Sauron Diminished?

[narfforc]

In the new edition of The Silmarillion there is a letter from J.R.R.Tolkien to Milton Waldman, dated 1951. In the letter Tolkien states that Sauron, when making the One Ring, let a great part of his own inherent power pass into the ring. He goes on to say that while he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced. But even if did not wear it, that power existed and was in 'rapport' with himself: he was not 'diminished'. In LotR (The Shadow of the Past) Gandalf tells Frodo: This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to a great weakening of his power. Later he says: The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences, and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring. Now my reading of this is: Sauron from the beginning is a great power, when he makes the One Ring that power is enhanced, upon losing it he can only grow back to his original greatness non enhanced, or the level he is without the power he put into the Ring, he needs the One Ring to get back to his greater power, therefore surely Third Age Sauron is of lesser power than Second Age Sauron and is fast approaching equality with First Age Sauron, maybe. So Third Age Sauron must be a diminished form of Second Age Sauron. If what Tolkien states is true, just because the One Ring is taken from Sauron, it should not mean he is diminished , only because his spirit flees the body and has no form, as he has done before, is he lessened and only if the One Ring is destroyed is he diminished forever. To me there seems to be a problem with the two statements.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by narfforc

In the new edition of The Silmarillion there is a letter from J.R.R.Tolkien to Milton Waldman, dated 1951. In the letter Tolkien states that Sauron, when making the One Ring, let a great part of his own inherent power pass into the ring. He goes on to say that while he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced. But even if did not wear it, that power existed and was in 'rapport' with himself: he was not 'diminished'. In LotR (The Shadow of the Past) Gandalf tells Frodo: This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to a great weakening of his power. Later he says: The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences, and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the One Ring.

Without having the letter concerned in front of me, so this is out of context, my take is this:

Sauron has always had immense inherent power, and in the Third Age he still has immense inherent power. You could not write a character such as he is without making him as powerful and terrible as possible. But the One Ring did increase his power. As it was made to enhance his strength, and made up of his strength, then it would naturally contain his strength, even if it was not in his possession. But if he was already powerful to the degree of x, and the ring took this power up to the power of y, then looking at these statements, losing the ring would surely only still reduce his power to x? That seems feasible to me.

I think my old favourite Osanwe-Kenta ( ) might explain something of the nature of this power. If the One Ring was made by Sauron to enhance his powers of osanwe, then it would indeed enhance his power on ME while he wore it. Couple this with the fact that it enabled him to control the Nine and to affect or at least reduce the capabilities of the Three, then his power was considerably enhanced. Losing the One Ring did not mean that this power was lost, on the contrary, it was still within the ring.

However, I can see why this looks wrong, as if the One Ring merely enhanced his power, why then should its destruction result in his total downfall? What I think is that in making the One Ring, a part of Sauron's power was kept within it, and therefore when it was lost it was away from him; maybe in making something to enhance his powers of osanwe and relying upon it, he in some way damaged his natural capabilities at this skill?

[Boromir88]

I believe this is the quote narfforc is talking about...

But to achieve this he had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power pass into the One Ring. While he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced. But even if he did not wear it, that power existed and was in "rapport" with himself: he was not "diminished."

[Lalwendë]

Hmmm, maybe there is a much more simple explanation than the one I offered earlier.

even if he did not wear it, that power existed and was in "rapport" with himself: he was not "diminished."

It's quite possible that Tolkien is here referring to the fact that nobody else could use the One Ring, that only Sauron could use the power within it to the full, and that if anyone else used it, then the "rapport" would mean that ultimately, they would be doing Sauron's work. Or does it mean that both powers existed in parallel?

[Mithalwen]

Could it be not diminished in the sense that the power was still in existence while the ring existed? He just cannot fully access it?

[Boromir88]

I'll finish off the paragraph since it seems to be of some importance now. Tolkien brings up the two ways that this "bond" or "relationship" between Sauron and the Ring could be broken...

But to achieve this he had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power pass into the One Ring. While he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced. But even if he did not wear it, that power existed and was in "rapport" with himself: he was not "diminished." Unless some other seized it and became possessed of it. If that happened, the new possessor could (if sufficiently strong and heroic by nature) challenge Sauron, become master of all that he had learned or done since the making of the One Ring, and so overthrow him and usurp his place. (Sounds something that Saruman tried to accomplish). This was the essential weakness he had introduced into his siutation in his effort (largely unsuccessful) to enslave the Elves, and in his desire to control the minds and wills of his servants. There was another weakness: if the One Ring was actually unmade, annhiliated, then its power would be dissolved, and he would be reduced to a shadow, a mere memory of malicious will. Italics are things I added in.

I think what Tolkien is saying is what you basically said in your first post Lalwende. I don't take it as saying that "with and without the ring Sauron has enhanced powers." I take it more as "With that ring he has enhanced powers. Without possessing the Ring, the powers are bonded to Sauron."

For example, Frodo has the ring, he doesn't get the enhanced powers the ring gave to Sauron, those powers are bonded to Sauron. However, to break that bond (and become the new "master of the Ring") you could try to pull a Saruman; learn about the Ring, study Sauron, and try to challenge him, and overthrow him. Or you could "unmake" the ring, but that would not give you the "enhanced powers" that would just break the bond between the ring, and Sauron.

Edit: Basically saying the Ring's powers are loyal to Sauron. Just by possessing the Ring, the Ring will not give you the powers it gives Sauron. To get those powers you have to challenge Sauron one-on-one, and overthrow him, taking his place.

[obloquy]

Sauron needed The Ring to pull the rug out from under those few with the power to defy him.

Also, quite apart from the fact that The Ring enhanced his power, he could never be secure in his domination if it was still in someone else's possession. There would always be the potential for him to be overthrown.