Fellowship of the Ring

But in order to get this to work, there needs to be a bit more than just a group of friends and a long walk. To me, I suspect Gandalf would know this. If he has his wraith hunters ready, he can take advantage of them.   I would expect that hobbits and dwarves, who seem to have an unnatural resistance to the power of Sauron's Rings, would probably be recruited to take part. I would also imagine that representatives from the White Council would be sent as well. Elrond and Galadriel would probably not take part, as they have their own kingdoms to run and defend. But trusted agents would be sent by them. But I would also suspect that the Fellowship would also be decided on by the White Council itself in secret, not in a Council of Elrond style debate. One would not want the secret getting out.

Through fake fellowships and false rumors, the wraiths can be baited into traps. Each fake fellowship would need to be secret enough to appear convincing, but bad enough at stealth that they are found by the wraiths easily enough. Then, these teams can kill them - as they were trained and told to.   But the real Fellowship would have to be as totally secret as possible. Perhaps so secret that only the real destination would be made known to select members and no earlier than they have to know. Perhaps only the Ringbearer would know the nature of the One Ring and the true mission. Then, secret paths and remaining hidden as much as possible would be required. Any and all slips could cost Middle Earth dearly.   The delay in discovery of Saruman's deception at the Battle of Azanûlbizar would have a secondary and also important impact. Elrond would be much more likely to tell Saruman about the discovery of the One Ring and thus accidentally tip off Mordor. Now, Saruman is playing both sides, seeking the One Ring for himself. Which means he would likely tip off the the Wraith of the Grey Mountains that Gollum had the One Ring and that he escaped. The goal would be to have the Wraith hunt Gollum instead of looking too hard at Saruman himself.   The problem is the eventual capture of Gollum would lead to the total exposure of Saruman's treachery. Gollum would naturally have knowledge of key details Saruman withheld. Then, the search for "Baggins" would lead to discovery of Saruman's network in the area. The Mount of Sauron then would be sent to Isengard to force the issue. Saruman would likely kill him. The Grey Mountains Wraith would likely investigate and discover what happened. Saruman would attempt to use his persuasive abilities. The ring he received might help with that, but the nature of those rings means that they are naturally tied to Sauron. So his desperation would lead to exposure.   The resurrection of Gandalf would lead to his loss of position in the White Council too. Which means Saruman is out of options. At this point, his militarization and wars of conquest would appear to be his only options. He would turn to his Wild Men allies to hunt for the Fellowship. His early Uruk Hai would be sent out as hunting parties as well. He also had his intelligence networks in Bree and in the Shire that would feed him information.   The result would be a three way intelligence battle. The White Council would aim to deceive all and seek to keep the Fellowship hidden at all costs. This means work to distract their enemies and send them chasing after false leads as much as possible. Meanwhile, Isengard would be seeking to find the Fellowship and deny access to actionable intelligence to Mordor. Which would make Mordor's discovery much less likely. Mordor, mostly in the shape of the surviving Wraiths, would be the other side in play.   Now, we need to look at themes for a second here. One of the major ones is the fact that the hubris of evil (personified in Sauron) leads to its own downfall. The inability to recognize the vulnerability of Mt. Doom led to its destruction. The pure use of terror left few honestly wanting to help him. Plus, the desire for power led to conflicts over the One Ring by Frodo and Gollum. It was not the virtues of the Free People, but the flaws and contradictions in the evil side that led to it falling.   Remember the possibility of the Ring Wraiths allowing the One Ring to get away in an open act of suicidal rebellion? Well, this is perfectly in line with the self destructive nature evil appears to have in Tolkien's work. By exploiting this possibility, one would allow for the avarice, lust for power and cruelty to literally lead to the destruction of Sauron's power base. It also allows for a redemption arc. Just as important, this would then allow it to be clear that evil is a choice.   Now, route would they take? Well, Moria would actually now be the ideal path through the Misty Mountains. It would be much safer than any others. Then, it should travel down the Anduin on boats until it gets close to Osgiliath. At this point, it should get out and cross into Mordor the same way Frodo and Sam do in the books and movies. This has the benefit of being much faster and secure for most of the trip. When on the river, their main vulnerability will be when they are camping.   So, lets look for a second here at how this might play out. Perhaps the Fellowship slips up while passing through Rohan. Because of Wormtongue's trusted position with Theoden, Isengard finds out where the Fellowship is. A party of Uruk Hai is sent out. It successfully catches up and ambushes the Fellowship when they are setting up their camp. The Wraith would notice what is going on though and move into the area. As too would the local Eodred.   The Uruks start off strong enough to slowly overwhelm the Fellowship. It takes losses and begins to lose hope. The Wraith arrives and realizes that the One Ring is held by the party. It steps in to defeat the Uruks and keep it out of Isengard's hands. in the ensuing battle, the Fellowship is able to make a run for it. But the Wraith notices and in a flash of independence and desperation, intentionally lets them flee. But then the local Rohirrim shows up and turns the tide.   Speaking of the secret getting out, Saruman would know that the One Ring was in the hands of his now enemies. They too would know that he was after it. So would Mordor. This is where Mordor might attempt to pull off the Wizard Ring plan. But Sauron might be too weak still to pull it off successfully. Thus, Saruman might be the only one offered a ring or the only one corrupted fully by it. If Sauron is strong enough to make rings for the other wizards, they might not be strong enough to fully corrupt them. The Blue Wizards, with their taste of power organizing revolts might become evil but not loyal to Sauron. This would be useful, but might also serve as blow back. They could become powerful enough to organize Mordor's allies into a successful revolt that ends up weakening Mordor.   So, for the sake of the story, lets say these weaker rings are made. Sauron realizes because of Saruman that the wizards can fall to the dark side. After they are made, the Mouth of Sauron is deployed to distribute them. It would have to be the Mouth of Sauron, as he is an unknown figure and is much more persuasive. A Ring Wraith would be recognized as such - thus them doing the same thing would make the targets too (understandably) distrustful to fall for it. The Blue Wizards and Saruman take them, but only Saruman becomes fully loyal to Mordor. The Blue Wizards follow their original plan. The main differences would be they are more effective and are now doing it to set up their own power bases. Gandalf and Ratagast do not fall for the trick. I would imagine they would be smart enough to see through it.