Are we talking about the books? Or the movies?
'
Either way there's no REAL answer I'm aware of, because Tolkien hadn't ever planned on the ring being "The one ring" when he wrote the hobbit.
'
Still, a popular opinion that spans both mediums seems to imply: Sauron was, simply put, preoccupied.
'
The Nazgul and Sauron both lost their physical forms (I get the feeling the Nazgul's forms may largely rely on Sauron to begin with) after the whole fuck up with Isildur-- at which point, it should be noted, a lot of people like to say Sauron believed the Ring to be destroyed or lost forever.
'
That being the case, we now have a severely weakened Sauron and Nazgul with no real way of knowing what's become of his favourite piece of jewelry, and no way of getting it back anyhow. So he does what anyone does and busies himself causing trouble and raising the dead over near Mirkwood.
The Witch King does something similar, but, largely due to shenanigans of the elves, he ends up with his army defeated, they both end up back in Mordor, at which point the Witch king gets busy gathering the other 8 nazgul, and sauron gets busy turning into a giant eyeball.
'
Now, if you want to follow the books, it's implied that Sauron doesn't actually have all that much awareness of where the ring is at any given time. The entire reason Aragorn and Randall (my phone has renamed Gandalf)'s whole "last stand" against Mordor is so effective is because Sauron believes Aragorn has the ring. This is why he makes the decision to come at them with everything he's got
It also may be worth noting that Tom Bombadill wore the ring and turned neither invisible nor did the nazgul swoop down on them.
'
So in a nutshell:
-the nazgul and sauron were regrouping
-the ring doesn't effect everyone the same way (how much power it has over them depends largely on the individual)
-the "homing" for the ring isn't perfect
-Tolkien hadn't thought of all the details yet
-Sauron's a giant eye
You beat me to it. Lol. I want to add a couple thoughts of my own as well though. Tommy B is OLD. Tolkien doesn’t give much info on him and basically said that he didn’t have any more info on the guy. But Tommy B’s name in several languages translates to some version of ancient, and in the books he’s said to be older than basically middle earth and it’s imploed the oldest being featured in the stories. There are tons of theories about him being what is basically a “god” in middle earth compared to angels or demigods like Gandalf or Sauron. So it’s possible he wasn’t effected because he’s more powerful than the ring. Others theorize that to his nature- he is neither good or bad and doesn’t really even contain those alignments in his nature. He wants nothing and so the power of the ring both holds no sway on him nor interest in him. But it’s all theory really. As for the rest- yeah. I think the most obvious explainations for how Bilbo “got away” with having the ring were one or many:
1. The ring wants to find its way back to Sauron. It’s chances of getting back or closer to back we’re better with Bilbo than with Smaug or lost in the wilderness. Bilbo would bring it to contact with civilization and increase its odds of getting home. Bilbo didn’t know what it was so to him it was just a ring. Same as Sméagol. Frodo however knew and actively sought to destroy the ring. Not something Sauron or the ring would like to happen. Given that fact and the rising resistance against himA Saurons strategy of patiently waiting while building his forces and power and corrupting and manipulating events to facilitate a sure victory was pressed for time and action was required. Before that point his forces were “in the darkness” using obscurity as a shield so they wouldn’t be stopped while they were weak and building strength. To send Nazgul would be a red flag. All he had to do was wait for men to get weaker and the elves to leave. Time was on his side and there was no rush for the..
... ring. Especially when a reckless grab for it would expose him and his plans and put the whole thing in danger when he was holding most of the cards.
2. As you say- people get busy and they may not have yet realized the ring was back. Dude isn’t all seeing and had stuff going on so it’s not like he was just looking 24/7 for the ring that was lost forever ago. He knows it can only be destroyed in his back yard, and it will literally try and find its way back to him, and so long as men and dwarves and elves were divided and fought amongst themselves and he was being ignored- what was the rush? His forces get stronger every day and theirs weaker. So if he gets the ring back in a few decades he still wins by his accounting.
3. Tolkien hadn’t thought it all out and even later on there are some things he didn’t think out. He said that some things in fantasy should be mysteries even to their creators. To borrow from Tarantino I paraphrase: there are no plot holes only weak imaginations
Exactly. I love how often times even for gaping unintentional plotholes for Tolkien's works there's still often plausible explanations you can find in the lore itself.
'
As a side note, which is unrelated to the main points of the conversation-- Tom Bombadill always weirded me out, so I never really liked his character that much, but I do remember him being all powerful. I think Frodo even asks Gandalf about how Tom could have mastered the one ring and Gandalf said something along the lines of "he doesn't have power over the ring, the ring simply has no power over him," which makes me think that, even in all of Tom's glory, he would never be able to wield the power of the ring because it is literally bound to Sauron. To quote Aragorn "it has no other master." It's main purpose (as I understood it) is to force people to submit to Sauron's will, so even if Tom COULD wield that power, it wouldn't do him much good to make a bunch of people start worshipping Sauron.
As an added note related to the main topic, people also have to remember that Sauron and the Nazgul literally had to kidnap and torture Gollum to find their way to Bilbo. I think the closer, and more focused they are on the ring the easier it is for them to locate where it's call is coming from.
'
But great distance seems to greatly obscure it from them, even when it's being worn. And Hobbiton is about as far from Mordor as you can get-- and a decent trek from Mirkwood as well
Well... the Nazgul really sucked at their job. They were toe to toe with Frodo on 3 occasions at least (leaving the Shire, at Weathertop, and at the river).. and. nothing. XD Weathertop in particular... like... dude... instead of stabbing him use that time to just grab the ring.
@xvarnah- you make good points. And I agree that it’s nest how through combination of design and or coincidence things fit pretty well together in Tolkiens world with enough room for ambiguity to do so but not so much that it could be called poor or lazy work (of course Tolkien and LOTR are about as far from Lazy work as one gets already....) Also- I never liked him either. There’s a satire book called “Bored of the Rings” I read when I was young after the original stories. I didn’t like his spoof character either. And to be honest- I didn’t like the hobbit as a child either. The story was fine but I disliked the way it was written and preferred the LOTR style.
@funkmasterrex- lol. True. So often in fiction we can only explain incompetence on the fact that without it the story would end far sooner than most involved including the author would like. They are a pretty good example.
@funkmasterrex this, again, depends on movie vs book. iirc the Nazgul were trying to obtain the ring, but the reason for stabbing Frodo was to enslave him. They were attempting to turn him into a wraith under their (and, by extension, Sauron's) power. He'd be a slave of Mordor to be tormented and used as they saw fit.
'
In the book Frodo actually says "Elbereth," (I believe in the movies he only says this around Shelob), which is high elvish. It startles the witch king and causes him to miss Frodo's heart (his dagger actually breaks off in Frodo's shoulder and continues winding it's way toward his heart). This, Along with the appearance of Aragorn, unsettled them slightly.
'
At the Ford they are actually attempt to coax/command Frodo to submit to them. I went into more depth on a different post, but the wraiths actually aren't all that keen on water, or light-- or elves. So they're hesitant to cross the river to begin with. They actually rely mostly on fear to do their work.
In the books frodo is mostly conscious at this point and he makes it across the river alone on asfolath and manages to resist their calls to him long enough for Glorfindel (Arwen takes his altered role in the movie), Aragorn, and the hobbits to Harry the other Nazgul into the river, at which point the elven magic placed upon the water disrobes them and they get washed away
@guest_ haha I had the opposite experience-- the hobbit was one of the first novels I fell in love with. And then when I heard of LotR I raced to read it. And when I attempted it the writing style completely threw me for a loop. It took me years to pick it up again and give it a proper go.
'
I don't think anyone likes Tom Bombadill <.< >.>
Tbh I was actually thinking maybe you meant Buckleberry Ferry. And now I'm starting to realize how often the Nazgul seem to appear near bodies of water
That whole sequence was what I meant when they were leaving the Shire. Everything from them hiding under the roots of the tree all the way up to getting on the ferry. They seriously suck at their jobs lol. And yeah, they do appear near water A LOT. Even when flying over the marshes... for things that don't like water... c'mon man!
'
Either way there's no REAL answer I'm aware of, because Tolkien hadn't ever planned on the ring being "The one ring" when he wrote the hobbit.
'
Still, a popular opinion that spans both mediums seems to imply: Sauron was, simply put, preoccupied.
'
The Nazgul and Sauron both lost their physical forms (I get the feeling the Nazgul's forms may largely rely on Sauron to begin with) after the whole fuck up with Isildur-- at which point, it should be noted, a lot of people like to say Sauron believed the Ring to be destroyed or lost forever.
'
That being the case, we now have a severely weakened Sauron and Nazgul with no real way of knowing what's become of his favourite piece of jewelry, and no way of getting it back anyhow. So he does what anyone does and busies himself causing trouble and raising the dead over near Mirkwood.
'
Now, if you want to follow the books, it's implied that Sauron doesn't actually have all that much awareness of where the ring is at any given time. The entire reason Aragorn and Randall (my phone has renamed Gandalf)'s whole "last stand" against Mordor is so effective is because Sauron believes Aragorn has the ring. This is why he makes the decision to come at them with everything he's got
'
So in a nutshell:
-the nazgul and sauron were regrouping
-the ring doesn't effect everyone the same way (how much power it has over them depends largely on the individual)
-the "homing" for the ring isn't perfect
-Tolkien hadn't thought of all the details yet
-Sauron's a giant eye
2. As you say- people get busy and they may not have yet realized the ring was back. Dude isn’t all seeing and had stuff going on so it’s not like he was just looking 24/7 for the ring that was lost forever ago. He knows it can only be destroyed in his back yard, and it will literally try and find its way back to him, and so long as men and dwarves and elves were divided and fought amongst themselves and he was being ignored- what was the rush? His forces get stronger every day and theirs weaker. So if he gets the ring back in a few decades he still wins by his accounting.
3. Tolkien hadn’t thought it all out and even later on there are some things he didn’t think out. He said that some things in fantasy should be mysteries even to their creators. To borrow from Tarantino I paraphrase: there are no plot holes only weak imaginations
'
As a side note, which is unrelated to the main points of the conversation-- Tom Bombadill always weirded me out, so I never really liked his character that much, but I do remember him being all powerful. I think Frodo even asks Gandalf about how Tom could have mastered the one ring and Gandalf said something along the lines of "he doesn't have power over the ring, the ring simply has no power over him," which makes me think that, even in all of Tom's glory, he would never be able to wield the power of the ring because it is literally bound to Sauron. To quote Aragorn "it has no other master." It's main purpose (as I understood it) is to force people to submit to Sauron's will, so even if Tom COULD wield that power, it wouldn't do him much good to make a bunch of people start worshipping Sauron.
'
But great distance seems to greatly obscure it from them, even when it's being worn. And Hobbiton is about as far from Mordor as you can get-- and a decent trek from Mirkwood as well
'
In the book Frodo actually says "Elbereth," (I believe in the movies he only says this around Shelob), which is high elvish. It startles the witch king and causes him to miss Frodo's heart (his dagger actually breaks off in Frodo's shoulder and continues winding it's way toward his heart). This, Along with the appearance of Aragorn, unsettled them slightly.
'
At the Ford they are actually attempt to coax/command Frodo to submit to them. I went into more depth on a different post, but the wraiths actually aren't all that keen on water, or light-- or elves. So they're hesitant to cross the river to begin with. They actually rely mostly on fear to do their work.
'
I don't think anyone likes Tom Bombadill <.< >.>