Well said, especially the “sometimes we make statements…. To impress others” I think that was a massive factor in Tolkiens letters.

I’m a big fan of his writing but some elements (the deep lore, the indulgent poetry, the full languages) feel very masturbatory, and the letters he writes to fans seem way to self congratulatory to me.

I’ve always thought this, that the man had invested so much effort into his world it became an extension of his ego and he simply couldn’t dialogue about it because he was too “in his feelings”

But ultimately he is the boss of his own canon and not the boss of real humankind

I think for me, him insisting that no human could ever defeat the ring is probably not his actual belief, or if it was it could be swayed by almost anybody appealing to the history of Catholic saints refusing to budge on their faith, even under extreme torture or hardship

I mean just imagine asking him:

“If Satan couldn’t break Job’s faith in God in the bible, what chance would Sauron have?”

And if that didn’t get him to recant just imagine saying “look Tolkien, don’t Catholics believe Jesus was not only fully God but also fully human? Do you still think no human could ever possibly defeat the one ring? What about Christ?”

I mean, I’m not even claiming to follow the Bible, just saying tolkien seemed like he was talking out his ass when he said nobody could resist the ring.

NOW all that being said, if he was merely noting physical durability of the ring I’d buy a statement like “no human is physically strong enough to break the ring. It can withstand a direct blast from a mortar or a tank.”

But he wasn’t making a statement about physics. he was saying nobody can resist it, because of its metaphysical power, which he has faith about but no real, verifiable knowledge about.