The mortals (like Frodo and Bilbo) who put on the Ring in The Lord of the Rings actually turn invisible to those around them in the physical or Seen world. It almost looks like in the movie trilogy that Frodo doesn’t just turn invisible, but is actually transported to some other world where the disembodied Sauron lives. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo puts on the Ring at Weathertop. When he does, the Ringwraiths—who were cloaked in black hoods and armor just moments prior—suddenly look a lot different. They appear like ghostly images of very old and slightly disfigured kings of Men.
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So what happens when someone (a mortal like a Hobbit or Man) puts on the Ring, are they just invisible, or are they transported to some other kind of Unseen world? Wearing the Ring will affect mortals and immortals differently, but speaking just about what happens to Frodo in the movies (who is a mortal), when he puts on the Ring, Frodo is actually transported to the spiritual world—which is a place called the Wraithworld, sometimes referred to as the Unseen or Twilight world.
The Wraithworld (unsurprisingly) is where the Ringwraiths live. In Tolkien’s work, there are spiritual beings like the Maiar or Valar, who are angelic or God-like beings without form. If they want to interact with the physical world of Middle Earth, they must give themselves bodies. Otherwise, they can roam the earth, invisible, and Unseen. It is not necessary for those of the spiritual world to interact with the physical world, though. The Ringwraiths were once Men, that is until Sauron tricked them by giving to them nine Rings of Power that prolonged their lives for so long, they faded away into nothing and became slaves to the Ring and Sauron.
The Ringwraiths are now spirits that are neither living nor dead, and they exist only in the Wraithworld. However, Sauron gave The Nine magical armor and weapons they could use to interact with the physical world. Without the armor, the Ringwraiths would be invisible (like all other beings in the Wraithworld) and would not be able to touch anything in the Seen world. Because Sauron’s body was defeated, his disembodied spirit also lives within the Wraithworld. When Sauron was defeated by Isildur in The Last Alliance of Elves and Men, his life force was transferred to the Ring. This is because not all Maiar are created equally, and his power was finite. With the Ring, Sauron used dark magic to store and amplify all his power so that he could become infinitely powerful.
When Sauron was separated from the Ring, he lost all power and strength. The invisibility the Ring gives the mortal wearer is only a side effect, essentially. What the Ring actually does to mortals is transport them to the Wraithworld. And with the Ring in possession, the mortal will have prolonged life. What Frodo sees when he wears the Ring is truly frightening, and it’s almost like he is in a foggy, ghost-filled Twilight world—that’s because he actually is in the Twilight world. This juxtaposes the feeling the audience gets when Bilbo uses the Ring. When Bilbo used the Ring at his birthday party, it was almost like a practical joke. Bilbo even says using the Ring to surprise his friends and family was “just a bit of fun.” And of course, the audience doesn’t get to see what Bilbo sees like they do with Frodo.
But still, the audience (at that point in the movie) doesn’t have any reason to be afraid of what Bilbo might be experiencing while wearing the Ring. Did Bilbo not see the same thing Frodo saw—which was the frightening and threatening Eye of Sauron and ghost Ringwraiths? When Bilbo uses the Ring, Sauron is still weak. When Sauron is weak, so are the Ringwraiths. In the books, Frodo actually has the Ring for 17 years before heading off to Rivendale with Sam. That is how long it took Gandalf to figure out that Bilbo’s magical, invisibility ring was actually the One Ring. During this time, Sauron’s strength returned and multiplied.
During those 17 years, Sauron’s army also found Gollum—the last known Keeper of the Ring—and tortured him to find out where it was. When Sauron knew where to look and who to look for, he immediately sent all nine Ringwraiths out to look for the Ring. That is why when Frodo puts on the Ring in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, what he sees is more frightening than what Bilbo might have, because the Ringwraiths were now closer and more powerful, and Sauron’s eye was fixed on the Shire and Frodo.
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