Not a lot. I mean, I've said as much myself in the thread a couple of times. ^_^ At least at first. So I'm not really disagreeing with you, nope.
Well, they might seem to improve. But Sauron WAS big on slavery, big on 'people knowing their place', big on pecking order and the strong controlling the weak, and really didn't give shits about the 'little people' other than things for him to use. Basically, we'd be living under a world-wide fascist dictatorship the likes of which we've not seen ever before, that would rape the world of its resources, destroy all nature in the search for progress, and annihilate any hope of freedom or choice forever.Honestly, I'm of the opinion things would improve with this guy in charge. With our level of tech I can see him taking full advantage of automations, technology, etc to do a lot of what he wants, and see him manipulating the masses to want to work for him if he is even slightly better than what we currently got.
Unless you were one of the few people Sauron put in charge of everyone else, in which case hey, you're like one of the billionaires today! Only worse.
So while at the beginning it would probably look a little better...in order to suck people in, I figure...things would rapidly spiral down an even bigger toilet than they are today.
Frodo actually chose to leave the Fellowship because he saw what the Ring was doing/could do to it (through what it did to Boromir). So he might just leave anyway. Likely would.Ah, but it won't just be Frodo and Sam there. The entire fellowship might be there if they weren't split up by the Uruks. As such, I can see Aragorn taking it off of him or Gandalf bonking Frodo on the head and getting it done that way.
But let's assume that he didn't, and they somehow managed to get to Mt Doom without getting caught (seeing as one of the only reasons they didn't get caught on any number of occasions was 'because Hobbits is really, really sneaky').
Long post - skip to the end if you don't want to read. I did a short summery, so no complaints about me rambling, please. ^_^
For Aragorn tossing it in, he couldn't. Neither could Gandalf, most likely, Gandalf being terrified of even the idea of himself getting the Ring. I mean, Gandalf the White was the only guy who was capable (according to Tolkien) of actually MASTERING the Ring and using it to its full extent to defeat Sauron himself, but Tolkien also noted that Gandalf would fall to the Ring - it would still make him into something terrible (Sauron 2.0, with a side order of 'but I'm righteous!').
The entire point of what happens at Mt. Doom - which Tolkien basically confirms in his writings later - is that nobody could have thrown the Ring it (I mean, in the story - any fictional character more powerful than Sauron should be able to manage). It was at its place of creation, at its most powerful, and the level of corruption and control it carried was immense. That Frodo managed to bring it that far was a heroic feat no other person might have been able to achieve, and he still failed to chuck it in. And, as Tolkien himself notes, no shame to him - nobody would have succeeded.
Every other person in the Fellowship along for the ride would have been under the Ring's corruption all of that time as well. They would never have been able to throw it into the fire. And it's extremely unlikely Frodo would have LET them take the Ring from him, as noted by him putting it on and immediately vanishing from view (I guess we could end up with another mad scramble or something, with Legolas falling into the fire because he gets the Ring and then Aragorn stabs him in the back - Book Aragorn under the Ring's influence, or Movie Aragorn whenever).
I mean...there's a scene at the beginning of the book, where Gandalf says 'Okay, you're asking me why don't we just melt it down now. Well, go ahead. Toss it in your fireplace.' This is the Ring, NOT at its place of power at all (which is a thing in the books) - Frodo takes it, has a hard time coming to a decision, finally works himself up to throw it into the small fire in his fireplace...and finds himself instead putting it back in his pocket.
That's the Ring, far weaker than at the end of the books, not even really in danger (though Frodo doesn't know that), working on Frodo...who is labelled as Tolkien as being 'possibly the only guy in the story who could have managed to carry it all the way to Mt. Doom'.
Cripes, the thing drives Boromir nutso before they get even halfway, when it's nowhere near its place of greatest power. O_o And he's not even carrying it.
Really, the way the Ring gets destroyed is a combination of two things:
1. It's a point that there are greater powers at work in which people must have faith. Gandalf - in the beginning of the books - talks about how everything seemed like random chance, with Gollum finding the Ring, how it came to another one of the few creatures that could withstand it (Bilbo) somehow (and very unlikely), and passed on to Frodo. He spoke of greater powers at work, in having faith that things happen for a reason, and that Gollum himself might have an important part yet to play (and he does, being the guy who actually keeps Frodo safe in parts of the journey and the guy who falls into the fire with the Ring). One might consider this as "Eru Ilśvatar at work" (ie, hand of God). And also the benefits of pity and mercy (Bilbo not stabbing Gollum from invisiblity when he could have).
2. It's a metaphor nodding to the idea (which Tolkien himself actually talks about a lot) that Evil Destroys Itself™. Earlier on in the third book, Frodo says this to Gollum (it's foreshadowing).
When Gollum tries to take the Ring from Frodo on the slopes of Mt. Doom, Frodo fights him off and stands in front of him clutching the Ring. Then Sam - a Ringbearer, himself - has an abrupt vision of Gollum as some crawling creature of vileness (not far off the mark) and Frodo as some towering figure dressed in white, clutching a ring of fire (the Ring) to his chest. And out of the fire a voice speaks (NOT from the white-robed figure, but from the Ring of Fire) saying 'Get away, enough of you, if you touch me again you will throw yourself into the fire.'Originally Posted by Frodo
This is Frodo AND the Ring, Frodo finally starting to use the Ring's power to dominate and control (having 'accepted' it at some level - five minutes later he says 'The Ring is MINE'). The command from Frodo and the Ring seems pretty explicit - touch me again and you should throw yourself in the fire.[a] figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice. 'Begone and trouble me no more. If you touch me ever again you shall be cast yourself into the fire of doom.'
Gollum gets the Ring...dances with glee...and promptly slips on the edge and falls into the fire.
Evil destroys itself.
Tl;dr: Nobody could have thrown it in, it was too powerful, backed up by stuff in the book and Tolkien's own words in notes and letters. Really, it all boils down to 'greater powers were at work, Frodo did the job he was capable of doing: getting the Ring to where it COULD fall into the flames (and everyone else would have failed even that much)'.