Who would have fallen?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Glirdan

They didn't really have anything to do accept accompany Aragorn.

In the early drafts Malbeth's prophecy required three princes of different race to summon the Dead. I think this is why the Three Hunters went together. By the time Tolkien had changed his mind about this it was probably too late to alter the storyline.

What's the basis for this? Gandalf seems to think it would give him "extra" power:

Depends how you understand their words. My understanding is that in taking the Ring they would have rejected all moral responsibility over their own innate power & become like Sauron. Hence Gandalf would have had too much power (his own) to use 'freely'. He would have no longer been a servant of the Secret Fire, but in his own mind have become a 'Master' of it. He feared to become another Saruman. The Ring deceives one into misusing their own power - thinking like Sauron.

I see no evidence that innate power can be 'transferred' in the way you're talking about. If we look at Boromir's 'fantasy' of what he would become if he had the Ring it is nothing more than he could have done anyway. The Ring worked by convincing its bearer that it alone could give them power to do what they wished to do. It actually convinced them they could do nothing without it, that they were weak & helpless victims of circumstance. All it really seemed to do in practical terms was make them invisible.

Sauron is a 'deciever' & I see no reason to believe that his Ring would do anything else. Have you noticed that none of the bearers of the Ring become suddenly more powerful? What exactly did it enable Isildur to do? Or Gollum, or Bilbo? It merely enslaved their minds. Actually it makes them weaker, if anything - subject to their own desires. Of course, if Sauron got it back he would regain the power he put into it. I just don't see it empowering anyone else.