🧙gandalf and the 🧝elf ring?

[MaidenofLorien]

okay i have read all the books twice and i have a Q about ROTK at the end when Frodo Bilbo, and Gandalf and all those poeple go to the grey havens, why does Gandalf have the third Elven-ring? I don't get it, he's one of the wise not an elf.

 

[Rangerdave]

Good question,
The term Elven only refers to the origin of the ring, or to be precise; the ring was crafted by Elves.
Anyone could wear it, provided they could get their hands on it.

Gandalf was not required to be an Elf to wear an Elven ring anymore that a woman is required to be French to wear her hair in a French braid.

I hope this makes sense to you




RD

 

[Starflower]

read the Appendices more carefully, in the beginning of the Tale of Years it is explained. It will tell you how the third ring was originally given to Cirdan and how Cirdan gave his Ring to Gandalf when he arrived to M-E.

 

[Flammifer]

Like RD said, you didn't have to be an Elf to wear an Elven-ring. Gandalf was a Maia, a very powerful 'spirit', which took the form of an old man. Though he was not an Elf, and greater than an Elf, the Ring was still advantageous for him.

The original bearer of the Ring, which is called Narya, was Cirdan. He gave it to Gandalf when he arrived at Mithlond from Valinor. This is what Cirdan said:

'Take this Ring, Master,' he said, 'for you labours will be heavy; but it will support you in the weariness that you have taken upon yourself. For this is the Ring of Fire, and with it you may rekindle hearts in a world that grows chill. But as for me, my heart is with the Sea, and I will dwell by the grey shores until the last ship sails. I will await you.'

---- Cirdan, LotR, The Appendices, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years, The Third Age"

So, basically, a lot of what helped Gandalf's tireless labours in his time in Middle-earth, particularly during the War of the Ring, was down to the Ring of Fire.

As it is the Ring of Fire, there is much debate about whether this is what gave Gandalf his special ability with fire, such as on Caradhras and near the Gates of Moria, where he lit up the trees with fire from his staff. However, some people say that Ring was only to "rekindle hearts", and real flames were not down to the Ring.

Elrond's ring, Vilya, the mightiest of the Three, was originally Gil-Galad's. But he also gave his to Elrond, so as you can see, giving up the Elven Rings to another was not uncommon. Galadriel was the only one to keep her Ring for the whole time.

 

[Aulë]

Narya orginally belonged to Gil-Galad (along with Vilya), but he gave Narya to Cirdan (who, in turn, gave it to Gandalf), and Vilya to Elrond.

 

[Flammifer]

Yep, sorry! You're right! The original bearer of Narya was Gil-Galad.

 

[Kahmûl]

What power did the elven,dwarves and mens rings have. Because the one ring gave Sauron alot of power and it made the hobbits dissapear when they wore it so what did the other 19 rings do.

 

[Flammifer]

Well, Kahmul:

1. The Elven-rings, Vilya, Nenya and Narya: They were the most powerful of the Rings of Power. They seemed to be used predominantly to 'preserve'. This is how Lothlorien was 'unstained', Frodo felt as if he had stepped back in time when he entered the Naith. This was the power of the Galadriel's Ring, Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, or Water. It was also why time did not 'tarry' in Lothlorien, and why Bilbo 'couldn't count days in Rivendell' (Elrond's Ring, Vilya).

2. The Dwarven-rings (I don't know their names): The wills of dwarves were very 'untameable'. Thus, none of their Rings caused their Bearers to disappear, or become invisible...

For the Dwarves had proved untameable by this means. The only power over them that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them. But they were made from their beginning of a kind to resist most steadfastly any domination. Though they could be slain or broken, they could not be reduced to shadows enslaved to another will; and for the same reason their lives were not affected by any Ring, to live either longer or shorter because of it. All the more did Sauron hate the possessors and desire to dispossess them.

---- LotR, The Appendices, "Appendix A, Durin's Folk"

So, as you can see, the Dwarves could not be made invisible by any Ring, and lived neither longer or shorter because of it.

Anyway, the MAIN power of the Seven Rings, apart from the detrimental effects it had on its bearer (such as making them aggressive), was to 'breed' gold, and other precious substances. But, as Thror said, his Ring 'needed gold to breed gold'.

I don't know very much about what power the Nine Rings gave to Men. This is probably in some document that I haven't read, so maybe someone else could clarify this.

But obivously I do know that the Nine became so enslaved to their Rings and thus the One Ring and its Ruler, Sauron.