Poem of the Rings of Power
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
The sixteen rings of power forged by Celebrimbor and Sauron
The nine rings for men and the seven rings for the dwarves were forged by Celebrimbor and the elves of Eregion specifically the elves of the Gwaith-I-Mirdain under the guidance of Sauron.
Sauron deceived the elves of Eregion as the fake alias the lord of gifts Annatar. There are some conflicts in stories of the Legendarium, but eventually Sauron snatched the sixteen rings of power from Celebrimbor during Sauron’s conquest of Eregion.
Sauron gave the nine rings to powerful sorcerers and kings of men and eventually the humans that wore the rings of power became the loyal servants of Sauron the ring wraiths the nazguls.
Sauron distributed the seven rings of power to the seven-dwarf clan/families Durin’s Folk, Broadbeams, Blacklocks, Stonefoots, Stiffbeards, Ironfists and the Firebeard.
The most powerful ring of power among the seven rings for the dwarves ended up in Durin III that became an heirloom for the dwarves of Khazad-dum.
This ring of power ended up in Erebor that was passed to Thror Thrain II and back to Sauron when Sauron kidnapped Thrain II at Dol Guldur.
The three rings of power forged by Celebrimbor for the elves
After Sauron left for Mordor, Celebrimbor forged another three rings of power called Narya the Ring of Fire, Vilya the Ring of Air and Nenya the ring of Water with the knowledge and experience forging the sixteen rings of power.
These three rings of power were not bound to the mastery of the One Ring that Sauron forged.
Thanks to the three rings of power for elves, Celebrimbor and the elves of Eregion discovered that they were deceived by Sauron and also noticed that Sauron attempted to control the elves by the rings of power that they’ve created together with Sauron disguised as Annatar.
Sauron would declare war against the elves as the three rings of power that were out of the authority and the power of Sauron posed a great threat against Sauron’s conquest of Middle Earth.
Abilities of the Rings of Power
The Rings of Power could resist ‘decay’ and ‘deterioration’ while they could also enhance the powers of their bearers.
It could slow down the deterioration of the bearer and it could also slow down the decay of other objects where the bearer would use the power of the ring.
However, the sixteen rings of power forged under Sauron’s guidance would also wither the thoughts of the bearer and prevent them from dying.
This wasn’t a form of immortality but rather the ring of power would unusually extend the life span of its bearer and prevent it from decay.
The rings of power forged by Sauron eventually consumed the human masters and turned them into the undead servants of Sauron the nazguls the right wraiths.
Dwarves were created to even resist the evil will of Morgoth who was Sauron’s former master so the rings of power had less effect on corrupting their minds.
However the rings of power given to the dwarves significantly increased their greed and interest of the taking action for the good of Middle Earth.
The three elf rings that weren’t affected by Sauron could help heal and preserve the beauty of the land by their power. Rivendell and Lothlorein were preserved and protected by the power of the elf rings that Elrond and Galadriel owned.
Nenya – Ring of Galadriel
Nenya, the Ring of Adamant or the Ring of Water was made from Mitrhil and was under the possession of Galadriel the lady of Lothlorien.
Galadriel was able to preserve the golden forest of Lothlorien that was as bright as those in Valinor by the power of Nenya.
When Frodo Baggins offered the One ring to Galadriel, this unintentionally became a painful test for Galadriel to bear.
After Galadriel barely managed to resist the temptation of the One ring, Galadriel kindly explains that she is the owner of Nenya the Ring of Water and kindly refuses Frodo Baggins’s offer and encourages him for bearing the responsibility as the ring bearer of the One Ring
Narya – Ring of Gandalf
At first, the Ring of Fire with a red ruby was given to Cirdan by Celebrimbor. Cirdan the leader of the elves of the Grey Havens would later present the Ring of Fire to Gandalf after Gandalf landed at the Grey Havens along with the other wizards the Istari.
Cirdan noticed the nobility of Gandalf despite Saruman being the most powerful wizard among the Istari when they’ve first landed on Middle Earth.
Saruman would grow jealous and would constantly check on Gandalf because Cirdan gave the Ring of Fire Narya to Gandalf.
Vilya – Ring of Elrond
The elf king of the Noldor elves of Exile Gil-Galad was the first master of the Ring of Air or the Ring of Sapphire Vilya. Gil-Galad’s lieutenant Elrond would later inherit the Ring of Air Vilya after Gil-Galad died during the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
Elrond would use Vilya to preserve Rivendell. However after the destruction of the One Ring, all three rings of the elves Vilya, Narya and Nenya would also lose their power and the remaining elves decided to head to Valinor.
Seven Rings of the dwarves
It isn’t exactly known whether Sauron gave one ring for each of the dwarf clans of Middle Earth. The seven dwarf family clans were the Durin’s Folk(also known as the long beards), Broadbeams, Blacklocks, Stonefoots, Stiffbeards, Ironfists and the Firebeard.
When the Valar Aule created the dwarves, they were resistant to the evil will of Morgoth so the dwarves were also resistant to the rings of power, however the rings of power still were able to make the dwarves unusually greedy and selfish.
Four of the rings of power by the dwarves were known to be missing and destroyed by the dragons. With a high possibility, the four rings of power of the dwarves were destroyed or missing during the War of the Dwarves and the Dragons.
Two of the rings of power of the dwarves were under Sauron’s possession without much specific history. One of the Ring of Power of the dwarves descended through the dwarves of Khazad-dum.
However as the balrog Durin’s Bane destroyed Khazad-dum and the refugees settled in Erebor, king Thror and his son king Thrain second would inherit the ring of power.
Thrain second was the father of Thorin Oakenshield and Thrain second was abducted by Sauron at Dol Guldur where Sauron would claim the last remaining ring of power besides the rings of power of the elves or the ones that were already destroyed.
Nine Rings of Power of Men the nazguls
Sauron gave nine rings of power of men that were once powerful lords, sorcerers or heroes. Interestingly, the first nazguls appeared on Middle Earth when Numenor started to disobey the Valars and deny their religion of the Valars.
Numenor would start to discourage their belief in the Valars primarily over the fear of death and interestingly the first nazguls appeared during such time.
The rings of power of men would corrupt their masters into the ring ghosts or ring wraiths that were bound as servants of Sauron under the One Ring.
The nazguls couldn’t be seen by ordinary people as their rings of power would permanently cast them into the world between the dead and the living.
Thus the nazguls could clearly see Frodo Baggins even if he wore the One Ring as Frodo was only invisible as the One Ring would cast Frodo into the wraith world.
Three great men of numenor were part of the nazgul while one was known as an Easterling lord named Khamul. However the rest of the identity of the nazguls are unknown. Even the Witch King of Angmar the lord of the nazgul’s past isn’t revealed.
