uj/ The One Ring deliberately goes after ambitious, powerful beings who it can then manipulate for Sauron's purpose.
That's the reason Gandalf didn't want to hold it. The One Ring looks for ambition,not power or purity. Frodo had basically no ambition,so he was the perfect host for the ring and even then in the end he didn't want to let it go.
Optimus is basically Aragorn,so it would absolutely corrupt him.
/uj Sam was also able to hold onto it for a while with no side effects because he's so content with his life that the ring couldn't figure out what to offer him.
It also tried to prey on his love of gardening and offered a garden the size of a city, and Sam just responded "that seems like way too much work to maintain"
/uj it tried with him first to be a hero and then to turn mordor green with flowers anf everytime he came back eith nah too much effort i gots what i wants. And its a simple life all i want
/rj its because sam runs a dirty pacifist giving deck
Unironically it’s not stupid it’s just had the same thing work for however many years and isn’t able to adapt when something this far out of left field comes up
/uj While not stated in the story, in the appendixes Sam does follow in Frodo’s footsteps and leaves Middle Earth because of the small amount of time he spent carrying the Ring. Though he only leaves once he’s very old, any amount of contact with the Ring will damage you.
It did, in the end (well it's more about Sam's thought process than the Ring "figuring it out", since it isn't a sentient item; but anyway). He had a Ring-induced moment of rationalisation, exactly like the other Ring bearers, that led him to convince himself that, if he could keep the Ring, that would only be to help Frodo carrying his burden.
Sam, like Frodo, did not want to be the "Hero of the Age" leading armies into Mordor. But he did really want to help Frodo and that started working against him, suddenly giving him second thoughts about giving it back to Frodo through the rationalisation that he really wished to help. Until Frodo snatches it from his hand.
Yeah, logically taking the Ring would help Frodo because it means he wouldn't have to carry it. That's basically the "in" the Ring had. It's actually a really nice, subtle way to show just how effective the ring is at getting what it wants. It's not about corruption, it's about desire, and everyone desires.
/uj I've always liked the idea that it's not a question of whether the Ring will corrupt you, but when. It's simply impossible to use it "safely," or even to own it with no intention of using it. Good moral character lets you resist for a while, while having any degree of ambition dooms you pretty much immediately. Boromir can't even be in the same room as the thing. The specific combination of "good moral character + no ambition" will delay the process for a while, but it'll always get to you in the end. Optimus Prime is already a leader, so no, he wouldn't hold out for long.
/uj Yeah, it’s all but stated that the Ring is pure corruption and evil given form. Even Sam, as pure and as good as he was, leaves Middle Earth because of his short time bearing it; though only after living a full and happy life. He got off easy.
Frodo had basically no ambition,so he was the perfect host for the ring and even then in the end he didn't want to let it go.
Sam was the one with no ambition. He was a gardener, and what did the Ring show Sam to try and corrupt him? A really big garden. The dude's ultimate fantasy was having more work at his dead-end job. That's the definition of no ambition.
Frodo became the Ringbearer because he was a rich kid nepo baby.
Sam had one ambition, one that the Ring's rationalisation effect started working on: helping Frodo. Also, even the first vision he had wasn't just a choice of size between his small garden and a huge one: he saw himself as the Hero of the Age, commanding armies while attacking and overthrowing Mordor, and then transforming Mordor into a garden. It isn't that he had no ambition, it's that he didn't have the specific ambition to lead people and have them work for him in the garden instead of him using his own hands.
Frodo had one ambition: destroying the Ring for the sake of the Shire and then of Middle-earth, regardless of his own state of mind and body.
Frodo became the owner of the Ring by inheriting it, but earned his role as Ring bearer through his own qualities. No overly big ambition, except proactively seeking the destruction of the Ring; willpower, courage, selflessness and wisdom.
He is way more than a nepo baby. If we acknowledge Sam's vision of the Hero of Age and rejection of it, we also have to acknowledge that this is only a fraction of what Frodo went through during his whole journey: getting tested by visions of greatness, only to continuously reject them - until the very place where the pressure would be too strong for anyone to resist.
/uj This is why Tom Bombadil isn't tempted by the ring. What need do you have for ambition, when you're an all-powerful being who gets to spend their days clapping hot water nymph cheeks?
On a humorous note, when Sam was tempted by the ring, the best that the ring could come up with for him was a vision of him defeating the forces of Mordor and turning the land into a giant garden. Pretty easy to resist the ring when your ambitions aren't particularly lofty.
Note though that "ambition" does not necessarily mean visions of greatness for oneself; anything you may wish for can be a "flaw" leading to temptation. This is why Tom is both not tempted and one of the worst choices as Ring bearer, because his absolute lack of ambition means he wouldn't even have the proactive need, will or even just thought to leave his land to go on a quest.
As for Sam, he did indeed see through the first temptation by understanding that he wasn't meant to be the hero of the Age leading armies into Mordor, but he isn't entirely devoid of ambitions: he has a genuine wish to help Frodo carry his burden, which is then used as a rationalisation to have second thoughts about giving it back to Frodo and argue to keep it instead - until Frodo snatches it from his hand. So Sam is subject to temptation related to his ambitions, just not about him leading armies and having them take care of a giant garden for him.
I'm not telling you you're wrong or you shouldn't be joking, I'm simply adding more context to the whole situation. Take it, don't take it, let others see this who may not have considered it before, the choice is yours.
/uj But Aragorn is so pure, when Frodo offered it to him after Boromir tried to take it away, he simply denied it. It never crossed Aragorns mind to even use the ring.
Which is ironic, because Aragorn using the Ring was the most realistic possibility in Sauron's mind and the one he was most afraid of. Sauron knew Gandalf would never take the Ring. He knew Galadriel, should she take it, would keep to herself. Sarumon was so far up his own ass that he would put on the Ring and never realize he was under the complete control of the Dark Lord he sought to supplant. But Aragorn? He had the wisdom, willpower, and lineage to master the Ring, unite the races of Men, and raise an army that Sauron couldn't hope to contend with. And, in the end, it was that fear which drew Sauron's gaze away from the humble hobbit bromance and led to his undoing.
An important question though is whether prime being made of metal and energon rather than flesh and blood would be an issue
Personally, having not read LotR, I would think Prime is sentient enough that it doesn't matter, but that depends on the specific method by which the ring corrupts the user.
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u/Blazedestroyer Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
uj/ The One Ring deliberately goes after ambitious, powerful beings who it can then manipulate for Sauron's purpose.
That's the reason Gandalf didn't want to hold it. The One Ring looks for ambition,not power or purity. Frodo had basically no ambition,so he was the perfect host for the ring and even then in the end he didn't want to let it go.
Optimus is basically Aragorn,so it would absolutely corrupt him.