The Lord of the Rings is a franchise known for its unique characters, complex lineages, and detailed worldbuilding, but at the center of all of that is the One Ring. Pivotal not only in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s movies but also in brand-new projects like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and, undoubtedly, both upcoming movies, the One Ring has long dominated these stories. Yet, that doesn’t mean that no questions or oddities remain when it comes to the Ring.
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On the contrary, because of the incredible power of the Ring and its affects on the characters, there are several things about this weapon that still don’t make a lot of sense—decades after both the books and the original trilogy of movies. Of all the questions that remain, here are the top 5 things that make no sense about the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings.
The Ring Corrupted Gollum Immediately
Gollum, like the Ring, is a key part of The Lord of the Rings, and his story is in fact entirely tied to the object. Sequentially, Jackson’s movies reveal just how consumed Gollum was by the Ring, which quickly establishes for audiences what will happen to someone who holds onto the One Ring for a significant amount of time (around 500 years, in Gollum’s case). Yet, it’s in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King that viewers get to watch Gollum find and take the Ring.
Then called Sméagol, Gollum was exposed to the Ring when his cousin, Déagol, found it in the bed of a river. What’s surprising, particularly given what audiences have already learned up to that point, is that Sméagol is corrupted by the One Ring right away. Despite being a type of hobbit, and therefore theoretically meaning he should have had a higher resistance, Sméagol sees the Ring and immediately chokes his cousin to death. This is drastically different from how characters like Frodo and Bilbo, who should have been relatively approximate, have acted.
Aragorn Resisted The Ring Better Than Gandalf Or Galadriel
Yet another confusing aspect of the power of the Ring is the fact that Aragorn is shown to have a much stronger resistance to it than the average character, but that bewilderingly includes Galadriel and Gandalf. In the movies, when Frodo offers the Ring to Gandalf, he shouts at Frodo not to offer it to him. While that’s not exactly him being tempted, it is an outburst and strong reaction. Later on, Galadriel has a much more explosive response to the Ring being offered to her, although she does ultimately “pass the test.”
By contrast, when Aragorn has a clear chance to take the Ring from Frodo in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, he manages to calmly decline, fold Frodo’s hand closed, and tell him he would have gone with him to the end. Aragorn is certainly a great character, and his response is admirable, but it makes little sense that he would have better control when it comes to the Ring than Galadriel and Gandalf do.
Gandalf Wasn’t Worried Enough About The Ring
Gandalf was aware that Bilbo had found a mysterious ring during the events of The Hobbit, but he doesn’t know that it’s the One Ring until after his search for information in The Fellowship of the Ring. It makes sense that Gandalf wouldn’t have jumped right to that assumption or even thought it was a possibility; that would have seemed impossible. Yet, it’s weird that Gandalf wasn’t more concerned before the events of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Gandalf was an incredibly wise wizard, and he knew about the evils that existed in Middle-earth. It was in some ways his job to know. That only makes it all the more bizarre that he was aware that Bilbo had found a mysterious ring (the very type of object that has caused such horrors before) and didn’t want to better understand what it was and the potential risk it posed.
Sauron Doesn’t Sense The Ring In Mordor
Throughout the events of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, it’s clear that Sauron is closely monitoring the location of the Ring. In fact, at one point, Sauron’s eye can be seen sweeping across the land, ultimately spotting Frodo, causing him to fall to the ground. Yet, when Frodo and Sam are bringing the Ring directly into Mordor—the place where he should feel it the most—it goes undetected for far longer than it should.
Yes, Aragorn leads an army to the Black Gate as a distraction to give Frodo a chance to destroy the Ring, but that still doesn’t explain why Sauron wouldn’t sense the Ring when it was right near Mount Doom itself.
Countless Characters Ignore The Ring’s Warnings
Finally, one of the most confusing aspects of the One Ring is the motivation other characters have for wanting it. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, it’s true, but many characters who never came in contact with the Ring at all wanted it for themselves. The Ring was known to be powerful, but characters like Denethor wouldn’t have had an actual idea of what that power was.
Granted, Denethor was a power-hungry madman to begin with, but on the whole, it should have been clear that the Ring had never fallen into the hands of anyone other than Sauron and been used to that being’s benefit (after all, no one else ever rose to power with it). If anything, the Ring repeatedly proves that it destroys the ring bearer and is useful to no one but Sauron, yet that doesn’t seem to deter most characters from wanting it all the same, whether they’ve been near it before or not.
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