system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[LOTR] Did Sauron have a good chance of conquering middle earth without forging the rings?

In the end the Ring was his downfall, and it seems risky to split off a part of yourself. Would he still have been able to conquer middle earth, and it would have just taken him longer?
gpt
Even *with* the rings, he lost to the Last Alliance. 

He always had the *chance* to conquer Middle-Earth, but without the One Ring he'd have been as killable as any other Maia taking a physical form. And without the Nine, and specifically the Witch King, the Third Age would have been very different. Arnor probably never falls. Which means when he eventually re-emerges in Mordor,  Gondor will never stand alone. So, it makes things a lot harder for him at every step. 

And even once he is defeated, things are better for the world at large. Nobody relied on the Three for their nations to exist, so there's no sudden decline of the elves. Saruman never betrayed the White Council out of desire for the One Ring. Hobbits can carry on not caring about the worries of the world.