The Ring and Its GPS Tracker

[Drognan]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

In ROTK, Frodo puts on the Ring at the Sammath Naur, and claims it for his own.

Immediately Sauron is aware of him and knows exactly where he is. Somehow he feels / hears the claim (the Ring is a "telephone" of sorts; possessing his own will and part of his being it is always connected to Sauron).

Now, it could possibly be said that Gollum had claimed the Ring long before, calling it "mine" and "My Precious", and so forth. Gollum had also worn the Ring very many times during his keeping of it, while he was under the Misty Mountains and Sauron the Necromancer was gathering his strength in Mirkwood just across the Anduin.

So, why wasn't Sauron aware of Gollum the way he was later aware of Frodo? Yes, the Ring was at the apex of its power at Mt. Doom, but still: how did Sauron miss Gollum having it?

Maybe because ring was so deep underground, it's signal was "damped" or "shaded" in some way, like radio signal in tunnels...

[The Might]

Great topic, I can't believed I missed this one so far!

Some useful quotations, first Sam using the Ring on the outskirts of Mordor:

The world changed, and a single moment of time was filled with an hour of thought. At once he was aware that hearing was sharpened while sight was dimmed... All things about him now were not dark but vague; while he himself was there in a grey hazy world, alone, like a small black solid rock and the Ring, weighing down his left hand, was like an orb of hot gold. He did not feel invisible at all, but horribly and uniquely visible; and he knew that somewhere an Eye was searching for him.

and then Frodo using it on Amon Hen:

And suddenly he felt the Eye. There was an eye in the Dark Tower that did not sleep. He knew that it had become aware of his gaze. A fierce eager will was there. It leaped towards him; almost like a finger he felt it, searching for him. Very soon it would nail him down, know just exactly where he was. Amon Lhaw it touched. It glanced upon Tol Brandir he threw himself from the seat, crouching, covering his head with his grey hood.

I don't have any good explanation, I'll have to sleep on it for now.




PS: whilst googling for ideas I stumbled upon this somewhat related and definitely very interesting thread: http://forum.barrowdowns.com/archive...p?t-15558.html
I think that particular thread is worth re-visiting!