The Ring's corruption forms

[Boromir88]

Very nice and interesting questions Feredir.

Gandalf hints that the Ring has a will of it's own, and as Tolkien mentions in several places that the Ring does exude it's own lust, it's own 'pull.' I don't think I can explain the corruption of the Ring any better than Gandalf:

'No!' cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. 'With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.' His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. 'Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have such need of it. Great perils lie before me.'~The Shadow of the Past

The Ring uses the weaknesses of the individual against him/her. Boromir and Denethor both wanted to see the victory of Gondor over Sauron, arguably more than anything else, so the Ring appeals to them as a weapon that can be used to defeat Sauron. As Boromir (in his attempt to take the Ring from Frodo) speaks about armies flocking to his banner, and 'great victories.'

Sam, is a gardener, he loves it, and so when he is faced with the temptation of the Ring...

Already the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and reason. Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dur. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brough forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be.~The Tower of Cirith Ungol

The Ring appeals to the desires of the individual. But, even though the Ring does have this natural 'lust,' whether someone 'passes the test' (to steal some words from Galadriel ) has as much to do with the individual, as the Ring is not 'all-corrupting.'

Let's take Gollum and Faramir for instance. Gollum immediately falls to the temptation of the Ring, and even murders to get it. Sam on the other hand resisted the Ring and even gave it back to Frodo.

In his Letters Tolkien wrote that Gollum was 'mean-spirited' and the 'mean son of a thief' and also:

'The domination of the Ring was much too strong for the mean soul of Smeagol. But he would never had to endure it if he had not become a mean sort of thief before it crossed his path.'~Letter 181

Despite the ring being too strong for Smeagol to over come, Tolkien also points out that his easy fall to the Ring has just as much to do with the type of person Smeagol was even before coming across the Ring.

Than we have someone like Faramir, who rejects the Ring right from the start, because as he tells Frodo:

'But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.'~The Window on the West

Faramir understood the Ring quite well. He knew that using it as a weapon against Sauron would only, in the end, benefit Sauron. So, Faramir was able to flat out reject the Ring, where Smeagol could not. Not only does this show Faramir being much stronger than Smeagol, but he simply knew the Ring was deceiving; as Smeagol believed he was entitled to the Ring, because it was his 'birthday.'

Hopefully that mostly provides the answers to what you were looking for.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Maybe I could add something more. Concerning just the "result" of corruption, Gollum (or Bilbo, or Frodo) would ultimately become something similar to the Nazgul (only weak and somewhat - just shadows, not any "great pale kings of horror"). The thing is, that they - probably from a large part due to their halfling nature - never reached the state of ultimate consumption by the Ring. As we know, Gollum even almost repented. Gandalf says:

Originally Posted by FotR, Chapter 2: Shadows of the Past

Even Gollum was not wholly ruined. He had proved tougher than even one of the Wise would have guessed -as a hobbit might. There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own, and light came through it, as through a chink in the dark: light out of the past. (...) Alas! there is little hope of that for him. Yet not no hope. No, not though he possessed the Ring so long, almost as far back as he can remember. For it was long since he had worn it much: in the black darkness it was seldom needed. Certainly he had never "faded". He is thin and tough still. But the thing was eating up his mind, of course, and the torment had become almost unbearable.

So, Gollum is not fully "consumed" by the Ring (as we are told plainly in the movies); he is crippled, but "not wholly ruined". He did not wear the Ring as often later - only kept it close to him, and the Ring could not tempt him, because Gollum had no more ambitions at that time than not to be seen. And in the black darkness of the underground tunnels, the invisibility was not needed. If he did wear the Ring all the time, I'm convinced that he would become a shadow and once Sauron would have called for him. But he did not, nor Bilbo did, and so they eluded the "transformation", to use that word.

It is also important in some aspects that the "fading" the One Ring causes is somewhat different in nature from the "fading" caused by the Nine Rings (or the Seven, for that matter - btw, we know the Dwarven bearers also never "faded" due to their toughness). The Nine are meant to enslave the bearer, being "channels" to Sauron's will, but the One is that will that enslaves others. This is a slight difference and maybe some won't agree with me, but I believe it plays its part as well. What I want to say is, somewhat roughly speaking, that the Nine or Seven have the intention (now that the One was forged) to make you a Nazgul, while the One makes you fade just as a "side effect".

[William Cloud Hicklin]

With regard to 'fading' and Gollum's reaction as opposed to the Ringwraiths:

Tolkien (thru Gandalf) tells us in Chapter I/2 that a mortal who often uses the Ring to become invisible will eventually become fixed in that state permanently; T makes it clear elsewhere that Smeagol/Gollum never actually wore the Ring much under the mountains, it being dark and all. Over and above this is the fact that Smeagol is a Hobbit, and therefore "very tough in the fibre;" in a similar way Frodo endured a fragment of Morgul-knofe for seventeen days which would have "swiftly overcome" many mighty warriors of Men.