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Of the Men of Gondor:

“Some of these Men had darker complexions; prominent among them were Forlong the Fat and the Men of Lossarnach who reinforced Minas Tirith before the siege of the city began.”

The more you know.

odairs-babe:

How Sauron created the ring. It was basically an extension of himself, his soul. He like cut his hand so that the evil could bind with the gold.

Well this is totally like a horcrux. The creation of a horcrux involves splitting the soul and putting it into a solid thing (such as a ring) and there is blood to be shed in the creation of both. RIGHT? You’re seeing this now aren’t you? 

I think I know where Ms. Rowling got her idea now.. Sort of. It’s a bit different but still what is air.

I’ve written against this idea at length before, and won’t so do here again, but I still need to say something. Sauron, being of the Maiar, doesn’t “have” a soul. He’s nothing but soul. The Maiar clothed themselves in the material of the world so they could interact with Men and Elves, but they could be rid of it just as easily with no ill effects. He certainly didn’t split any of himself. He invested his power, which is an important delineation to make. It was his strength, not his self, that passed into the One Ring.

Next, the whole point of a horcrux has nothing at all to do with Sauron’s Ring of Power. A horcrux is made to both prevent others from killing you, and to extend your life unnaturally. Sauron, as an immortal being of a divine order, had no reason at all to create something to extend his already limitless life. Next, he did not create the Ring to prevent others from slaying him. Indeed, were you to slay Sauron’s mortal form he would simply recover and make a new one shortly thereafter. He didn’t need an object to prevent that from happening. In fact, the One Ring created a vital weakness that would actually make slaying him an actual problem.

Here’s how it works. Even if Sauron doesn’t have the Ring on, he’s no weaker than he ever was. But while he wears it his strength is magnified and multiplied. The only way he’d be weakened is if the Ring were *taken* from him by *force*, and claimed by another, thus taking all the power invested in the Ring away from Sauron. When Elendil and Gil’galad defeated Sauron he still would’ve come back. It was Isildur cutting the Ring from his hand afterward and claiming it for his own that screwed over Sauron, and weakened him to the point that he couldn’t take physical form until much later in the Third Age.

And, of course, when the Ring was destroyed most of Sauron’s strength went with it, and he was left as nothing more than a spirit of malice. As an immortal he could never truly be destroyed, but it left him in such a state that he could never harm or influence the world around him ever again. This weakness would not have existed if he hadn’t created the Ring. The Ring, as you can see, offers no protection from death (or whatever approximation you could apply to a Maia); it only creates weaknesses. Quite the opposite of a horcrux, I’d say.

Lastly, he definitely didn’t cut his hand to bind any evil to the gold. He was of the people of Aulë, and basically the most powerful craftsman in Middle-Earth; he poured his power into the Ring by virtue of his wisdom and craftsmanship, not some bizarre little blood ritual. No bloodshed necessary.

In any case, neither J.K. Rowling, nor J.R.R. Tolkien came up with this idea on their own. The concept of hiding one’s soul to avoid death has existed in folklore long before either author started writing. For instance, the story of Koschei the Deathless, who hid his soul in a needle, which was hidden in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in a chest, buried under an oak tree, on an island in the ocean.

That puts all five essential Tolkien volumes down at twice a piece. Reading the Children of Hurin for the first time now.

When it isn’t in cursive… Cursive is hard.

His is actually pretty. Like him!

The first one is “Theoden.” Theoden is actually my friend and mentor’s legal first name. He goes by Dusty, but Theoden is on his birth certificate, driver’s license, etc.

The second one is “Kevin”, my boyfriend.

The third is “David” another friend and former English teacher.

Lastly is “CJ”, my room-mate.