This might be better for /lit/ but whatever. What would have

>>55180591

Saruman gets corrupted by it. Sauron gets ring back. Game Over

At first he would think that he could use it to bargin with Sauron for a greater share of control of middle earth, but then change his mind and try to keep the ring for himself. In Isengard he would hide himself away, at first even more greatly building up his armies for protection, but then begin to shun even his most faithful followers out of paranoia. Eventually, when his defenses decayed, or he fled his sanctum out of fear of the very forces he had constructed, he would be slain by the Nazgul, and the ring returned to its rightful owner.
Sarumon is no fool however, and in death he may realize the truth of the one ring: it has no power to offer anyone but Sauron. To everyone else it merely spreads false promises.

>>55180620
Word of god says that gandalf was powerful enough to master the one ring and maybe defeat sauron with it.
Considering saruman was more powerful than gandalf he'd probably also be able to master it and not become a slave to sauron.

>>55180662
The ring is loyal only to itself.
Heres what tolkien had to say about if gandalf had the ring.
>Confrontation of Sauron alone, unaided, self to self was not contemplated. One can imagine the scene in which Gandalf, say, was placed in such a position. It would be a delicate balance. On one side the true allegiance of the Ring to Sauron; on the other superior strength because Sauron was not actually in possession, and perhaps also because he was weakened by long corruption and expenditure of will in dominating inferiors. If Gandalf proved the victor, the result would have been for Sauron the same as the destruction of the Ring; for him it would have been destroyed, taken from him for ever. But the Ring and all its works would have endured. It would have been the master in the end.

>>55180688
Gandalf could have defeated the armies of morder and the third age incarnation of Sauron with the ring, and ruled over middle earth if he wished, but Tokein never said that he NEEDED the ring to do this. In fact, Sauron would never be destroyed from the world as long as the ring existed, and while Gandalf would feel as though the ring were a thing of great might to him, in fact it offered him nothing. A most insideous artifact, it whispers in your ear to destroy your friends and flee to the corners of the earth, promising the world in return, but in truth it has nothing to offer. Gandalf would turn wicked, and ultimately be destroyed

>>55180803
This quote here >>55180758 contradicts what you say.
Tolkien outright stated in one of his letters that if gandalf used the ring to defeat sauron it would have been the same as if the ring was destroyed for sauron even though the ring still exists.

>>55180591
I wish we actually got Saruman of Many Colors in the movies.

Saruman most likely did not have Gandalf's will. He had already lost a contest with Sauron. Him obtaining the ring would likely lead to a similar outcome.

>>55180688
>Considering saruman was more powerful than gandalf he'd probably also be able to master it and not become a slave to sauron.
See
>>55184616
>Saruman most likely did not have Gandalf's will. He had already lost a contest with Sauron. Him obtaining the ring would likely lead to a similar outcome.
There is having power, and then there is having the will to keep it.
As I recall, Saruman had already defeated himself by falling to Sauron's persuasion.

Similarly, any version of Gandalf, or any wizard, foolish enough to try to "Master" the ring would suffer the hindrance of that foolishness and might fail because of it.

>>55180591
I suspect that if Saruman had encountered the ring before he fell to desperation, he might have challenged and crushed Sauron, only to be slowly destroyed by the ring.

>>55184745
He didn't fall to saurons persuasion.
He decided to try to take the ring for himself long before he came into contact with sauron.
He was deceiving sauron, making him think he was going to be a good little boy and bring the ring to him in order to get saurons help industrializing isengard.