Rereading the Fellowship when this one paragraph in the Prologue stopped me from further reading that night and started me thinking:

"The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dur would not have been destroyed but occupied. Saruman, failing to get possession of the Ring, would in the confusion and treacheries of the time have found in Mordor the missing links in his own researches into Ring-lore, and before long he would have made a Great Ring of his own with which to challenge the self-styled Ruler of Middle-earth. In that conflict both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt: they would not long have survived even as slaves."

In my thoughts, this would have Faramir taking the Ring from Frodo and giving it to Denethor. Taken by force, does Faramir kill Frodo and Sam or just keep them as prisoners? How do Gandalf, etc react to Denethor having the Ring and the fate of the Hobbits?

Denethor defeats Sauron but how would a war between Saruman and Denethor end? With Sauron only enslaved, does he escape during that war and becomes a third entity in the war over ruler of Middle Earth?

Like I said, got me thinking of many scenarios that could be played.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."