Tolkien and the Inklinks

[fballa]

In this lecture I found the link between power and corruption very interesting. In particular the sentence "The power corrupts and the absolute power corrupts absolutely". In Tolkien's trilogy the ring forged by Sauron, the dark lord, is a source of incredible power for its owner but it also plagiarises their mind and turn it into evil. This corruption doesn't affect only the owner but also all those who know about its power. In fact the ring arouses in everyone the desire of achieving more power, even the absolute power. Only a few characters can bear this challenge. Some of them are humble and little like the hobbits who seem to be less influenced by the corruption of the power, maybe because of their calm and peaceful nature, others are wise and powerful like Gandalf or Galadriel. These have already experienced power and have won its challenge keeping their good nature. They refuse even to touch the ring because they know that if they got it, they would become so powerful they could defeat the dark lord himself but then they would become tyrants like him imposing their supremacy over everyone. Then there is Tom Bombadil, maybe the oddest character of the whole trilogy, who isn't even touch by the desire of power. What does it represent? I really can't answer to this question but I think that one of the most beautiful characteristics of Tolkien's works is the sense of mistery that pervades his fantastic world.