[radagastly]

Originally posted by Lalwende:

There's that phrase which Gandalf uses though: "to my mind", which suggests to me that this fear of what powers other rings may possess is a fear that Gandalf knows he is either alone or in a minority with. It may be that Gandalf is more than a bit spooked having direct experience of watching what use of the One Ring does to someone, and is therefore more worried than other are. The question here is whether he is justified in his caution. But he knows it's his opinion, and not a universal truth.

It's possible his own ring gave him some extra insight on the matter, I suppose. We never hear Elrond's or Galadriel's opinions to compare it to, but I suspect you're right. Gandalf seems to do an awful lot of fretting. Maybe that's how he was able to stay true to his mission.

Originally posted by Formendacil:

This would be consistent with Gandalf's opinions about other things--the palantíri come to mind. Tolkien is quite clear in the essay on them in Unfinished Tales that Denethor, as Steward, had full right to use the Anor-stone, and that Aragorn had the same to use the Orthanc-stone; nonetheless, Gandalf sees it as highly dangerous to do so, and even cautions Aragorn (his closest collaborator in many respects, and possibly the Man he trusts most) about doing so.

Good note about the Palantiri. He seems constantly worried about the people he cares about putting too much trust in, for lack of a better word, technology. Even the lesser rings could be a danger in the wrong hands, or hands too weak. And how would you know they were too weak, until they were tested. Like Pippin with the Palantir. After the fact, he must settle for "The burned hand teaches best," when he might have preferred "I told you so."


Originally posted by Formendacil:

All of which is to say: I agree with lalwendë that a caution from Gandalf about the dangers of a "trifle" suggest that something like the Lesser Rings weren't so much evil as potentially dangerous--like, for example, a teenager with a motorcycle.

Of course, they could be both, at least in Gandalf's opinion.

Lalwende:

And building from this, note how the Nine and the One seem to 'break' the bonds set by Eru on the body and spirit (hroa and fea) of Men in particular. With the Nine, the hroa fades away and with the One it temporarily disappears entirely.

I'm glad you pointed this out. The Great Rings gave indefinitely long life to their bearers. They delayed the Gift of Iluvatar, but the lesser rings did not, despite many of them being tainted with Sauron's influence.

I'm still convinced, from everything I've read, that the way these rings work is by exposing the fea and thus the minds of Men who wear them to Sauron. The Elven rings work in a similar but more subtle and appropriate way.

In FotR, "Many Meetings,"Gandalf says:

You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in the wraith-world yourself, and they might have seized you. You could see them and they could see you.

And earlier, in "Flight to the Ford:"

With his last failing senses Frodo heard cries, and it seemed to him that he saw, beyond the Riders that hesitated on the shore, a shining figure of white light; and behind it ran small shadowy forms waving flames, that flared red in the grey mist that was falling over the world.

Somewhere later (I'm sorry, I forget where, and I can't seem to find it.) Frodo is told that this shining figure was Glorfindel as he appears on the other side because he came from over the sea, and was filled with the memory of the Undying Lands and I think that this memory never faded from those who ever once beheld it. I wonder if this is why Sauron was said the fear Galadriel. She was the only Elf left of any import to Sauron who had come from across the sea. Just a side-note I guess, perhaps a question for another thread, though it does fit in with your assessment of how the Great Rings worked. Perhaps the lesser rings provided a similar, though more limited, insight.

Again, this is a quote from Osanwe-Kenta:

"the lesser rings" - what does Tolkien mean, exactly, here?

Being deliberately vague, do you think?