How many Rings were made?

[Golbo]

Last night, someone asked a simple question in Kin Chat: How many Rings of Power were made in Middle Earth? Proving that there are no "simple" questions where JRR fans are concerned, this person received many answers. (Hee!)

So, here is a link that talks specifically about the rings in a pretty straightforward manner. Overkill? -- probably, but not a bad little article.

http://www.thehobbithole.co.uk/Rings.htm#q1

[vraol]

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."

Exact quotes and punctuation from the poem in my book.

[Georgion]

vraol wrote:

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." Exact quotes and punctuation from the poem in my book.

And, if memory serves (no google-cheating, just off the top of my head), the nine men became the Nazgul, not sure about the dwarf-rings, were they just lost?

And the elf-rings, at the time of the books, were held by Elrond, Lady Galadriel, and Gandalf, though Gandalf's ring was originally held by the King of Mirkwood/whatever its original name was.

Is that right?

[Marithil]

Gandalfs ring was originally held bu Cirdan the Shipwright. When Gandalf came to Middle Earth, Cirdan, not wanting to bear the ring, saw that Gandalf was of good character, and trustworthy even over Saruman who came with him, and gave Gandalf the ring. His exact intentions are not know, or at least are not known to me. As for rings of "power", that is a widely defined term. There are many rings that were imbued with special or "magical", if you will, properties. However, of the Rings of Power created by Celebrimbor, with the aid of Annatar, (and some very obscure Tolkien notes say Galadriel and Celeborn were involved somehow, but it is not exactly cannon) there were only the ones listed in the poem. So 20 in total, counting the One Ring.

[Golbo]

The following from Finduilas's Middle Earth Encyclopedia:

"The Dwarf Rings -- Seven of the Rings of Power, especially made for the Dwarves. At the time of the War of the Ring, Sauron had recovered three of the rings and dragons had destroyed the other four. Like the other Great Rings, the Dwarf Rings each had a jewel. However, none of the surviving records state what the jewels were. "

Sources cited were LOTR and The Silmarillion.

According to what I remember, the dwarven rings didn't really give Sauron a hold over the dwarves that had them, but instead awakened an eventually all-consuming greed for gold and gems. So it would follow that the dwarves would gather a horde of riches, and then the dragons would smell the stash and come running after them. It'd be neat to think that one or more dwarven rings were in some way involved in the collection of Smaug's trove under the Lonely Mountain!

[vraol]

Im wondering, did sauron take the rings from the nazgul once they became wraiths? And the dwarf rings were lost, save for one but that was lost too eventually well not lost exactly taken. the ring that had became thrain's the king of the lonely mountain, after exile thrain went into to moria and azog slew him, but it wasnt lost there he passed it two thror before he died, but after awhile thror was captured and brought to dol guldur. Their the necromancer took his ring from him during torture.

Gandalf infiltrated dol guldur and found thror and found out that ring was lost. That night thror died, and gandalf found out that the necromancer was sauron in another form.

Ive found this out through the illustrated book I own called "The Hobbit" :D yes I know I im a lotro geek.

[Georgion]

vraol wrote:

Im wondering, did sauron take the rings from the nazgul once they became wraiths? And the dwarf rings were lost, save for one but that was lost too eventually well not lost exactly taken. the ring that had became thrain's the king of the lonely mountain, after exile thrain went into to moria and azog slew him, but it wasnt lost there he passed it two thror before he died, but after awhile thror was captured and brought to dol guldur. Their the necromancer took his ring from him during torture. Gandalf infiltrated dol guldur and found thror and found out that ring was lost. That night thror died, and gandalf found out that the necromancer was sauron in another form. Ive found this out through the illustrated book I own called "The Hobbit" :D yes I know I im a lotro geek.

Oh, you mean "There and Back Again." Yeah, I've read that, too.

[vraol]

after reading the silmarillion It seems their were actually many rings of power forged but when sauron tried to take control of them with the one ring they felt them and took them off and most of them were destroyed except for the 3 nenya which is galadriel's ring and then the other ones I cannot remember.

[Golbo]

Narya and Vilya are the other rings. wiki sez:

Narya

The first ring, Narya, was adorned with a red stone. The name is derived from the Quenya nár meaning fire. It was also called the Narya the Great, Ring of Fire, and Red Ring.

According to Unfinished Tales, at the start of the War of the Elves and Sauron, Celebrimbor gave Narya together with the Ring Vilya to Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor. Gil-galad entrusted Narya to his lieutenant Círdan, Lord of the Havens of Mithlond, who kept it after Gil-galad's death. According to The Lord of the Rings, Gil-galad received only Vilya, while Círdan received Narya from the very beginning along with Galadriel receiving Nenya from the start.

In the Third Age, Círdan, recognizing Gandalf's true nature as one of the Maiar from Valinor, gave him the ring to aid him in his labours. It is described as having the power to inspire others to resist tyranny, domination, and despair (in other words, evoking hope in others around the wielder), as well as giving resistance to the weariness of time: "Take now this Ring," he said; "for thy labours and thy cares will be heavy, but in all it will support thee and defend thee from weariness. For this is the Ring of Fire, and herewith, maybe, thou shalt rekindle hearts to the valour of old in a world that grows chill" (Círdan the Shipwright to Gandalf).

Narya was worn openly by Gandalf at the Grey Havens.


Nenya

The second ring, Nenya, was made of mithril and adorned with a "white stone", presumably a diamond.[2] The name is derived from the Quenya nén meaning water. It is also called Ring of Adamant, Ring of Water and the White Ring.

The ring is wielded by Galadriel of Lothlórien, and possesses radiance that matches that of the stars; while Frodo Baggins can see it by virtue of being a Ring-bearer, Samwise Gamgee tells Galadriel he only "saw a star through your fingers". (This appears in many editions as "finger"—which sounds more magical, since it suggests that her finger has somehow become transparent—but The Treason of Isengard, ch. 13, note 34, mentions it as an error.)

Nenya's power gave preservation, protection, and possibly concealment from evil because "there is a secret power here that holds evil from the land". However, the fact that Orcs from Moria entered Lórien after The Fellowship of the Ring and Lórien itself had suffered previous attacks from Sauron's Orcs sent from Dol Guldur suggests the power of the ring did not constitute military prowess. It was said that, protected as it was by Nenya, Lothlórien would not have fallen unless Sauron had personally come to attack it. Galadriel used these powers to create and sustain Lothlórien, but it also increased in her the longing for the Sea and her desire to return to the Undying Lands.

After the destruction of the One Ring and the defeat of Sauron, its power faded along with the other Rings of Power. Galadriel bore Nenya on a ship from the Grey Havens into the West, accompanied by the other two Elven Rings and their bearers. With the ring gone, the magic and beauty of Lórien also faded along with the extraordinary mallorn trees (save the one that Samwise Gamgee grew in Hobbiton that lived for centuries) and it was gradually depopulated, until by the time Arwen came there to die in F.A. 121 it was deserted and in ruin.


Vilya

The third ring, Vilya, was made of gold and adorned with a "great blue stone". The name is derived from the Quenya vilya meaning air. It is also called Ring of Sapphire, Ring of Air, Ring of Firmament, or Blue Ring.

It is generally considered that Vilya was the mightiest of these three bands (as mentioned in the ending chapter in The Return of the King). The exact power of Vilya is not mentioned; however it is reasonable to speculate that it also possesses the power to heal and to preserve (it is mentioned in The Silmarillion that Celebrimbor had forged the Three in order to heal and to preserve, rather than to enhance the strengths of each individual bearer as the Seven, Nine, and the lesser rings did). There is some speculation that the ring controlled minor elements, considering the event where Elrond had summoned a torrent of water as the Nazgûl attempted to capture Frodo and the One Ring.

When Sauron laid waste to Eregion, Vilya was sent to the Elven-king Gil-galad far away in Lindon, where it was later given to Elrond, who bore it through the later years of the Second Age and all of the Third. As Gil-galad was the High King of the Noldor elves at the time of the rings' distribution it was thought that he was best fit to care for the most powerful of the three Elven rings. Upon Sauron's destruction, the power of Vilya faded and it was taken over the sea by Elrond at the end of the Third Age.