Rings of Power

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For the computer game, see Rings of Power (game).

The Rings of Power are fictional artifacts from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

There were twenty Rings of Power, or Great Rings. Sixteen of them were forged by the Elves of Eregion with knowledge and assistance from Sauron in his guise as 'Annatar'. Celebrimbor alone forged the Three greatest Rings of the Elves, though still based on knowledge obtained from Sauron. Sauron forged the twentieth Great Ring, called the One Ring or the Ruling Ring, secretly in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor.

As "essays in the craft" a great many lesser rings were also forged, of unknown but far lesser powers than the Great Rings. These were all "simple and unadorned", metal bands without any markings or gemstones. In contrast, the Great Rings other than the One were each set with a single gemstone. The One Ring was seemingly made of plain gold and without a gemstone, "as it were one of the lesser rings." However, if the One were heated an inscription of two lines of Black Speech in tengwar script could then be made out in fiery letters covering both sides of the ring:

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,

ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

These words were spoken by Sauron when he first put on the One, and heard by the Elves at that time. Later, after Sauron had captured and distributed many of the Rings of Power, an elvish rhyme of lore was constructed which incorporated a translation of these words as the antepenultimate and penultimate lines:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

1 Creation of the Rings of Power
2 Common powers of the Rings
3 The Nine
4 The Seven
5 The Three
6 The One
7 Final disposition of the Rings
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Creation of the Rings of Power

According to Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings, work on the creation of the Rings of Power began circa S.A. 1500, in Eregion by an alliance of the Elven smiths led by Celebrimbor (possibly a grandson of Fëanor) and the disguised Sauron. Celebrimbor forged the Three alone, finishing around S.A. 1590, using the knowledge he had gained from Sauron but without his involvement. The One, created around S.A. 1600, was finally completed by Sauron, alone, in the heart of Mount Doom. Sauron created it to rule over all the other Rings, which required that he put most of his power into the One. As soon as he set the One on his finger the elves were aware of him and the words he spoke at that moment, and removed their rings.

About 90 years later Sauron invaded and conquered Eregion before overrunning nearly all of Eriador. Celebrimbor was killed before the West Gate of Moria. The Seven and the Nine were captured, but the Three were hidden. Vilya and Narya were given to Gil-galad, and Nenya to Galadriel. In The Lord of the Rings it is said that Gil-galad gave Narya to Círdan shortly after he received it from Celebrimbor, but in Unfinished Tales it is said this happened in S.A. 3430. Gil-galad gave Vilya to Elrond shortly before he died.

After the war Sauron distributed the Seven and the Nine to leaders of the Dwarves and Men respectively, although some held that Durin III of Moria received his Ring from Celebrimbor directly. The rest of the Seven were later consumed by dragons or recovered by Sauron. The last of these was that of Thráin II, the Ring originally given to Durin, taken from him in Dol Guldur almost 5000 years after the making of the One.

[edit] Common powers of the Rings

The primary purpose and power of all the Rings was the "prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. 'change' viewed as a regrettable thing)". ^{Letters #131} It was through this desire of the Elves to preserve things of beauty that Sauron was able to trick them. All of the Rings enhanced any natural powers of the possessor.

The Rings apparently granted the ability to see things which are normally unseen, such as Frodo Baggins' ability to see Galadriel's Ring when Samwise Gamgee could not or various instances of perceiving things in the wraith world while wearing the One. However, this power is said to have been "more directly derived from Sauron" than the other powers of the Rings and thus may not have been present in the Three, which Sauron never touched.

It is unclear whether these effects were always present in the sixteen or were added after Sauron had taken them from the Elves. It is said in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age that Sauron "perverted" the Nine and the Seven such that they were cursed and betrayed those who used them. This 'curse' can be seen in the deaths of the Dwarves Thrór and Thráin, both driven to undertake lethal dangers by the Ring of their house.

In an unused draft text, Tolkien indicated that Calaquendi—like Glorfindel—could use the 'invisibility' power of a Ring to choose to appear fully in either the physical or wraith world rather than existing in both at the same time. This might be similar to the way that Sauron was apparently able to remain visible while wearing the One.

[edit] The Nine

Main article: Nazgûl

The Nine Rings caused Men wearing them to become invisible by shifting them into the 'wraith world'. They could also extend the lifespans of Men who possessed them, though this would eventually lead to the Men becoming wraiths. It is implied by Gandalf that all the other Great Rings would have had the same effects on Men, but Tolkien wrote that this was untrue of the Three and there are no instances of a Man bearing one of the Seven.

The nine rings for mortal men were divided amongst ambitious men doomed to become the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths. None are mentioned specifically throughout the Lord of The Rings save their leader, the Witch-king of Angmar. His second-in-command is named in Unfinished Tales as Khamûl, the Black Easterling. What is known is that three of the nine Ringwraiths were originally 'great lords' of Númenor in the mid Second Age.

Further details for the Nazgûl were created for the Middle-earth Roleplaying game from the 1980's, but these are non-canonical and considered poor efforts by most Tolkien fans.

[edit] The Seven

Sauron gave the Seven Rings to the Dwarf Lords (although according to Dwarvish tradition Celebrimbor gave one of them to Durin III). As there were Seven dwarf 'Houses' or nations, it is tempting to assume that each dwarf-king was given his own ring, but this is not stated.

Tolkien wrote that Dwarves could not be made invisible, turned into wraiths, dominated through the Rings, or have their lives extended. These resistances of the Dwarves greatly frustrated Sauron's plans, but he was still able to influence them to anger and greed through their Rings.

The Dwarves used their Rings to establish their treasure hoards, apparently being somehow able to "breed" wealth with their Rings. Tolkien never explained how this was accomplished except that the Rings required gold to breed more gold, like the ring Draupnir in Norse mythology. As noted, the Dwarves were immune to many effects of the Rings and it is believed that the Dwarves' natural hardiness made them resistant to Sauron's control. Of the Seven, at the time of The Lord of the Rings, four had been destroyed by dragon fire and the remaining three acquired by Sauron. The last of the Seven was taken from Thráin II, who had been captured, imprisoned, and tormented by Sauron (in the guise of the Necromancer) in T.A. 2845.

[edit] The Three

Main article: Three Rings

The Three Rings of the Elves of Eregion were forged by Celebrimbor alone, and were never touched by Sauron. Narya, the Ring of Fire, was set with a ruby and worn first by Círdan and then by Gandalf; Nenya, the Ring of Water or Ring of Adamant, was of mithril set with a diamond and worn by Galadriel; and Vilya, the Ring of Air, mightiest of the Three, was of gold set with a blue stone and borne first by Gil-galad and then by Elrond. They remained hidden, and the whereabouts of two were not revealed until the end of the Third Age, after the One Ring was destroyed and Sauron was overthrown, although by the power of The One Frodo perceives Galadriel's possession of Nenya in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Unlike the other Rings, the Three did not confer invisibility nor bear a curse beyond their vulnerability to the One. It is unclear whether they would have extended the lifespan of a mortal, created wraiths, allowed sight of the unseen, or otherwise possessed the powers intended by Sauron. However, the rings themselves were invisible when worn - only a few, such as other Ring owners, could see them.

The Three were dedicated to the preservation of beauty and prevention of decay, and were more powerful than the Seven and the Nine. A wearer of a ring of the Three gained the power to preserve, in many different ways, whatever they control. The ring Nenya allowed Galadriel to block the Eye of Sauron and preserve Lothlórien from the harmful influences of time and decay. Vilya allows Elrond to do the same in Rivendell and it is possible that Círdan did something similar at the Havens before surrendering his Ring.

Narya is also called 'the Kindler' and is said to have had a part in Gandalf's mastery of fire, suggesting that the Rings might also be attuned to the elements for which they were named. However, the primary purpose of Narya was to 'kindle' hope. Its use in this regard might be seen in the way hope returned to the guards of Gondor, besieged by the Nazgûl, only when Gandalf was nearby.

See also: Círdan, Galadriel, and Gil-galad

[edit] The One

Main article: One Ring

The One Ring, secretly forged by Sauron in the heart of Mount Doom, had the power to dominate the other nineteen Great Rings. It allowed Sauron to see and control the thoughts of those who bore the other Rings and all that they did with their Rings. Because of the caution of the Elves and the resistance of the Dwarves, Sauron's dominion over the other rings was incomplete, but the force he could bring to bear with the Ring was amazing nonetheless. This was partly because of his using a large amount of his own power into it at its forging; a necessity that later led to his downfall.

The One possessed all the powers seen in the Nine and could vastly increase the natural abilities of the bearer. It may also have had a general ability to control or influence others, since it allowed Sauron to quickly corrupt the Númenóreans into evil and also allowed Frodo and Sam to appear powerful and foreboding on several occasions. Finally, the One somehow granted Sam the ability to understand the speech of Orcs in Mordor, and Bilbo Baggins the ability to understand the speech of the Great Spiders in Mirkwood.

Mastery of the One required time and practice in using it to control others. The amount of power it granted to a bearer was limited by their own native abilities. Thus, someone like Frodo or Gollum could never have used the One to dominate the bearers of the other Rings. The Ring possessed a sort of sentience or will of its own and could slip on or off at inopportune times or influence the bearer (cf. Isildur at the "Disaster of the Gladden Fields."). The One could even influence and corrupt those who had never touched it, such as when it drove Sméagol to murder Déagol.

[edit] Final disposition of the Rings

The One Ring was destroyed in the Cracks of Doom at Orodruin, where it was originally forged, in The Return of the King, causing the downfall of Sauron and the undoing of all he created with it. Galadriel states in her conversation with Frodo that with the destruction of the One, the power of the other surviving rings (though no longer bound to it) would gradually weaken and eventually fail.

The Three remained hidden from Sauron and untouched by him — Vilya in the care of Elrond, Nenya wielded by Galadriel, and Narya worn by Gandalf. All three were taken to Valinor by their bearers at the end of the Third Age.

Dragons destroyed four of the Seven Rings, and after Sauron's return he recaptured the remaining three (the last from Thráin, father of Thorin Oakenshield, nearly a hundred years before the action of The Hobbit). What came of them following Sauron's demise is not known, but it is likely they were destroyed in the collapse of Barad-dûr. In any case, it is safe to assume that they, like the Elven rings, were shorn of their powers.

The Nine were worn by Sauron's Ringwraiths until he recovered them. Once enslaved, Sauron no longer needed the Nazgûl to wear the rings. The fate of the Nine rings was likely the same as that of the remaining Dwarven rings.