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"I have come," Frodo said. But I choose to do what I came to do. I will not cast the ring into the fire. Don't you realize Sam, that destroying the ring would render several beings non-viable? Not only is this tantamount to the loathsome death penalty, but this judgement would have been rendered without any judicial due process."
Later at the war crimes trial (set up with a representative base of all the beings of middle-earth and being fundamentally limited in punitive powers) it is realized that Sauron was really a victim. His transgressions concerning the rings of power were a direct result of the shameful treatment he had received as a convicted lieutenant of Melkor. As there was never a proper recovery program put into place, his further rebellion was judged to be an attention-getting device or even a classic cry for help.
With proper counseling and the support of his peers, Sauron eventually developed into a productive member of the middle-earth community. In his later days he was famed for selfless generosity and his self-effacing midsummer's eve parties. The one ring (not that there was any thing inherently better about this ring, it's just that everyone was so used to the name that it was never given another title) was donated to the community for the better good. A rota was developed whereby anyone so desiring could have a turn wielding it.
Aragorn never did get over the "Rightful King of Gondor" hang-up. No amount of discussion on the "Need for Democratically Elected Government" or the "Rights of the Individual," however well reasoned, could persuade him that he didn't have the right to be a dictator of the masses and a law only unto himself. Eventually, he was reduced to ranting on a low-grade lecture circuit and was an object of pity by all.
Arwen broke off the engagement with Aragorn once she realized how inflexible he had become about the whole enlightenment business. After a discreet fling with the Mouth of Sauron, she devoted her life to gender equality issues among dwarfish womyn.