Posted: April 03, 2000 at 01:55:08: by Bacchus
: No way Jose.
: Come on, the question was "Would the machines work without this link", and the question under your analogy should be "NO", since they stopped workin after the master machine died.
: But in reality (Tolkien Reality), the Three did function without any "link": Anyway, the lore was discovered by Sauron, but not created by him. In fact, you can look at the rings' power as a rule of physics. If Sauron discovered gravity, but it would hardly stop working if he died. The power of the 3 were not bound to Sauron, save the fact that he helped cultivate some of the knowledge IN PART. That knowledge would hardly stop functioning just because he dies. It's like saying that Gravity should have died with Newton. : Bollocks, sheer Bollocks
: =) : Gandalf OK, I've found a direct reference on the subject. The following is from Letter 181: "But the Elvish weakness is in these terms naturally to regret the past, and to become unwilling to face change.... Hence they fell in a measure to Sauron's deceits: they desired some 'power' over things as they are (which is quite distinct from art), to make their particular will to preservation effective: to arrest change, and always keep thingh fresh and fair. The 'Three Rings' were 'unsullied', because this object was in a limited way good, it included the healing of the real damages of malice, as well as the mere arrest of change; and the Elves did not desire to dominate other wills, nor to usurp all the world to their particular pleasure. But with the downfall of 'Power' their little efforts at preserving the past fell to bits. There was nothing more in Middle Earth for them, but weariness." (page 236)
And this comes from Letter 144
"Hence the making of the Rings; for the Three Rings were precisely endowed with the power of preservation, not of birth. Though unsullied, because they were not made by Sauron, nor touched by him, they were nonetheless partly products of his instruction, and ultimately under the control of the One. Thus, as you will see, when the One goes, the last defenders of High-elven lore and beauty are shorn of power to hold back time, and depart." (page 177)
Tolkien clearly viewed the failure of the Three to be an unavoidable consequance of the destruction of the One. In a larger context, the failure is essential to the concept of sacrificing one's personal well-being for the greater good. The tragic irony is that the only way that the Elves can avoid a larger calamity is to sacrifice their happiness in Middle Earth, the same way Frodo had to sacrifice his ability to live in the Shire so that others could enjoy it.
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