Through an analysis of the effects of the Ring of power on individuals in Tolkien's Lord of The Rings trilogy, I came to the conclusion that is implied by my post heading, that is that greed and power do not create monsters, but instead bring out the monstrous capabilities and attributes that lie within. This is a recurring theme throughout the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as a handful of characters are corrupted by the ring and either undergo a full transformation into a monstrous figure, or instead take monstrous actions.
An example that I touched upon previously in one of my earlier posts was Gollum. Out of all the characters that have come in contact with the Ring, Gollum is by far the one who becomes corrupted the most by it. Hundreds of years before he was the monstrous creature known as Gollum, he was known by another name, Smeagol. Smeagol was very similar to a hobbit in terms of both appearance and mannerisms, in that he was short and always seemed to be cheery. But, upon his cousin Deagol finding the Ring, Smeagol is consumed with an intense jealousy and lusts after the Ring. When his cousin denies Smeagol's request for it as a birthday present, Smeagol responds in kind by killing his cousin and taking the Ring for himself. He then spends the next 500 years living in solitude obsessing over the Ring, slowly transforming both physically and mentally into the monster we are all familiar with, the creature Gollum. When Bilbo takes Ring from Gollum, he goes on a wild goose chase across Middle Earth in an attempt to reclaim "his precious". Eventually, he comes upon the hobbit Frodo, who is the current ring-bearer. Gollum then befriends Frodo, plays the roll of the willing servant and guide, and anything else possible to get close to Frodo and set him up to take back the Ring. And when the opportunity arises, after gaining Frodo's trust, Gollum betrays him and this nearly results in Frodo's death. The end of Gollum is brought about when he jumps into the fiery lave pit of Mt. Doom just to achieve a few final moments of being reunited with the Ring before dying a painful death. Gollum is the one example of an individual undergoing a full transformation into a monster as a result of the Ring's power drawing out the monstrous qualities that dwelled within Gollum. Now, others who were also in either possession of the Ring or in it's presence were also were corrupted, but not to the same extent as Gollum because they were not exposed to it for as long a period as he was.
Bilbo was in possession of the Ring for nearly 60 years, and when the time came for him to leave the Shire, he planned on leaving the Shire with the ring. The wizard Gandalf confronted Bilbo and told him to leave the Ring behind, and upon being confronted Bilbo becomes very defensive and protective of the ring. In the novels, he is mentioned even reaching for the hilt of his small sword at one point. In the film, his speech and mannerisms during this confrontation begin to greatly resemble that of Gollum, he even goes so far as to call it "my precious". In both representations of this confrontation, we either see Bilbo consider to result to a monstrous action in the form of fighting, maybe even killing his dear friend Gandalf in order to retain the ring, or to resemble the mindset and take on the characteristics of the monster Gollum, who was previously influenced by the Ring. Again, we see that the Ring strengthens and brings out the inner monster that dwells within it's wielder. And this is no easy feat seeing as hobbits are very gentile, docile creatures, and to be able to make them even think of committing such monstrous acts attests to the Ring's capabilities to draw out the inner demons of its victims through greed and jealousy.
My final example although I have a few more, is that of Mr. Frodo Baggins. I also think the example involving Frodo is a great example in how greed and lust for power can truly bring out the worst in someone. He is the nephew of Bilbo, and is chosen to be the Ring bearer who is responsible for carrying the Ring to Mt. Doom where it is to be destroyed once and for all. During the climax of the movie, when Frodo and Sam have finally made it to Mt. Doom against enourmous odds and have had many people sacrifice themselves for them to have made it this far, Frodo is faced with a choice. Either to drop the Ring into the depths of Mt. Doom, destroying it once and for all, and defeating Sauron and saving countless lives, or to give in to the selfish desires invoked within him by the Ring and keep it for himself. And Frodo chooses the latter sadly, he was so consumed by greed and selfishness due to the Ring that he was willing to sacrifice everyone and everything just to sate his own desires. Ironically, the day was saved only as a result of Gollum's also immense greed and selfishness which drove him to take the Ring from Frodo, and shortly thereafter, die with in the the depths of Mt. Doom.
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