The One Ring of Power is the strongest weapon ever created in Middle Earth, stronger than the other 17 rings combined. But was there ever a time that its master, Sauron, regretted forgiving it? The ring itself is able to twist and corrupt the minds of all who touch it, and even those who stand near its presence are filled with a longing that can drive them to do terrible things to people whom they care about deeply. Its influence is seen throughout Tolkien's works.

With the creation of such a power, Sauron is able to manipulate much of the Second and Third Ages of Middle Earth. He uses it to win many wars, to survive many crushing defeats, and to control many other races of beings. He himself is not the Lord of the Rings; rather, the One Ring is the lord of all others. But, despite the incredible allure of the ring, and all the benefits it brings to the dark lord, he does eventually reach a point in his story where he rues its creation. How can this be?

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The answer revolves around the way in which the ring blinds Sauron to the hearts and minds of others. In some ways, the ring is an incredible tool for him to be able to infiltrate enemy plans, because it connects him to the wearer if the wearer puts it on. When it sits upon a person’s finger, that person enters a shadowy realm, almost as if they pass through a veil into a part of Sauron’s consciousness. This allows Sauron to become aware of them, their whereabouts, and their possession of the evil object. This is why Gandalf insists that Frodo wear it on a chain with magical properties around his neck and never put it on, even if the situation is dire. Whilst this power may seem like an extreme tactical advantage for Sauron, it also makes him complacent. It makes him underestimate the heroes of the story, because he believes that his ring is fool-proof, and that as long as its power exists, he can never be defeated.

Frodo Baggins with the ring in The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King

That is, until the moment that Frodo stands on the brink of the fire-pit in Mount Doom, where all of Sauron's power and authority in the world can instantly be undone. Sauron is so heavily tied to the ring, that it has saved him on several occasions. However, it also holds his Ea, his essence of sorts, which is his only chance at survival. And although Sauron doesn’t actually die when the ring is destroyed, it does remove him so far from his physical presence in the world that he will never again be able to rise up and regain strength. At this moment, when Frodo puts on the ring, and the plan to destroy it is finally revealed, Sauron does indeed regret its creation:

‘The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash […] Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung.’

By using the word ‘folly’, Tolkien highlights the regret within Sauron, and all the decisions that led him here. He is so self-assured in the ring’s power that he cannot conceive of anyone wanting to destroy it. That is exactly why it was the only play that the heroes had, the only thing they could do to actually win the war and defeat Sauron forever: because it was the only thing he would never see coming. Although Boromir’s plan to use the ring against Sauron seemed like the only logical option presented at the Council of Elrond, it was an obvious plan that Sauron himself would assume of his enemy. He would have been able to send the Nazgul to Gondor to retrieve the ring, because the ring would have undoubtedly manipulated someone into putting it on and alerted its master to its whereabouts. But the idea that someone could want to get rid of such power, rather than seizing it for themselves, is unfathomable to the Dark Lord. This is where his fear rises from when he realizes his mistake.

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Sauron abandons his great hoards of orcs, removes all will and direction from his armies, and devotes every ounce of his being into calling the Nazgul back to Mount Doom to try to prevent the hobbits from destroying it. He knows it is his very tether to existence, and that if it goes, he goes with it, forever. Placing his entire life-line in a seemingly indestructible object seemed like a great idea. It suggested permanence, a way to cheat physical death in Middle Earth as long as the ring, and therefore his spiritual essence, survived. But eventually, the creation of the ring is what leads to his undoing. In the final moments, before he falters forever, he realizes that binding himself to a malicious lump of gold wasn’t the fool-proof plan he had hoped for.

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