The White Council

Re: Smaug and the ring

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : : : : According to Gandalf, no dragon's fire was ever hot enough to melt the One, even if the other Rings might be destroyed so. : : : -Foradan

: : "There is no smith's forge in this Shire that could change it at all. Not even the anvils and the furnaces of the Dwarves could do that. It has been said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough; nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself."

: : Gandalf, FOTR, "The Shadow of the Past"

: : (sorry, I happen to have my copy of The Fellowship handy)

: hehe I got my copies within 4 feet of my computer... 2 feet from my chair. Definetely within arms reach.

: Yeah I was thinking about that very passage... Ancalagon the Black who was probably not hot 'nuff to toast it, and then Smaug, who was most likely less powerful, and just awoke from a nap, could never melt it. But then it makes me wonder... if he toasted Bilbo, and Smaug took the Ring for his own, what would the fate of the world have been? Since the Lords of the West were gonna be massacred at the Morannon, I think Sauron's dominion would have extended across, and eventually, ya think, he would have gottten the ring from Smaug? Maybe in some big trade, or maybe he kills Smaug, or maybe Burgles it. :-) But then again if Smaug toasted Bilbo, he might still have taken vengence upon Esgaroth, and gotten killed. Then when the dwarves found Bilbo's toasty remains, Thorin might have taken the ring, since they knew about it, (Wood Elf Caves) And then Thorin might not have been killed in the Battle of the Five Armies (he might use it then), so then he would have been King under the Mountain... do you think he might have relinquished the ring, or since he had a neck stiffer than any neckbrace could make it, he might not have? Ya think he might have tried to challenge Sauron with it, knowing how foolish he might have become? Who knows...

HEY!! I would havfe given the ring to Gandalf. I only claim my own.

: But hey, what if Smaug learned of the Rings powers? He may have been able to slip it over the tip of a claw... but slipping off his claw (as that tricksy Ring had a habit of doing) would have been no problem... but how bout trying to hit the bare patch of a dragon ye can't see?

: Karl The Konqueror