Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivriniel
Galadriel was tempted. Gandalf was tempted. Elrond, no doubt also. Certainly, Saruman was tempted, though he had no direct contact with the Ring. I'm not sure direct proximity was necessary for that kind of temptation, sometimes.
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It is self-evident that Saruman was tempted to seize the Ring, since he in fact tried to do so. The question is whether he can meaningfully be said to have "resisted" the Ring earlier in his career, before the opportunity to claim it had presented itself. Actually, it seems to me there's a sort of sleight-of-hand involved: the author admits Saruman never got near the Ring, then (I suppose) uses this to argue that, since just *thinking* about the darn thing could corrupt him, he deserves Brownie points for ever having thought about it without *immediately* turning evil. Something like that, anyway.