The premiere of The Rings of Power is fast approaching. The Amazon Prime Video series is less than a month away from its premiere, slated for next September 2and these days we walk dust off Tolkien’s Legendarium and review part of its universe and its mythology. Today we will continue the tradition by focusing on the object that gives its name to the fiction, power rings. How many are there? Who made them, what powers did they give and how were they used? We will answer all of this in this article, in which we will of course start with the poem from The Lord of the Rings which is still able to give us goosebumps.
“Three rings for elven kings under heaven. Seven for dwarf lords in palaces of stone. New for mortal men doomed to die. One for the dark lord, on the dark throne in the land of Mordor, where the shadows . One ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them, One Ring to draw them all and bind them in darkness, in the Land of Mordos where the Shadows lie.”
The one ring
The power of the rest of the rings depends on the survival of the One Ring, for the creation of which Sauron needed all his power. Part of the shapeshifter’s soul resides within it and when used it corrupts its wielder and increases their Sauronian power. Forged in the fires of Mount Doom, it can only be undone in them and getting there isn’t easy, you already know that eagles are not taxis. Unlike the rest, it’s a no-frills band of gold, though it bears Sauron’s enchantment and the ring verse written on it in the Black Tongue, only being visible when heated or when in the Dark Lord’s hand.
Between the powers of the One Ring we find the invisibility, the extension of the life of the wearer, his control by Sauron and the knowledge of the location of the rest of the rings linked to him.
The three rings of the elves
The rings “for the elvish kings under heaven” are three in number and are named after the three elements of nature. We have Narya the red or fire ring. Nenya, the water ring, also known as the White or Diamond Ring. And finally there would be Vilya, the Blue or Air Ring. They were forged by Prince Celebrimbor in the Kingdom of Eregion, near the Misty Mountains. Sauron tricked him into making them and when he was done he destroyed his kingdom and forced him to confess where they were, seizing them and binding them to the One Ring.
After the fall of Sauron and the separation of the One Ring from his finger, already in the Third Age, the elves used them again to heal and fight the rot that the passage of time brings with it. Narya (Fire) ring ended in possession of Gandalf; the Ring of Nenya is the one Galdriel uses to protect and preserve the kingdom of Lothlórien; and Vilya is in Rivendell, guarded by Elrond.
The Seven Rings of the Dwarves
We move on to the Seven Rings “for the Dwarven Lords in the palaces of stone”. Each of the great dwarven clans had their own: the House of Durin (Durin’s Fok), the Firebeards (Firebeards), Broadbeams (Broadbeams), Ironfists (Ironfists), Stiffbeards (Stiffbeards), Blacklocks (Blacklocks) and Stonefoots (Stonefoots). They were forged by elves, possibly with Celebrimbor again involved, and Sauron was only able to get his hands on three. Gandalf told Frodo the rest was given to the dragons.
In addition to increasing life expectancy, the Seven Rings they bring with them wealth and powerthough they end up corrupting and leading to greed and rage.
The nine human rings
The last. “For mortal men condemned to die”, Sauron forced Celebrimbor to forge nine rings and gave them to the great leaders among men. Namely, kings, wizards, famous warriors and even black Númenóreans and a Man from the East. Like the others, they gave their wearers longer life, invisibility at mercy, and even enabled them to influence the will of their subjectsEven if it was through terror. On the contrary, they have corrupted more than any other. Eventually their owners wore off and faded into the Nazgul, the ring spectrathe moment they were at the complete mercy of Sauron and became his most loyal servants.
This week, we’ve looked at them in even greater depth in reports such as the one that examines all the history of the NazgulWitch King of Angmar included, and in special rooms like that of the fall of the Nazgul. He also shared the theories on the mysterious black sword trailers, which could be a blade of Morgul and belong to the servants of Sauron. they are surely the main protagonists of the seriesbecause its showrunners insisted a lot on knowing where the Nazgul came from, but we will have to wait until September 2 to find out.
