text:
Rings of Power
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Power ring (disambiguation).
This Middle-earth-related article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (February 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
The Rings of Power in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium are magic rings created by Sauron or by the Elves of Eregion under Sauron's tutelage. Sauron intended three of the rings to be worn by Elves, Seven by Dwarves, Nine by Men, and one, the One Ring, by the Dark Lord Sauron himself in Mount Doom.
Sauron intended the rings to subvert these races of Middle-earth to his power, since the One Ring controlled the others. Sauron's plan was not completely successful, for the Elves hid their rings and did not use them while Sauron held the One, and the Dwarves did not respond to the One's control as Sauron expected. But the Men who wore the Nine were enslaved by Sauron, and became the Nazgûl ("ring wraiths").
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is largely concerned with the attempt of Sauron to recover the One and the efforts of the West to forestall him by destroying it. The One is destroyed near the end of the War of the Ring when it falls into the Cracks of Doom in Mount Doom. Tolkien is not entirely clear about what happened to the other rings, though he implied that the power of any that survived came to an end. After the War of the Ring, the three Elven Rings were taken by their bearers over the sea to the Undying Lands.
Contents
[hide]
1 Literature
1.1 The making of the rings
1.1.1 The Verse of the Rings
1.2 The Nine
1.3 The Seven
1.4 The Three
1.5 The One
2 Adaptations
3 See also
4 References
4.1 General references
Literature[edit]
The making of the rings[edit]
Tolkien's essay "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" in The Silmarillion gives the background of the making of the rings.[1] At the end of the First Age, Sauron evaded the call of the Valar to surrender, and fled to Middle-earth. Midway through the Second Age he came in disguise as Annatar ("Lord of Gifts") to the Elven smiths of Eregion, who were led by Celebrimbor, and taught them the craft of forging magic rings. Tolkien writes that the Elves made many lesser rings as essays in the craft,[2] but eventually with Sauron's assistance they forged the Seven and the Nine. The Three were made by Celebrimbor himself without Sauron's assistance; they remained unsullied by his touch.
Sauron returned to Mordor, and in his forge in Mount Doom he made the One Ring, imbuing it with a large portion of his power. Its purpose was to dominate and command the wearers of the other Rings. However, when Sauron put on the One Ring and recited the incantation inscribed on it, the Elves became aware of him, and understood who he was and his purpose. The words he spoke are in the language that Westron speakers call Black Speech:
The inscription on the One Ring is a Tengwar rendering of the language known as Black Speech.
Ash nazg durbatulûk,
Ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk
Agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all,
And in the darkness bind them.
When the Elves wearing the rings discerned Sauron's intention, they immediately removed them and hid them. Sauron invaded the West to recover the rings that the Elves had made; much of the West, including Eregion, was destroyed before he was driven back to Mordor. Sauron recovered the Nine and three of the Seven, but not the Three elven rings, which remained hidden.
The Verse of the Rings[edit]
The words inscribed on the One Ring come from the following verse, which describes 20 of the Rings of Power:
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.
— The Lord of the Rings, Epigraph
The Nine[edit]
Main article: Nazgûl
Later in the Second Age, Sauron gave the Nine to powerful men, "kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old".[3] All of them fell under the rings' dominance, and they became the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), spirits of terror whom Sauron could command even without the One. Their lives were extended indefinitely by the rings, and they became Sauron's chief servants.
To mortal observers who were not themselves wearing a Ring, a Ring of Power seemed to render the wearer invisible.[2] Although the Nazgûl could not be seen, they emanated an evil presence;[4] their steeds were also visible. When they wished to adopt a noticeable form, they wore dark cloaks over their invisible bodies.
It is not clear whether the Nazgûl continued to wear their rings.[original research?] Tolkien says both "the Nine the Nazgûl keep"[5] and that Sauron had gathered the Nine to himself,[2] though in the latter case his meaning may be metaphorical. When the Nazgûl are destroyed, no mention is made of their rings.
Only two of the Nazgûl are identified in the texts: the Witch-king of Angmar was the leader of the nine, and his second in command was Khamûl, an Easterling.[6] Khamûl is the only Nazgûl identified by name. Three of the Nine were Númenórean.[7]
The Seven[edit]
Also in the Second Age Sauron gave the Seven to various Dwarf-lords (though the Dwarves of Moria maintained a tradition that the ring given to Durin III came directly from the Elven smiths).[8][9] Gandalf mentions a rumour that the seven hoards of the dwarves began each with a single golden ring, and although the Dwarves used their rings to increase their treasure, Tolkien does not explain how the rings accomplished this (save for a reference that the rings "need gold to breed gold"). The main power of the Seven on their wearers was to excite their sense of avarice. The wearers did not become invisible, did not get extended life-spans, nor succumb directly to Sauron's control – though he could still influence them to anger and greed.[1]
Over the years, Sauron recovered three rings from the Dwarves, the last from Thráin II during his final captivity in Dol Guldur some years before the beginning of The Hobbit. The remaining four, according to Gandalf, were destroyed by dragons.[2]
Until the Council of Elrond, the Dwarves did not know that Thráin had held the ring of Durin's line and had lost it to Sauron. They thought instead that it might have been lost when Thrór was killed by Azog in Moria.[5] One of the motivations for Balin's doomed expedition to Moria was the possibility of recovering the ring. Sauron's messenger attempted to bribe the Dwarves of Erebor for news of Bilbo (the last known bearer of the One) with the promise of the return of the remaining three of the Seven and control over the Mines of Moria.
The Three[edit]
Main article: Three Rings
The Three Rings of the Elves were called Narya, the Ring of Fire (set with a ruby); Nenya, the Ring of Water or Ring of Adamant (made of mithril and set with a "white stone"), and Vilya, the Ring of Air, the "mightiest of the Three" (made of gold and set with a sapphire).[10]
Before the sack of Eregion, Celebrimbor gave Vilya and Narya to Gil-galad and Nenya to Galadriel. Gil-galad later gave Narya to Círdan, and gave Vilya to Elrond.
The Three remained hidden from Sauron and untouched by him. During the Third Age, after he lost the One, they were used for the preservation and enhancement of three remaining realms of the Eldar. Vilya was used by Elrond in Rivendell, Nenya by Galadriel in Lothlórien, and Narya by Círdan in Lindon. When the Istari, or wizards, arrived about T.A. 1100, Círdan gave Narya to Gandalf, who bore it until the end of the Third Age.
During the period of The Lord of the Rings, the Three were borne by Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf; but until the end of the book their rings are not seen. Only Frodo, the bearer of the One, sees Galadriel's ring, and only when she draws his attention to it. At the end of the book, these three take their rings, now visible and powerless, over the sea to the Undying Lands.
Although the Verse of the Rings describes Three Rings for the Elven-kings, the only Elven king who actually held a ring was Gil-galad. He held both Vilya and Narya, but entrusted them to Elrond and Círdan before perishing in Mordor.
The One[edit]
Main article: One Ring
Unlike the other Rings of Power, the One was unadorned. It bore only the inscription of the incantation Sauron spoke when he made it, and even that was invisible unless the ring was heated.[2] Though the other rings could be destroyed in dragon-fire, the One could be unmade only in the unyielding fires of Mount Doom where it was forged.[2]
When Sauron made the ring, he was obliged to transfer much of his power into it so that it could control the other rings, themselves objects of great potency. With the ring, Sauron remained very powerful, and he could use it to dominate the will of others; he very quickly corrupted Númenor into the worship of Melkor and open rebellion against the Valar.
When Isildur cut the ring from his hand, Sauron became much weaker. He required the ring to effect his conquest of Middle-earth, and spent most of the Third Age attempting to get it back.
The ring had a great effect on the human bearers who held it in the interim. It granted them indefinite life; though the effort of living became more difficult as time went on, for it did not grant new life.[2] If they wore it, it made them invisible, enhanced their hearing, and made the shadowy world of the wraiths visible to them. It exerted a malicious influence; Gandalf mentions that though a bearer might begin with good intentions, the good intentions would not last.[2] The Ring would give its bearer a fraction of Sauron's power, proportionate with the bearer's strength and force of will. Gollum, Bilbo, Sam, and Frodo only became invisible, although when Frodo bound Gollum to his service in The Two Towers he indicated that he could use the Ring to control Gollum (because the Ring had mastered Gollum long ago). Gandalf and Galadriel, however, recognized that they could use the full power of the Ring, becoming even more powerful than Sauron himself, but they resisted, knowing that in the end the Ring would corrupt them. Gandalf explained to Frodo that, with great concentration and training, even he could tap into the Ring's power, but probably at the cost of his sanity.
The One Ring possessed something of a will of its own. Its only accepted master was Sauron himself, and it would seek to leave any other bearer when it would cause the greatest harm, or when it might return to Sauron. Bilbo warned Frodo of this, and Frodo kept it on a chain so that it would not slip off unnoticed. In the end, Gollum succumbs to the malevolent influence of the ring, defies Frodo, and takes the ring for himself. While dancing with joy over the recovery of the ring, Gollum falls into the Cracks of Doom in Orodruin, where the ring is destroyed. With the destruction of the Ring, Gandalf explains that Sauron is weakened to the point that he will never be able to materialize again.[11]
Adaptations[edit]
Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film begins with the forging of the Rings of Power and the events of the Last Alliance's war against Sauron, all portrayed in silhouette against a red background.
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring begins with a similar prologue, though longer and more detailed. The three Elven rings are shown being cast using a cuttlebone mold, an ancient primitive casting technique. Additionally, Tolkien illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee, employed as conceptual designers for the films, have cameos as two of the nine human Ring-bearers who become Nazgûl.
See also[edit]
Middle-earth portal
"Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
Magic ring
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Fellowship, The Shadow of the Past
Jump up ^ The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", p. 289.
Jump up ^ Unfinished Tales, "The Hunt for the Ring", p. 338.
^ Jump up to: a b Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel, "The Council of Elrond", The Fellowship of the Ring .
Jump up ^ Unfinished Tales, "The Hunt for the Ring", p. 338.
Jump up ^ The Silmarillion, "Akallabêth, p. 267.
Jump up ^ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "III. Durin's Folk".
Jump up ^ Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", p. 238.
Jump up ^ The Return of the King, "The Grey Havens", passim.
Jump up ^ Return of the King, The Last Debate
General references[edit]
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954), The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 1987), ISBN 0-395-08254-4
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955), The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 1987), ISBN 0-395-08256-0
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977), Christopher Tolkien, ed., The Silmarillion, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-25730-1
[hide]
v
t
e
J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium
Writings
Principal works
The Silmarillion
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
Other works
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Road Goes Ever On
Posthumous publications
Unfinished Tales
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
The History of Middle-earth (12 volumes)
Bilbo's Last Song
The Children of Húrin
The History of The Hobbit
The Tale of Beren and Lúthien
Fictional universe
Characters
Peoples
Individual Dwarves
Individual Elves
Individual Hobbits
Hobbit families
Individual Númenóreans
Individual Orcs
Kings of Arnor
House of Isildur
Rangers of the North
Arvedui
Aragorn
Eldarion
Kings of Dale
Kings of Gondor
House of Anárion
Eärnil II
Kings of Rohan
Éomer
Théoden
Rulers of Númenor
Realms
Objects
Rings of Power
One Ring
Three Rings
Palantír
Silmarils
Mithril
Weapons and armour
Sting
Concepts
Cosmology
Ages or timeline
Animals
Plants
Food and drink
Wars and battles
Rivers
Anduin
Roads
Languages
Magic
Hobbit Day
Secondary works and legacy
The Atlas of Middle-earth
The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
A Guide to Middle-earth
The Individuated Hobbit
J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
Journeys of Frodo
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion
Images of Middle-Earth
Related fiction
Things named after Tolkien and his works
Tolkien's Ring
Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings"
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rings_of_Power&oldid=805273455"
Categories:
Middle-earth rings and jewels
Magic objects
Hidden categories:
Articles containing non-English-language text
Articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction from February 2011
All articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction
Tolkien articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction
All articles that may contain original research
Articles that may contain original research from January 2017
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Беларуская
Bosanski
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
فارسی
Français
Galego
Հայերեն
Italiano
עברית
Magyar
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Polski
Português
Русский
Suomi
Svenska
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 14 October 2017, at 07:27.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

attrs: href class title

values:
/wiki/Power_ring_(disambiguation)
mw-redirect mw-disambig
Power ring (disambiguation)

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

value: img

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

value: td

attrs: href title

values: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Writing about fiction

value: b

attrs: class href

value: span

value: i

value: small

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-in-universe

values:
/wiki/Undying_Lands
mw-redirect
Undying Lands

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: The material near this tag possibly contains original research. (January 2017)

values:
/wiki/Council_of_Elrond
mw-redirect
Council of Elrond

values: display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle

values: margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;border:solid #aaa 1px

values:
/wiki/John_Ronald_Reuel_Tolkien
mw-redirect
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
/wiki/Tolkien,_J._R._R.
mw-redirect
Tolkien, J. R. R.

values:
/wiki/Houghton_Mifflin
mw-redirect
Houghton Mifflin

values:
/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_Dwarves
mw-redirect
List of Middle-earth Dwarves

values:
/wiki/List_of_Hobbits
mw-redirect
List of Hobbits

values:
/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_Orcs
mw-redirect
List of Middle-earth Orcs

values:
/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_objects
mw-redirect
List of Middle-earth objects

values:
/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_animals
mw-redirect
List of Middle-earth animals

values:
/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_plants
mw-redirect
List of Middle-earth plants

values:
/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_roads
mw-redirect
List of Middle-earth roads

values: Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien

values: List of things named after J. R. R. Tolkien and his works

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values: Category:Articles containing non-English-language text

values: Category:Articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction from February 2011

values: Category:All articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction

values: Category:Tolkien articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction

values: Category:All articles that may contain original research

values: Category:Articles that may contain original research from January 2017

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Rings_of_Power
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: Пярсцёнкі Улады – Belarusian

values: Δαχτυλίδια της Δύναμης – Greek

values: حلقه‌های قدرت – Persian

values: Իշխանության մատանիներ – Armenian

values: טבעות הכוח – Hebrew

values: Кольца власти – Russian

values: แหวนแห่งอำนาจ – Thai

values: Персні Сили – Ukrainian

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Rings_of_Power rootpage-Rings_of_Power vector-experimental-print-styles vector-nav-directionality skin-vector action-view