Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow
I don't think there's an actual distinction between the powers of the sixteen rings distributed to men and dwarves; it's just that nine men and seven dwarves got rings. The seven dwarves were probably the heads of the seven houses of the dwarves. Dunno why nine men were given them. I also don't know why, after the nine men were turned into wraiths and Sauron collected their rings, he didn't give out those rings to more men.
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Men seem to be the only race in Middle Earth that can create empires without the Dark Lord's help. That was the kind of power Sauron was really most interested in. In a sense the rings given to Dwarves hurt them less for the same reason THE ring did not hurt Bombadil at all. It was not the kind of power they wanted and the kind they did want they got-and paid for. But curmudgeonly and avaricious as Dwarves are they don't seem have had an imperialistic impulse. They certainly had a tribalistic impulse but it was limited in it's demand.
As for why the rings were not given to nine more men, Sauron needed the rings to enthrall the first nine. The Nazgul were unique among his subjects in allowing Sauron to take their competence for granted without fear of mutiny. They also had an exanimate aura of fear that allowed them to keep the other slaves in line. Giving away the rings would hurt that; the Nazgul would put their loyalty to the rings not to Sauron. It would be like Napoleon ceasing to feed the Imperial Guard. Sauron had enough preternatural spooks and wights under his thumb as well as enough corporeal monsters and enough orcs, and enough just plain human soldiers and slaves. He needed someone to both keep all that mess in line and be trustworthy enough to do his bidding. What other kind of creature, for instance, could he have sent to grab the ring in the early part of the book?