Sam and the Ring

[MatthewM]

When Sam first puts on the Ring as he hears the Orcs coming after leaving Frodo's presumably dead body-

Wouldn't Sauron know the Ring was being used, and so close to him? Why didn't minions upon minions come onto the area in which Sam used the Ring? I don't truly understand how it is only before Cirith Ungol he realizes he can't use the Ring because the Dark Lord would see him.

[mormegil]

I believe he wasn't in Mordor yet and that he was indeed close to finding him but Sam removed it just in time. Had he crossed the border into Mordor Sam would have been lost and Sauron would have known him.

[Raynor]

Sauron apparently felt the ring, but was hindered in identifiying it due to the shadows he has put around as a defence

Originally Posted by The Tower Of Cirith Ungol, RotK

Immediately he felt the great burden of its weight, and felt afresh, but now more strong and urgent than ever, the malice of the Eye of Mordor, searching, trying to pierce the shadows that it had made for its own defence, but which now hindered it in its unquiet and doubt.

[The 1,000 Reader]

I think Sauron wasn't too bright. If he couldn't see through the clouds around Barad-Dur and Mordor, how'd he see anything?

[Knight of Gondor]

Originally Posted by The 1,000 Reader

I think Sauron wasn't too bright. If he couldn't see through the clouds around Barad-Dur and Mordor, how'd he see anything?

It was Sauron's own arrogance (feeling that his realm was impregnable) that Gandalf and the Council made use of.

[CSteefel]

The question is whether a line of sight is required for Sauron to see or sense the Ring. I suspect it has more to do with the particular relationship between the bearer of the Ring and the Ring itself. So, for example, Sauron knew instantly when Frodo put the Ring on in Mount Doom, but then Frodo basically challenged Sauron directly at this point. The same question comes up with Gollum, who carried the Ring for 500 years in the caverns of the Misty Mountains and was never sensed by Sauron.

[Selmo]

Originally Posted by Raynor

Sauron apparently felt the ring, but was hindered in identifiying it due to the shadows he has put around as a defence

I don't think that Sauron felt the Ring at all.
What Sam felt, through the Ring, was Sauron's power constantly watching over Mordor. Sauron's mind was not concentrated on Cirith Ungol in particular. The vague reports of a spy in that area would not have concerned him. What could a spy learn? That a large army had left Minas Morgal? Gondor would know that soon enough anyway. That an even bigger army was encamped around Gogoroth? That knowledge getting out could only be to Sauron's advantage.
Sauron's greatest fear was that Aragorn, who had shown himself in the Orthanc Stone, had the Ring. He wasn't looking for it on his own borders.

Had Sam tried to use the Ring, Sauron might have known it, but Sam didn't attempt to use the Ring's power. He didn't try to dominate the will of others, the Ring's real power. He just took advantage of accidental by-products of the ring's power: invisibility and sharpened awareness.
.

[The Sixth Wizard]

Originally Posted by Rotk, Mount Doom, page 917

Of all the slaves of the Dark Lord, only the Nazgul could have warned him of the peril that crept, small but indomitable, into the very heart of his guarded realm.

This shows that orcs can't feel the Ring, and Sauron could not feel it even in the heart of his realm (though you may argue it wasn't being used at the time). I don't think Sauron's awareness of the Ring was so great after being separated from it for so long, and it was more of the Ring wanting him.

~Your friendly Wizard~

[Raynor]

Originally Posted by Selmo

What Sam felt, through the Ring, was Sauron's power constantly watching over Mordor.

However, I doubt that Sauron constantly watches around Mordor; the quote mentions greater "urgency", which is more indicative of Sauron's intent, although, he remains in the 'dark'.

Originally Posted by Selmo

The vague reports of a spy in that area would not have concerned him.

Debatable

Originally Posted by The Choices of Master Samwise, TTT

- Now, now, growled Shagrat. I have my orders. And it s more than my belly’s worth, or yours, to break ‘em. _Any_ trespasser found by the guard is to be held at the tower. Prisoner is to be stripped. Full description of every article, garment, weapon, letter, ring, or trinket is to be sent to Lugburz at once, and to Lugburz _only_. And the prisoner is to be kept safe and intact, under pain of death for every member of the guard, until He sends or comes Himself.