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Originally Posted by Gorthaur the Cruel
But why would you expect Sauron, a maia, to turn into a wraith when the rings of power have different effects on specific races (e.g. dwarves not having the same reaction as men)? I did not argue for the Nine & the Seven's life-lengthening qualities, but for their virtue to enhance a bearer's natural powers, which was something Sauron greatly needed (after his severe reduction sans the One). And was this not his lore to begin with? I highly doubt he would become a thrall by his own creation (save maybe the One). Re-embodiment takes power and time. If his weakened state can gain some enhancement from the stolen three of the Seven and Nine, I don't see anything strange about that.
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Do the Seven and the Nine enhance the wearer's powers? I'm not at all clear that they do. Each of the Nazgūl were powerful in their own right before they got hold of a Ring.
In any case, I was not saying that Sauron would have become a wraith if he'd used the Seven and Nine. Obviously not, since the One had no such effect. My question was whether they'd be of any use to Sauron in terms of regenerating, since wraithifying was the intended effect of the Seven and Nine on Men--more so, I dare say, than giving them power: power was merely to be a lure for enslaving the wearer to Sauron's will.
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Originally Posted by Gorthaur the Cruel
But those rings were tainted. They were evil and worked towards evil even if Sauron does not wear the One. The Nine & Seven were not unsullied like the Three, for Sauron participated in their creation. Would it not be more profitable if the opposite were to occur: To have the Seven & the Nine rings scattered (regardless if the One is not recovered) and wreak havoc on their own?
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If the Seven and the Nine merely weaken people to be dominated by evil, then yes. In such a case, however, then Sauron would not have wanted to recover them at all, and certainly not to help him regenerate. If, however, the Rings have a power about them do something "positive" (by which I certainly do not mean "good"), then they could be used as a force against him.