Posted: July 21, 2000 at 03:57:35: by Mordomin
: The Ring ensnared would be owners by showing them what they could do with it. Boromir was indeed an honorable and honest man, but he was desperate to save Gondor. The Ring deceived him into thinking that he could use it to that end. At the end of FOTR, just before he attempts to take the Ring, Boromir describes the glorious victories that he could have with the Ring on his finger. Yet the most compelling argument that he is not fully in control of himself occurs just after Frodo evades him. Paraphrasing:: Boromir fell to the ground and wept. "What have I said? What have I done? Frodo! A madness came upon me, but it has passed." : The Ring attacked him through his pride, and his love for Gondor. As Faramir stated in TT "Alas for Boromir! It was too sore a trial" : Similarly, Gandalf and Galadriel were both tempted by the Ring. In "Shadow of the Past," Gandalf refuses to take the Ring from Frodo, saying something along the lines of "Tempt me not, I will have need of such strength." Galadriel also refuses the Ring, although she admits that she had been tempted to take it by fear or force. : Gandalf also told Denethor that even if the Ring were buried beneath the roots of Mindoullin, still it would eat at his mind. : This post rambles and jumps about, but the overall idea is that the Ring definitely affected people other than the possessor. You may well be right, but... What did the Ring show Gollum? What glorious vision did it give him? That he could become a social outcast, living in a black cave under the mountains eating raw fish? I think that the idea of the Ring corrupting people was more a comment about 'human nature', something akin to "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
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