The Rings of Power

[Anamatar IV]

maybe the dwarves were given the strength to mine deeper and deeper to find more and more wealth. And the rings werent MEANT to be used for wealth. Sauron gave the dwarves rings to try to make them ring-wraiths too.

 

[Princess Vi]

I think Anamatar may be right

 

[YayGollum]

Huh. I always thought that the Dwarf rings magically made more gold. That they were where the crazy alchemy ideas came from. I remember something saying that at the bottom of some piles of treasure some Dwarves had was one of those rings. It just sat there, making the pile bigger. oh well. Maybe not. It might have done an invisibility thing, too. It looks like all of the other rings had something to do with invisibility. The One Ring always did it, the nine human rings did it, the three elf rings just stayed invisible, so why not the Dwarf rings, too?

 

[Princess Vi]

well does it really matter? it just did so who cares how?

 

[Mischievious Merry]

The Rings of Power-
Can anyone tell me of Elves,Men and Dwarves who the Rings of Power were first given to, where they ended up and what were names of the Rings ?

Mischievious Merry

 

[Eliot]

The Human rings didn't have names, but (as we all know) those Men slowly turned into the Ring-Wraith's after they excepted them from Sauron.

The Dwarves rings didn't have names either, but they were either destroyed by Dragons, or taken by Sauron. I'm not totally sure on all the facts though.

The Elven rings were given to:
Nenya: Galadriel.
Narya: Cirdan the Shipwright, eventually to Gandalf.
Vilya: I think this ring was originally Gil-Galad's, but he died in the battle of the Last Alliance, so Elrond took the ring into his care.

All three Elven rings were destroyed before Gandalf, Elrond, Cirdan, Galadriel, Bilbo, Frodo, and Shadowfax left Middle-earth for Valinor.

 

[Eriol]

All three Elven rings were destroyed before Gandalf, Elrond, Cirdan, Galadriel, Bilbo, Frodo, and Shadowfax left Middle-earth for Valinor

I know what you mean, but I would put it this way: their power was destroyed, along with the One Ring. The Rings themselves endured. Isn't it at the last chapter (The Grey Havens) that we see Gandalf openly wearing Narya? Now how one wears a destroyed ring?

I may be wrong, it's been some time since I looked at this chapter, but I don't remember any mention of actual destruction of the Three.

 

[Ithrynluin]

They weren't destroyed, their power was lost because the One Ring was gone and now they were mere artifacts.

 

[Eliot]

Oh, ok. Thanks.

 

[Mischievious Merry]

ok, that's good to know.I wonder why Tolkien didn't give the other rings names . I guess it would be rather hard to give names to that many rings though.
Mischievious Merry

 

[FoolOfATook]

As to how many of the Dwarf Rings survived, I'm pretty sure that Sauron offered four Rings to the Dwarves of Erebor in exchange for their betrayal of Bilbo and Frodo, so I would say that four of the Seven Rings survived to the end of the Third Age, although the evidence is obviously far from concrete.

 

[Húrin Thalion]

Just a note, Sauron's messenger only said that he would: "Give Rings as he used to of old." I think that Gandalf mentions it but I am too lazy to check it up... Somebody punish me.

 

[Glomund]

Saurons messenger does say they would return "3 rings that the dwarf sires possesed of old", it is in the same passage where he promises Moria to the dwarves. My uncertainty about this is why he(Saurons messenger) would not specificaly mention Thror's ring, which was origionaly possesed by Durins folk and the one ring we know survived.

 

[Grond]

From The Fellowship of the Ring, The Council of Elrond
..."As a small token only of your friendship Sauron asks this", he said: "that you should find this thief," such was his word, "and get from him, willing or no, a little ring, the least of rings, that once he stole. It is but a trifle that Sauron fancies, and an earnest of your good will. Find it, and three rings that the Dwarf sires possessed of old shall be returned to you, and the realm of Moria shall be yours for ever."...

Here's the quote.

I've given this dissertation before but will do so again. The Rings of Power were all Elvish Rings of Power. They were made for different purposes, but all were Elvish in origin and all were originally possessed by the Elves of Eregion under the leadership first of Galadriel and Celeborn and later solely of Celebrimbor. When Sauron forged the One Ring, Celebrimbor hid the 16 (9+7) in Eregion, it is thought. The Three, which were unsullied by Sauron's hand were taken out of Eregion with one being entrusted to Galadriel and two going directly to Gil-galad. It was only upon entering the final Battle at Mount Doom that Gil-galad turned the two Rings he held to Elrond and Cirdan. (There are other versions that give one ring to Cirdan earlier).

Sauron storms Eregion and kills most of the Noldoran Elves there. He captures Celebrimbor and tortures him into revealing the location of the 9 and the 7... but no torture will cause Celebrimbor to give up where he has bestowed the three. Sauron then cruelly kills Celebrimbor and places his body on a pole and goes to battle with Celebrimbor's body as a standard. He drives West and eventually isolates Elrond in Imladris and Gil-Galad at the Grey Havens. But for the coming of the first fleet from Numenor, Middle-earth would have been overrun at that time. The Numenoreans utterly defeated Sauron and his army and they forced Sauron to retreat in ruin to Mordor. It is largely because of this battle that Sauron's forces are still weak when Ar-Pharazon lands on Middle-earth and Sauron meekly surrenders.

As stated earlier, only the unsullied Rings that remained had names which were known. Had the Dwarves named theirs, they would have hardly told anyone (Dwarves tended to be a particularly secretive lot, especially when it pertained to treasures.) The Kings who received the Nine may have also named them but being subverted to Wraiths and losing all will of their own, it hardly mattered and was told of in no tale. It should also be noted that the Nine were kept safe in Mordor by Sauron. Once the nine were wraiths, they were enslaved to the one and their Rings no longer mattered to them... only the One.

(Reference is from Unfinished Tales and the Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien.)

 

[lossenandunewen]

do you know how hard it must have been for tolkien to think up all these names? i think it would just be extremely difficult to think of more names then he already did.. All the names he made flow and fit the race it's given to, i think he'd have trouble trying to name rings for a man or dwarf

 

[greypilgrim]

Thorin, or TrainII might've had it, it was a dwarf ring, and he said i when he gave it to his son: "It may prove to be the foundation for new wealth for you. But it needs gold to breed gold"....or something like that. But he definately made clear that the ring had this power. He didn't name the ring, just told him about it and gave over to him.

 

[greypilgrim]

Does anyone know the magic or "power" of the other rings of men, elves and dwarves/Saurons/ancient Elves from the Silmaril? Just wondering what they were, I never knew. I know Saurons made you invisible, and you saw things, and wanted it, but ALL the rings had some kind of magic, right?

 

[Grond]

Originally posted by greypilgrim
Thorin, or TrainII might've had it, it was a dwarf ring, and he said i when he gave it to his son: "It may prove to be the foundation for new wealth for you. But it needs gold to breed gold"....or something like that. But he definately made clear that the ring had this power. He didn't name the ring, just told him about it and gave over to him.

The Ring of Durin was taken from Thrain II while he was in the dugeons of Dol Goldur by the Necromancer (Sauron) before the Quest of Erebor. This is explained by Gandalf in the texts. Sauron had already obtained that Ring before the War of the Ring began.

 

[greypilgrim]

Yeah, but When Thrain got it, this was said (about it's magic), and no-where else are any ring's "powers" ever really explained in LOTR. Except Sauron's. What did the rings of men do? Did the Witch King's make his "fate" that he couldn't die by a mans hand?? Did Elronds ring give him some "power" over water, like at the ford encounter? What about Gandalf's ring?
He says he is the "wielder of the flame of Arnor", does this mean that the ring he had was the flame of Arnor? What is the magic put into these rings?

 

[Brytta]

of the elven rings

From the Sil

...and he [Sauron] came against them with open war, demanding that all the rings should be delivered to him, since the Elven-smiths could not have attained to their making without his lore and counsel. But the Elves fled from him; and three of their rings they saved

The question that this quote raises for me is, are the Elven rings that Sauron did take possession of at this point the rings that Sauron later gives to men and Dwarves, or are they rings that we never here about again?

The next paragraph continues as

Now these were the Three that had last been made, and they possessed the greatest powers. Narya, Nenya, and Vilya, they were named, the Rings of Fire, and of Water, and of Air, set with ruby and adamant and sapphire; and of all the Elven-rings Sauron most desired to possess them, for those who had them in their keeping could ward off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world. But Sauron could not discover them, for they were given into the hands of the Wise who concealed them and never again used them opening while Sauron kept the Ruling Ring. Therefore the Three remained unsullied, for they were forged by Celebrimbor alone, and the hand of Sauron had never touched them; yet they also were subject to the One.

There's such a depth to Tolkien's stories. To movie-goers they just see pretty rings, but readers understand the rings' histories and love the story more because of it.

Grond, you mention that Gil-Galad passes out the other two (or perhaps 1) ring before the Battle of Mount Doom. How does Galadriel gain possession of Nenya? I guess that Elrond gave it to her after Gil-Galad's passing? Is this information in the HoME series?

Cheers.