Cursed item idea

[Infinitum]

It's not just the one ring though; the great evil investing too much of himself in tools/servants in a bid for dominance yet losing it all is something of a running theme in Tolkiens works isn't it? Morgoth and his forms and servants, Sauron and his rings and shapes, Saruman's machines and many colors.. hell, the entire plot of Silmarillion basically boils down to everyone involved making several ill-informed decisions due to the allure of shiny things, as do the penultimate chapters of Bilbo and a host of plot-points in LotR.

Granted the cursed-as-in-literally-touched-by-evil items do seem to have actual power as well as a will to make others use (and be used by) them, but most of the tragedy they cause is through good old-fashioned covetousness.

[Nick]

It's not just the one ring though; the great evil investing too much of himself in tools/servants in a bid for dominance yet losing it all is something of a running theme in Tolkiens works isn't it? Morgoth and his forms and servants, Sauron and his rings and shapes, Saruman's machines and many colors.. hell, the entire plot of Silmarillion basically boils down to everyone involved making several ill-informed decisions due to the allure of shiny things, as do the penultimate chapters of Bilbo and a host of plot-points in LotR.

Granted the cursed-as-in-literally-touched-by-evil items do seem to have actual power as well as a will to make other use (and be used by) them, but most of the tragedy they cause is through good old-fashioned covetousness.

Wow, nice summary.

So, in fact, the Angband meme of "I am opening this vault for all the shinies - oops, now I'm dead" is pretty true to theme