What if the 🧝Elves never made the Three Rings?

[BalrogRingDestroyer]

I got to thinking just now, that Sauron, disguising himself as some bearer of gifts, helped the Elves make the Rings and they did, and only realized he planned to trick them just in time. However, later they were able to use them when Sauron "died" and were, since Sauron never got the Ring back, able to keep their three Rings until the One perished and they stopped working. However, if for some reason the Elves had deduced that the guy trying to "help" them was actually Sauron, or had had enough misgivings not to make any rings, would they have been weaker in the long run in the War of the Ring and perhaps lost? I mean, they wouldn't have been able to use the power of the Rings to protect Rivendale or Lothlorien.

In fact, without those two outposts being so strong, Sauron's forces could potentially have scaled the Misty Mountains and started to invade Old Arnor.

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

It's hard to say...if they hadn't made the rings there would be no Ring wraiths either so this solves a big part of their problems...and I have a question for you too...if you're eliminating the existence of the other 19 rings,does it mean there is no "One ring" as well? Because there would be no real reason for if to exist

 

[Ent]

..if they hadn't made the rings there would be no Ring wraiths

Yet if we're just talking about the '3 rings' not being made, that's a bit of a different vista.
The 9 might still exist. (the rest of the rings were essentially meaningless.)

But possibly we must assume too, Sauron would never have bothered with the One.
Men were never his concern.. it was the elves he especially hated.
And his 'help' to them in the ring-lore was, I believe, largely because he knew they were interested in preservation (the primary power of the rings) and what better way to 'preserve' his own tyranny than to enslave the rings of preservation?

I personally doubt if he had not known of their intent to develop the three, he would have bothered creating the one.
He would have retained all his power rather than passing so much of it into the one, weakenning himself, and continued on his merry way deceiving, destroying, enslaving, etc. much as Melkor did... though in a much more effective way. (Sauron was ever more effective than Melkor, his malice taking different and wiser channels than Melkor's hatred and rage allowed.)

Essentially the OP's question asks "what would M-e look like without the rings altogether".

If we look back into history, the Three played no role at all in Melkor's original defeat, etc... so certainly it didn't avail him greatly at that time.

I believe a part of the whole mythos, rings or not, Tolkien is teaching us is no matter how powerful, no matter what contrivances, no matter the weaponry... in the end, Eru chose "the weak things of the world, the lowly, the unexpected, the good" as the end of it all.

use any 'power' symbol you will... armies, bombs, remote controlled devices allowing everyone to stay away from the 'battle's front lines' and kill from inside mountains if you will... they're all 'rings'.

But in the end, good will prevail one way or another... because that is how it has all been designed.
And in Tolkien's Catholic/Christian perspective, knowing his scripture, there's a reason it has all been designed so to be.

 

[grendel]

I agree with Old Ent; Sauron made the One Ring to control ALL of the other rings; and also that the Elves were his main target. If the Three had never been made, I suspect he might have taken it upon himself to make some rings for the Elves, although they probably would have been accepted by "lesser" Elves. And one wonders, if that were the case, if the Havens and Rivendell and Lorien would have survived as long as islands in the storm?

This brings up another question that I've wondered about. In the last chapter ("The Grey Havens"), it is told that Gandalf and Elrond and Galadriel were seen wearing the Three (Narya, Villa and Kenya respectively) as they boarded the ship for Valinor. Um, why? I assume they had been rendered powerless by the destruction of the One, as predicted by Elrond. They certainly would have had no power in Valinor. Did they just like the bling?

 

[Olorgando]

At the end, yes, they had lost their varied preserving powers.
BUT!
They were the root cause of Sauron's (bodily) destruction, as has been noted, forcing him to create The One and weaken himself considerably by having to pour the better part of (the rest of) his native power into it. And he lost it at the end of the Second Age, never to regain it.
So during the entire Third Age, The Three could exert their preserving powers through their bearers, and all three aided Frodo and the Fellowship.
They were now relics, when the bearers of The Three and two of the long-term bearers of The One left Middle-earth, but very venerable relics. Elven relics, with which men, now poised to take total control of Middle-earth (and we mostly know where that's gone, downhill all the way) never had anything to do.

 

[grendel]

Ah yes; those Elves, they are sentimental. 😀

 

[Ent]

Ah yes; those Elves, they are sentimental.

More than just sentimental methinks. Men look for 'relics' to make them objects of worship, displacing the real for the 'manifestations' of the real.

All of history and the present is replete with man worshipping everything other than what he should. This was oen of the great themes of Tolkien's work.

Sauron, for example, creating something to make himself Lord and Master of All actually binds himself to its doom, and ends up worrying and fussing over its whereabouts all the time, fearful someone else will possess it...(though never being able to get to the grasp that someone else might destroy it.)

His supposed powere becomes his achiles heel.

Those things men seek as 'religious artifacts' become their very destruction.

The 3-rings would be no less to M-e if they remained. Or Gandalf's staff. Or etc.
(The text is filled with things men kept hold of and 'added to their house' as things of great value. Even Anduril had only one 'great' purpose... and that was to be reforged and used again. And in the end, other than yet one more fear-factor - not because of itself, but because of who bore it, and the 'prophecies' - it had absolutely no bearing on Sauron's outcome.)

 

[herlig9]

I guess i see it like guns or other harmful weapons. Someone else would most likely have invented it and ensnared the enemies with it

 

[Grima]

If the Elves had never forged the Three Rings of Power, it would have significantly altered the events of Middle-Earth's history. Here are some possible implications:

- The Elven realms would have been far more vulnerable. The Three Rings allowed Elves like Galadriel and Elrond to preserve and protect their realms of Lothlórien and Rivendell. Without the rings' power, these havens could have been destroyed or overrun by Sauron's forces much sooner.
The Fellowship's quest would have been harder. The knowledge and magical protection provided by Elrond and Galadriel was crucial in aiding the Fellowship. Without their ring-amplified powers, they may not have been able to guide the Fellowship as effectively.
- Gandalf's powers would have been diminished. His ring Narya, the Ring of Fire, enhanced his abilities to inspire hope and resistance to tyranny. Without it, he may have been less influential as a leader against Sauron.
- Sauron may have regained control of the Seven and the Nine. Without the Three as a counterbalance, the Elves and Gandalf may not have been able to disrupt Sauron's control over the other rings of power. This could have allowed the Nazgûl to regain their full strength.

But in general I don’t like these “if only” fortune telling))

 

[Deimos]

What if the Elves never made the Three Rings?​

Then the prologue of PJ's FOTR movie would have Cirdan, Galadriel and Gil-Galad gazing in rapt wonder at their empty "ringless" hands.

 

[banakil]

If the elves had not made the three rings, it would diminish the anthropological meaning of the phrase on the ring itself, "one ring to rule them all". Morgoth's rivals were not just the Valar but Eru. Morgoth's wrath, like Sauron's wrath, was directed toward the creation of Eru and Aulë. For Morgoth, to destroy Arda was equivalent to destroying elves, and vice-versa. And this is the context for the three elven rings.

Assuming the ultimate plan of Eru Ilúvatar would still come to pass to bring in the fourth age (of men), then strong Fëanorian or similar elvish preservation forces would have been needed in the third age and tethered somehow to Sauron. Presumably, Sauron would have been stronger in the third age if he did not need to give as much power for the creation of the one ring to rule 16 (men created by Eru and dwarves crated by Aulë) rather than 19 (men, dwarves, and elves).

Notably the number 16 in Hebrew is ayin, which in ancient pictograph was an eye. Tolkien knew Hebrew, making it symbolic that 16 (eye) is the number of rings Sauron the eye controlled in LOTR.

 

[Cydkid]

If the Elves had never forged the Three Rings of Power, it would have significantly altered the events of Middle-Earth's history. Here are some possible implications:

- The Elven realms would have been far more vulnerable. The Three Rings allowed Elves like Galadriel and Elrond to preserve and protect their realms of Lothlórien and Rivendell. Without the rings' power, these havens could have been destroyed or overrun by Sauron's forces much sooner.
The Fellowship's quest would have been harder. The knowledge and magical protection provided by Elrond and Galadriel was crucial in aiding the Fellowship. Without their ring-amplified powers, they may not have been able to guide the Fellowship as effectively.
- Gandalf's powers would have been diminished. His ring Narya, the Ring of Fire, enhanced his abilities to inspire hope and resistance to tyranny. Without it, he may have been less influential as a leader against Sauron.
- Sauron may have regained control of the Seven and the Nine. Without the Three as a counterbalance, the Elves and Gandalf may not have been able to disrupt Sauron's control over the other rings of power. This could have allowed the Nazgûl to regain their full strength.

But in general I don’t like these “if only” fortune telling))

I’ve been thinking about how they’ll deal with this on rings of power amazon- I think Galadriel in the scene where they make the rings is definitely not Galadriel. It’s Sauron. He’s pleased they’re making the rings. She would have stoped it. He’s put her somewhere she’ll have to escape from in second season.
So basically yes it wasn’t ideal any rings were made—in rings of power on Amazon I think they’ll make out that all rings were made bc of Sauron, under his influence, as part of his covert plan, maybe masquerading as different people including Galadriel to finish the first three rings? I think they’ll try to explain that these were different and that’s why the elves kept their rings power even during the war of the one ring, maybe bc Sauron hadn’t finished his plan yet or bc they were made with ore from Valinor?

 

[AngryChimp]

I got to thinking just now, that Sauron, disguising himself as some bearer of gifts, helped the Elves make the Rings and they did, and only realized he planned to trick them just in time. However, later they were able to use them when Sauron "died" and were, since Sauron never got the Ring back, able to keep their three Rings until the One perished and they stopped working. However, if for some reason the Elves had deduced that the guy trying to "help" them was actually Sauron, or had had enough misgivings not to make any rings, would they have been weaker in the long run in the War of the Ring and perhaps lost? I mean, they wouldn't have been able to use the power of the Rings to protect Rivendale or Lothlorien.

In fact, without those two outposts being so strong, Sauron's forces could potentially have scaled the Misty Mountains and started to invade Old Arnor.

Well, lets consider that the rings were all made as a means of control. He wanted them to have the rings as a kind of back door to undo them.

I have only seen the movies, I am waiting for my books in the mail. But my sense just from the movies is that the elves were largely indifferent and were actively leaving middle earth in droves. It doesnt feel like they were suffering any kind of weakness, unless this is where the books radically differ from the movies. Elrond sent the fellowship to mount doom, and didnt offer them even a symbolic escort. Galadriel gave them boats at least. Lagolas for all appearances was just there to support Aragorn, you get the sense that they had an old friendship for his motivation.

 

[Ent]

I am waiting for my books in the mail.

The books will be a true enlightenment for you.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

I'm pretty sure all the rings of power were originally made for elves, crafted by the smiths of Eregion under Sauron's guidance. Celebrimbor then made the Three rings on his own, using the knowledge given by Sauron, but not under his observation/guidance. Only after Sauron made the One Ring and destroyed Eregion looking for the Three did he take the other rings and give them to Dwarves and Men. The Elves were his original target, and he had to resort to using the easily ensnared Men once this plan failed.