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Old 12-04-2005, 01:06 PM   #9
Boromir88
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Quote:
when isuldur cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron after the war of the Last Alliance he din't want to destroy the ring because
he thought that they would be more powerfull with the ring and he could use the power of the ring against the dark powers of the middle earth.
Actually, Isildur didn't want to use the Ring. Tolkien took this belief from history called "weregild" this concept is often missed. And the statement Elrond gives us in The Council of Elrond, as to what Isildur proclaimed:
Quote:
'This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother'
Weregild is an idea that originates in Arabia and Scandanavia. Basically, it says that as a matter of family honor, the murderer of your family member(s) had to pay "weregild." In this case Sauron had killed Elendil, and Anarion (though he was killed by a rock from Barad-dur) and Isildur took the Ring as Sauron's "weregild."

In German and Old English "weregild" was established by someone's rank. So, someone as high ranking as Elendil, Isildur would be able to take something of extreme value from Sauron's. And Sauron's most precious possession was the Ring.

Anyway, Isildur had taken the Ring and claimed that since Sauron murdered his father and brother, the ring will serve as a "weregild," for his actions. Which again goes way back in history.

So, with that cleared up, onto the actual question I guess. I don't think it's out of the question that a human (such as Aragorn) could have use the Ring to have armies flock to his banner and defeat Sauron. This was Boromir's aspirations, but whether it was the Ring filling his head with ludicrous ideas or not, who knows:
Quote:
"What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do? Or if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!"~Boromir: The Breaking of the Fellowship
So, I think a human could use the ring to summon a big enough army to his "side" to drive off Mordor and defeat Sauron. However, as Tolkien tells us in Letter 246, no mortal (not even Aragorn) could hope of using the Ring against Sauron, one-on-one. And the only person who may be expected to do so successfully would be Gandalf.

We also know that Galadriel and Elrond desired the Ring to gather an army to their banner and overthrow Sauron (though they were able to resist). So, I think this could be the same case if a mortal decides to take the Ring.
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