Hobbit rockets never leave the ground. They use pipe-weed as fuel and, by T plus 60 of any launch, the engineers are all giggling on the launch pad eating funions as a quick post-elevenses snack.
since the ring posesses magical powers, maybe you can trigger it to release a "magical explosion" some how. but MAGIC is very nebelous in lotr, very little spellcasting, or magical attacks, or effects magic.
Really it was a time issue. Even if you assume the hobbits of the Shire had both the technological capacity to create a functional guided rocket and the industrial capacity to manufacture it ready to go, it takes around about a decade to bring a rocket development program from conception through to completion, even optimistically. Factor in the fact that there's a single unique and irreplaceable payload and if you fail to hit the target you've basically delivered the ring to Sauron, given it's apparent indestructibility, the reliability requirements would push the development time back a lot. It might take 20 or 30 years for the rocket to truly be ready for that mission. They were only able to confirm that what they've found actually is the one ring less than a couple years from when Sauron would have invaded everyone, so even with the most optimistic possible appraisal of the military industrial complex of the free peoples of Middle Earth there simply wasn't time. It's one of those projects where throwing more bodies at it just slows things down.
Perhaps need more lore information before we can understand how well the Elvish guidance systems would work under the full effects of Sauron's eye, which, considering the perceived threat and opportunity (in case destabilisation of the rocket is successful), on top of the ease of application (it would be in-air, easier to pick, as compared to little ground targets moving among other landscape objects), I'd say Sauron would put full attention onto the missile.
Much easier to just find a way to build a better furnace.
Easy solution, send a rocket or two to take out the Eye of Sauron before launching the one with the ring. Perhaps launch a flurry of them to overwhelm any remaining air defenses, which won't know which one has it.
Much easier to just find a way to build a better furnace.
Nope. It's not about the heat at mount doom, but the magic bound in the ring.
That shouldn't be the case, sure you can find some other volcano on the planet, no?
Oh right, perhaps there were no Geologists among the Elves/Dwarves. Were they not?
This is more of an orbital nuclear defense question since Mordor has a pretty in depth strategy against this sort of threat. Frodo probably didn’t consider this option because of the Pan-Middle Earth nuclear deescalation agreement of the second age, sub section 2, page five, which if violated could have big international downstream effects.
I'm not big on lotr lore. My Atlas of Middle Earth was mostly just used for RPG, and the Silmarillion has been left untouched on the book-shelves in my home. But are you saying that there's a nazi-hunting-artifacts storyline? Like Indiana Jones in Middle Earth?
No, I just made that up. Assuming technology continues to develop, if sauron hasn't been defeated by the fifth age there very well might be a mordorian nazi treasure hunter storyline
Oh... it would be kinda cool though: the modern world set in middle earth. Maybe add a little steam punk dwarven tech and some elves with electric doodads. I could definitely see an elven technological schism with one traditional group and another consisting of hipsters with the latest innovations.
Too risky.
What if the huge lump of steel ends up having a hole (imperfection, which would be caused by the will of Sauron affecting the Dwarven workers' concentration) and someone then puts a finger in it?
Have guards at a safe distance ready to flood the casting floor with molten iron, while the dwarves are working. It may be cruel, but an influenced dwarf wouldn't get away with the ring.
Imperfections would be acceptable. I mean once the ring is encased in 2 tons of steel good frigging luck getting to it unnoticed.
Do we know what powers the ring gives to a dwarven smith?
Would he be able to find a way to escape incoming molten metal the moment he put his finger in a 2 ton steel sphere?
What if he ends up with the power to mould metal by thought? He might just manage to deform the same piece of steel and use it to prevent the molten metal from getting to him and then use it to create stilts and a shield for incoming guard attack?
Ok, maybe they can just make a cast, separately, away from the ring's influence and then get Frodo to drop the ring in the molten metal right after it part of it has been poured in.
But what if the ring ends up floating or sinking during the hardening (cooling down) process, making it accessible to touch, but at the same time, hard enough to detect?
Well it's interesting that it makes regular ringing/metallic sounds when it's dropped(at least in the movies), so it is not inelastic. Which means it could be deformed if placed under extreme force but it would always spring back into shape. So I think it might be the world's most powerful spring.
That level of power would corrupt even the most noble of mortal minds. Hell, it can even corrupt immortal minds. That level of power cannot be wielded for good intentions without subverting those intentions for evil purposes!
It really depends on the other material properties. Like if it's as slippery as nylon vs as slippery as rubber is really gonna change things. Plus how does it react to outside forces trying to destroy it? Absorption? Diffusion? Conversion (like heat into sound or something).
All that would drastically change what you could do with it
Sure. For me (computer scientist but went to engineering based school) I'd be most excited about the experimental possibilities.
I mean if nothing else the potential to have the world's most stable mass and dimensional object could revolutionize measurements, which might not sound the most practical until you realize just how much we rely on dimensional accuracy for so many things.
There's some experiments where we fire a laser at things, and we're approaching powers (zetawatts) where things basically instantly melt. Having a material that can withstand that could allow experiments that could push our understanding of light, nuclear reactions, quantum mechanics, and more.
From a practical aspect. If it, say, absorbs heat. Having a limitless heat sink could potentially let us explore deeper into the Earth's core than ever before (where the heat and pressure really caused issues for the drills).
And all that is just off a few seconds thought from a non engineer.
Well, it doesn't change size based on the wielder. It changes size based on its will and what it percieves will bring it the result it desires. Which is admittedly way more complex and abstract. This is why I said knowing more about it's properties would be extremely important to figuring out how to use it.
If it only changes size in one direction, like growing bigger to slip off a finger, but the band width never changes, then it would still be extremely useful for some measurements. We also don't know if there's a maximum or minimum to it's size changes which would greatly matter.
This is what I was waiting for. You know the theory of the eagles and Tom bombadil having the power to save everyone and not using it? What if the reason they didn't is because they can't. As in when they enter mordor they lose their power. Whereas the hobbits were removed from the magical doings of the world and therefore somewhat immune. Even galaxriel was temtpted by the ring. Bobmbadil probably only has power in his forest and the eagles only showed up after sauron's defeat but the eagles were on the spot right quick. Meaning they had to be close by. Which means they probably intended to be there and were waiting for wards to drop so they could help. Maybe.
My theory about Bombadil is that he was Tolkien's avatar in Middle Earth. Like, "I'm the one writing this story, I created this world, I'm more powerful than the gods of this realm, but if I solve all your problems right now then there wouldn't be a story so I'm not going to do that."
Yeah, and the AA capabilities of Saruman would mean that even a highly manoeuvrable hypersonic cruise missile would have pretty low chances to get past, while the Sauron's eye seems like it could mess with onboard electronics.
There was a gif or a video montage of Boromir trying to catapult the ring to Mordor. Im on the move and cant search properly. But would be ideal for this discussion.
Edit: as per rule of the universe, found it after posting.
I think you're right, but now we've got the issue that such a spectrum makes zero sense for a pure compound. Why can't my memes be scientifically perfect???
77 Comments
Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de · 62 pts · 198d
Hobbit rockets never leave the ground. They use pipe-weed as fuel and, by T plus 60 of any launch, the engineers are all giggling on the launch pad eating funions as a quick post-elevenses snack.
rockerface@lemmy.cafe · 26 pts · 198d
That would explain why Gandalf likes visiting the Shire so much
rem26_art@fedia.io · 46 pts · 198d
when Gandalf said "Fly! You Fools!" This is what he meant
SinningStromgald@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 198d
Silly me! I thought he miscasted a levitation spell.
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 28 pts · 198d
"I mean it's not rocket science, guys." - Boromir on using a catapult to launch the ring into Mt. Doom
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 198d
one does not simply ICBM into Mordor.
Also. we can easily create temperatures far exiding mount Doom's lava.
Kowowow@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 198d
Maybe even ye olde thermite could do something
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 198d
since the ring posesses magical powers, maybe you can trigger it to release a "magical explosion" some how. but MAGIC is very nebelous in lotr, very little spellcasting, or magical attacks, or effects magic.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 197d
I think it's not about the temperature of mount doom, but the magical effects of the ring being forged there. But I could be way off...
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 197d
it's more about a plot device, so any attempt at destroying it anywhere else is bound to fail. alternative, launch it into space like the Voyager,
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 197d
Do you want space nazis? Cause that's how you get space nazis.
applebusch@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 16 pts · 198d
Really it was a time issue. Even if you assume the hobbits of the Shire had both the technological capacity to create a functional guided rocket and the industrial capacity to manufacture it ready to go, it takes around about a decade to bring a rocket development program from conception through to completion, even optimistically. Factor in the fact that there's a single unique and irreplaceable payload and if you fail to hit the target you've basically delivered the ring to Sauron, given it's apparent indestructibility, the reliability requirements would push the development time back a lot. It might take 20 or 30 years for the rocket to truly be ready for that mission. They were only able to confirm that what they've found actually is the one ring less than a couple years from when Sauron would have invaded everyone, so even with the most optimistic possible appraisal of the military industrial complex of the free peoples of Middle Earth there simply wasn't time. It's one of those projects where throwing more bodies at it just slows things down.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 197d
Yeah, but what if you're working with dwarves? And using elvish technology for a guidance system?
ulterno@programming.dev · 2 pts · 197d
Perhaps need more lore information before we can understand how well the Elvish guidance systems would work under the full effects of Sauron's eye, which, considering the perceived threat and opportunity (in case destabilisation of the rocket is successful), on top of the ease of application (it would be in-air, easier to pick, as compared to little ground targets moving among other landscape objects), I'd say Sauron would put full attention onto the missile.
Much easier to just find a way to build a better furnace.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 197d
Easy solution, send a rocket or two to take out the Eye of Sauron before launching the one with the ring. Perhaps launch a flurry of them to overwhelm any remaining air defenses, which won't know which one has it.
Nope. It's not about the heat at mount doom, but the magic bound in the ring.
ulterno@programming.dev · 0 pts · 197d
You have the maker of the ring^[Shadow of Mordor]!
Just make a magic furnace.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 197d
Okay, but you need materials that can only be sourced from mount doom
ulterno@programming.dev · 0 pts · 197d
That shouldn't be the case, sure you can find some other volcano on the planet, no?
Oh right, perhaps there were no Geologists among the Elves/Dwarves. Were they not?
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 197d
But if the furnace isn't constructed at mount doom, then it wouldn't be able to withstand the magical flames required to destroy the ring.
saltnotsugar@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 198d
This is more of an orbital nuclear defense question since Mordor has a pretty in depth strategy against this sort of threat. Frodo probably didn’t consider this option because of the Pan-Middle Earth nuclear deescalation agreement of the second age, sub section 2, page five, which if violated could have big international downstream effects.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 198d
Legit question. Can the ring influence targeting computers over long distances? Or modern LLMs?
Rooster326@programming.dev · 8 pts · 198d
No but I'm sure it lt would literally (read: narratively) affect any mortal programming the computer, or setting the LLM out with such a purpose.
ulterno@programming.dev · 0 pts · 197d
You don't need the ring nearby when programming the computer.
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 198d
Counterpoint.
What if they buried it, like real deep, like 50m+ deep.
It was at the bottom of a river for 2500 years, it’s honestly more effective than taking the ring right into enemy land.
RedAggroBest@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 198d
If you read the books, a lot of people thought Sauron wasn't ever getting the One back because they were convinced it must've been swept out to sea.
emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 198d
I wouldn't put it past the ring to manipulate some octopus to carry it back to land.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 198d
Have the dwarves cast in into a huge lump of steel a dump it way out in the ocean.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 197d
Fifth-age Mordorian Nazis would scour the ocean floor for it in their submersibles until they find it.
At that point no one in Middle Earth would still even believe in the One Ring, if any had even heard of it outside of fairy tales told to children.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 197d
I'm not big on lotr lore. My Atlas of Middle Earth was mostly just used for RPG, and the Silmarillion has been left untouched on the book-shelves in my home. But are you saying that there's a nazi-hunting-artifacts storyline? Like Indiana Jones in Middle Earth?
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 197d
No, I just made that up. Assuming technology continues to develop, if sauron hasn't been defeated by the fifth age there very well might be a mordorian nazi treasure hunter storyline
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 197d
Oh... it would be kinda cool though: the modern world set in middle earth. Maybe add a little steam punk dwarven tech and some elves with electric doodads. I could definitely see an elven technological schism with one traditional group and another consisting of hipsters with the latest innovations.
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 197d
Too risky.
What if the huge lump of steel ends up having a hole (imperfection, which would be caused by the will of Sauron affecting the Dwarven workers' concentration) and someone then puts a finger in it?
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 197d
Have guards at a safe distance ready to flood the casting floor with molten iron, while the dwarves are working. It may be cruel, but an influenced dwarf wouldn't get away with the ring.
Imperfections would be acceptable. I mean once the ring is encased in 2 tons of steel good frigging luck getting to it unnoticed.
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 197d
Do we know what powers the ring gives to a dwarven smith?
Would he be able to find a way to escape incoming molten metal the moment he put his finger in a 2 ton steel sphere?
What if he ends up with the power to mould metal by thought? He might just manage to deform the same piece of steel and use it to prevent the molten metal from getting to him and then use it to create stilts and a shield for incoming guard attack?
Ok, maybe they can just make a cast, separately, away from the ring's influence and then get Frodo to drop the ring in the molten metal right after it part of it has been poured in.
But what if the ring ends up floating or sinking during the hardening (cooling down) process, making it accessible to touch, but at the same time, hard enough to detect?
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 198d
Because Elrond cut the the budget of Revendell NASA to spend more money on some project to make elves self-deport.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 198d
Question, if I have an unbreakable ring, what cool things could an engineer do with that?
LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 198d
Well it's interesting that it makes regular ringing/metallic sounds when it's dropped(at least in the movies), so it is not inelastic. Which means it could be deformed if placed under extreme force but it would always spring back into shape. So I think it might be the world's most powerful spring.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 198d
is there something useful that can be done with just ONE unbreakable spring?
i_love_FFT@jlai.lu · 5 pts · 198d
It probably produce/absorb heat somehow when being deformed. Then, we use it to boil water, turn a turbine, and generate power!
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 197d
That level of power would corrupt even the most noble of mortal minds. Hell, it can even corrupt immortal minds. That level of power cannot be wielded for good intentions without subverting those intentions for evil purposes!
mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 198d
It really depends on the other material properties. Like if it's as slippery as nylon vs as slippery as rubber is really gonna change things. Plus how does it react to outside forces trying to destroy it? Absorption? Diffusion? Conversion (like heat into sound or something).
All that would drastically change what you could do with it
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 198d
the question is, with only ONE of those rings, is there something useful to be done?
mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 198d
Sure. For me (computer scientist but went to engineering based school) I'd be most excited about the experimental possibilities.
I mean if nothing else the potential to have the world's most stable mass and dimensional object could revolutionize measurements, which might not sound the most practical until you realize just how much we rely on dimensional accuracy for so many things.
There's some experiments where we fire a laser at things, and we're approaching powers (zetawatts) where things basically instantly melt. Having a material that can withstand that could allow experiments that could push our understanding of light, nuclear reactions, quantum mechanics, and more.
From a practical aspect. If it, say, absorbs heat. Having a limitless heat sink could potentially let us explore deeper into the Earth's core than ever before (where the heat and pressure really caused issues for the drills).
And all that is just off a few seconds thought from a non engineer.
CannonFodder@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 198d
If it absorbs infinite heat, it would be great as a you heatsink - think of the possibilities? Or maybe it just has zero heat capacity.
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 198d
Not sure if it is useful for measurement standards, as it is seen changing size based on the wielder.
which could be use for stuff. big finger person puts something inside, hand it to someone with smaller fingers, and it has unlimited crushing force.
mushroommunk@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 198d
Well, it doesn't change size based on the wielder. It changes size based on its will and what it percieves will bring it the result it desires. Which is admittedly way more complex and abstract. This is why I said knowing more about it's properties would be extremely important to figuring out how to use it.
If it only changes size in one direction, like growing bigger to slip off a finger, but the band width never changes, then it would still be extremely useful for some measurements. We also don't know if there's a maximum or minimum to it's size changes which would greatly matter.
MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 198d
It works well as a paperweight.
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 198d
A drill bit, maybe?
the_strange@feddit.org · 4 pts · 198d
Give it to someone like Styropyro, they'll figure out how to break it.
canadian_commie@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 198d
I mean, it all looks so simple.
sniggleboots@europe.pub · 8 pts · 198d
And my Δv!
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de · 7 pts · 198d
B'cause XOR!!!!
Lioffproxy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 198d
This is what I was waiting for. You know the theory of the eagles and Tom bombadil having the power to save everyone and not using it? What if the reason they didn't is because they can't. As in when they enter mordor they lose their power. Whereas the hobbits were removed from the magical doings of the world and therefore somewhat immune. Even galaxriel was temtpted by the ring. Bobmbadil probably only has power in his forest and the eagles only showed up after sauron's defeat but the eagles were on the spot right quick. Meaning they had to be close by. Which means they probably intended to be there and were waiting for wards to drop so they could help. Maybe.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 197d
My theory about Bombadil is that he was Tolkien's avatar in Middle Earth. Like, "I'm the one writing this story, I created this world, I'm more powerful than the gods of this realm, but if I solve all your problems right now then there wouldn't be a story so I'm not going to do that."
Piemanding@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 198d
There's also the issue of anti-air defense in general. You can see those eagles from miles away.
ulterno@programming.dev · 2 pts · 197d
Yeah, and the AA capabilities of Saruman would mean that even a highly manoeuvrable hypersonic cruise missile would have pretty low chances to get past, while the Sauron's eye seems like it could mess with onboard electronics.
zebidiah@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 197d
Mordor's iron dome
Kauhuhu@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 197d
https://youtu.be/p1-ExbgKUUI
There was a gif or a video montage of Boromir trying to catapult the ring to Mordor. Im on the move and cant search properly. But would be ideal for this discussion.
Edit: as per rule of the universe, found it after posting.
tetris11@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 197d
The ring is still embedded on the mountainside
someguy3@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 198d
What's your equation to enter the cave?
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 5 pts · 198d
Oops, you missed the cave and now you've just invented Middle Earth's fastest possible way to return the Ring to Sauron.
BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 198d
If you increase ∆v enough it cancels out the equation for entering the cave.
Liz@midwest.social · 1 pts · 198d
Couldn't you make it a bunker buster?
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 198d
Sauron the deceiver applauds your drone delivery.
hypnicjerk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 198d
it's gravity's rainbow not gravity's bilbo
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 197d
Well for one, if they missed then they would basically be express shipping the ring back to Sauron...
Liz@midwest.social · 1 pts · 198d
What in the heck is that graph? Abundance as a function of time?? What? But the data looks a lot more like some kind of EMR spectrum?
BluTato@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 198d
Probably a chromatogram from a gas chromatograph.
Liz@midwest.social · 1 pts · 197d
I think you're right, but now we've got the issue that such a spectrum makes zero sense for a pure compound. Why can't my memes be scientifically perfect???