Matt Kirby posted this idea for us back in May. Now another chapter from the forthcoming Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, posted on TheOneRing.net, takes up the theme in more detail. “Plato’s question to us is whether or not one should be a moral person even if one has the power to be immoral with impunity. Does immense power destroy the need to be a moral person? It is interesting to view Tolkien’s tales of the rings as a variation of this old Platonic moral problem.” (Eric Katz, “The Rings of Tolkien and Plato: Lessons in Power, Choice, and Morality”)