Why didn't they bring the Ring to Valinor?

[BalrogRingDestroyer]

Technically the Grey Havens were closer than Rivendale. Assuming that they could have given the Black Riders the slip, though I think the chances of them being caught are a bit higher, unless aided by a bunch of Elves going West, and taken the Ring across the ocean to where Sauron couldn't go. Granted, mortals aren't supposed to go to Valinor and often get punished if they do (like that one dude who interceded for the Elves and everyone else and got the Valar to listen, but basically got made into a constellation.) Anyway, if they were able to get into Valinor, couldn't Aule, who taught Sauron his craft in the first place, just smash the Ring out of existence with his hammer, without even needing Mt. Doom? I mean, a guy who can make dwarves can certainly unmake the One Ring.

I can see why the "just throw it into the sea" option didn't work (though I am a bit confused on how it didn't end up there when Numenor was sunk, unless Sauron didn't have his Ring with him, though I can't see why he'd have faced off against Numenor without it.) If they did, even if Sauron never found it and some evil creature didn't return it to him, it would basically tether Sauron to Arda like a Horcrux and he'd be able to win the war, sooner or later, even without it simply by getting the best of Gondor. And I'm sure Gandalf knew this.

However, what I'm curious about is what made Gandalf so certain that the Valar would NOT take the Ring or destroy it, even if they could somehow bring it to Valinor. And I think it's as unlikely that Sauron would suspect that they'd take the Ring to Valinor to destroy it, especially given how hard it might be to get there, as he would suspect that they'd take the Ring to Mt. Doom to destroy it, so they'd also have Sauron confused on their motives for a bit, though perhaps heading West with it might be a giveaway to Sauron and they feared he'd try and blockade the path, but I think that, unlike how easy it'd be to block Mt. Doom, he'd have a job getting through Gondor, Elrond, the Boernings, the Rangers, Bree, and the Shire, not to mention Rohan (I think the presence of Sauron's armies coming in person would have stirred Theodoen to action, Wormtongue or not.)

I do, of course, think that once they went to Rivendale, managing to get back through the Shire would be a lot harder than if they'd set out West to begin with, but, on the other hand, even then, with the Ring Wraiths all dehorsed and sent back in shame to Mordor, the coast was a lot clear to get back even then. Actually, now that I think of it, going back would also make more sense from a tactical move. Not only was there few enemies (maybe Bill Ferney and Lotho and maybe, if he got in the way, Saruman) barring the way to the Grey Havens, but also Sauron would, as Gandalf even explains, expect someone to bring the Ring, likely to Gondor, to use against him, and so he'd be sending his forces that way. (I do actually think that he was a bit confused with the Palantir thing and feared Saruman had the Ring and that bought the West a bit more time.) But at any rate, Frodo and Sam actually did run into the army, but thankfully they weren't really paying attention around Minas Morgal to notice the three hobbits lurking around, though it was a very near miss. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the army would still have been lurking around there, had not Aragorn gone and used the Palantir, giving Sauron the false impressed that Aragorn, the heir of Isildur, had the Ring, so he sent his armies to Gondor before he'd planned to.

 

[Ent]

Aulë is vastly more powerful than Sauron

Just as a note and not to detract from the thread, we should remember Tolkien wrote some of the Maiar were only just a little less powerful than the Valar.

And as Tolkien said, the Númenóreans 'could have wrought ruin in Valinor itself." Men were able to wound Melkor in battle as well.

Ainulindalë: “The Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as themselves."

Morgoth feared the Maia Arien - even before his power was reduced. Eönwë, in terms of military might, was 'surpassed by none in Arda." And Morgoth fled from Tulkas.

Sauron would not face the Númenóreans in battle.
Saruman dared not directly face the Ents, or men.
Both built large armies to 'take care of business' for them, staying behind in their protected digs. And in the end, the Maia Saruman was done in by Grima, a mere lesser human.

We have a tendency to give far too much weight to the extent of the differential in power between Valar, Maiar, Elf and Human in Eru's creation.

We would do well to sit back a bit and re-think what powers Eru actually gave to his creation, WHY he gave them, what that implies about the extents and limitations of the 'power' Eru granted (and why we think so), the intermingling of Valar, Maiar, Elves and Men and what that means about their similarities rather than their differences, etc.

A good deal will make much more sense if we take Tolkien's view of his creation rather than the popular view (strongly supported and increased by growth of media, cinema, internet etc.) created (errantly) through the decades with regard to it all.

(There is a great deal more on this to come, but Ent won't share it here. Not yet.)

 

[MightyMartian]

The council of Elrond explains it pretty well in my opinion

It's also mentioned in the Council that getting the Ring to the Havens at all was no sure bet.