Lord of the Rings Fans Are Still Confused by This One Ring Problem

The first entry in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released in theaters more than 23 years ago, and all three films continue to be wildly popular amongst fans to this day. The popularity of The Lord of the Rings has never waned. There are always new fans discovering J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth for the very first time, which also means that there are constantly new people asking questions that viewers have been asking for more than two decades. And one of the most common questions people continue to have about Lord of the Rings centers on the One Ring itself, and the potential plot hole that some believe it causes.

Essentially, the issue a lot of people have with Sauron’s “One ring to rule them all” is that it doesn’t seem to follow its own rules. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, we learn that wearing the ring for any amount of time signals the terrifying Nazgûl — also known as the Ringwraiths. They are drawn to it, no matter where it might be in Middle-earth, making it easy for them to track the ring down. These fallen kings of man use this ability to hunt Frodo throughout his journey to Mordor.

Where the problem exists for viewers is in the recent history of the ring prior to it being given to Frodo. Why did the Nazgûl never chase after Gollum or Bilbo when they were in possession of the ring? After all, the two of them were arguably much easier to catch, since neither were on a journey to destroy it (and at least Bilbo had little idea of the power the ring contained).

There is an answer to this question, don’t worry. The Lord of the Rings doesn’t hinge on a major plot hole. We’ve just got to unpack the situation a little bit.

Gollum had the ring for years and years while he was living under the Misty Mountains. And, Tolkien explains in The Hobbit, Gollum wore the ring a lot, often for extended periods of time. Then there’s Bilbo, who used the ring during the events of The Hobbit and would periodically use it over the course of the rest of his life in The Shire.

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Neither of those characters were ever disturbed by the Nazgûl in the decades they each had the ring. As soon as Frodo inherits it, though, they are coming for him. For a lot of viewers, it can seem like this is just an easy plot fix to create tension at the start of Frodo’s journey to Mordor. By introducing the Nazgûl, there’s an enormous sense of danger and urgency, and it keeps Frodo from simply hiding behind the safety of the ring’s invisibility throughout his quest.

So why didn’t the Nazgûl go after Bilbo or Gollum prior to the events of The Fellowship of the Ring? It may feel like this issue is just glossed over or ignored for the sake of the story, because the Nazgûl killing an unassuming hobbit in the Shire and giving Sauron his power back without a struggle wouldn’t make for a compelling tale.

The reason for all this comes back to Sauron himself, as well as the specific powers of the Nazgûl. From the time Sauron had the ring cut off his hand by Isildur, until the start of The Fellowship of the Ring, the Dark Lord was essentially in hiding, regaining his strength. This is addressed briefly at the beginning of Fellowship, as his sudden resurgence is really what kick-starts the entire story.

The Nazgûl’s powers are tied to that of Sauron, whom they became entirely connected to as their nine rings rotted them from the inside out. The once mighty kings of men essentially became slaves to the Dark Lord, forever harnessed to his power, and the power of his One Ring. So in the years Sauron didn’t have his power, the Nazgûl weren’t at their best either.

More importantly, Sauron wasn’t looking for the ring in all that time he was recovering. All of his efforts were put into gaining his power back and building his army. And tabs were kept on where the ring might have ended up, as evidenced by the capture and torture of Gollum (who tipped them off to the ring being in the Shire). But Sauron and his Nazgûl didn’t start actively searching for it until he was fully ready to return.

In the times when Gollum and Bilbo had the ring, nobody was trying to track it down. It isn’t like the Nazgûl had some magical alert system for the ring being used while they were dormant in Mordor. Once Sauron gave the order to find the ring and sent them out into Middle-earth (at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring), they began tracking when and where the ring slipped onto someone’s finger.

That someone just happened to be Frodo Baggins of The Shire.