2 things.wayfriend wrote:Does anyone care to speculate what "the decays of time" and "the weariness of the world" refers to?
I don't have the books with me or i'd give a full quote but it's said a few times in the Sil (and Morgoth's Rings) that the Elves and the Valar would envy Eru's Gift to Men.
That Man would leave the world and not be bound in it.
The Valar and the Elves are stuck here.
Forever.
And it's said that the Valar, as time goes on, would become more and more part of the world.
We see this most clearly with Morgoth and Sauron.
(I know they take their forms like we choose clothes but I think it's significant how those forms are changed as ages pass)
Morgoth in the beginning was mountain tall with a crown of lightning and waged with the Valar and would have won if it wasn't for the timely arrival of Tulkas.
As the Ages pass we see more evidence of the transference of personal Power from Morgoth when he enhances Ungoliant (Shelob's Mom) to the point where he needs help from Balrogs to free himself from her.
Then later he gets cut up in a personal battle with Fingolfin, an Elf.
Clearly Morgoth, a Valar, is spending himself.
I see no reason why the 3 Rings (lets play time travel a bit) couldn't have renewed and sustained him.
Same could be said of Sauron.
He feared for his physical body in his battle with Huan, the Hound of the Valar.
His body was then destroyed when Numenor was destroyed so that he could no longer take a fair form.
Then he was slain and his finger cut off.
He was able to reform after many centuries but not that finger.
His spirit was weakening with the abuses he'd endured.
The Valar and Maiar were bound to the world and suffered the weariness from it.
The healing and preservation powers of the 3 Rings would have been welcome to any of them, imho.
