nows that he is an unworthy bearer of the Ring – not because he has evil designs that he wants secretly to accomplish, but rather because his desire to do good is so great." (Wood 208) Gandalf is an important pawn and advantage to the hobbit and dwarves in their adventure. He often guides, gives advice, and overall helps the adventurers along in their great journey. Believers of Christianity also believe that Christ is with them, guiding and showing the way to salvation, throughout their day. Although Gandalf, in Tolkien’s novels, never cured a blind man or leper with a touch of his hand, he compares to Jesus in the miracles of his magic and spell casting. Also, the ring is a symbol of power, evil power. It is the part of nature that continually strives to destroy a person’s ability to exercise free will. In essence, the power of the Ring is the exact opposite of freedom. The purpose of the Ring is to destroy, through deceit and corruption, anything good in the world. Another way to show the evil nature of the ring is to say that it represents the omnipresence of evil. Its very existence, because it contains the evil will of its creator, Sauron, has the power to tempt, corrupt, and, in doing so, destroy. Another way in which the evil nature of the Ring can be depicted is in the way it has seemingly powerful animate abilities as an inanimate object. In order to understand this, one must realize that if the Ring is evil in itself, then it must also have the ability to work evil. It cannot necessarily create evil ideas on its own, but instead it can take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself to the Ring. Specifically, whenever Frodo actually uses the Ring, the Ring has a chance to work its corruption on him. In this way, the Ring is advantageous, and the stronger the presence of evil, the easier it is for the Ring to work on the bearer. For example, in "The Lord of the Rings," the presence of the Witch-king is...
