Why take a body? Why make a Ring?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Raynor

I would say that Melkor had from the begining the gift of poetry, since he shared all other gifts - and it may be that he was the most gifted at it:
However, in the same source, it is stated that for ages uncounted the valar (and Melkor) worked together for the actual making of creation. Because, as you quoted, Melkor had from the begining a great interest in language, he may had had time to increase his skill, from Manwe - or even Aule, who is said to have been the most interested in language.

We could say that Melkor had the greatest 'gift' of all, the ability to learn. It's also interesting that both he and Aule were notably gifted with language and it was one of Aule's 'followers', Saruman, who was also noted for his 'gift' of learning, and for his skill with language.

Hmm...I like how there's a link between the Smith and the Poet (or linguist at any rate - Poet sounds better though, doesn't it? ), as though craft and language come from the same root. Ties in nicely with what seem to have been Tolkien's own aesthetic values, his fondness for the Arts and Crafts movement (Morris etc).

Even so, all this might be interesting to us, but there's still the very obvious answer that Sauron created the One Ring simply to rule over the other Rings - the clue's in the title of the book, eh? But how did it work? That's where, I think, the issue of Language comes into play, the possibilities of sanwe. Sauron secretly created his One Ring, the Elves secretly created the Three; as soon as Sauron put on the One Ring, they 'perceived' him and removed the Three, and it was never again safe for them to wear these until the One was lost. That must tell us that somehow, the One Ring worked by enabling the wearer to 'see' those who wore other Rings...the Ring, crafted with words, enabled Sauron to break down the barriers of Unwill? This makes for all kinds of interesting questions about whether Hobbit bearers of the One Ring became more powerful than the bearers of the Three, just what Frodo could see in the collective minds of those Three, and how it drove him on...