# The Dwarves' seven rings



## Thráin II (Jan 7, 2005)

Ok so we know that Sauron tried to take back all the rings he could, and managed to get hold of the Nine. We also know that he had some (at least three) of the seven, but that the rest might all have been lost.

What I am wondering is what exactly was he doing with these rings that he took back from the Dwarves. They hadn't managed to corrupt their targets as intended, but that only because their targets were Dwarves who showed an unexpected resistance to the power of the rings, not because the rings were flawed in some way.

Did he just keep the rings locked up in a drawer and forgot about them? Did he wear them? Why did he not try to corrupt someone else with the rings... perhaps the two Istari that went into the East?

I'm just really curious what he was doing with them.

Sorry if this was posted in another thread, I tried searching but eh.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Jan 7, 2005)

Thráin II said:


> ...what exactly was he doing with these rings that he took back from the Dwarves.



There is nothing specific about it, only that he had them to prevent their being used. Probably kept them folded in among his boxer shorts...

Barley


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## Thráin II (Jan 7, 2005)

I see. Seems kind of silly to keep all that power idle. I just guess he never thought he might need the extra boost of Nazgul


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## e.Blackstar (Jan 7, 2005)

Um...I think there was something about a couple being lost to dragons and I know that Sauron either has a few or knows where they are 'cause he promised some to Dain.


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## Ishtoffor (Jan 8, 2005)

I think...

Since the poem, 'One ring to rule them all...' outlines each set of rings for each race in its own line, that the powers to govern instilled in the rings are specific (and therefore exculsive) to said race. Neither Nazgul, Human, Elf, or Hobbit could use the rings made for the Dwarves.

As for why the rings failed as far as the Dwarves are concerned, I think that the element they were supposed to enhance as inherant to Dwarf culture. The major focus of the Dwarves is to mine for gold, silver, mythril, etc. (e.g. Thorin & Co, Gimli, etc.). The rings werr made to enhance the leadership of the Dwarves - BUT FOR WHAT? They already had their desires.

For whatever reason (something about the creation of the Dwarven race), the rings failed because the Dwarves already _were_.

I think...


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## Morgul Agent (Jan 10, 2005)

But why then can Gandalf use Narya, one of the Elven Rings? He's a Maiar, not an elf.


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## HLGStrider (Jan 11, 2005)

I think because Maiar are able to take upon themselves the characteristics of whatever mortal race they please.


Melian was, for all practical purposes, an Elf. She married and gave birth to the child of one. 

Gandalf was, for all practical purposes, an old man, but just as easily he could be an old elf. 

Sauron, I believe, would have been able to weild the Dwarf rings but only towards their purpose, and I do not believe he wished those purposes. The same with the Elven and Man rings. He was only interested in using the one ring, with its powers focussed totally on domination, to subdue the other rings. Once the men were subdued and the dwarves proven unsubdueable, it was over. The rings of the men were bound with them and unusuable. The rings of the dwarves were again worthless, but it was better for him to have them and not use them then for the dwarves to have them and use them, in Sauron's mind.


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## Mr. Underhill (Jan 17, 2005)

I would venture to say that by the time Sauron realized that the Dwarvish Rings were not fulfilling the plan he had for them he was already tied up in a very serious campaign against him (the War of the Last Alliance) which occupied the foremost of his plans and the Seven may have temporarily taken a "backseat". With his eventual defeat in that War, upon his re-emergence he was infinetly more concerned with regaining the One than the whereabouts or possible re-collecting of the Seven, though of course he would certainly do what he could (and did) to retrieve the ones he might ... I would just say at this time his priorities were higher.


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## Ceorl (Jan 29, 2005)

woah there! let's not be hasty, as might be said.



> Since the poem, 'One ring to rule them all...' outlines each set of rings for each race in its own line, that the powers to govern instilled in the rings are specific (and therefore exculsive) to said race. Neither Nazgul, Human, Elf, or Hobbit could use the rings made for the Dwarves.



to start with, all the rings, great and small, save the one were made by the Elves in the land of Hollin. They were not made specifically for each race, and were not, as such, limited to be used only by members of that race. When Sauron seized the seven and the nine, he gave them to the Dwarves and men as he knew that their particular powers would be best suited to that race.

The seven made the Dwarves (if possible) even more wealthy, and the nine gave the Men power, however due to their nature the Dwarves were not subdued by the seven.

At the time of the Last Alliance Sauron had the One, and thus knew the location, not only of the seven and the nine, but probably also the three. By the time of LotR Sauron had recovered all of the seven, or else they had been destroyed by dragon-fire, the last being taken from Thrain in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. 



> But why then can Gandalf use Narya, one of the Elven Rings? He's a Maiar, not an elf.



The condition of the Istari is fairly complicated, but all of them, when given their 'mission' in Valinor, were clothed in the bodies of men, and almost reborn. They lost alot of their knowledge and power which was innate to them as Maiar, and became vulnerable to death. Note the first meeting of Gandalf the White with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in Fangorn; When they called him Gandalf he seemed to be regaining a memory, that is what it would have been like for the new Istari, having to relearn almost everything they knew.

As to the actual question of this thread, which I seem to have wandered from, I cannot say exactly what Sauron was doing with the remnant of the seven. Perhaps he was putting them to work in the East to create gold to hire armies from Khand? 

At any rate I believe that him offering to give Dain one of the seven was genuine, maybe he was trying to ensnare Dain, or perhaps buy him over to his side with the allure of riches. Had he been successful, the consequences could have been dramatic and the Company could have returned from the South to find the North in flames.


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