Throughout Tolkien’sLord of the Ringsbooks, and Peter Jackson’s 2001-2003 film adaptations, it becomes very clear that the One Ring of Power is a character all of its own. From the dark and alluring voice that it emits, which makes the bearer desperate to put it on and succumb to its will, to the Ring’s constant desire to return to its master Sauron, the Ring isarguably the most evil characterin the entire trilogy.
It therefore becomes very quickly known that the Ring is a tricksy creature, and that it will stop at nothing to get what it wants. It has a nasty habit of calling out to the servants of the enemy when they are close by, which nearly gets Frodo and Sam discovered bythe Fell Beasts, the flying servantsof Sauron, the Ringwraiths as they search through The Shire and Bree for the young hobbits, and the orcs, on several occasions.
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Not only does the ring weigh down around Frodo’s neck like a physical burden, it also tortures him mentally, and makes him skittish and paranoid, so that he has to wear the cruel object on a chain to prevent it from seeping into his mind even further. EvenSamwise Gamgee, who is one of the bravest companionsof the entire fellowship, and one of the purest of heart and kindest in nature, struggles to resist the ring as he wears it into the tower ofthe Silent Watchersto rescue Frodo from captivity.
But perhaps the worst trait of the ring is its habit to betray the person who bears it, in favor of another who may suit its purpose more, be more easily corrupted, or get it closer to being reunited with Sauron. And the most common way it does this is to change size, so that it can handily slip off of the finger that wears it and roll away into the path of a new servant. The audience has seen two major examples of this already, the first being when it abandons the finger of Isildur, just as he wades invisibly into the lake to try and escape a raid of orcs who have attacked him and his men on the road. The ring falls off his hand, and the orcs spot him, and they subsequently manage to shoot several arrows into his back, killing him instantly so that his body washes away down the river and is never found.
That leads the ring to its second opportunity to betray a new servant. The ring of course finds its way to Gollum in the river, who strangles Deagol to get at it, and then disappears with him into the caves deep below the mountain, where Gollum lives in darkness and solitude. The Ring gives him unnatural long life, but also the ability to roam about freely in the caves, which are actually infested with Goblins. He is able to fish in the lake where he lives, and sometimes even strangle goblins from behind because they can’t see him. But this is exactly where the ring decides to betray the poor twisted creature, as it changes shape and disappears from his finger whilst he drags a goblin back to his island to eat him.
There it is found on the tunnel floorsby Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, and the least likely creature to be corrupted. This is obviously not what the Ring intended, it was hoping to be picked up by a goblin who would transport it away, start a fight among his kin, and very quickly end up back in the hands of Sauron himself.Bilbo is on a quest to reclaim Erebor, the home of his 13 dwarven companions, and stumbled upon the ring in the dark, quite by chance.
The ring very quickly decides that it must escape Bilbo’s clutches. Ashe runs silently down the tunnelsof the caves away from Gollum, who has just lost the game of riddles and furiously wants to eat him, Bilbo wears the ring to hide from his assailant. He manages to find the only way out of the mountain, the back door of sorts, but it is guarded by a nest of Goblins. He slips into the room, but as he does, he realizes that not all is quite as it seems. ‘They saw him sooner than he saw them. Yes, they saw him. Whether it was an accident, or a last cunning trick of the ring before it took a new master, it was not on his finger. With yells of delight, the goblins rushed upon him.’
Bilbo has had the ring but a matter of hours, and already it has almost gotten him killed. Luckily when it changed shape and tried to flee from him, Bilbo’s hand was in his pocket, so the ring was not able to get very far. He discovers it there, slips it back on, and manages to squeeze through the door, popping his lovely brass buttons off of his waistcoat in the process.
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