What if the Ring HAD rolled out to sea?

[Ent]

There's something to remember. The Three remain, yes, but so do the Nine.

I believe somewhere it is said even the 3 that remain lose their power - though Sauron had not 'sullied them' directly.

If the One Ring's destruction destroys not only its own binding power, but the power of Sauron poured into it, surely the nine rings would have no remaining power at all, even if their physical form remained.

The 9 whose lives they had helped prolong would be gone.

What remains is the evil inherent in Arda itself due to Melkor's work, and all the evil sown by Sauron within the peoples.

Evil such as the "Mouth of Sauron" for example - who we know so little about, and have no idea (if I'm not mistaken) what happened to, in/after the destruction at the Black Gate.

But that party had no ring or other 'life sustaining device' we know about either - so there is a finite direct influence the Mouth could apply.

It is the "age of man" - extended lives of all are now in even more rapid decline, and future generations are all doomed to much less than was before.

The "evil that remains" is what has been cooked into "man" himself.

My own fanfic intended to show how that evil worked its way out - all the machinations as Elessar declined and men vied for power, then the happenings of man after his death - ultimately leading to (in essence) what we have today. A bunch of petty squabblers never satisfied with what they have, always seeking more power and control, no rest on any hand at any time for any extehded period of time (because life-spans are now become so short) - all awaiting the "renewal of all things" when "the music is sung aright."

This was, in essence, Tolkien's intent with the whole follow-up after Sauron's irretrievable removal.

Much wickedness left to unfold through the ages - but as the wickedness of Sauron differed from that of Meklor, so the remaining wickedness differs from that of Sauron.

 

[ZehnWaters]

I believe somewhere it is said even the 3 that remain lose their power - though Sauron had not 'sullied them' directly.

If the One Ring's destruction destroys not only its own binding power, but the power of Sauron poured into it, surely the nine rings would have no remaining power at all, even if their physical form remained.

The 9 whose lives they had helped prolong would be gone.

Oh, I was talking about if the Free Peoples managed to kill Sauron a 3rd time but the One Ring endured. The 3 would continue to exist, but so would the 9 (and what remained of the 7).

What remains is the evil inherent in Arda itself due to Melkor's work, and all the evil sown by Sauron within the peoples.

Evil such as the "Mouth of Sauron" for example - who we know so little about, and have no idea (if I'm not mistaken) what happened to, in/after the destruction at the Black Gate.

He apparently lived? It just said he shrunk back before the grandeur of the Captains of the West. He would still have his sorcery, or whatever powers he had. He would make a good new antagonist.

Much wickedness left to unfold through the ages - but as the wickedness of Sauron differed from that of Meklor, so the remaining wickedness differs from that of Sauron.

A valid insight. I only have 2 campaigns set post One Ring:
A conflict with a human wizard in Umbar and the reclamation of Moria by Durin VII.

 

[Ent]

Oh, I was talking about if the Free Peoples managed to kill Sauron a 3rd time but the One Ring endured.

oops.

 

[ZehnWaters]

oops.

No worries. Long conversations get hard to follow.

 

[Ent]

Long conversations get hard to follow.

LOL. At my age, so do short ones.

 

[Elthir]

And THAT is something bad. That's when Elves begin to turn into wights rather than just spirits that've consumed/overcome their bodies.

Is this necessarily so? A text in Morgoth's Ring, at least, speaks of the possibly dangerous Houseless, but these are dead Elves who had refused the Summons of Mandos - rather than the Call of the Sea, as you appeared to be responding to above.

 

[ZehnWaters]

Is this necessarily so? A text in Morgoth's Ring, at least, speaks of the possibly dangerous Houseless, but these are dead Elves who had refused the Summons of Mandos - rather than the Call of the Sea, as you appeared to be responding to above.

Okay, fine. I was conflating the two.