Thank you for your very kind welcomes and for your replies. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
For the life of me, I won't understand why it is that I didn't perceive how much SPECULATION is required to answer some of my points. We're not aware of so many things (whilst at the same time being given such extensive and exhaustive information about others) that it's almost annoying that Tolkien didn't give enough information on what (to me) is the most important aspect of the LoTR; namely, the nature of the Ring in relation to Sauron.
Quote:
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"As I understand it, Sauron imbued the One Ring with part of his own spirit, so that it became an extension of him."
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I agree with this point to an extent, and I believe it is the most important in this matter. On the one hand, the Ring showed, probably above all else, the exact same will-to-dominate that Sauron possessed. On the other, it could be argued that this will could be translated as "evil"; and the Ring was merely imbued with EVIL as opposed to Saurons actual PERSONALITY; insofar as the two can be seperated, of course.
Where my agreement ends is simply in the matter of Sauron extending HIMSELF or his SPIRIT or part of it into the Ring. Of course, this leads one to questions one isn't adequetly armed by Tolkien to attack. But, even taking much for granted, this simply appears unnecessary. Further, if the Ring possesses Sauron's spirit, it would be (in my opinion) utterly impossible for it to be lost from him; a problem that would have no answer.
But how did the Ring's destruction directly lead to Sauron's doom, then?
Assuming we trade the "spirit" argument for the "knowledge-of-the-ring's-whereabouts" point, I think the only possible answer lies in topics of his ability to take form and HOW he's surviving in Middle-earth.
There are other's who know more about this than I.
But it might be that the Ring, beyond being his tool for domination, was his foothold into that particular realm of existance (Middle-earth); and once it was destroyed, he had no other link to it.
I've read Tolkien mention the fact that, after the second age, Sauron was "sleeping"; I've read him use similar terminology for death. I've read him speak of Morgoth's Balrog of Moria in similar terms. All-in-all, it implies "being awakened" again.
So was the Ring's malice and evil (that Sauron gave it) the force that attracted Sauron's spirit back to Middle-earth and that "woke" him?
I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop there, as I am finding questions only reading will answer; perhaps someone can fill in some holes?
P.S. This could be another topic in itself, but take the chief Nazgul's "death" into consideration: How is it that a wraith was cut from Middle-earth by the stab of a sword? I really don't understand the cutting of corners in these matters after so much energy was spent in building up a three-dimensional world with its own, complicated history. And yet, do Sauron's demise and the way in which his Witch-king was destroyed relate in some way? Was it truly so simple to remove such powers?
[ May 10, 2003: Message edited by: AstraeusPhoebus ]