If you were Tolkien

[iguana_tonante]

I'd use a globus (obviously a non-cruciger version). I always liked the classical image in paintings and statues of a king holding a globus in his hand as a symbol of his dominion over the earth.

 

[FPAlpha]

I'd not change a thing.. part of the genius of LotR is that the most powerful artefact is something so inconspicious and simple.. a ring.

Not a sword, axe, crown or anything else that's impressive either by size, danger or just being plain cool.

This ring is also not the doomsday weapon from hell.. it doesn't destroy whole armies or turn the wielder into a deathmachine. It's simplest power is Invisibility but in the hands of Sauron (and maybe anyone with enough willpower) it offered the means of controlling all the leaders of every major race and bending them to your will.

No simple sword could ever achieve that.

 

[sojourner]

^Excalibur?

 

[RoJoHen]

It would be a book with a double snake medallion on the front; and much like a perpetual motion machine, it's power would come from a story that never ends...

Frodo: "Say my name!"

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

A pair of hot-pink spandex short shorts.

 

[Skellington]

I'd not change a thing.. part of the genius of LotR is that the most powerful artefact is something so inconspicious and simple.. a ring.

Not a sword, axe, crown or anything else that's impressive either by size, danger or just being plain cool.

This ring is also not the doomsday weapon from hell.. it doesn't destroy whole armies or turn the wielder into a deathmachine. It's simplest power is Invisibility but in the hands of Sauron (and maybe anyone with enough willpower) it offered the means of controlling all the leaders of every major race and bending them to your will.

No simple sword could ever achieve that.

Yep. Plus, Tolkien presumably cogged the idea of the Ring from Wagner's Ring Cycle and/or its mythic source material.

Me, I'd go for comedy breasts.

 

[FPAlpha]

^Excalibur?

Excalibur had no true supernatural properties.. it was more like the symbol that the wielder is the true king.

The One Ring is a whole other ballpark.

 

[marksound]

A grail. A Holy Grail.

 

[Set Harth]

A pair of hot-pink spandex short shorts.

"And in the darkness bind them" now making more sense...

 

[Silvercrest]

 

[sojourner]

^Excalibur?

Excalibur had no true supernatural properties.. it was more like the symbol that the wielder is the true king.

Depends on the version of the legend you're reading.