Lord of the Rings

Subtle? He's practically mugging into the palantir. And that's the book. It was rather amusing in how obvious it was. Clearly Sauron is not familiar with the concept of a Large Ham.

who did Sauron think was carrying it? Lol if Aragorn really was trying to flex on him why would he not HAVE the ring on him when he made his magic video call?

Part of it is that Sauron couldn't imagine that his foes would trust the One Ring to a hobbit.

...Or that they would want to destroy it rather than use it. Which could only be done at Mount Doom. Focus on anybody trying to get to Mount Doom and intercept them? Game Over. Which, yeah, is why Aragorn's bluff is so important. It seems to get Sauron so riled up (because he could be the one they entrusted with the Ring) he's not thinking clearly about anything else, either.

I think we are supposed to infer that Sauron believes that Aragorn is threatening to put on the Ring soon, and showing confidence leading up to that.

Yeah that is the kind of gloating Sauron might have done himself, and Gandalf does say Sauron has a blind spot where "trying to think like people who aren't me" is concerned.

Right, Gandalf has a whole conversation about how the trick works, and about Sauron's inability to conceive of someone thinking different from him. It seems to be implied to be something of an evil bias.

Sauron expects one of the Lords of the West to attempt to claim the Ring, and believes that they are concealing it from him in order to gather their strength, knowing that he will assault the Ringbearer the instant it is revealed.

He also expects those lords to fight over who will wield the Ring, since it cannot be shared — by design. If anyone tries, the covetousness the Ring inspires in them will absolutely prevent it. Indeed, we see how it is a locus of discontent, prompting everyone around it to jealousy if they harbor any ambition or desire for it in their hearts. This is how Boromir falls.

Sauron believes that there will be a battle fought over the Ring, with the victor claiming it, and that the victor will need time to acquire mastery over it. During that time, the armies of Mordor will crush the would-be Lord, the Nazgul will carry him to Barad-Dur, and Sauron will strip the Ring away and flay him bare as he screams in agony for all eternity.

Everything Aragorn does from Isengard to the Black Gate is designed to play into Sauron's beliefs: to focus his attention away from Mordor, to make him think that his plan is working.

There's a personal element to it as well: Aragorn is Isildur's Heir, and Isildur is the one who cut the Ring from Sauron's finger. While Aragorn does not have the stature or power of Elrond or Galadriel, he does have a birthright claim to the Ring, and Sauron hates and fears him more than almost any other single being in Middle-Earth.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 23rd 2020 at 10:53:40 AM

Basically , plus remember it is said that much of the glory/strength/wisdom/whathaveyou the Númenoreans lost in exile (Gondor and Arnor) returned in Aragorn, just as how Boromir was sometimes likened to the last king (more into fighting and athleticism but valorous nonetheless for his pride).

The one thing Sauron got right was that no one can actually willingly throw the Ring into the fire.

I mean the idea someone will want to use the ring is not exactly wrong, that thing have a inteligence of is own and frodo have a bitch of a time with it

It's not wrong, the point is that Sauron cannot conceive of someone not wanting to use it.

And in Aragorn's defense, it all works like a charm. Until the very second Frodo puts on the Ring, Sauron thinks he knows exactly what's going on ... and that it's the false scenario Aragorn and Gandalf have cooked up. Can't say they didn't have his number.

Almost works like a charm. Because in the end, Frodo failed. Only the interference of Gollum combined with a lucky accident (implied to be divine intervention) kept the whole plan from falling apart.

He couldn't have gotten that far to begin with without the distraction

A point of the Fellowship seems to be the value and necessity of cooperation. Frodo's good, but only human (okay, only a Hobbit). To accomplish the almost impossible, he can't do it alone. Even when they split up, he's helped by Aragorn's Palantir bluff and the actions of Sam and (inadvertently) Gollum.

To bear a ring of power

is to be alone

The quarantine continues and so does Clamavi de Profundis, which another original Dwarven song:

The Medieval in Middle-earth: Aragorn and Exiled Anglo-Saxon Kings: As a professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford, J. R. R. Tolkien could not help but be inspired by the language and literature he studied and taught. As a result, his fictional world is infused with cultural material of the Middle Ages, particularly Old English language and literature. In this post, I focus on Aragorn, who shows some parallels with the Anglo-Saxon kings Oswald of Northumbria, Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor.

Blog post by Thijs Porck.

Also, here is a blog post about rings of power in Anglo Saxon times, and a post about Thor's map.

Edited by Redmess on Jun 6th 2020 at 12:41:50 PM

Awesome. I thought they were well written, too.

"Ecgbryhtesstan" (Egbert’s Stone) vs. "Stone of Erech"? Yeah, it's possible to see a parallel there.

Ian Holm, who played Frodo in the BBC radio version of Lord of the Rings and Bilbo Baggins in the LOTR film trilogy, passes away.

"I think I'm quite ready for another adventure."

Edited by Gaon on Jun 19th 2020 at 4:14:19 AM

Sir Ian Holm was a class act to the end. When nearly the entire principal cast of The Lord of the Rings had an online quarantine reunion by Zoom meeting a short while ago he sent a note to the rest of them apologizing that he could not attend. Obviously his health was the issue (he suffered from Parkinson's disease). He also played Ash in Alien, Father Conelius in The Fifth Element, and he nearly won an Oscar for playing one of the coaches in Chariots of Fire.

I was amazed when I found out that he was in Chariots of Fire and the BBC Lord of the Rings radio drama in the same year (1981).

That’s a really impressive year.

He also played Napoleon in Time Bandits in 1981.