# Why were the Rings of Power made in the first place?



## WizardKing (Jan 17, 2003)

i dont understand why the rings of power made in the first place if not made before, that would save all the trouble to rule over others, why were they made for, and if so were they meant to dominate as was the one ring? why on earth would rings be made to dominate their race as it would appear, even the elves would have to know why they were made? i would think your thgouhts?


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## Maeglin (Jan 17, 2003)

The Rings were not meant to dominate at all, they were meant to help their respected races succeed in whatever it was they wanted to succeed in. The 3 Elven rings were made by Celebrimbor in mockery of his grandfather Feanor's Silmarils, the 3 were meant to preserve things and keep the bearers from growing weary of middle-earth and keep their lands from weariness and decay. The 7 for the dwarves were made to help them actually make treasures (I think it was something like that, but I'm not sure). The Nine I am not sure about though, but I think its a strong possibility that they were meant to make the bearer's of them become great rulers and warriors (they were supposed to be wiser and better kings), though as we all know it didn't work out that way. 

The rings were made in the first place because the people's of middle-earth were always striving for a better life (but don't trust me there, I'm just inferring, I don't have any evidence of this), the only ring that was actually made to dominate was the One Ring, it was made in secret by Sauron, but the Elves knew about this and they hid their 3 rings, for Sauron had never touched the 3 and could not do any harm to them nor find them if he hadn't touched them (or its something like that). The making of the rings in the first place was Sauron's idea, he decieved the Elves into creating them, but eventually they realized who he was and hid the 3.


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## Rúmil (Jan 17, 2003)

> we see a sort of second fall or at least 'error' of the Elves. There was nothing wrong essentially in their lingering against counsel, still sadly with3 the mortal lands of their old heroic deeds. But they wanted to have their cake without eating it. They wanted the peace and bliss and perfect memory of 'The West', and yet to remain on the ordinary earth where their prestige as the highest people, above wild Elves, dwarves, and Men, was greater than at the bottom of the hierarchy of Valinor. They thus became obsessed with 'fading', the mode in which the changes of time (the law of the world under the sun) was perceived by them. They became sad, and their art (shall we say) antiquarian, and their efforts all really a kind of embalming – even though they also retained the old motive of their kind, the adornment of earth, and the healing of its hurts. We hear of a lingering kingdom, in the extreme North-west more or less in what was left in the old lands of The Silmarillion, under Gilgalad; and of other settlements, such as Imladris (Rivendell) near Elrond; and a great one at Eregion at the Western feet of the Misty Mountains, adjacent to the Mines of Moria, the major realm of the Dwarves in the Second Age. There arose a friendship between the usually hostile folk (of Elves and Dwarves) for the first and only time, and smithcraft reached its highest development. But many of me Elves listened to Sauron. He was still fair in that early time, and his motives and those of the Elves seemed to go partly together: the healing of the desolate lands. Sauron found their weak point in suggesting that, helping one another, they could make Western Middle-earth as beautiful as Valinor. It was really a veiled attack on the gods, an incitement to try and make a separate independent paradise. Gilgalad repulsed all such overtures, as also did Elrond. But at Eregion great work began – and the Elves came their nearest to falling to 'magic' and machinery. With the aid of Sauron's lore they made Rings of Power ('power' is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales, except as applied to the gods).
> The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. 'change' viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance – this is more or less an Elvish motive. But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor – thus approaching 'magic', a motive easily corruptible into evil, a lust for domination. And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron ('the Necromancer': so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit): such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.


 Letter 131



So the Rings gave these pathologically conservative elves a power over the ageing of all things, which they most greatly desired: the Rings, in order to prevent its decay, were given the power to control the substance of Arda. Thus, who controlled the Rings, controlled the substance of Arda. if Sauron could control the Three Rings, he could have made all the substance of Arda which the Elves had worked on, evil. (The Forest of Lothlórien would have more or less instantly become like Mirkwood, for instance) The One Ring, apart from controlling the others, had also a power of its own over matter: hence the longevity etc.

Hope this was intellegible...


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## WizardKing (Jan 17, 2003)

thanks you both were very helpful! you answered my questions?


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## Aulë (Jan 18, 2003)

> but the Elves knew about this and they hid their 3 rings, for Sauron had never touched the 3 and could not do any harm to them nor find them if he hadn't touched them (or its something like that).



I think 1 of the dwarvish rings wasn't under his control either (Thror's)


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## lossenandunewen (Jan 19, 2003)

because without the rings there would be no story.


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## BlackCaptain (Jan 19, 2003)

> _Originally posted by lossenandunewen _
> *because without the rings there would be no story. *



exactly


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## Brent (Jan 19, 2003)

Also the Swarven rings were not made for the Dwarfs not were the nine made for men, they were all made by the Elves for the Elves. Sauron handed them out to enslave the races.


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## BlackCaptain (Jan 19, 2003)

> Also the Swarven rings were not made for the Dwarfs not were the nine made for men



Can you umm... repeat that... with more sense? hehe


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## Brent (Jan 20, 2003)

> _Originally posted by MorgulKing _
> *Can you umm... repeat that... with more sense? hehe *


oops brain and Keyboard out of sync. The SEVEN rings were not made for the Dwarves.


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