u/Dabrush

Or does do they still get the effects of it on the eyes and mucous membrane in their airways?

Like even if we accept that all the favourable things of the trilogy might still happen (Rohan winning at Helm's Deep, Saruman being defeated by the ents, Aragorn taking back the throne and recruiting the Dunedain and Dead, winning the battle of Pellenor Fields), and with additional help like Boromir being alive to lead an army, it still seems like humans were hugely outnumbered, elves were running off and the Nazghul were practically invulnerable.

So if the Ring just stayed in hiding or was never found by Smeagol in the first place, it seems like Sauron would have been more than able to overrun all of Middle Earth within the next few years. Did Gandalf even have a plan for that? Or did it only become obvious later just how much Mordor had been powering up over the last 1000 years?

Also, was it pure coincidence that the quest to destroy the ring fell into the same time frame as Rohan and Gondor both being almost destroyed? Or did those conquests launch because Sauron knew of the Fellowship (From what I understand, Gondor had been pushed back from East for a long time before the trilogy happens already, but I guess they've never been confronted by an army like they were at Minas Tirith)?