Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Would Gandalf be invisible if he wore the One Ring?



If Gandalf wears the One Ring, will he be invisible? Or will he master it and be visible?


Maybe I should ask: is there a chance that the "invisibility" effect of the Ring is a side effect of weakness?



Answer



Here's an argument for no


I am going to say no because of this passage in the Lord of the Rings



‘A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades[.]


The Lord of the Rings | The Shadow of the Past



Now Gandalf here is referring to the Great Rings (which we can take to include the 9 and the 7) what this tells me that any of the great rings would make a mortal invisible, not just the One Ring.



As he is saying this Gandalf is wearing one of the Three Rings and is visible. The other bearers of the great rings are elves and also are not invisible.


On the question of the great rings


The evidence is that all the great rings make you invisible (they are all dangerous to mortals).




  • The nine make men disappear, so much so that they fade and become wraiths under the dominion of The One. Although it is said in the Silmarillion that



    They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men;


    The Silmarillion | Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age




    The keyword being could, can we take that to mean once they had gained mastery of the ring they could be visible while wearing it?




  • The seven did not make the dwarves invisible, nor did it give the wielder of The One dominion over them, this is because of the way Aüle created them.



    The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows. They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overmastering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts, of which evil enough after came to the profit of Sauron.


    The Silmarillion | Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age






  • When Frodo wears the one, he sees Glorfindel's true form as it is "on the other side".


    I think that's the key, the immortal spirit doesn't because by their very nature they are already part of the spirit world and cannot be unnaturally drawn to it like a mortal.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?
Post a Comment
Read more