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This has me wondering about the Ring-inspired fantasies of Gandalf, Galadriel, Boromir & Sam, et al. Where do those fantasies arise? Is the Ring putting those specific fantasies into their heads, or are they creating the whole thing themselves - what I mean is, is it a case of 'If I claim the Ring I can do X', so that the power trips are invented by the individual? Which would mean that Gandalf & the rest on some level had thought about doing some such thing anyway. Sam actually had those power fantasies already on some subconscious level, rather than the Ring constructing that fantasy & putting it into his head.
Is this another example of Sam being 'torn in two'? Part of him wants to be a simple gardener while another part of him wants to be 'Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age', so that rather than his refusal being a rejection of the Ring, it is actually a refusal & rejection of his own desire. The conflict is an inner rather than an outer one, between aspects of oneself. Only one who is 'torn in two' in such a way, fighting an inner conflict, will be tempted by the Ring. Faramir & Aragorn, it would seem, are not tempted by the Ring because they are not so psychologically 'divided against themselves. The Ring would then only be a temptation to those with this inner 'split' (either actual or in potentio). When we look at Smeagol/Gollum we seem to see that inner split made manifest.
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