Did the Ring Shrink?

[The Perky Ent]

If this thread already exsist, I truly apologize! Anyways, we all know that hobbits are little people. They're generally around four feet tall and have furry feet. We also all know that men are much bigger than hobbits, without the furry feet. To add to this, Sauron was, in his physical form, bigger than the average man. Now, comparing Sauron to hobbits, there's a big size difference. The entire body is scaled down. Now, if it's true that the entire body of a hobbit is of a smaller scale then that of Sauron, you're ready for my question. How was the ring able to fit Frodo?

When Sauron forged his ring, it was forged for him, and no other. That means, as Sauron is large, the ring would have to be large enough to fit his finger. So, unless Sauron had disformed fingers, I can't understand why Frodo can put the ring on comfortably, while Sauron, who is considerably bigger, can do the same thing!

Is the ring a "one size fits all" item? Or did it shrink while it was in the Gladden River? Of all the theroys, a sort of "backwards diffusion" makes the most sense. It fit Sauron and Isildur, and after a couple hundred years in water, it could have shunk. That explains Deagol, Smeagol, and Frodo. At it's new size, it would have fit a hobbit. So that is my question! Did the ring shrink?

[Morsul the Dark]

yes yes it did

and remember in the book it said it would fall loose from a finger where it was just tight

thats how it slipped from isildur's hand

and they show the ring shrinking very nicely in the movie

[The Perky Ent]

Did they? I never noticed that effect! I'll have to watch for it. But I always thought the ring would slip because it would abandone it's owner, like it did for Isildur and Gollum. It betrayed them. I don't think it had to do with size!

[Morsul the Dark]

watch when isildur picks up the ring

and heres the quote

"it did not seem always of the same size or weight it shrank or expanded in an odd way."

page 46 FOTR 4th paragraph last three lines

[The Perky Ent]

Maybe it's because when Sauron lost power, it began shrinking without it's owner. That poses a further question! If Sauron never got the ring, and was defeated, but the ring was never destoryed, would it have shrinked out of exsistance?

[Morsul the Dark]

I highly doubt it "at any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit" Tom Bombadil...

Bombadil could wear the ring without much trouble getting it on and he was bigger than the hobbits so therefore we can assume the ring grew enough for it to fit on his finger

Oh and another thing if it had grown too small for the big folk to wear why would gandalf have to worry about carrying it he would not be able to wear it

[The Perky Ent]

You don't necessarily need to have it on to have it's power effect. Take boromir.

[ohtatyaro]

It was changing its size as it's bearers changed. I mean, hobbits fingers must be smaller, right? But it fitted Bilbo, and it fitted Isildur

It would not have shrinked itself away if Sauron never got it. But it's influence was not pwerful when Sauron was weak. I mean, Gollum had it for 5 centuries and was not completely bad

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

About a year and a half ago, in all my newbie glory, I started a Ring-based thread and put forward a rather naive suggestion. There was one Downer who replied simply; The Ring is very powerful, it's not just some cheap magic trick.

Or words to that effect. That statement is relevant here. The Ring has brains, so to speak, and is capable of all sorts.

[ninlaith]

Yes the ring does shrink. Or more like the person that holds the ring imagines the ring shrinking so they can have control. But really it has control over them. And as Eomer pointed out the ring does speak. It has a voice for every person tempted by the ring. For example Aragorn, the ring calls him Elessar...a name of power and truth... the ring has a very sweet seductive tongue when it speaks to him. With Frodo it's more of a disheartening black speech that wishes to overtake the naive young hobbit...and it knew it could easily in time. Then Boromir...a very menacing voice of black speech....a voice of brutal, hideous power....almost as if saying to him "You could have this power...take the ring!!" PJ does a little explanation about the voice and the rings "shrinking" on the extended edition.

[elronds_daughter]

hmmmm.... I would be inclined to say yes. The Ring has a mind of its own.

it did not seem always of the same size or weight it shrank or expanded in an odd way.

and

in the book it said it would fall loose from a finger where it was just tight

The Ring expands and shrinks as it will--to betray Isildur and get him killed; to abandon Gollum and find a new bearer. Listen to Eomer of the Rohirrim:

The Ring is very powerful, it's not just some cheap magic trick.

[Imladris]

it [the ring] seemed to have become thicker and heavier than ever.

...but the Ring slipped from his finger as he swam.

It may slip off treacherously

It seemed to grow larger as it lay for a moment on his big brown skinned hand.

I think those quotes settle the matter...if it hasn't already been settled...


I would like to point out that I don't remember the Ring speaking at all in the books...Also the bit about the Ring calling out to Elessar is a PJ invention as Aragorn never had close contact with the Ring or Frodo at the end of FotR.

[elronds_daughter]

I would like to point out that I don't remember the Ring speaking at all in the books...Also the bit about the Ring calling out to Elessar is a PJ invention as Aragorn never had close contact with the Ring or Frodo at the end of FotR.

very true. though that scene did add an element of suspence.




oh, by the way.....

Did all that settle the question for you, Perky? You can't refute what the book says, after all.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I wouldn't say the Ring had a mind of its own. The 'mind' in question was Sauron's.

[elronds_daughter]

ah, yes. True. I stand corrected.

[Lotrelf]

"A Ring of power looks after itself." Ring changed the size. It fit Smeagal, Isildur, Bilbo, Frodo and Sam-and none of them mention any kind of difficulty in putting it on. And all of them have fingers of different size.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Lotrelf

"A Ring of power looks after itself." Ring changed the size. It fit Smeagal, Isildur, Bilbo, Frodo and Sam-and none of them mention any kind of difficulty in putting it on. And all of them have fingers of different size.

It's clear that the Ring did alter its size to suit the wearer. The Nine, the Seven, and the Three would seem to have been deliberately imparted with that ability, as the physical attributes of their potential users would have been unforeseeable.
The question though, is why the One Ring would do that. Certainly it was only made for one person, Sauron. So why the flexibility in sizing? Maybe that was connected with the fact the it contained a large part not only of Sauron's power, but his will and fea as well. It simply adjusted itself to fit a temporary bearer until it could make its way back to its master.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The question though, is why the One Ring would do that. Certainly it was only made for one person, Sauron. So why the flexibility in sizing? Maybe that was connected with the fact the it contained a large part not only of Sauron's power, but his will and fea as well. It simply adjusted itself to fit a temporary bearer until it could make its way back to its master.

It's also worth remembering that Sauron forged the One back when he could still change his form. Presumably he would need the One to be able to fit on any sized finger he might manifest (prior to the Akallabêth).

[Lotrelf]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

It's clear that the Ring did alter its size to suit the wearer. The Nine, the Seven, and the Three would seem to have been deliberately imparted with that ability, as the physical attributes of their potential users would have been unforeseeable.
The question though, is why the One Ring would do that. Certainly it was only made for one person, Sauron. So why the flexibility in sizing? Maybe that was connected with the fact the it contained a large part not only of Sauron's power, but his will and fea as well. It simply adjusted itself to fit a temporary bearer until it could make its way back to its master.

Yes, that's what I was thinking. The Ring was like a terrorist in disguise who is your friends but still doing its job (of whatever the ter. is asked to do). The Ring would want its bearer to "love" it, so the size matters.
But what does this suggest? I mean why couldn't the Ring just be like it was?

[Belegorn]

Sort of like Sauron the Ring could shift its form. It is basically made up of most of Sauron's essence.