Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordis
I think most of you tend to misunderstand one thing: Sauron couldn't distribute any of the 19 again to create more slaves while he had no Ruling Ring.
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You are absolutely right about this, Gordis, but Sauron was gambling that the One Ring would be his again very soon.
Of course, even with the One Ring Sauron's victory would not necessarily be swift and absolute. He possessed the Ring for many long years in the Second Age without achieving absolute domination ... and as we know he was ultimately overthrown in that era. Naturally the Kingdoms of Elves and Men were far more powerful in the Second Age, but even so Sauron was not all-powerful while possessing the Ring.
Redistributing some of the Rings he has reclaimed probably makes good sense. Even with the Ring it may take him some time to conquer all of Gondor/Rohan/Lorien/Dale/Rivendell etc. In any case it is in his nature now to try to dominate the will of others - although since the Dwarves were not susceptible to the Rings' domination in the past I have to wonder whether the Rings were little more than bait used to extract information from the weak and uncritical.