Now that you say it, I don’t remember the book ever really getting into what effects it might have on other races. All we know is it makes hobbits invisible, and that it had no effect whatsoever on Tom Bombadil. No one else got a chance to try it on if memory serves me correctly (the elves refused, the humans weren’t allowed, and the orcs never got near enough).
It’s been many years since I’ve read it however, so I’m happy to be corrected.
I’ve never read anything beyond the Hobbit, but I believe the Silmarillion goes in to more detail on how the ring would affect other races should they wear it. I particularly recall someone mentioning how the ring would affect gandalf, but again this is all secondhand knowledge.
Wearing the One Ring does make others invisible because one thing it does is take you into the unseen world (where the wraiths are visible and not just cloaked) and basically most people think you’d have to have the willpower and wear the ring for long enough to drag yourself back into being seen.
Sauron wore it in the great battle, and he was by all accounts visible, otherwise how could Isildor cut the finger off? That would be a very lucky swing if Sauron was invisible.
No, I think its power depends on the wearer. Frodo didn’t want to be seen, so it made him invisible to everyone but Sauron, who understands its power.
All three are half-lings, and all three wanted to hide the ring instead of use it to rule, so it makes sense it would have a similar impact on all three of them.
Yes, but without a control group we cannot really rule out whether this is race thing or a personality thing.
For instance, what effect would it have had on Boromir and Aragorn? How about Gimli? It’s possible it would have made both of the former stronger, for instance, and made Gimli incredibly rich, because that’s what their races desired. We don’t really know, do we?
Yup, all we know is that there’s some connection to the shadow world (“and in the darkness bind them”) and other rings of power, we don’t know the specific impact it would have on each individual or race.
The ring doesn’t as much make you invisible as it transports you into the shadow realm. Sauron, however existed in both the real world and the shadow realm, so there was no transporting needing to happen there.
The ring’s primary power is control over the other rings, and it seems like the shadow realm is part of how that works (“…and in the darkness bind them”). I’m guessing Frodo is overwhelmed by the power of the ring and is taken to the shadow realm, whereas Sauron has more control and can stay in the real world.
Other races may have different effects. The elves have some amount of magical ability, so maybe they can stay in the real world too. Maybe the dwarves would concoct some device to block part of the ring’s power to stay in the real world. We don’t know, the only examples we have are halflings and Sauron.
I thought it just exaggerated whatever traits your race naturally has. Hobbits are sneaky -> hobbitses go invisible
Now that you say it, I don’t remember the book ever really getting into what effects it might have on other races. All we know is it makes hobbits invisible, and that it had no effect whatsoever on Tom Bombadil. No one else got a chance to try it on if memory serves me correctly (the elves refused, the humans weren’t allowed, and the orcs never got near enough).
It’s been many years since I’ve read it however, so I’m happy to be corrected.
I’ve never read anything beyond the Hobbit, but I believe the Silmarillion goes in to more detail on how the ring would affect other races should they wear it. I particularly recall someone mentioning how the ring would affect gandalf, but again this is all secondhand knowledge.
I have read Silmarillion and don’t remember there being much about the ring. But that may be just that I don’t remember. There’s a lot of it.
Wearing the One Ring does make others invisible because one thing it does is take you into the unseen world (where the wraiths are visible and not just cloaked) and basically most people think you’d have to have the willpower and wear the ring for long enough to drag yourself back into being seen.
Sauron wore it in the great battle, and he was by all accounts visible, otherwise how could Isildor cut the finger off? That would be a very lucky swing if Sauron was invisible.
No, I think its power depends on the wearer. Frodo didn’t want to be seen, so it made him invisible to everyone but Sauron, who understands its power.
It had the same effect on Bilbo and Gollum, though. The idea of its effects being dependent on race cannot be ruled out just yet.
All three are half-lings, and all three wanted to hide the ring instead of use it to rule, so it makes sense it would have a similar impact on all three of them.
Yes, but without a control group we cannot really rule out whether this is race thing or a personality thing.
For instance, what effect would it have had on Boromir and Aragorn? How about Gimli? It’s possible it would have made both of the former stronger, for instance, and made Gimli incredibly rich, because that’s what their races desired. We don’t really know, do we?
Yup, all we know is that there’s some connection to the shadow world (“and in the darkness bind them”) and other rings of power, we don’t know the specific impact it would have on each individual or race.
The ring doesn’t as much make you invisible as it transports you into the shadow realm. Sauron, however existed in both the real world and the shadow realm, so there was no transporting needing to happen there.
The ring’s primary power is control over the other rings, and it seems like the shadow realm is part of how that works (“…and in the darkness bind them”). I’m guessing Frodo is overwhelmed by the power of the ring and is taken to the shadow realm, whereas Sauron has more control and can stay in the real world.
Other races may have different effects. The elves have some amount of magical ability, so maybe they can stay in the real world too. Maybe the dwarves would concoct some device to block part of the ring’s power to stay in the real world. We don’t know, the only examples we have are halflings and Sauron.