The 20 Rings of Power Explained

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The 20 Rings of Power Explained

Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series has a telling title. Just what do you really know about them 20 Mighty Rings of Middle-earth? Sure, in the prologue of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring they were briefly introduced. But who forged them, what can they do and how are they related? We have the most important explanations to prepare you for the start of the series on September 2nd, 2022.

Learn more about:

  • Sauron’s One Ring
  • 3 elf rings
  • 7 dwarf rings
  • 9 human rings

    • The Lord of the Rings (aka Sauron) rules with one ring over 19 others

    Not everything about the Rings of Power is explained in JRR Tolkien’s template books. But a lot is known to readers about the influential pieces of jewelery and still didn’t make it into Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. So here’s a little Rings crash course before the series. The basic is from the ring poem certainly known:

    ©Warner

    The Lord of the Rings: The One Ring (by Sauron)

    Three rings to the kings of the elves high in the light,
    Seven to the dwarf rulers in their halls of stone,
    To mortals, ever doomed to die, nine.
    One to the Dark Lord on a dark throne,
    In the land of Mordor where the shadows loom.
    One ring to rule them, to find them all
    To drift into darkness and bind forever.
    In the land of Mordor where the shadows loom.

    Let’s start from the back with the most famous ring: Sauron’s master ring (which Frodo later destroyed). Sauron forged this alone and secretly in Mount Doom. In order to make his ring more powerful than all others, he had to put much of his own power into the artifact. He actually only created the other rings in order to then control them with his own One Ring. If he controlled their influential carriers, so the plan, he could rule over Middle-earth without any combat effort.

    So, in the Second Age of Middle-earth, Sauron (disguised as “good” Annatar) wanted the lead the rulers of Middle-earth to evil and make them compliant with it. So he taught the Elven smiths in Eregion (Celebrimbor among them) how to create the Rings of Power. These rings, however, were secretly bound to his all-powerful ring. So they lost their power after its destruction. But not everything went as he had imagined.

    The Lord of the Rings explains: The elves have 3 rings of power

    The elves actually possessed many (weaker) rings. Sauron, with his One Ring, had the ability to read and even influence the minds of these ring bearers. Noticing this, the Elves took off the rings and the Dark Lord reclaimed them. only the three most powerful rings Narya, Nenya and Vilya (the rings of fire, water and air) were hidden and Sauron could not get to them.

    ©Warner

    The Lord of the Rings: The 3 Elvish Rings of Power

  • Who Forged the Elven Rings? The Elvish blacksmith Celebrimbor created the Elven rings in secret and alone, which is why they remained unsullied (i.e. not influenced, but still dependent) by Sauron
  • Who wears the 3 elf rings? Narya (with red ruby) was first carried by the Elvish shipwright Círdan before being secretly passed on to Gandalf; Nenya (mithril with white stone) long hidden adorned Galadriel’s fingers; Elven King Gil-galad, in turn, passed Vilya (with blue sapphire) to Elrond upon his death
  • What can the rings of the elves do? The power of the Elven Rings consists, among other things, in inspiring resistance (Narya), remaining hidden from evil (Nenya) and probably also healing (Vilya)

    • The Lord of the Rings explains: The dwarves get 7 rings of power

    The plan to control the dwarven rulers with his rings also didn’t quite work out for Sauron: the unexpectedly immune dwarves would not bend to his will. Instead, her rings made her beyond measure greedy for treasure … and brought them down in this way.

    ©Warner

    The Lord of the Rings: The 7 Dwarf Rings of Power

  • Who Forged the Dwarf Rings? The Dwarven Rings were also created in the Elven Forge, but Sauron had a direct hand in their creation
  • Who owns the 7 dwarf rings? The rings initially went to the heads of the 7 dwarven clans. Four were eventually destroyed by dragon fire and the rest reverted to Sauron. The last was taken by Sauron only in the Third Age, at the time of The Hobbit, again from Thorin’s father Thrain II in Dol Guldur
  • What can the rings of the dwarves do? The main power of the dwarven rings is to bring prosperity

    • The Lord of the Rings explains: The humans and their 9 Nazgûl rings Sauron’s plan worked best for the nine rings for the humans: the human kings with rings increased their influence and became immortal. However, this increasingly changed her and eventually made her the nine ring spirits, who were totally subject to Sauron’s will. The Witch-king of Angmar became the Nazgûl leader.

    ©Warner

    The Lord of the Rings: The 9 Human Rings of Power

  • Who Forged the Human Rings? The human rings were also created by Celebrimbor in the Elven forge. Sauron stole them, corrupted them and gave them to 9 chosen people
  • Who owns the 9 human rings? Little is known of the previous human identities of the Ringwraiths, but three of these kings are said to be from Númenor and one (named Khamûl) from the east
  • What can the rings of men do? The 9 rings first brought their human wearers power, prestige and prosperity, then magical powers and eternal life. They turned them into Sauron’s invisible servants, the Ringwraiths, in the long run

    • In particular, the unresolved questions in connection with the rings of power give the Amazons Lord of the Rings series plenty of room to fill gaps in its 5 seasons. So maybe we’ll soon learn who exactly the Nazgûl were before their seduction and enslavement. Or how exactly the connection between the One Ring and the 19 others comes about.Podcast: The Lord of the Rings series must save Middle-earth

    On September 2nd, the most expensive series of all time will start on Amazon Prime Video: The Lord of the Rings – The Rings of Power. In it we return to Middle-earth for the first time since Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films.

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    In this episode, Jenny and Esther discuss what the show needs to do to make the disappointing Hobbit films go away. But they also clarify a few important questions about the plot for those who still don’t have an overview after the trailers.

    *The links to the Amazon offer are so-called affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we will receive a commission.

    As a Lord of the Rings fan, which of the 20 Rings of Power do you desire?

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