he can do what he wants", i.e. power reveals existing character, rather than changing it for the worse. The Lord of the Rings is largely medieval in its setting, but its attitude to the corrupting effect of power is an anachronism, something wholly modern. He sees a modern echo, too, in Boromir's response to the Ring, with "all the signals which the twentieth century has learned to distrust", including fascination with power even if it is the Enemy's; his speech praising "the fearless" and then "the ruthless" as the way to victory; the portrayal of himself as a leader with "power of Command"; and eventually "the naked appeal to force". The Tolkien scholars Agnes Perkins and Helen Hill, writing in A Tolkien Compass, analyse the corrupting effect of power. They pay particular attention to the Ring, but point out that the issue is wider than that, as some characters were corrupted long before the Rings were forged. They view Tolkien's scheme as having five groups of three characters, each affected differently by power. A single explanation The literary critic Colin Manlove criticises Tolkien's attitude towards power as inconsistent, with exceptions to the supposedly overwhelming influence of the Ring. The Ring can be handed over relatively easily (Sam and Bilbo), and removing the Ring by force (Gollum to Frodo) does not, despite Gandalf's assertion at the beginning of the story, break Frodo's mind. The Ring also appears to have little effect on characters such as Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. Shippey notes that, despite Manlove, Tolkien is fair in showing a regular pattern of "creeping corruption": Bilbo becomes angry when Gandalf tries to coax him to give up the Ring, and is seen as "a little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony groping hands" when he asks Frodo to let him look at the Ring just one more time; Isildur uses Gollum-like words with "It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain"; there is Gollum's corrupted state throughout the story; and there are the ominous signals from Boromir. Shippey replies to Manlove's doubt with "one word": addictive. He writes that this sums up Gandalf's whole argument, as in the early stages, as with Bilbo and Sam, the addiction can be shaken off easily enough, while for those who are not yet addicted, as with Aragorn and indeed others like Galadriel and Faramir, its pull is like