Bilbo sees and is drwn to the Arkenstone just a paragraph after Tolkien describes not only his 'bedazzlement' at the hoard, but allure of Dragon-gold; I think he pocketed it primarily because even our stolid Hobbit got a touch of the dragon-sickness, nothing more.
Certainly Tolkien in 1930 or so wasn't thinking of the malign influence of the One Ring!
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.
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