Geez, there’s so much I either missed or conflated with the movies since reading the series. Someone else included the quote where he just wants to be a small gardener with his own garden, but I don’t remember the garden to rival nations although it rings a bell.
Oh, found it, “and then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own”
That’s great, thanks.
It’s actually pretty funny to imagine the Ring searching his mind for ways to tempt him and being like, “This guy just wants a fucking GARDEN? What am I supposed to do with that?? Uhh, hey, Sam, you can have a garden that covers all of Middle Earth! (That’s so stupid, I hope he falls for it)”
Yeah maybe I was inflating it just a tad, it seems he had the realization that he could have such a large garden, but conceded in only wanting a nice singular garden.