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Tolkien antyder att åtminstone Illuvatar hade planerat det:
I "Skuggan av det förflutna" säger Gandalf detta:
'It is no laughing matter,' said Gandalf. 'Not for you. It was the strangest event in the whole history of the Ring so far: Bilbo's arrival at that time, and putting his hand on it, blindly, in the dark.
There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master. [...] it abandoned Gollum. Only to be picked up by the most unlikely person imaginable: Bilbo from the Shire!
Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer then by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by it's maker. In which case you also were meant to have it.
Här är också Boromirs dröm som leder honom till Rivindell:
Seek for the Sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.
Så det finns kraft starkare än Sauron på jobbet här, som gjorde Bilbo till ringen. Men frågan kvarstår på ett sätt. vi vet inte hur långt framhoppet var planerat, och även de vise i Middle Earth (Gandalf, Sauron, Elrond (se Jimmy Shelter svar) osv) visste inte riktigt om det, Gandalf försökte förklara det, och det var totalt oväntat för Sauron.