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
It is a verse well known to readers of The Lord of the Rings and summarized
quite nicely in the iconic Fellowship of the Ring prologue. But why does one prominent race
seem to be neglected? And, just for fun, what would have happened if they weren’t?
So today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover why there are no Rings of Power for Hobbits.
Over the past 3 years of running this channel, I’ve gotten the question countless times in the
comments why there weren’t any Rings of Power made with hobbits in mind. To get a
full picture of the answer, we must go back to the creation of the rings - where we discover
that not only were hobbits not the intended recipients, but neither were dwarves or men.
After being rejected by Gil-galad and Elrond of Lindon in 1200 SA, Sauron infiltrates Eregion,
home of the great jewel-smiths. Over the next three hundred years, they would learn from
this being known as Annatar before reaching the height of their power and forging 16 great Rings
of Power. When Sauron leaves (going to Mordor to forge his One Ring in secret), Celebrimbor makes
3 more rights with the knowledge he learned from Annatar, but without the dark lord’s involvement.
Sauron returns to Mount Doom, where he forges his master ring,
whose design was to bring all others under its sway. However, the elves wearing their
rings perceive Sauron’s treachery and immediately remove their rings. Gandalf
tells us that the smiths heard Sauron’s words - the very words inscribed upon the One Ring
itself - Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
And here is where Sauron’s initial plan failed. For despite what the full ring
verse has led many to believe - Sauron’s plan was not to use representatives from
all races. All 16 rings he made with Celebrimbor were intended for the
elves. We see in a rare piece of dialogue from Sauron himself that the rings were
pitched to the elves so that many lands of Middle-earth could be fair and beautiful…
‘Alas, for the weakness of the great! For a mighty king is Gil-galad, and wise in all
lore is Master Elrond, and yet they will not aid me in my labours. Can it be that they do
not desire to see other lands become as blissful as their own? But wherefore should Middle-earth
remain for ever desolate and dark, whereas the Elves could make it as fair as Eressëa,
nay even as Valinor? And since you have not returned thither, as you might,
I perceive that you love this Middle-earth, as do I. Is it not then our task to labour together
for its enrichment, and for the raising of all the Elven-kindreds that wander here untaught
to the height of that power and knowledge which those have who are beyond the Sea?’
This proposition is embraced by the Gwaith-i-Mirdain, and indeed would prove to
be a desire among many elves - to see their lands become as beautiful as the home they had left…
Therefore they hearkened to Sauron, and they learned of him many things,
for his knowledge was great. In those days the smiths of Ost-in-Edhil surpassed
all that they had contrived before; and they took thought, and they made Rings of
Power. But Sauron guided their labours, and he was aware of all that they did;
for his desire was to set a bond upon the Elves and to bring them under his vigilance.
So Sauron’s original intention is to enslave the elves, bringing them under
the dominion of the One Ring. It is after his betrayal is discovered that
the dark lord resolves to reclaim the rings. While the three elven rings would elude him,
Sauron takes possession of the 16 after sacking Eregion. With the elves fully
aware of his malicious intent, Sauron only now turns to the other races of Middle-earth.
Sauron gathered into his hands all the remaining Rings of Power; and he dealt
them out to the other peoples of Middle-earth, hoping thus to bring under his sway all those
that desired secret power beyond the measure of their kind. Seven rings he gave to the Dwarves;
but to Men he gave nine, for Men proved in this matter as in others the readiest to his will.
And all those rings that he governed he perverted, the more easily since he had
a part in their making, and they were accursed, and they betrayed in the end all those that used
them. The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others,
and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows.
They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overmastering greed
of gold were kindled in their hearts, of which evil enough after came to the profit of Sauron.
As Sauron turns to the dwarves, giving them seven of his 16 rings,
his purpose once again fails. He did not foresee the dwarves for their heartiness and their nature
to resist the domination of others. Indeed, the only part of Sauron’s plan that works,
aside from his Ruling Ring - is the distribution of the nine to great leaders among men.
Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of
old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed,
unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by
all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal
men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or
later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning,
they fell under the thraldom of the ring that they bore and under the domination of the One,
which was Sauron’s. And they became for ever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring,
and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy’s
most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death.
This leads us to our original question - why are there no Rings of Power given to
the halflings? The most practical answer is that Sauron at this time didn’t even
know of their existence. The given date for the first appearance of the Nine as
the Nazgul is 2251 SA, meaning Sauron likely handed out the 16 rings much
earlier considering the elongated life of these nine men prior to becoming wraiths.
While hobbits may have existed even in the First Age, they do not enter into the Histories of Arda
until 1050 of the Third Age, when the arrival of a shadow in Dol Guldur (later revealed to be Sauron
himself) leads them to migrate westward. So here we get our first reason Sauron didn’t give rings
of power to hobbits - he didn’t know of their existence - nor did anyone else for that matter.
But if Sauron had known about hobbits, there’s almost certainly no chance he would approach
them with Rings of Power. Unlike dwarves and men, the hobbits do not possess great realms
or have mighty armies that could oppose him. There would quite simply be nothing Sauron
could gain - or perceive to gain - from making halflings part of his grand plan.
But for the sake of fun, let’s say Sauron did give rings to the hobbits - many like to
pencil in 5 because…well, it’s an odd number that fits in the sequence. What would happen
if a group of hobbit lordlings were given Rings of Power? In the Return of the King,
we see the vision given to Sam from the influence of the one ring itself…
Already the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and reason. Wild fantasies arose in his mind;
and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword
across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to
the overthrow of Barad-dûr. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone,
and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth
fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be.
It’s worth noting that Sam here has the One Ring, and not one of the rings subservient to it. Now,
what we must keep in mind here is that rings of power enhance the natural abilities of
their wearer. The first part of Sam’s vision - armies flocking to the call of
Samwise the Strong - is remarkably similar to Boromir’s own vision, though only one
of these would likely be capable of such a feat - a conclusion Sam comes to himself.
but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of
his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a
mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due,
not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.
Whatever short term benefits hypothetical hobbit ringbearers may receive,
we need look no further than the Nine to know their eventual fate. These beings
in time would be stretched far beyond their mortal lives, passing into the unseen world,
and becoming slaves under the one - halfling-sized Nazgul.
Ironically, while hobbits would not have been powerful or important enough for
Sauron to consider them for his adjusted plan, members of their race would possess
a ring of power - his. Gollum alone would bear the One Ring for nearly
500 years - quite possibly longer than any of the Nazgul possessed their own.
With Sauron’s change in his rings of power strategy, we see his ability to
be flexible in his manipulation of others. While he didn’t enslave elves, and hobbits were neither
important nor on his radar, he successfully enslaves nine powerful and deadly servants,
while also indirectly bringing about the downfall of multiple dwarven realms by way of dragons.
We must also compliment Sauron on another thing - his ability to adjust his poetry. After all,
the inscription that is engraved on his ruling ring: one ring to rule them all,
one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all,
and in the darkness bind them is written when his plan was still to enslave the
elves. Which means that nearly 100 years later - after he knows the elves made 3 without him,
captures the 16 rings in Eregion, and decides what to do with them - he completes the rest of
the iconic Ring Verse. Like Tolkien himself, Sauron wasn’t afraid to revisit his poetry.
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