from THE LETTERS of J.R.R. Tolkien (a selection edited by H. Carpenter
and Christopher Tolkien) Houghton Mifflin Paperback edition
pages 332-333
In any case a confrontation of Frodo and Sauron would
soon have taken place, if the Ring was intact.
Its result was inevitable.
Frodo would have been utterly overthrown:
crushed to dust or preserved in torment as a gibbering slave. . .
In his actual presence none but very few of equal status
could have hoped to withhold it from him (Sauron). . .
Only Gandalf might be exxpected to master him --
being an emissary of the Powers and a creature of the same order,
an immortal taking a visible physical form.
In the chapter 'Mirror of Galdriel', it appears that
Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding
the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord (Sauron).
If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three (Rings),
especially Elrond. . .
Galadriel's rejection of the temptation (supreme power)
was founded upon previous thought and resolve. . .
Gandalf as Ring-Lord would have been far worse than Sauron.
He would have remained 'righteous', but self-righteous.
He would have continued to rule and order things for 'good', and
the benefit of his subjects according to his wisdom (which was and
would have remained great)-- draft of Sept. 1963 letter to
Mrs. Eileen Elgar ends here
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