… be able to answer this one:
“Question for “Ring” aficionados: At the fire-mountain Orodruin, the sinister Sauron once made an all-powerful ring, which was lost for an age; now he wants it back, the fate of Middle Earth hanging in the balance. Why doesn’t Sauron just make another ring? Even the presumably encyclopedic Encyclopedia of Arda couldn’t answer that one.”
Well, ah, there’s always the small problem of him not actually existing to make another one…
Because, theoretically, he put most of his power into the old one so that he could control the other races of Middle Earth. Without the One Ring, he lacks the strength to make another ring of power (or even to appear in physical form after the White Council kicked him out of Dol Guldur).
That’s right – he became symbiotically linked to the ring with its creation. He pored a lot of his essence into it.
I don’t think Sauron ever regained physical form after being defeated at the end of the Second Age - he was the “necromancer” in the Hobbit, but his essence was just driven out of Dol Guldor at the end of the Hobbit (although that’s not explained until the later books).
He never regains physical form, he instead takes control of others through the ring, or through the corruption the ring and all things tainted (such as the palantiri stones) have upon those who dare use them.
I thought it had something to do with the One Ring being made (secretly) at the same time as the other rings. The 9 for humans, the 7 for Dwarves, and the 3 for Bruce Geryk.
Let’s say he could make a new Ring, would it “rule them all and” y’know, “bind them”?
As an aside, TMQ is pissing me off lately with his blog like random asides about anything and everything unrelated to Football. The column was better on Slate.
He used up all his dilithium crystals making the first one!
They weren’t made at the same time, and he never even touched the Elven ones.
You’ve read (studied) all the background Desslock, how did he corrupt the nine human rings, what’s up with the Dwarf rings, and how did he bend the others to the One Ring’s will? The poem is all I’m going from and it sounds like, in there, that they were made at the same time.
I think one of the greatest thrills from the move was hearing McKellan recite the poem. Particularly they way he says “Bind Them!”
He couldn’t touch the Elven ones because they never showed him how. Part of his knowledge that comes from forging the One Ring came from the elves, when Sauron was under another form. The Elves didn’t completely trust this person, though, and thus they didn’t tell all.
Not that this really tells you anything, and I’m sure Desslock will fix all (and probably make my rescind this statement for it’s complete and utter lack of complexity in regards for what happened). :)
Heh, I liked that too. It great when, in the extended edition, he recites the poem in the speech of Mordor at the council of Enrond.
Here’s the deal on the rings – Sauron was one of the spirits (Maia) that sided with the “fallen angel”, Melkor (Morgoth) in the first age. He was a powerful sorcerer. At the end of the first age, when the rest of the angels captured Melkor and threw him in the void “until the end-time”, Sauron briefly flirted with redemption, but eventually settled back to his old ways in Mordor. He conquered most of Middle Earth, except for a small area around the Grey Havens, which was defended by the elves, led by their last high king, Gil Galad. Humans on Middle Earth had descended into barbarism, except for a few “elf friends”, who had been given their own land – the island of Numenor, near the “west” (Valinor, the “heaven” of the elves).
Numenor, due to its isolation from Middle Earth and proximity to Valinor, became tremendously powerful, and ended up assembling a massive fleet to attack Sauron. It easily crushed Sauron’s forces, and took Sauron back to Numenor, somewhat voluntarily. Sauron eventually corrupted Numenor and led to its downfall by convincing Numenor to attack Valinor. Numenor “Atlantis” sank, which caused Sauron to lose his body but his essence returned to Mordor and eventually reformed into a physical body. Sauron had already made the “one ring” at the time he lost his body in Numenor, and Tolkien never explained how the ring wasn’t lost with Sauron’s body (two letter of Tolkien shed some light at to his thinking – it was either left in Mordor when he was captured, or it was just magically transported with his spirit).
Anyway, prior to being captured by the Numenoreans, Sauron was a great gift-giver in the Second Age when in Middle Earth, and until the loss of his first physical form, he was capable of appearing in the form of a very beautiful, charismatic figure. Known as the “Deceiver” by the elves, he gave the barbarian human tribes inventions and knowledge and earned they greedily began to heed his words. There was an Elven settlement just west of Moria (which is why the mine door had an Elven password), called Eregion, which was established by Galadriel, Celeborn and Celembrimbor. The elves in this settlement were very close friends to the dwarves in Moria, and were far more interested in many dwarven pursuits than most elves (like forging, etc.). Celembrimbor, in particular, was a master craftsman, who fashioned many elven artifacts.
The elves of Eregion found Sauron’s secrets of craftsmanship irresistable. Sauron and Celembrimbor and the elves crafted the 9 rings that would be given to human kings, as well as the 7 that would be given to the dwarves (there were also many unnamed lesser rings – the ones in the poem are just the “great rings”). Upon doing so, Sauron returned to Mordor. While he left, Celembrimbor crafted the three elven rings, using the knowledge he had acquired – one was given to Galadriel, one to Gil-galad, and one to the leader of the Grey Havens, Cirdon. These rings were powerful, but since Sauron hadn’t had a hand in crafting them, they didn’t have the same link to the “spirit world” as his rings had – as a result, they didn’t turn their wearers invisible, and he had no influence over them. He used a great deal of his power to craft the one ring, which could dominate the other rings that had a connection to the spirit world, creating a symbiotic relationship between himself and the ring.
The humans who were given the rings used their power of invisibilty to acquire great power and stature, but eventually they became permanently drawn into the spirit world and are therefore invisible. The dwarves proved immune to the pull of the spirit world, and therefore couldn’t use the rings to turn invisible (although presumably those rings could be used in that fashion by other races) – as a result, they weren’t corrupted, but it did make them more greedy, which made them wealthy but reckless, and ultimately led to their destruction – four of them were consumed by dragons, while the other three were eventually reacquired by Sauron.
Another key point is that Sauron initially never intended to give any rings to the dwarves or humans – he just wanted to corrupt the elves. After crafting the One Ring, Sauron launched his attack on Middle Earth, which would eventually be stopped by the Numenoreans, as described above. Before he was stopped, however, he destroyed Eregion and seized all of the Great Rings other than the three elven ones. Sauron then gave the 9 rings to the humans, and 7 to dwarves – they used them to gain power (humans) or destruction (dwarves) when Sauron was a prisoner and then advisor in Numenor for hundreds of years.
Finally, when Sauron’s spirit returned from the destruction of Numenor, he was no longer capable of assuming a beautiful or charismatic form – just a terrible one. Realizing that he could no longer deceive, and now that Numenor could no longer oppose him, he assembled a massive force led by the 9, who had now become Nazgul, and attacked the rest of Middle Earth. The Elves led by Gil-Galad and the two remaining Numenor settlements, Gondor and Arnor (which is located where the Shire is) and some dwarves allied in the “Last Alliance” to defeat Sauron in a lengthy campaign. In the final battle, Gil-Galad was killed, as was the King of Gondor Elendil – his son, the king of Arnor, Isildur, cut the ring off of Sauron, and that ended the second age.
What of the three elven rings? Galadriel kept hers, Gil-Galad’s was given to Elrond, and Cirdon gave his to Gandalf during the Third Age.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Yes, I’m a fanatic.
Stefan
Desslock,
I am in awe :o
-DavidCPA
Nicely done and thank you.
I see the Scandavian inspiration there. Particularly Loki as Sauron.
From some research I did yesterday, I got the impression that the one ring did have some power over the three elven rings, but that the elves caught on. From this website, the following quote from the Silmarillion:
“But the Elves were not so lightly to be caught. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and perceived that he would be master of them, and of all that they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings.”
It doesn’t say on that site, but I assumed then the elves then began using the rings again once Sauron was defeated in the “last alliance” battle. Is this correct? I really want to read the Silmarillion now…
My understanding is that the Elven rings were not used openly and that Sauron could corrupt the work done with them through the power of the One Ring.
The Silmarillion is fantastic if you are interested at all in the history of Middle-Earth and in particular the history of the Elves. I would advise skipping the beginning section, or at least skimming it. It is a tough read.
[size=1]edited for grammar[/size]
A couple of additional points:
The three elven rings, Nenya, Narya, and Vilya, weren’t about power because those who created them (mainly Celebrimbor son of Curufin) wasn’t primarily interested in power but in enlightenment. The elven rings of water, fire, and air bring wisdom to their wearers.
According to Galadriel in FOTR, the destruction of the One Ring will also lessen the power of the Three. Frodo the Ringbearer is able to perceive Galadriel’s ring, while Sam cannot. She also makes it seem that if Sauron were to regain the One, he could use it to control the Three.
And it is spelled “Círdan” the Shipwright. He entrusted Narya the Ring of Fire to Gandalf. After the destruction of the One Ring at the end of the third age, Gandalf, Elrond, and Galadriel took the three elven rings with them on “the straight road” to Valinor, the Blessed Realm in the uttermost west.
To quote Met_K by way of Sparky:
-TomBut, oh hell, for humor’s sake:
What in the god damn fucking hell are you shitheads talking about? Babbling on about a bunch of mother fucking rings? Jesus Christ, what a bunch of pussies! The rings don’t even have a skull or a gemstone on it! What kind of fucktard wears a ring if it doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of their enemies? Damn. Just damn.
Pussies.
[size=1]That would be funny if, you know, I didn’t know what they were talking about, but, you see… I do.
Edited so Tyjenks doesn’t cry.[/size]
I do not think I know as much about any one topic I have ever come across as you guys do about this. Impressive. Or maybe I am just a moron.
Tom, I am sending that figurine out as a Christmas gift to all of my friends and family.
Heh, Tom knows Photoshop. Or at least how to find funny things on the net.
-DavidCPA