The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power ended with the forging of the three elven ringswhich readers of JRR Tolkien’s Legendarium will know from the famous Ring poem. This poetically speaks of the following distribution of the 20 Rings of Power:
This may cause a profound problem in the second season of the Amazon series, because if Sauron wants to use the rings for his dark plan to enslave them all and drive them into darkness… Should the elves use them at all?
What JRR Tolkien’s writings can tell us about the three Elven Rings of Power
At the beginning of the second season of The Rings of Power, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elven King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) and finally shipbuilder Círdan (Ben Daniels) speak out in favor of the use of the three magic artifacts and become Ring bearersOnly Elrond (Robert Aramayo) does not trust the sinister power of the rings. Among other things, because Halbrand/Sauron (Charlie Vickers) helped the blacksmith Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) to make them.
In JRR Tolkien’s chapter Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age From the Silmarillion * we learn that in the original mythology the three Elven Rings are actually forged last (after the rings for men and dwarves) and not first. And completely without the presence of Sauron in the form of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. It says:
These were the three that were forged last, and they were the most powerful. Narya, Nenya and Vilya They were called the Rings of Fire, Water and Air, and they were set with ruby, adamant and sapphire. Of all the Elven rings, Sauron desired to possess these the most, for whoever wore them could ward off the wounds of time and postpone the weariness of the world. But Sauron could not find them, for they were entrusted to the Wise, who hid them and never wore them openly again as long as Sauron possessed the Ring of Ruler. So the three remained unsulliedfor Celebrimbor alone had forged them, and Sauron’s hand had never touched them; yet they too are the one below.
The (relative) harmlessness described here can of course change the series: Is it still safe to use the three Elven rings in The Rings of Power in terms of timing, as long as the One Ring does not yet exist? Or is it even less certain because Sauron was more directly involved in the forging of the Three this time?
The fate of Sauron and the One ring is closely connected to the three Elven rings
In Tolkien, the elves notice it immediately when Sauron puts on the ring of rulership and take off their rings as a precaution until the dark ruler is destroyed. However, it is also mentioned that they were too weak-willedto completely separate from them and destroy them. We see something very similar in the second season of the Lord of the Rings series, when the power to preserve elvenness is simply too tempting.
After Sauron’s destruction in the Second Age, the three rings alone sustain the elven kingdoms until the end of the Third Age, according to Tolkien: Galadriel with the adamant water ring Nenya in Lothlórien and Elrond’s sapphire wind ring Vilya in Rivendell, while Círdan’s ruby fire ring Narya goes to Gandalf. By the way, don’t let the names confuse you: the rings do not necessarily possess tangible elemental powers, but strengthen the basic qualities of the wearer, contribute to the preservation of a region, strengthen willpower or help to inspire.
Both their destruction and that of the One Ring mean the end of the elves in Middle Earth. This is exactly what we see at the end of the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, when the elven ring bearers sail with Frodo to the afterlife continent of Valinor and leave Middle Earth (completely non-magical) to the humans.
The cinematic imagery of the series provides insight into the danger of the Elven Rings of Power
While Tolkien nerds certainly debate how corrupted the “unsullied” rings really are, the Amazon series alone through the cinematic imagerythat the three not without danger – even before Sauron secretly created the One Ring. Especially when it comes to obvious parallels to the Peter Jackson trilogy, which the series often draws.
The way the rings seduce Círdan not to throw them into the sea is one of these moments. Another is when Nenya falls to the ground almost of her own volition and lands at Galadriel’s feet. Clear allusions that are meant to remind us of the seduction of the One Ring in the Third Age and the fateful moment when it passes from Gollum to Bilbo.
Also interesting:
“Not everyone who goes astray gets lost – not everything that glitters is gold”
The bottom line is that power and ambition are always matters to be treated with extreme caution in Tolkien. The wise decision would be to listen to Elrond and sink the rings in the Mariana Trench in Middle Earth, to surrender to fate and thus to the will of the creator god Eru Ilúvatar – even if it means the end of the elves in Middle Earth. But Elrond also becomes a ring bearer.
This decision is based on (Middle) Earth pragmatism: The rings are useful on a material level. Especially as long as the presence of a master ring does not have an effect. However, their use remains playing with the proverbial fire. Nuclear power plants are also incredibly practical and productive, as long as you can control their immense power. But when something goes wrong…
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” says the hackneyed Lord Acton saying, and that could be the case here. But it is much more interesting to consider whether power is not, in fact, reveals the true character of a person … which could tell us a lot about our imperfect, sometimes very human, elf characters from Middle Earth.
*. If you make a purchase via this link, we receive a commission.