Arguably one of the scariest aspects of the servants of Sauron is their ability to locate and pursue the One Ring. In the first film, the Fellowship of the Ring, there is a lot of fear and tension surrounding the 9 Ringwraiths and their black horses hunting the hobbits through the woods. These terrifying creatures seem to be able to sense the dark object, and are called to it, which means that it doesn’t matter where Frodo runs or tries to hide, they will always find him.
This has raised a few questions among fans, because there have been several other characters who have been in contact with the ring throughout the duration of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books, but none of the others seem to have been targeted by the wraiths in the same way. For example, Bilbo Baggins was able to live a peaceful life in The Shire after his own quest, with nothing more troublesome or dangerous occurring than his cousin Lobelia Sackville Baggins stealing his silver spoons. He had the ring in his possession for over 60 years before it was passed down to Frodo, so why did the ring never call to the black riders to be collected in this period? Equally, Gollum of course had the ring for far longer than that, over 478 years, which is a long time for the cruel object to go unsought for by the Black Riders, especially seeing how keenly they can sense the ring’s presence when they are near it in the first movie.
There are two very important aspects to consider in explaining why they didn’t track gollum and discover the ring sooner. The first explanation is to do with the timeline of Sauron himself. At the time that Gollum first discovered the ring in the river, and wrestled it from the dead hands of his cousin Deagol, Sauron was a mere life-force, shriveled and weakened after the battle of the Last Alliance, and hiding behind the Black Gates of Mordor so that he could regain strength and create the army and resources he would need in order to be able to seize Middle Earth.
In this sense, the Ringwraiths too, were weakened and behind the gates with him, and hadn’t been released to go and find the ring, because no one knew at this point that the ring had resurfaced. Gollum took the object deep into the tunnels and caves under the mountain, beneath the goblin stronghold where it was too dark for most living things to venture. Therefore, the Ringwraiths were unable to pursue him or sense the ring even when he wore it, because they were too weak, and also unaware that they should be seeking it. It was only after capturing Gollum, and him revealing that the ring was with ‘Shire, Baggins’ that they knew it had resurfaced, and knew where to start the search to recover it.
The second reason is thanks to the ring itself. Rather than being an inanimate object, the ring is a character all on its own. It has a malicious personality, and is able to betray its wearer and get them killed whenever it desires. Although it has immense gifts, like being able to turn characters invisible, it is also a crafty and dangerous device, and knows exactly how to get its own way. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Ringwraiths couldn’t find the ring because it didn’t want to be found yet. In the times that Gollum put it on in the cave under the mountain, or Bilbo put it on in The Shire, it didn’t release the same signal as it does later, when it’s worn by Frodo and desperate to get back to its master. The Ring, too, is biding its time until Sauron is strong and has amassed an army. It had many chances to slip off Gollums finger and be discovered by a goblin or other unwitting creature during Gollums 500 years, but it chose to wait on purpose.
Perhaps it was waiting to find someone worthy of dominating and controlling. It wasn’t going to settle for a mere goblin, it was waiting for the likes of Aragorn, a strong and noble man with a claim to the throne of a magnificently powerful kingdom, or for Saruman the White who has manipulative wizarding powers. In seeking out victims such as these, rather than calling to the Ringwraiths before the time was right, the ring may have been trying to add to Sauron’s power, and win him allies across several races of Middle Earth, which would only make the ring’s true master’s rise to power even more indefinite.