How do you perceive Tom Bombadil?

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by PrinceOfTheHalflings

Try these quotes for size:

Erm... okay.

Originally Posted by PrinceOfTheHalflings

which would all indicate that the Ring DID have a will of its own.

Yes I suppose it did have "will" in a sense, but I don't think it necessarily had "consciousness" or "identity" as it would conventionally be understood. Some very basic malevolent impulses evidently operated within it but I don't think this is the same as it being "alive" (which was my original argument).

Also, my point about the nature of its evil is more to do with the effect it had on people, ie making them suspicious and mistrustful, giving them delusions of grandeur, etc. The power within it "speaks" to something in the human heart without literally being conscious communication, in my view.