Frodo's Temptation and The Wound That Wouldn't Heal
The Ruling Ring was an inert object, however, and required the will and ego of a living being upon whom to exercise its own 'will', a most formidable one, forged and refined in its virulence under the tutelage of Melkor/Morgoth through long ages of deceit and cunning. As Sauron grew in power in the Third Age, furthermore, so also did the Ring grow in its power. The Ring could incite extreme covetousness, murderous compulsion and paranoia which only the very wise and the very innocent had hope of resisting. There was, additionally, a 'proximity effect' whereby the closer the Ring came to the hand of Sauron, the more powerful its influence upon its bearer or wearer.
Its ruinous effect on those (other than Sauron) who had claimed possession of it is well known. Isildur fell immediately under its malicious charm by claiming it as a weregild, a payment for the death of his father and brother and refused to destroy it despite the impassioned insistence of Elrond. His repayment for this service to the Ring was his own death at the hands of orcs when the Ring abandoned him, leaving him exposed during an ambush in the Gladden Fields.
Smeagol's enchantment as a servant to the will of the Ring was, by accounts, instantaneous. No sooner had his cousin Deagol found the Ring than Smeagol demanded it from him and, forthwith, murdered him when Deagol refused. Smeagol was then driven from his community for his crime and took up his pathetic residence under the roots of the Misty Mountains where the malice of the Ring and his greed for the 'Precious-s' consumed him.
Gandalf speculated that Bilbo found the Ring in the goblin tunnels because it desired to be found and returned to Sauron, something which Gollum would never, in his greed, do willingly. An orc or goblin in Moria would have been the most likely agent of the Ring's return to Sauron after it had abandoned Gollum. Fortunately, Bilbo stumbled upon it first and thus began a long detour in the path of the Ring back to Mordor.
By possessing the Ring for so many years and wearing it more than occasionally, Bilbo himself had come under its sinister spell despite his innocence. As fate and Bilbo's good fortune would have it, during the time in which he had possession of the Ring, Sauron was not at the height of his power. Neither
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