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Did the One Ring "choose" Sméagol over Déagol while they fought over it? Did it intentionally seduce Sméagol perhaps because he was less innocent than Déagol?

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I think it seduced both... but the One Ring also needs a strong bearer, so it "made them fight" to see which one should be better suited to bring it.

After all, should it have seduced only Sméagol, probably Déagol wouldn't have entered a deadly fight.

(EDIT: I called the ring "he" instead of "it" in the first time...)

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  • Technically, Sméagol wasn't even touching the ring when he jumped Déagol. (... and he caught Déagol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful. Then he put the ring on his finger.) Is the ring even capable of exerting its influence without physical contact?
    – coleopterist
    Feb 12, 2013 at 6:14
  • Whenever Frodo offered the One Ring to other characters, even if they didn't touch it they were tempted anyway, so yes, it is... :)
    – Frhay
    Feb 12, 2013 at 8:22
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    Mmm - when Frodo offers the ring to people - Gandalf, Galadriel (Aragorn? - I can't remember) - they are all aware of the rings power and what good they can do with it. I'm not sure there is much of a case for the ring exerting influence on people that are not aware of what it is. Its just Bilbo's magic ring to Frodo at the start of TLOTR.
    – iandotkelly
    Feb 12, 2013 at 17:24
  • Déagol found the ring, and so did Bilbo, both in improbable circumstances (one in the water, the other in the dark). I don't think either of those is meant to be read as pure coincidence -- they were drawn to the ring. So it could certainly have some effect at a distance.
    – Joe White
    Feb 13, 2013 at 4:39
  • @iandotkelly, yes. The ring exerts its force even over those not touching it. When Bilbo leaves, he is reluctant to leave it even though it is sealed away in an envelope and has a hard time walking out the door. The wraiths can feel its power from afar and are drawn to it. It is described as able to hide itself until a person it "likes" comes near and the ring can then be sure it is found by that being . . . Then there is Boromir who was drawn to and seduced by it at least to some extent before touching it AND the fight that broke out at Elronds over the ring (due to its influence in part)
    – balanced mama
    Dec 1, 2013 at 1:04

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