Let's take this baby for a spin, and see what it can do!

[Angry Hill Troll]

The need to get it back always seemed to me less about getting more powerful and more about trying to ensure his survival.

I disagree with you somewhat on that point. Sauron seems to be afraid that someone would use the ring against him. I suppose Kuruharan and I will have differing opinions on how justified this fear was in the case of anyone but Gandalf.

-One example is when Pippin looks into the Palantir, and Sauron clearly believes that Saruman has the hobbits, and the Ring, at Isengard. He tells Pippin to tell Saruman that "this trifle" is not for him. Why? I think it can only be because he is afraid Saruman might use it himself.

Of course Sauron was being incredibly dense in trying to convince Saruman that the Ring was "a trifle". In one version of the Nazgul's stop at Isengard on the way to the shire in UT, Saruman says to the Witch-King.

I know what you seek...if I had it, then you would bow before me and call me Lord. And if I knew where this thing was hid, I should not be here, but long gone before you take it.

It ought to be obvious to Sauron that Saruman knows all about the Ring!

-When Aragorn reveals himself to Sauron in the Palantir, why does Sauron panic and attack Minas Tirith prematurely? At this point he seems to think that Aragorn has the Ring and has used it to defeat Saruman (which is apparently confirmed when a Nazgul is sent to do aerial surveillance on Isengard and finds it in ruins). If Aragorn couldn't possibly use the Ring without it falling back into Sauron's hands, and couldn't possibly do any serious damage to Sauron without the Ring, then what does Sauron have to be scared of?

If Sauron's only worry is that someone might destroy the Ring, and him with it, then all he has to do is stand guard in the doorway to the Cracks of Doom! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]