Hobbit Resilience To the Ring.....

[Kuruharan]

I don't think that furthering their major schemes would hold true for all humans. Remember that Hobbits are just little humans. I think that if most humans found the Ring, they would probably eventually end up in the condition of Gollum.

For one thing, I don't think that most Men would have the slightest idea what it was that they found. I doubt that Aragorn himself, if he had stumbled across it lying on the ground in the Wild, would have understood what it was. (Although everyone would have been in for quite a surprise the next time he went to Rivendell because Elrond at least would have recognized it.)

A human would, obviously, eventually figure out that the Ring made one invisible, but they would not necessarily know that they would be able to further their "big schemes" with it. (Aside from the obvious benefits of being able to obtain information.) They would probably go through a process similar to Gollum's and the one that was starting on Bilbo.

So, in short, the Ring might have been "safe" in the hands of a human for quite sometime.

An Elf on the other hand would probably be a different story altogether.

[ June 19, 2002: Message edited by: Kuruharan ]