Quote:
|
I don't know if this means they could actually have resisted the one's other effects (I doubt it), but apparently they wouldn't have been as physically affected. Probably has something to do with being Children of Aule instead of/(as well as) Illuvatar.
|
I think a case can be made in favor of the Dwarves' ability to resist being ensnared by the Ring.
Here's what I found in
The Letters of JRR Tolkien:
#156--"They are ...a variety of incarnate rational creature."
#153 --"...orcs -- who are fundamentally a race of 'rational incarnate' creatures, though horribly corrupted ..."
From
The Silmarillion, "The Rings of Power and the Third Age": "The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows. They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overpowering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts, of which evil enough after came to the profit of Sauron."
From Duriez: " ... designed by Aule to resist the evils of Morgoth ... though proud, Dwarves resisted evil. Like their shaper, Aule, dwarves were drawn to the substance of the earth ... A great temptation for them was possession."
(I chose a secondary source for that excerpt because he summed up 2-3 other primary sources more succinctly and without personal interpretation.)
Taking the
Letters excerpts, we can infer that Tolkien considers both dwarves and orcs to be "rational" {cause & effect experience governs their thinking & feeling--if I remember & have interpreted correctly), the orcs went one way--insanity and perversion--while darves remained sane. From the current posts, we know that Dwarves were inextricably bound to the earth made by Aule, then given life by Iluvatar. This would have given them a balance and grounding that would act as a buffer between them and Evil.
The excerpt from
The Silmarillion says that, although Dwarves were snared by lust to possess gold, they were able to resist being snared by Sauron. If memory serves, there is a fuller passage than the two I found citing Thrain II's capture and torment, where it is said that Thrain withstood the torments of Dol Guldur and died without surrendering.
The last excerpt establishes the fact that Dwarves were made to resist evil. In fact, Dwarves were made from the desire for Love--Aule, a Valar & a staunch and steadfast foe of Morgoth, made Dwarves so that he could love "something other than" himself and teach to love the creations of Iluvatar. While they succumbed to greed for gold, they were fiercely independent in ths greed like everything else about them.
Recalling Thorin, he was a pain in the neck and endangered everything and everyone around him because of his single, bloody mindedness about the Arkenstone, but I just can't see him being seduced by the Ring by virtue of the same bloody mindedness which typified Dwarves at their worst.
I will end here. The research took some time, it is late and I wish to take in the little bit of moonlight on the snow that's starting to gleam in the freezing air.
Peace ... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]