Lord Of The Rings Memes

The ring's influence isn't just from touching it. If Gandalf had been the one bringing the ring to Mordor or would have constantly tempted him with its power, urging him to just try using it. Frodo succumbed to the ring's power temporarily several times but didn't have the desire or knowledge of how to use it to its full potential, he just used it to turn invisible. Gandalf knows the ring's true power and his temptation to use it in an emergency would be even greater. Imagine Gandalf fighting the Balrog and feeling desperate knowing that he has this incredibly powerful secret weapon literally in his back pocket. The temptation to use it would be incredible, and the corruption from the ring's power would be even greater. What if he had gone to meet Saruman and Saruman got the ring or Gandalf felt he needed to use it to prevent Saruman from getting it?

Fundamentally, the ring preys upon desire. Hobbits for the most part desire little, and are less susceptible to its draw, but even Smeagol and Bilbo were corrupted by it for desiring the ring itself. Gandalf wants nothing more than to defeat Sauron and the ring could tempt him by showing him (false) ways that he could become the Lord of the Rings and defeat Sauron with it. Boromir was the same- he thought the Ring could help protect his kingdom. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, as chosen heroes and leaders of their respective nations, would be similarly tempted if they were to try to carry the ring- the ring tells you that it can be used for good even though it itself is evil.

The ring represents evil itself, and how some might be tempted to use evil in small amounts to try to do good, that the "ends justify the means," but ultimately the evil deeds (using the ring) compound on themselves and lead to evil thoughts and ideologies (being under the control of the ring) that corrupt and consume a person or entire society. The hobbits have a childlike innocence about them, and are simply caught up in this struggle between good and evil rather than being fundamentally part of it. They simply don't think about using the ring for good just as they don't think about using the ring for evil, and using the ring for good is even more dangerous than using it for personal gain.