What Are the Rings of Power? – Let’s Get Nerdy!

Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is six months away. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!

If you’ve had any exposure to J.R.R. Tolkien of The Lord of the Rings in larger pop culture you are probably familiar with the famous poem:

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.

These words initially appeared as the epigraph to The Lord of the Rings.

First things first: there are twenty magical rings in Middle-Earth. Which also equates to twenty ring bearers. If you’ve been sitting at home wondering why The Rings of Power cast is so big this may be an indicator of how many cast members will be wielding power capable to Gandalf of Galadriel, who we’ve seen in the original Lord of the Rings live-action trilogy. 

All twenty rings were forged during the Second Age of Middle-Earth. One of the very first things announced about The Rings of Power is the series being set during the Second Age of Middle-Earth, even amidst a flurry of fan backlash demanding the First Age be explored in its stead.

The rings were forged by Annatar. 

“Who is Annatar?” I hear you asking.

I’m so glad you asked.

Annatar is an alter ego of Sauron. Like Lucifer, Annatar is described as beautiful and angelic. Everything you think of when you think of a Tolkien high fantasy elf, Annatar is. Under Annatar’s guidance, elven smiths forged nineteen rings total in the elven kingdom of Eregion. The most powerful and most deadly of the Rings – The One Ring – was forged by Sauron’s own hand in his stronghold of Mount Doom in Moria. Being twenty rings forged by magic all twenty rings were bonded by magic with the original nineteen both dependent upon – and subservient to – The One Ring. The word “Power” is not used lightly here. The rings could all be controlled by the One Ring, even giving the power of the bearer to control the nineteen other ring bearers. To bend them to his/her/their will if so desired. Similarly, the destruction of The One Ring could mean the dissipation of the power held by all other magical rings.

This may explain for readers why, following Frodo’s destruction of The One RIng, he and his fellow ring bearers went to the Grey Havens to sail into the West and leave Middle-Earth behind. 

The elf smith who led the forging of the rings was named Celebrimbor. Celebrimbor is the grandson of Fëanor. Fëanor is an elf lord who sailed to Middle-Earth from Valinor, alongside the Valar, and founded the race of elves we are all familiar with from the books and movies – an upcoming television show. Where elves are concerned this is an incredibly powerful lineage. 

Back to Sauron for a moment, as he was pulling on The One Ring for the first time the elven ring bearers sensed his power and deception and pulled their rings to keep themselves from being controlled by the darkness. It was this act of defiance – taking off their rings – which launched the war between Sauron’s forces and the elven powers as seen in the opening scenes of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. 

With the help of dwarven allies the elves were able to keep their rings, and others, from Sauron. He did eventually manage to collect fifteen others, however. This is how the elves managed to retain only three rings: Nenya, Narya, and Vilya wielded by Galadriel and Gil-galad with Narya eventually being born by Gandalf and Vilya by Elrond. 

My guess would be we’ll see Elrond wielding Vilya right off the bat in The Rings of Power, since he is a central character of the series, in place of having Gil-galad be the original bearer of two separate rings. 

Sauron regifted the other rings – seven to the dwarves and nine to humans. The nine human kings who accepted this poisoned gift went on to be transformed into the Ring Wraiths. The dwarves who accepted the rings were given immense wealth matched only by their immense greed which drove them from the world, shattered alliances with other races, and led to many deaths and downfalls as a result.

The rings offer bearers long life, as we have seen many examples of in the events of The Lord of the Rings.

Oh, and that poem I opened this article with? A section of that very passage was carved into The One Ring in “Black Speech” the language of Mordor:

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.

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