I’ve been thinking about this a lot and browsing through the books, and had some ideas. What if instead of Temptation the OS Problem is Disbelief, mostly showing up as distrust and skepticism:
- initially the hobbits are skeptical that the Enemy could reach them all the way in the Shire
- initial distrust of Strider
- a lot of “being unpersuadable” and difficulty convincing – the Council of Elrond, Gandalf and Aragorn having trouble convincing each other about taking the mountain pass vs. Moria route
- doubting, like Gandalf doubted how bad Moria could be; or various characters (esp. Boromir) doubted whether a hobbit was the right choice of Ring-Bearer
- Sauron doesn’t believe they would ever try to destroy the Ring
This makes the OS Focus Temptation, which is a decent fit. I mean, they do talk about Temptation and “see” it as a problem a lot, not just Gandalf but a lot of others. @Lakis I think you had some other examples about Temptation -> Conscience as Focus/Direction too?
And Faith is nice as the Solution in this story. Believing that Frodo can get the job done – so much so that they’re all willing to lay their lives on the line and march on Mordor. Getting Sauron to believe that the main threat is the army at his gates. The Crucial Element then becomes Conscience, which also feels right – doing the right thing instead of taking the easy road.
And for Sam as the Changed IC, it could be that he moves to a place where he has Faith in himself, where he’s the one getting the job done and listening to his own instincts.