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He will bring peace, freedom, justice, and security to his new empire.

Imagine if in an alternate universe this is cannon, and someone made a video about a theory with Gandalf not accepting the ring from Frodo, but instead sendt him off to Mordor with his gardner. Just imagine the like-dislike ratio on that video.

Boromir really did nothing but ride his horse to and back from rivendale only to become king. What a champ. Total hero.

The idea of Gandalf turning Middle Earth into some kind of dystopian police state under the watchful eyes of his nazgul enforcers is both fascinating and terrifying. And yeah, Gandalf being like "Well, have it your way..." and just straight-up incinerating Denethor _is_ pretty amusing. 🤣 And Boromir spending the whole time just wandering all over the countryside, always missing whatever's going on, only to finally arrive home and be like "What'd I miss?" and have Gandalf make him King of Gondor? I am _dying._ 😂😂😂😂

Let us be thankful that the one ring of power did not fall into the hands of a Took. For this outcome would lead to the creation of something far more vile and sinister... Third breakfast...

I love how Boromir just pointlessly travels around the world for the entire story.

The interesting thing about this theory is that if it had happened, Sauron wouldn't have been surprised at all. Dismayed, yes, but not surprised. Something like this is exactly what Sauron expected to happen if his most powerful enemies like Gandalf got hold of the ring. Sauron couldn't even conceive that someone would willingly try to destroy the ring until the very moment that Frodo put on the ring in the chamber above Mount Doom. He always assumed that anyone who got the ring would use its power for themselves.

This was interesting. Now I want to know how Galdriel, Glorfindel and Elrond would deal with Gandalf as the new Ring Master. They'd realise and be worried and/or kicking themselves. I can also feel all the Valar facepalming at this ending. "You had ONE job, Olórin!!"

I imagine he would become a ghost-like being and they would call him... Gandalf the Wight

Boromir: *arrives in Rivendell after travelling for a good 4 months* Finally, now what is this urgent matter that I was called here for? Elrond: some guys are travelling to minas tirith, you should meet them there Boromir: Are you f*cking kidding me

I like your alternate version a lot. But: I think Aragorn would have been suspicious from the start. I mean he is a hardened, worldly-wise man who barely trusts himself (he is the one instantly realising what's up with Boromir in the original Fellowship after all). As soon as Saruman was dead he would have made plans.

I would have loved it if Boromir saw through Gandalf's sweet offering and the "King" label. Perhaps he smiles and gets close to Gandlaf, maybe even embraces him. Then he runs Gandalf through with his sword, whispering in his ear: "Gondor has no king, Gondor needs no king."

Gandalf: *takes the ring* Sauron: "why do I hear boss music?"

I would absolutely watch this version of the story, specially the part where Sean Bean is not killed and wanders endlessly only to be named king.

I like how you kept things in line with Gandalf's main idealism: Gandalf (and Tolkien) acknowledge that strong and powerful people can do great good, but equally may do great evil even if they desire to do good. Meanwhile, the meek and timid may also do great good, but rarely seek to do great evil. Gandalf was always meant to be a supporting character. His power was bringing out strength in others, which is one of (if not the most) powerful gifts of all.

What if not quite corrupted Gandalf destroyed the Nazgul, and kept their rings. Later, when frustrated with the lack of order across his kingdom, he begins gifting them to his most loyal allies. Aragorn, Theodin, Borimer, etc. to assist with their work to support him. They enthusiastically start helping Gandalf, before any of them realize that things have gotten out of hand…

Balrog: I like this version much better.

And then he returned to Mordor and ordered Mt. Doom filled with pipe weed. The smoke was so great, it enveloped Middle Earth, and all were giddy and slightly peckish. And there was peace.

How to become the King of Gondor: 1. Travel aimlessly to avoid war. 2. Return to Gondor when war is over. 3. Wait for your coronation.

Imagine he took Frodo with him, knowing full well that the ring would corrupt him, and being determined to hand over the ring back to Frodo when Sauron was defeated, as a last resort if he couldn't destroy it himself, and in hope he would have retained his deep compassion for Frodo (and that killing or imprisoning or ignoring Frodo would eat at his conscience if there still was some left).

True terror would be if the one ring fell into the possession of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

A Dark Lord is never late, neither is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

It is interesting that at the beginning of Fellowship, Gandalf has been fixated on identifying Bilbo's ring... perhaps, a little *too* fixated.

i really enjoyed the mixture of canon lore and his own conjecture, here. i think he did an excellent job. well done!

So basically, Boromir is just late to everything for months on end, then one day Gandalf is like "Hey, wanna be king?"

Instead of a Dark Lord, you would have a king, not dark but gray, never late and terrible as the dawn of the fifth day! Tempestuous as the fireworks, and stronger than the finest Longbottom leaf! All shall not pass and despair!

I love Tolkien's description of how Gandalf the dark lord would be like, it's spot on, and honestly a really believable corrupted version of the character

I think gandalf wouldn't turn evil all at once. He would use the ring with the intent to do good, but would become so powerful, he would become a terrible force in the world, become somewhat of a tyrant and feared among all... It would seriously throw off the balance of middle earth.

Gandalf would enslave Middle Earth and everyone would work in pipe weed factories. In the Fourth Age, Dark Lord Gandalf creates a pipe weed hybrid called “Fool of a Toke”.

This theory of how Gandalf would rule Middle Earth wielding the Ring and becoming far worse than Sauron because he would be actively trying to do good and would be righteous in his own mind fits nicely with the position that Tolkien's close friend C.S. Lewis took that those who think they are doing good can do far more damage than the utterly evil, because they have the approval of their own consciences.

I just found your channel. This is such an interesting take, and I really appreciate the time you put into researching this.

I love the idea that Gandalf ends up having the same motivations and means to an end as Cortana in Halo 5, especially with stationing the Nazgul in each major part of Middle Earth for peacekeeping purposes

So the real winner is Sean Bean. He doesn't get to die for a change...

Won't lie It would be hilarious to see Gandalf ask Boromir to be king just for him to look left to see a Nazgul holding a club just in case he says no.

Denethor being burnt again in this time-line is very accurate, it was his destiny to burn for his mistakes, just like in the vision. The difference here though is that unlike in canon, he will not recognise his son during his final moments, his soul will be corrupt to the bitter end.

God damn, I can't believe I've been sitting on this channel for a year. I never thought it would be in line with the books instead of the movie. Instant sub!

The fact I love about this is that even tolkien himself wrote some fan fiction about his own property haha

Boromir: *holy hell I finally found this place* Elrond: *you have no need here, go back*

Excellent theory! I am a new subscriber of your channel I have discovered only a few days ago, and I must say you researchs, explanation and videos are outstanding. I didn't really read the books of Tolkien beside The Hobbit and LoTR, but I have always wanted to understand more. Your channel brings this to me. Now it's mine!

Now that's some good nerding out there 👍 I appreciate all the effort you put into that, kept me interested anyway

Imagine if the Game of Throne writers put this much thought into how the characters teleported, I mean traveled.

Denethor being actually 100% right in this timeline is so goddamn funny.

This is exceptionally well done. I would ask you continue this story with Gandalfs domination of the elves and dwarfs.

I am new to your channel but have been a true LOTR fan for years. I absolutely love watching and listening because of the knowledge it portrays. I love diving deeper and learning more than what I’ve seen on the movies and what I’ve read. Thank you for sharing your research and discoveries

Some tales are "There and Back Again." Others are "Boromir: Or How I Walked Around For 5 Months and Became King!"

Gollum: How the hell am I going to lure a WIZARD into the lair of Shelob?

Your voice work is so great! Glad i just stumbled on this channel.

This is my first time at your channel but I'll be back. You did some work on this. The timeline deviations and resulting consequences were intriguing.

Movie elrond: Strangers from middle earth, friends of old. You've been *summoned* here to answer the threat of morder. Book elrond: Why does random people of different races keep appearing in my super secret hidden place?

This is impossible. Sean Bean didn’t die in this movie. So it just cannot be. Sorry.

I love these scenarios of yours. Well thought out and compellingly detailed. You ought to get ROP to give you a job with them.

Dude, the voices you do are incredible!

"All hail the new king, Boromir Blisterfoot!"

I believe that Galadriel, sensing Gandalf's actions with the Ring would travel West as she does on the book and eventually warn the Valar of what's going on. Then a crazy war would happen between the Valar and Gandalf controlling the Nazgul. - Cheers from Argentina!

Thanks for the What Ifs, I've always enjoyed stories like these.

Love this channel! Congrats!

notice how gandalf said "over me the ring would gain a power still greater" hes basically saying when you "Wear" the ring, you're not wearing it, the ring wears you.

Complete Travels of Boromir (Gandalf the Ring-Lord Edition): "He runs a lap around Middle-Earth, doing nothing. For this great service to the free peoples, he is crowned king." THE END

Actually the EDAIN modification for the LOTR game "Battle For Middle Earth 2" illustrated this very nicely. You can give the ring to gandalf there and see how it affects him and his surroundings. Very cool, one of the reasons I love this mod and game.

That was so well put together and thought out

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."- cs lewis.

My wife just asked me what I was watching, and I replied "a hypothetical conjecture about if Gandalf di-..." she's like stop stop stop I don't care lol

Wow that was so much cooler than i expected, i love how accurate and fitting this theory was, just makes me think how horrifying the world under gandalf ring bearer could become

You got me hooked, good job

This made me think of a quote from Yoda, "Paved with good intentions the path to the dark side often is".

So, in this timeline, Denethor doesn't eat a tomato? Where do I sign up?

👏👏👏👏 so good dude!! Damn I'd love to see this play out on screen!! 👏👏👏👏

Amazing theory that gets the mind turning to flesh out more details and what it's. I could see a really cool fanmade storyboard /manga or anime adaption going well with this.

Best channel to listen to in-between first and second breakfast

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Great video. One thing that I noticed while listening, is how similar Gandalf's endgame is to Magus Bayaz from The First Law trilogy. Honestly, while clearly evil, Bayaz keeps the kingdom in good shape (through subversion and intimidation) and manages to bring about peace.

I wonder how happy would JRR be if he had had the chance to watch these videos. Good job

You put an incredible amount of time and effort into your videos. This is awesome, I'm hooked on your videos!

Totally serious video idea: What if Thorins company turned around to get Bilbos handkerchief

BROTHER, YOU ARE THE BEST!!! You oooh really helped me!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Just wanted to comment and say that I watch this video on a whim, but it's absolutely rekindled my fascination and interest in the LOTR story and Tolkien's universe. I had read the books a few times many years ago and read parts of his other works. I had forgotten about all the many changes the films made and how incredibly deep the lord and story were. I was way into it. It really is one if the most amazing high fantasy sagas of all time. I'm going to watch the Rings of Power now. Just wanted to drop a thanks🙂 As for what I think would happen, I absolutely agree, and from the very beginning when you quoted his reasoning with desiring strength to do good and prevent weakness, that is absolutely the mindset of dictators and despots throughout all of history. Self righteous is right. He would be the one final authority over all middle earth and as the ring was inhabit his vessel for eons it would slowly wear away at his ability to be objective and remember what truly is right for all and would go for *complete order* at the expensive of freedom for inhabitants to choose their own destiny and change. He would become a shell of himself. Where his mind would have mixed signals from his original identity and the ring, that would in some ways cancel each other out to leave a somewhat confused being of immense power that is subconsciously fighting a war within between the Gandalf he was and the essence of sauron attempting to overtake his mind and become more dominant. The fun and joy at life and fondness he had for those weaker creatures (like hobbits) would dry up, conflicted by the essence of sauron to dominate all. His reason for even defending the realm would fade over time to where the only thing that matters is order, but not necessarily brutal tyranny like from Sauron, if that makes sense . I can see him traveling for a time, then eventually sitting on a throne in a location, alone in silence, but with a smoldering vigilance. He would have a few attendants that would be sycophants that want a piece of his power and he would eventually be misled by these. He might discover this as different factions and individuals seek power and lash out with immense brutality that has been dormant within. This would end his trust with others, then he would rely on the the 9 and other forces he would completely control to watch and see. Eventually the realm would understand him to be a despotic ruler that has to be destroyed, but at that point, I imagine it would just be the realms of man and their greed to have power themselves, perhaps the line of boromir would be vassals that would bristle at his ultimate control or perhaps these vassels would be ruthless enforcers of Gandalf's desire for order and eventually their would be a righteous revolution to wrest control from both the kings and Gandalf. IDK, it's been awhile, so I'm not currently aware of all the forces and characters so I could be missing something big. I look forward to when AI is good enough to design film, media and books based on prompts a la DALLE 2 . "What would happen if Gandalf took the one ring?" will be one of the first ones I do, right after "finish the ASOIAF books" (because I refuse to watch the bastardized version that began to really take hold at season 5, and I still don't know WTF happened, but I'm sure that it sucks based off what I've gathered and how they decided to go with the story. Still kinda salty about this if anyone reading can't tell😅)

Dude every LOTR nerd needs to know you exist, you put so much effort and have great inflections when speaking. This is how I want to ingest my LOTR content from now on. Clean, well written, and produced with real heart.

Gandalf in possession of the One Ring makes a lot of sense as an Anti-Villain. That said... can Sauron truly be destroyed so long as the Ring is intact? Even by a fellow Maia? Aren't we told over and over again that so long as the Ring exists, Sauron _can't_ be permanently vanquished? So, for me, this suggests a wrinkle in this scenario, in which part of the reason why a Ring possessing Gandalf becomes a tyrant is exactly because the threat of Sauron permanently lingers around Middle-earth -- Gandalf uses the constant threat of Sauron's return to justify everything he does as tyrant.

Since the ring wouldn't be destroyed, could Sauron still return and maybe take the form of a liberator to deceive men into helping him overthrow gandalf?

I love how you don't just speculate but base your theories in various writings of Tolkien. It's refreshing!

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience". CS Lewis

Sean Bean approves this no-dying ending

I'm high as a kite and just came across this channel... this is trippy af, but what I find even more fascinating than the stories is the fact that someone actually makes a very good living out of this channel... you have to love the internet!!!! So awesome 😂

I’d like to think that the ring would betray Gandalf just when he needed it most, if not as they enter Mordor with the 9 turning on him or perhaps slipping off his finger during the confrontation with Sauron.

This was fun as a one off especially as Tolkien talked about it himself.

Very well done (and fun) theory!

And I want to thank you for all of the hidden lore you're channel has taught me I'm a freaking nerd myself when it come to tlotr

Sauron:"From my point of view, Gandalf is evil!"

Whenever there's a struggle for power and land, Sean Bean dies.

It’s so crazy to think that Bombadil asks to see the ring, laughs at it, and then puts in on his pinky for a joke and doesn’t disappear. Then he can see Frodo while he’s wearing it.. The humility this imbues in me, I can’t express.

I've always wondered what would happen... If Frodo willing gave the Ring to the Witch King out of fear, and avoided being wounded. Would the Witch King usurp Sauron, and become the ruler of Mordor, or would he maintain his service to Sauron?

Very interesting theory! I feel there would be much more nuance and struggle between Gandalf and the Ring. Gandalf was incredibly strong-willed and pure of heart. It would take a long time for the ring to take hold - and even longer to get such a strong hold as to make Gandalf murder friends like Aragorn in cold blood. If it came down to it between Aragorn and Gandalf, I find it more likely that Gandalf would render himself vulnerable in a moment of clarity allowing Aragorn to strike a deadly blow. I just feel Gandalf would be wise enough to realize he was being pulled in by the ring, and also strong enough to exhibit great resistance to its power. He would eventually lose if he kept on with the Ring, but I think he would find a way out - either by himself or by the aid of his friends.

If this scenario were to play to the bitter end, Gandalf would find himself at war with the Valar themselves. First, Sauron's ultimate loyalty was to Melkor (Morgoth), as seen when he corrupted the realm of Numenor. Under the Ring's thrall, Gandalf's reign over Middle-Earth would be unending, and would certainly come to the notice of the Lords of the West. After all, they had sent the Istari to Middle-Earth in order to inspire the peoples there to find a way to free themselves from the mastery of Sauron, and ultimately Morgoth. The Valar might certainly blame themselves for the failure of their plan. Even though this time they acted with subtlety rather than brute force, it would mean *every* action taken by the Valar to save the Children of Iluvatar had failed. They summoned the Elves to Aman, and this resulted in Morgoth destroying much that they had built and nearly conquering all of Middle-Earth. They rewarded Men with the land of Numenor, and that led to the Downfall of Numenor and the changing of Arda itself. Now, once again they had taken action by sending the Istari to Middle-Earth...and Olorin, one of their own kindred, had succumbed to the darkness and fallen, rising to dominate Middle-Earth with a power that may never end. Surely there would be nothing left for the Valar to do now but call upon Eru Iluvatar for judgement, and remove themselves forever from Arda? Meanwhile, Olorin - Gandalf - would be working towards an ultimate plan to make war on the Lords of the West, open the Gates of Night and bring Melkor back. This, again, would mean the Valar would be forced to judge their Guardianship of Arda to be a failure. They would call for Iluvatar to pass judgement...and thus the End would come. Dagor Dagorath, the final end of the Music of the Ainur.

Oh my god I loved this. Wish there were more!

This is one of my new favorite fan fiction theories. I think it's both very accurate and a very creative take on something that probably every lotr fan has wondered.

Gollum is going to get his shit beaten out of him by a dark Gandalf everytime he tries to steal the Ring.

I really like the poetic justice of Isildurs heir being the one begging someone to "CAST IT INTO THE FIYAH!"

26K from 1 million subscribers! I'm really rooting for you!

This was just super well done and entertaining.