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From: chris@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Re: Middle Earth (Tolkien) Questions
Message-ID: <1991@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 26-Oct-85 10:44:55 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1991
Posted: Sat Oct 26 10:44:55 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Oct-85 06:20:19 EST
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Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
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> Why did the Council of Elrond not seize upon the resistance of the
> race of dwarves to the Ring? ... [Gimli Gloin's son] could not have
> been turned into a wraith.

Dwarves are not particularly ring-resistant.  It is true that they do
not fade and become wraiths, but that is the only way in which they
differ from Men and Elves in this matter.

> What would have happened had Gimli been the Ringbearer?

As to that I cannot say, but the end might well have been worse.  I
myself believe that no one left in Middle-Earth at that time had the
power to cast the Ring into the fire, so unless the part played by
Smeagol were unchanged, all might have been lost.

> Why did Sauron not use the Nine (and even the Seven) to enslave more
> powerful men: why not have an army of Nazguls? Why only Nine?

I do not know.  The best guess that I have heard is that the power held
by the Nine could not be increased this way.  But the lore-masters know
little of conquering and enslaving, and have no wish to find out more:
they will not answer upon this point.

> Sauron went to great trouble in the middle of the Third Age to recover
> all of the Seven that survived.  Why?

For one thing, he coveted them.  But your own answer---that he wanted
to be sure none others would rediscover the craft of ruled and ruling
rings---sounds to me very much in character with Sauron.  As you may
recall, the Three were not made by him, nor did he ever touch them:
they were indeed under the rule of the One Ring, but in ways the Elven
smiths did not understand.  With the other rings in hand it might have
been possible to discover the connexion, and thence to break it; or
as Sauron more likely feared, to create an even greater ring to rule
the One.

> How did Denethor keep from spilling the proverbial gruel to Sauron via
> palantir about the Quest of "the witless halfling"?

This at least I can answer easily.  At no time did Sauron get any
information out of Denethor.  The Enemy did indeed mislead Denethor,
and eventually break his mind; but the will of Denethor was strong, if
brittle:  strong enough to keep his own thoughts secret.

> Does anyone know the tales of the other six of the Seven Rings of Power?

The Dwarves kept these quite secret, and it is only by chance that we
know what little we do about them.  I shall ask about, but I am afraid
there is no more remembered of them than you already know.
-- 
Lindor, alias Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 4251)
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