This meant that almost all who had come into contact with his ‘gifts’ fell prey to his treachery, and were poisoned by his ill will and his malice. The dwarves who received rings were already on the edge of greed and ruin, and they too were lost to Sauron’s hatred in different ways, whether it was by being swallowed by dragons, or imprisoned in towers, or digging so deep during a gold lust that they awoke something unspeakable.
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The only beings who managed to escape this terrible fate, and even then only because they were forewarned by Celebrimbor once he had realized the extent of Sauron’s betrayal, were the elves. These immortal beings managed to hide their rings in a safe place, and kept them there until the threat of Sauron had passed, and they were able to use the elven rings without fear of being corrupted.
By the time the War of the Rings comes around in the Third Age of Middle Earth, the elves have managed to use their rings to create life and beauty and goodness in the world. Elrond has used his to strengthen Rivendell, to make it a safe place, the Last Homely House, a refuge for the wounded and the weary. It has amazing healing houses, and a wealth of knowledge and compassion that has been amassed, at least in part, thanks to Elrond’s Ring.
Similarly, Lothlorien is known as the golden wood, because everything that grows there is bathed in the warm light of the sun, or the silver thread of starlight. Galadriel’s powers of light and hope are only amplified by her elven ring, and she uses it to keep her people and her lands safe from the pervading darkness that wants to seep in from all around them. Without her elven ring, Lothlorien may have ended up infested and sick like king Thranduil’s forest of Mirkwood.
Gandalf the wanderer has the third ring, gifted to his care by Cirdan, and it is thought to be part of the source of his amazing fire magic that gets his companions out of many dangerous situations during their quests. However, they are only able to use their rings as such because the threat of Sauron was defeated. So when he once again begins to rise to power, and threatens to seize his master ring and use it to destroy everything they hold close, what does this mean for the 3 elven rings of power? Would Sauron be able to taint and subsequently command Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf through the use of their own elven rings, like he does with the Ringwraiths?
In theory, yes. It would be possible for him to control them using the ultimate ring of power, in the same way that an alpha wolf controls its pack. But this would take a considerable amount of time and domination of willpower, especially for 3 characters who are already so against Sauron and everything he stands for. He was able to influence the 9 Ringwraiths because they were already weak and power hungry. He was able to dominate the dwarves because they were already greedy and self-important.
It would be much harder to control Gandalf or Elrond because they are such strong, good people, and would do anything in their power to protect the world from the dark lord. Therefore, if they had the sense that he was about to be reunited with the One Ring and achieve total authority of Middle Earth, they would have had time to dispose of their rings of power to a safe place like before and flee into the far recesses of the world to regroup and try to come up with a plan to overthrow him once more.
So although it is technically possible, especially in the case of Galadriel, who is already so powerful just on her own that any tainting would be very dangerous for the world, it would be very difficult to make Elrond or Gandalf work under the dark lord. Especially because becoming a wraith takes several hundred years to fully take place, it isn’t an instant switch from mortal man to shadow world foe, despite how quickly it appears that Frodo seems to be becoming one himself after being stabbed with the Morgul blade. Otherwise, both Gollum and Bilbo would have turned into wraiths after having possession of the One Ring for so long.
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