lotr – the rings of power

Warning: If you don’t know what LOTR is, please Google it first before you even take another breath! Sigh, can’t believe people like that exist anymore.

Now without further ado, let me dive right into the topic. Today’s LOTR topic is about all about the rings. Yes, I said said RINGS. There’s more than one ring on LOTR you know.

In all there were 20 rings. Yea, you heard me right.

Three for Elves: Narya, the Ring of Fire, was set with a ruby; Nenya, the Ring of Water, was of mithril and set with a “white stone”, presumably a diamond and Vilya, the Ring of Air, and “mightiest of the Three”, was of gold and set with a sapphire. Celebrimbor gave Vilya and Narya to Gil-galad and Nenya to Galadriel. Gil-galad later gave Narya to Círdan, and gave Vilya to Elrond shortly before he died. Círdan later gave Narya to Gandalf.

Seven for Dwarves: As there were seven Dwarf ‘Houses’ or nations, it is tempting to assume that the king of each House was given his own Ring, but this is not stated.

Nine for Men: The Nine Rings caused Men wearing them to become invisible. They also extended the lifespans of Men who possessed them, although this eventually led to the Men becoming wraiths under Sauron’s complete control. The wraiths of the Men who received the Nine were the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths, Sauron’s most feared servants.

One for the Dark Lord: The Rings of Power were objects of great potency, and so to accomplish their domination Sauron was obliged to transfer most of his own power into the One Ring, a necessity that later led to his downfall.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

These words were spoken by Sauron when he first put on the One, and it was when they heard him speaking them that the Elves became aware of his purpose.

Now for the grand finale, to recap the words of J.R.R.Tolkien himself

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.