The Three Elven Rings

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Then why not keep the One there indefinitely?

For the same reason Gandalf refused the ring whne Frodo offered it to him, he feared what would happen if it corrupted him. Wearing the ring, or keeping it near you, may accelerate it's ability to corrupt the person, but as long as you have "title" to it, it is not neccecary. If it was, Gandalf really could have simply hid the ring in "the deepest pits of Mendeluin" without Denethors knowledge (or for that matter simply buried it somewhere deep enough it would never be dug up again.) Actually putting the one ring in the pocket dimesion might have been extra risky, from Gandalfs point of view. As long as the ring was in the hands of someone who wore it or kept it close, it was theoretically possible to take it away physically, before the individual got too powerful. If Gandalf stuck in in the pocket dimension however, it would be somewhere where few if any people could get at it..........EXCEPT GANDALF. it would be like having it in an impregable box to which you had the one and only key. While the Ring wroght it's corruption on Gandalf, it would be in a place where no-one else could get near it. And by the time Gandalf took the ring out again to put it on, the ring would have likey made him so corrupt and so powerful as to be unopposable.



QUOTE=Inziladun;655631]I favour the idea of him being returned to his old body, since that's where he was when Gwaihir found him. All the items he had carried on his person would have been still there, undisturbed.[/QUOTE]

This, I agree is the most likey answer, though it does bring up again the "why naked?" question (My best answer is that we are supposed to assume Gandalfs nudity acually occured before he died on the peak, his clothes having been burned off (either by the Balrog's flames or by his own power pouring forth as he "uncloaks" to fight the Balrog)