What would the ring tempt you with?

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

If I don't sound too hypocritical or arrogant now, I will say - like Galadriel and Gandalf: the power to do good. Ask anybody who has heard me telling how, if I was the dictator of the world, I would save the world from the environmental threats and the big multinational companies and totalitarian governments abusing and oppressing people. I really sometimes wish I could do that - a worrying thing, I'd say.

But then you'd end up becoming evil yourself. You'd force everyone to do what you think is right (whether it is or not- actually, we could have a whole discussion about the nature of good and bad, but this isn't the right time...), and no-one would be able to do what they wanted. So even if you're making everyone good, you're forcing it on them, oppressing them with it, and that would be evil. So even if what's happening is good, they it's happening is evil. Free will, the Gift of Men (If we're going to Tolkien-connect this) would be gone.

And anyway, originally, didn't Sauron just want power in order to make everything more efficient?