as long as it wasn't destroyed.

“In any case, Ring or no Ring, all the ‘powers’ concerned were in no position to face Sauron directly in open war. Only by destroying the Ring could they defeat him.”

 

[Ent]

Indeed. We hear it in Gandalf's words.
"I am Gandalf. Gandalf the White. But Black is mightier still."

There's a brief thread on it here:

"https://thetolkien.forum/threads/black-is-mightier-still.30430/

 

[Eldacar]

Giving the ring back to Gollum would at best have been a delaying tactic

And arguably a somewhat permanent delaying tactic at that. Gollum would probably try to evade the council at all costs and keep his newly regained precious. So even if the Council would change its mind, they would first have to get a hold of Gollum in a land under firm control of the dark tower. Giving Gollum the Ring is purposefully backing yourself in a corner from which you can not escape.

 

[Ent]

even if the Council would change its mind,

My feeling is it would not be the Council Gollum would need to worry about. It would be Sauron.
By this time Sauron knows the ring still exists, and "his whole thought is bent on finding it."

And Sauron has had access to Gollum, knows of him, and how and where he was hidden before. Thus, Sauron would be bent on such things in locating Gollum and it, once he came to know the ring was back in Gollum's possession.

(Which we must conclude he eventually would - his 9 Ringwraiths being totally bent on locating and prying information from anyone and everyone possible.) Sauron's Orc alliances are more than able to scout out the deepest dungeons and lairs of the land - far more easily than the free peoples could. It is their haven. They just didn't know to be looking for Gollum all those years before.

So I think while it may seem a 'somewhat permanent' solution, the length of that 'permanancy' is questionable... possibly only short years... and still represents just a delaying tactic.

At the end of the day, it isn't the ring they need to destroy, but Sauron himself.
Throwing the ring into Mt. Doom is not done to destroy the ring. It's done to destroy Sauron.

The ring is just the symbol of his power. Same as his armies, and all his other weapons of war.
One must cut off the head, to kill the whole.
The ring is not the whole. it only 'contains much/most of his power' since he allowed it to pass into the ring.
The head still needs to be destroyed - the ring is just the only weapon able to do so.

The council chose wisely.

 

[TrackerOrc]

Well this rather light-hearted comment seems to have taken off at an unexpected angle!

It was basically me in my happy place - Gollum splashing about in his nice little lake, Tracker Orc down south somewhere looking after his Oliphaunt and planning some (nearly) harmless mayhem - but there is actually a seed of a serious idea here.

We seem to be giving Sauron a lot of say in all this, but wouldn't he actually be facing off to some serious opposition as well; granted, he is extremely powerful with a lot of allies, but the powers facing him aren't entirely negligible - as shown by the events in the book. Thranduil, Lothlorien, the Dwarves and Men of Dale, Aragorn and Gandalf (who hasn't had that nasty Balrog incident), Gondor (including Boromir), Rohan, the Rangers, the awakened Ents - these are all powers to be reckoned with, and who knows what plans of Sauron's could come unstuck?