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cirdaneth
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Post Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: June 02, 2009 08:53

"... (After the Drowning of Numenor) ... yet his spirit arose out of the deep and passed as a shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-Earth and to Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-dur." Akallabeth


So ... where was the One Ring while Sauron was in Numenor?
Ilandir
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Post RE: Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: June 02, 2009 11:52
Wow that IS interesting cirdaneth! I must say I never noticed that ... and I'll have to check it out before answering...

(All I can say is that probably it was still in the oven at Barad-dur being made! )
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Iavas87
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Post RE: Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: June 03, 2009 05:16
I presume that when Sauron went out before the great armies of Númenor and surrendered, he did not bring his most precious possession with him to be taken away and used against him. Instead, he probably hid it as best he could within his dark tower.
RangerStryder
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Post RE: Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: June 06, 2009 10:24
I agree with lavas that the Ring might be in safekeeping inside Mordor. This is the reason Sauron's spirit still lives after the drowning of Numenor. (same thing happened with the Nazguls when they get drowned trying to catch Frodo.)
Morwinyoniel
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Post RE: Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: June 07, 2009 05:24
In Letter 211 (195, JRRT tells:
Sauron's personal 'surrender' was voluntary and cunning; he got free transport to Númenor! He naturally had the One Ring, and so very soon dominated the minds and wills of most of the Númenóreans.
(...)Though reduced to 'a spirit of hatred borne upon a dark wind', I do not think one need boggle at this spirit carrying off the One Ring, upon which his power of dominating minds now largely depended.

So, it seems that Tolkien himself thought Sauron having taken the One Ring with him when he went to Númenor, and having used it to hasten the corruption of the Númenóreans.
cirdaneth
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Post RE: Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: June 07, 2009 05:47
Ooh! That's really interesting Morwin! Thanks for that.

So Tolkien reckoned he did take the ring to Numenor ... and managed to get it back to ME. Strictly speaking he might not have needed to take it there, as the rot had already set in. Numenor was divided, the Kings were decadent and the Faithful reduced to a minority group. The very existence of the ring seems to have enhanced his power, even when he didn't have it in his keeping or even know where it was ... so if, as Tolkien says, he took it to Numenor with him, it's no wonder he caused so much mischief.

A really spooky thought occurs to me. The ring is a material object, and since Sauron will have known about Elendil's ships, it might have been possible for him to secrete it (and himself in spirit) aboard one of them, planning to punish them for not sailing with Ar-Pharazon. He will have been as shocked as anyone else when the seas opened and swallowed the island, but his return to ME with the ring would have been fairly easy.

Just a thought.
Lord_Sauron
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Post RE: Did Sauron take the Ring to Numenor?
on: March 05, 2010 12:48
i agree with cirdaneth even without the ring sauron would have influenced the numenoreons because they were already divided through there own corruption and greed for more. I think sauron took the ring with him to help push the king over the edge (so to speak) and persaude him to go to Valinor. Although sauron's body was destroyed i believe his spirit was still strong enough to carry the ring back to Mordor (just like wind carries a leaf,if you get my meaning).
I don't know if sauron realized that elendil and his followers survived the drowning until they were in middle earth.
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