Before or after the Ring was destroyed

[Luinëcolloien]

I know this may seem like a stupid question, but stop and think for a moment. Would you prefer to live before or after the Ring was destroyed. At first, I thought the answer seemed obvious, after. But when I thought about it, after, was there anything to do? Nothing to work towards, nothing to strive for? And maybe, after, I know this sounds stupid...but it might have been a little boring. I don't know. What about you? Thanks for reading.

[Nils]

Most definitely after the ring was destroyed. There were many battles after the destruction of the ring. The scouring of the Shire was just one. There was plenty to do, just as there is today.

[Arathiriel]

Well living after the Ring was destroyed had its advantages but I find myself compelled to say I would want to live in ME before the Ring was destroyed...

Why?

Well because the Elves were still living in ME, it was in a time before they left the world forever.

Also, I would have to say before because it was a time Gandalf lived in the world...

And finally, I think I would have wanted to live in ME before the Ring was destroyed because there was a certain "magic" to life when the Ring still existed and the Elves were still in ME...

[img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Diamond18]

I'd like to live before and after, just like most of the main characters in the book. Sam for instance...he had all that adventure and drama of living in the dark and dangerous times, but then got to enjoy the peace he himself had helped to create.

I don't think I'd want to be born after...just because I'd have missed out on it all. But then again, I feel that if I actually was around during the darkness I wouldn't look at is as adventure, but pure hell. It's a hard choice...but I suppsoe it actually depends on how long before the Ring was destroyed you came into the world.

I'd live around the time of the destruction of the Ring. I could have said that right off and saved myself explaining and pondering...ah well.

[Arwen Imladris]

I would have liked to live before the ring was desroyed, so that I could have hung out with the elves. It would have been fun to go on the adventures in the war of the ring, but really, I wouldn't have, because I'm a girl (unless I was in the movie of corse [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) so I'm not sure if I would have liked to be around then or not. Definatly before though.

[Keeper of the Feet of Melkor]

B4 and after, the world wouldnt be all peace loving and Id be living with the elves (until a certain point, of course)

[Armadoin]

I would have loved to live before, because then I would get to see all the things that happened, like the wars and the destroying of the ring, and then, like the Elves, go to the undying lands and live in bliss. Personally, I think of everything in the third age to be a great adventure, but afterwards there's not much else to do that would interest me. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Meela]

living right through the whole of middle earths history would be amazing, but if i have to choose, before the ring is destroyed- perhaps from the battle of the last alliance onwards. then id go over the sea to the undying lands wiv everyone else [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Demloth of Dol Amroth]

after the ring is destroyed, i'd think that very slowly, especially after Aragorn's death, men would begin to get lazy, greedy, and more intermingled with men not of numenorean descent, and thus, would begin squabbling among themselves over politics, land, and such. any other existing races-hobbits, dwarves, would probably also be given the push-and-shove. i'm not saying that all men would be diabolically evil, just that the ones with great integrity, like Aragorn, would pass away, and men would begin to forget. "and some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost." there would, in a few centuries, almost definetily be war, corruption, and such. so even living after the ring's destruction might not be so great(in terms of peacefulness), but you would not be without any fighting or evil even afterwards. a shadow of morgoth's evil lays over ALL the denizens of middle-earth, even elves-which makes them more critical of the men and dwarves, and the shadow lay sometimes even in the hobbits. look at sandyman (was that his name?), the hobbit who catered to Saruman, and the Sackville-Bagginses. No, evil does not depart from middle-earth til The End, or whatever it was called. having the ring destroyed also doesn't necessarily bar any great adventures from happening ever again-you know, not all them istari were accounted for...and there were still some balrogs hidden somewhere...you can't really say for certain that everything would be bliss and such after the ring is destroyed. look at poor ol' Frodo! still bedridden a lot, years after he is stabbed by the morgul blade. wow, this thread really gives me a bone to chew-it's late, so i should go sleep-i might come back tomorrow.

[ October 20, 2002: Message edited by: Demloth of Dol Amroth ]

I would live before the ring was destroyed, preferably before Bilbo found it too. There were many things that was given more beauty, life etc by the Elven rings, and when the One Ring was destroyed they would never be the same again.

I noticed some (or atleast one) of you said you wanted to be born before the One Rings destruction so that you wouldn't have missed out on the whole thing. And I must say that it's the worst reason I have ever read!

[Afrodal Fenyar]

Probably in the Second Age, in the time when Elendil and his sons came to Middle-Earth.

That's if I'd be a human, if an elf, then the years of the trees would be a great time to live.