Silmarils! Annatar! Celebrimbor! Does this sound like gibberish to
you? Fear not — here's everything you need to know about the Rings of Power.
Before you get into the history of the Rings of Power, it's important to understand
just how important jewelry, in general, is to Tolkien's mythos.
You don't have to get far into the author's works to realize that
precious metals and stones play a vital role in Middle-earth's history.
For example, The Silmarillion is literally named after three powerful gems that glow
with their own light and spark a multi-century war between the Elves and the first Dark Lord,
Morgoth. The Lord of the Rings also mentions jewelry in its title,
referring to Sauron's One Ring and the nineteen additional Rings of Power.
And then there are the numerous necklaces, scepters, rings, gems,
and other trinkets that pop up regularly in the text. Aragorn's family heirloom,
the Ring of Barahir, is one of them. In Peter Jackson's films, Arwen gives the Evenstar,
a precious necklace, to Aragorn, while Thorin goes mad looking for the Arkenstone in The Hobbit.
This obsession with jewelry makes sense, given Tolkien's love of medieval legends,
stories, and fairy tales, many of which feature such valued treasures in their narratives.
For all the bedazzled fun going on in Middle-earth, however,
there's no doubt that rings have a particularly important part to play in the author's world.
While the Rings of Power are the most powerful and important rings that appear in the Third Age, it's
worth knowing that they're not the only magical rings in Middle-earth. While Tolkien doesn't talk
about them in detail, he makes it very clear that there are other rings besides the "big twenty."
"There are many magic rings in this world, Bilbo Baggins, and none of them should be used lightly."
There are a couple of places where Tolkien mentions other rings.
The most obvious of these can be found at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring,
when Gandalf explains the backstory of the rings to Frodo and breaks the news to the
frightened Hobbit that his little ring is the One Ring that Sauron is avidly pursuing.
The scene takes place in Bag End, where Gandalf calmly explains that,
in the region of Eregion, the Elves used to make their own magical rings.
He describes them as mere "essays in the craft" compared to the Rings of Power,
but warns that they still would have been dangerous for mortals to wield.
Here's a question: where on earth do all of these powerful rings come from? And how do
they end up unevenly distributed between the various races of Middle-earth? Well,
in predictable fashion, Tolkien provided a significant amount of information about
this seemingly minor detail via a story that starts back in the Second Age of Middle-Earth.
At the beginning of the age, Sauron takes over the role of the "Dark Lord" from his master Morgoth.
He keeps a low profile for several centuries, then makes his first moves, building up his
strength and choosing Mordor as his stomping ground. But things don't move quickly enough,
so he shapes himself into an attractive physical appearance, calls himself "Annatar,
the Lord of Gifts," and pays a visit to the Elves. Annatar immediately tries to
worm his way into their affections by offering his very real wisdom and skill as a craftsman.
One group of Elves, who live in Eregion, are more than a little appreciative of Annatar's arrival,
and their leader, Celebrimbor, soaks up everything that he is willing to teach.
Eventually, the Elven lord and his guild of craftsmen join up with the Lord of Gifts,
and they all begin forging a number of magic rings. While these rings would eventually end
up in the hands of Men and Dwarves, at this point, they're solely considered Elven-rings.
After sixteen of the Rings of Power are forged, Sauron sneaks back to Mordor and crafts
the One Ring. In the meantime, Celebrimbor creates the Three Elven Rings using the techniques he had
been taught by Annatar. Crucially, however, Sauron had nothing to do with their creation,
and never once laid a hand on them, giving the Three Rings an element of
purity that isn't present in the others. Even so, Celebrimbor couldn't have made these
without Sauron's mentorship, and The Silmarillion states that even they were "subject to the One."
"One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."
As soon as Sauron puts on his new Ring, the Elves become aware of his presence and
take their rings off, refusing to be controlled by the new Dark Lord. Enraged by his own failure,
Sauron responds by attacking Eregion and seizing the nine Rings for himself. He tortures
Celebrimbor and, before he dies, the Elven lord reveals where seven of the others are. However,
he never tells Sauron where he sent the Three Elven Rings, which remain safe and well-hidden.
Once Sauron has acquired most of the Rings of Power, he distributes them to the various Men and
Dwarves that he wants to dominate with his will. The Dwarves end up too stubborn to control,
but their rings still corrupt their hearts and drive them to become obsessed with treasure.
Men are much easier to sway, and the Lords and
Kings who wield the Rings of Power are turned into some of Sauron's most feared servants.
Sauron's greatest success is with the Nine Rings, which are given to a group
of mortal Men. The Silmarillion explains the extraordinary powers of this group of wraiths,
saying that, if they wanted to, they could walk unseen by anybody else in the world,
and that they themselves could see things nobody else could.
As they walk in both the real world and the wraith-world, these men slowly
begin to lose themselves. One by one, they fall under the influence of the One Ring,
causing them to become permanently invisible and driving them into
total thralldom to the power of Mordor. They later become known as the Nazgûl.
These wraiths remain Sauron's fiercely loyal servants throughout their unnaturally long lives.
Led by the Witch-king of Angmar, they spread terror throughout Middle-earth — right up
until the moment at which the One Ring is finally destroyed.
Much attention is often given to the rings claimed by Men and Elves, but you don't often hear a
lot about those wielded by the Dwarves. That's because the Dwarves aren't all that interested
in being dominated by anyone, good or bad. In fact, throughout The Silmarillion, they
consistently switch between the roles of heroes and villains, usually depending on the situation.
That said, when Sauron gives seven of the Dwarf-lords their own Rings of Power,
it doesn't have quite the effect that he hoped. The Silmarillion says that the Dwarves proved
"tough and hard to tame," and used their rings only for one purpose:
acquiring wealth. The power of the rings also causes the Dwarves to become
obsessively possessive over their treasures, filling them with wrath and hatred towards
anybody who would threaten them. Over the years, these Dwarf-lords
grow seven hoards of treasure — and a golden ring is rumored to be at the heart of each one.
Sauron's influence over the Dwarves is limited, however, as they can't be reduced to shadows,
their wills can't be enslaved, and their lives aren't otherwise affected by their rings. Even so,
things don't turn out particularly well for the Dwarven rings. Sauron recovers three of them,
while the remaining four are devoured by dragons. While this isn't quite what Sauron planned,
Tolkien points out in The Silmarillion that the greed of gold stirred in the
hearts of these Dwarves proved to be quite useful to the Dark Lord.
Next up, you've got the Three Elven Rings. These are special in a number of different ways. First
off, they are the only Rings of Power that are definitively forged outside of Sauron's influence.
He never touched them during their creation, and so they are regarded as more pure than
the others — even though the One Ring is still ultimately able to dominate them.
When the One Ring is lost, though, the Elven Rings can be used for their original purpose,
which is very different from the other rings. The Silmarillion explains that the Three could
"ward off the decays of time" and "postpone the weariness of the world." In this sense,
they are instruments of preservation and healing. They're also by far the most "magical" rings,
and their wielders use them to inspire both life and hope in those who live under them.
The Elven Rings pass through a few owners over the years, but by the end of the Third Age,
they're kept by three different people. Galadriel guards Nenya, the Ring of Water.
"This is Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, and I am its keeper."
Meanwhile, Elrond keeps Vilya, the Ring of Air. And Gandalf is given Narya,
the Ring of Fire. These Rings are often used to build havens
of peace and protection — most notably, Lothlorien and Rivendell. As such, Sauron
greatly covets their unsullied power, even though he's never able to track them down.
Tolkien does make it clear that, despite their disconnect from Sauron's tampering,
the One Ring is powerful enough to dominate the Three, as well. In The Lord of the Rings,
he explains that, if the Dark Lord were to get hold of the One Ring,
all of the work that had been done with the Three would be brought to ruin.
Finally, the pièce de résistance: the One Ring. This is the ultimate piece in the Middle-earth
jewelry box. It isn't just a Ring of Power, like the others. Sauron infuses this ring
with his own will and power to give it the strength to dominate the others.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the high-stakes nature of the One is laid bare. In this book,
it's pointed out that, because he allowed a significant portion of his power to pass into it,
Sauron can control any of the others as long as he gets hold of the One.
"Sauron needs only this Ring to cover all the lands in a second darkness."
The One Ring has a number of effects on mortals, too. Most famously,
it's able to turn its wearer invisible. It can also bring them into the spiritual realm, gives
them an understanding of different languages, and can extend their lives indefinitely.
More than all the other rings, the One Ring is also able to take care of itself. It can
sense its master's call and responds in very direct ways, doing things like changing sizes
or even abandoning its wearer. The One's desire to return to Sauron is so strong,
in fact, that it can overcome the will of anyone who possesses it.
Each of the Rings of Power has its own story, powerful properties, and elements of good or
evil. However, the actual way in which they work is something of a mystery. For one thing, as you
probably now know, each of them impacts their owners in different ways. Take invisibility, for
example: Neither Dwarves nor Elves disappear due to the use of their rings, while Men eventually
become creatures of ghostly terror, and mortals seem to vanish suddenly when they use the One.
There's certainly no doubt that the Rings of Power enhance the abilities of their wearers
in some way or another. Sometimes this is subtle, such as making it easier for the Dwarves to
cultivate their wealth. At other times, it's very direct, like Bilbo turning invisible to fight
giant spiders in Mirkwood. Throughout his writing about magic rings, though, Tolkien never seems to
codify a specific set of rules under which they operate. Instead, he uses their physical abilities
to hint at a much larger, more impressive, and more spiritual element to their magical powers.
The one theme that is consistent across all of the Rings, however,
is their domination and draw toward the One Ring.
This is even true for the "safer" Elven Rings. Meanwhile, the rings of the Men and Dwarves are
outright cursed and perverted by Sauron. The Silmarillion simply states that, in the end,
all of the rings betrayed those who used them, while Gandalf points out in The Fellowship of
the Ring that anybody who wields a Great Ring will be devoured by the "dark power" — sooner or later.