Current Events > why didn't frodo just fling the one ring into the cold dark void of space?

(+) Yeah! (+)

is it that he could not fund a space program?

the eagles should've just taken him 100 miles into the sky

I bet Gandalf could have gotten it up there. Can nazghuls fly into space?

couldn't they just bury it, like 20 feet underground?

i mean for real who tf is gonna find it?

throw it in the ocean?

He should have just eaten it, hobbits can digest anything.

Robot2600 posted...

couldn't they just bury it, like 20 feet underground?

i mean for real who tf is gonna find it?

throw it in the ocean?

That was all suggested at the Council of Elrond. Gandalf said that lands change, as do bodies of water, and the ring would eventually make its way back.

Also, there were probably creatures in the ocean in league with Sauron, similar to that creature just outside the doors of Moria.

Why didn't a Hobbit just crawl into Sauron's butt?

__aCEr__ posted...

Why didn't a Hobbit just crawl into Sauron's butt?

Kanye called Kim and she said is wasnt possible.

Because there's no "space" on Middle Earth. It's a firmament where you dump your excess silmarils and probably some angels-by-another-name hang out there.

what if joey from friends was at the Council of Elrond and he just eats the ring?

Better yet, why didn't he just keep the ring and flick Mordor into the cold dark void of space?

Gandalf should have just wizard'd himself a tunnel from afar to a magma chamber beneath Mount Doom.

He was scared Thanos would eventually find it.

what if they made 10,000,000 regular gold rings and then just sort of mixed the one ring in somewhere.

Robot2600 posted...

what if they made 10,000,000 regular gold rings and then just sort of mixed the one ring in somewhere.

better yet, make 10,000,000 one rings, then when everyone has one sauron will think it's dumb and won't want it anymore.

That wouldn't have destroyed it. Sauron would remain alive and likely takeover Middle Earth as the elves all retreat east

Destruction was the only way to win.

They should have thrown it into a different volcano.

Prototypic posted...

They should have thrown it into a different volcano.

Technically it has to be the "fires of Mount Doom" but that magma chamber has to run deep. Surely a fucking wizard and some dwarves could have found a way to tunnel it down there unsuspected.

Frodo didnt fling the One Ring into space for a few good reasonsboth practical and story-related:

1. Middle-earth doesn't have space travel: Tolkiens world is a mythic, pre-industrial setting. No rockets, no satellites, no Elon Musk. The concept of "space" wouldnt even exist in the way we think of it. So launching anything into orbit was completely out of the question.
2. The Ring is drawn to Mount Doom: The only way to destroy the Ring is in the fires where it was forgedMount Doom. The Ring is almost indestructible otherwise. Throwing it into the ocean, burying it, or flinging it into the sky wouldnt work. It would just corrupt whoever found it next.
3. The Ring corrupts its bearer: Even if they could theoretically launch the Ring into space, the Ring corrupts anyone who holds it. It would probably convince them to keep it, not throw it awayjust like it did with Frodo at the end. You cant trust anyone with it, not even the most noble.
4. It would make for a terrible story: Frodo gets the Ring, Gandalf invents a rocket, they launch it, the end. Not exactly the epic journey of sacrifice and inner struggle that The Lord of the Rings is built on.

In short, the Ring couldnt be flung into space because physics, technology, and the story's own internal logic wouldnt allow it. And also because Sauron probably didnt plan for aerospace.

Hobbiton's space program is just a giant slingshot that breaks half the time.

Why didn't Gandalf just conjure a lava golem with features identical to Mount Doom's geology and melt it in the Shire?

lilORANG posted...

That wouldn't have destroyed it. Sauron would remain alive and likely takeover Middle Earth as the elves all retreat east

Destruction was the only way to win.

IIRC this was explicitly considered in the Council of Elrond. If the Ring were hidden or lost forever, Sauron would certainly win. In a sense the Ring was a horcrux long before Harry Potter.

An alien would have found it, become mind fucked by Sauron, then hand deliver it to him.

MysteryMan923 posted...

The Ring corrupts its bearer: Even if they could theoretically launch the Ring into space, the Ring corrupts anyone who holds it. It would probably convince them to keep it, not throw it awayjust like it did with Frodo at the end. You cant trust anyone with it, not even the most noble.

Except Sam. I think it gets glossed over in the movies but I believe in the book, Sam has a moment where he is holding it and the ring puts temptations in his head. And Sam is like "why would I need those things?" I think it tries to show him becoming the greatest Gardner in the Shire. But Sam doesn't really care

Zikten posted...

Except Sam. I think it gets glossed over in the movies but I believe in the book, Sam has a moment where he is holding it and the ring puts temptations in his head. And Sam is like "why would I need those things?" I think it tries to show him becoming the greatest Gardner in the Shire. But Sam doesn't really care

If Sam kept it long enough, it would have gotten him. Frodo only fell to the Ring after a long hard journey and struggle with the ring.

In the lore, only Tom Bombadil is immune.

Prototypic posted...

They should have thrown it into a different volcano.

I think my knowledge of Middle earth is pretty good. I don't remember any volcanoes other than Mt Doom. I then remembered that. The world stays static through all the ages except What the Valar do to it. So if there is no natural processes like Earth does. Why is there a Mt Doom

Tbh, I don't understand how making the ring made Sauron so powerful. It just gave him a weak point to exploit.

if i remember correctly, it was the satisfaction of making something with his own two hands that gave Sauron the power.

mercurydude posted...

That was all suggested at the Council of Elrond. Gandalf said that lands change, as do bodies of water, and the ring would eventually make its way back.

Also, there were probably creatures in the ocean in league with Sauron, similar to that creature just outside the doors of Moria.

More importantly, it would mean Sauron wins and conquers everything. The whole reason they did something as desperate as they did was the point was made over and over, the victory of the Last Alliance could not be repeated. While they might win a few battles, winning a war with Sauron was no longer possible. Hiding the Ring beyond his reach, without destroying it, would not change that.

St0rmFury posted...

Tbh, I don't understand how making the ring made Sauron so powerful. It just gave him a weak point to exploit.

The intention of making the Ring was to control the other rings. Sauron was already very powerful from the start, as one of the Maiar (think something like an angel).

But to control the Rings he had to put a lot of his natural power into the Ring. That was why destroying it 'ended' him (Maiar are naturally spirits that take temporary bodies, so saying one was 'killed' is a little awkward, but with the Ring's destruction Sauron was weakened to the point of being a harmless spirit who could never again form a body or interact with the world).

Robot2600 posted...

what if joey from friends was at the Council of Elrond and he just eats the ring?

Now picturing that scene between Arwen and Aragorn where theyre lovingly speaking Elvish, but with Aragorn replaced by Joey trying to speak French (+ ow you doin).

suchiuomizu posted...

The intention of making the Ring was to control the other rings. Sauron was already very powerful from the start, as one of the Maiar (think something like an angel).

But to control the Rings he had to put a lot of his natural power into the Ring. That was why destroying it 'ended' him (Maiar are naturally spirits that take temporary bodies, so saying one was 'killed' is a little awkward, but with the Ring's destruction Sauron was weakened to the point of being a harmless spirit who could never again form a body or interact with the world).

Does that mean hes not really destroyed? Would he be able to regain what he lost?

Gandalf didn't like what he saw deep underground in that world.

Space, whatever that may actually be in LOTR, is probably FREAKY.

EPR-radar posted...

If Sam kept it long enough, it would have gotten him. Frodo only fell to the Ring after a long hard journey and struggle with the ring.

It's also worth noting that there's a big difference between not falling to the temptations of the ring to just run away with it and horde it and actually summoning up the willpower to destroy it once and for all. The ring's powers of temptation were so strong that Sauron considered such an act to be completely impossible.

It's quite possible that even if Sam had taken possession of the ring late in the journey (because Frodo died or something?) and brought it to Mount Doom, it's quite possible even he would have been unable to bring himself to destroy it.

I know this topic isn't entirely serious, but it is funny how Tolkien seemed to think about people going "well what if they did this or that?" about the ring and coming up with an in world logical explanation as to why that wouldn't work.

darkknight109 posted...

It's also worth noting that there's a big difference between not falling to the temptations of the ring to just run away with it and horde it and actually summoning up the willpower to destroy it once and for all. The ring's powers of temptation were so strong that Sauron considered such an act to be completely impossible.

It's quite possible that even if Sam had taken possession of the ring late in the journey (because Frodo died or something?) and brought it to Mount Doom, it's quite possible even he would have been unable to bring himself to destroy it.

I think it's a given that Sam would not have been able to destroy the ring.

Okay smart guys, how about this:

Sure, we got to drop the ring into the mountain, but

Why don't we hide the ring inside an iron ingot or a horseshoe or a rusty dagger or something like that. It'd be like baking a ring into a cake--but it wouldn't be so easy to just put the ring on. And then if they were captured, it wouldn't be obvious that they had the ring.

So yea! Why didn't they do that! Cause they ain't as smart as me I guess!

vycebrand2 posted...

Does that mean hes not really destroyed? Would he be able to regain what he lost?

This is what Gandalf says about that at the Council of Elrond:

"Concerning this thing, my lords, you now all know enough for the understanding of our plight, and of Sauron's. If he regains it, your valour is vain, and his victory will be swift and complete: so complete that none can foresee the end of it while this world lasts. If it is destroyed, then he will fall; and his fall will be so low that none can foresee his arising ever again. For he will lose the best part of the strength that was native to him in his beginning, and all that was made or begun with that power will crumble, and he will be maimed for ever, becoming a mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape. And so a great evil of this world will be removed."

Why did they not simply give Sauron the ring? Perhaps it would appease him and he would be a chill guy to the people who gave him the power.

Why did Sauron make the ring a weakness in the first place? Why not just make a slightly-less-powerful ring that wouldn't be a total weakspot?

Why didn't Sauron make it a Prince Albert piercing instead?

OniLink5000 posted...

better yet, make 10,000,000 one rings, then when everyone has one sauron will think it's dumb and won't want it anymore.

This post got me good, thanks.

Robot2600 posted...

Why did Sauron make the ring a weakness in the first place? Why not just make a slightly-less-powerful ring that wouldn't be a total weakspot?

Because he had no idea there was any chance he would lose it. Even after he lost it, the Fellowship succeeded largely because he could not image anyone even trying to destroy the Ring. Considering its corruptive power, that was a reasonable assumption. He was more worried about being replaced as the Dark Lord, someone powerful enough, managing to successfully use the Ring against him. That was what he wanted to prevent with how he tried to get it back.

Something I thought. Would it have been possible to destroy Sauron's tower, theoretically? If someone had enough destructive force and they ignored the ring and went after Sauron himself, what happens?

Well Saurman, Sauron, Gandalf, Radagast and the blue wizards are all Maia. A direct approach might have worked previous to making of the rings. To destroy him utterly him you have to destroy the ring too. He is a Lich and the ring is his "phylactery"

Why didn't Gandalf just unplug the eye tower

Anony1125 posted...

Why did they not simply give Sauron the ring? Perhaps it would appease him and he would be a chill guy to the people who gave him the power.

tbh would it have really been that bad?

vycebrand2 posted...

Well Saurman, Sauron, Gandalf, Radagast and the blue wizards are all Maia. A direct approach might have worked previous to making of the rings. To destroy him utterly him you have to destroy the ring too. He is a Lich and the ring is his "phylactery"

sure, but how much range does a phylactery have? I'd be surprised it works if it is light years away.

Zikten posted...

Something I thought. Would it have been possible to destroy Sauron's tower, theoretically? If someone had enough destructive force and they ignored the ring and went after Sauron himself, what happens?

The Last Alliance did that at the end of the Second Age. Except for the foundations, which they could not destroy, because they were made with the power of the Ring. Sauron rebuilt it when he eventually returned. When the Ring was destroyed, like I quoted above, everything made with its power was destroyed and the tower fell again, this time due to the foundations collapsing.

The problem with doing that at the end of the Third Age, is again, Sauron could no longer be defeated in war, so there was no way to get enough force to Barad-dur. The Last Alliance did it after they won.

Why didn't the ring just roll to Sauron?

Foppe posted...

Why didn't the ring just roll to Sauron?

It would have, if it could have.