Ooh. Goodie. I'm glad this thread is resurrected.
The question. There are some characters who are, almost undisputedly, bad such as Sauron, Morgoth, those types.
Then there are others who are more in the grey area when it comes to the question of good or evil. I'd say Saruman is definitely one. Then there's also Boromir and Gollum, to name just two more.
Then we have a ton of other characters who we know are overall good, though they may have bad tendencies or do bad things as all mortals are apt to.
Saruman, I think, started out good. When he was appointed head of the White Council, he was certainly more good than bad. But the Ring found his weakness and sorrupted him: his lust for power. Just one example of a good person turned bad by the Ring.
In fact... if you look at the three characters I have mentioned as being questionable above, that's the one thing they all have in common. Their desire for the Ring. Tolkien used these characters who started out good (and Boromir ended that way too, though he had a spot of bad in the middle) and were turned "bad" by the Ring as examples of the Ring's power.
There was a conversation between Sinbearer and I about Gollum that I think applies here, and I'd like your opinion on Ea. I'll edit my post with it after this.
One character who was NOT corrupted by the Ring but who could still be debated as good or bad: Denethor. Most people seem to hate him. But I think we've already battled this out in the Denthor threads.
EDIT:
Starlight wrote:
Not meaning to branch off a bit on the topic, but it has always surprised me that the Ring had such an instant and powerful draw on Smeagol/Gollum. As soon as he saw the Ring, he wanted it, and he wanted it badly enough to kill his best friend for it. No other character was so drawn as that. No other character desired the Ring enough to kill for it upon first sight. I wonder what Tolkien was trying to say about Gollum's character there. I've never quite been able to figure it out.
Sinbearer wrote:
My dad and I have had interesting conversations about that. Some people just seem to be drawn to an evil, or at least dark, path. And conversely, others seem to have an inner light that draws them to being good people that bless others. But who can read the human heart? My grandma used to tell me not to judge too quickly--and she would quote the saying from the indians about walking two moons in anothers moccasins. I really don't know either.
Starlight wrote:
Perhaps, we can never really know for sure, but I think your idea is at the very least on the right track. Maybe Gollum's instant attraction to the Ring did have something to do with the fact that his heart was naturally drawn more to evil. I do remember something of Gandalf's description of him saying something about him being sneaky and a liar, and as a result hated and scorned by his family, but I believe that was after he had got the Ring. That too though could be an indicator of his naturally bad character. He had no desire to use the Ring for good, such as Boromir did. He desired to do michief with it and use it for his own gain. So yes. I like your idea, and I think I'll go with that for an explanation.
