LotR -- Book 2 - Chapter 10 - The Breaking of the Fellowship

[Rimbaud]

Is Boromir addicted to the ring, or is he addicted to his mission of bringing salvation to his country?

This question has another level, I think. It seems that the Ring does not create the desire for itself within others; rather, and to be carelessly analogous, it is a 'mood-exacerbater' much like alocohol for instance, playing on a pre-existant mood, or in this case desire.

The main reason it holds less dominion over the Hobbits is their fundamental lack of megalomania; that weak desire for power and wealth that does reside within Frodo/Bilbo, is eventually that with which the Ring works.

So: the Ring, as it does not come into contact with Boromir, is rather lucky. For Boromir is desperately searching for it, although he would not realise this. The weapon, the solution, that which would realise his ambition to save his homeland - that is the chink through which the Ring wanders.

But the further question is: when? When did Boromir's respectable desire for his country's salvation, to use the word, twist into the more sordid want we encounter later? At what stage was the chink exploited?

I'm using this line of argument rather as a counter to the straight 'addiction' line, which I think underestimates the inherent similarities and indistinct boundaries between what we might perceive as natural and reasonable desires, for ourselves and others, and those desires one associates with the device itself.