[Dain]

I'm not sure the ring has stamina, really. And I don't see it as being controlling in a way that it could have made Gollum leave the mountain, but it could get lost in the hopes of leaving the mountain itself, and draw Bilbo and his groping fingers right to itself. I think what I meant was sort of that it would have tried to glow really really brightly and beautifully and temptingly (figuratively) when the unfortunate pair found it because it wanted to be found and this was it's first and last chance for a while, besides the nassty fishes.

I think the strength of the ring depends mostly on whether Sauron is back and looking for it, eh? I mean, that's why it left Gollum, anyway. But then, Sauron was kicked out of Dol Goldur and the ring went back to low-power standby for a while, and was also luckily in the hands of some rather innocent, simple, unknowing and downright good folk, so it was thwarted for years. I forget what the real timings were like (film confusion, ack!), but if anybody had been using it when Sauron was really getting going in Mordor again, I bet it would have exerted a stronger corrupting influence and/or found someway to lose itself. I don't think it could have made Bilbo march to Mordor, but Bag End might have turned into a little Gollum-cave... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] Does the timing work at all? When did Bilbo surrender the ring and how strong was Sauron then compared to the long years when he had it?

[ February 17, 2003: Message edited by: Dain ]