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105-548: The Rings of Power are magical artefacts in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium , most prominently in his high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings . The One Ring first appeared as a plot device , a magic ring in Tolkien's children's fantasy novel, The Hobbit ; Tolkien later gave it a backstory and much greater power. He added nineteen other Great Rings, also conferring powers such as invisibility, that it could control, including

210-532: A cuttlebone mould, an ancient casting technique. These were given to Gil-galad (portrayed by Mark Ferguson ), Círdan (Michael Elsworth), and Galadriel ( Cate Blanchett ). The Tolkien illustrator Alan Lee , employed as a conceptual designer for the films, had a cameo as one of the nine human Ring-bearers who later became the Nazgûl. Sauron ( Sala Baker ) is seen forging the One Ring at the chamber of Mount Doom. The One Ring

315-459: A plot device , a mysterious magic ring that the titular character had stumbled upon, but its origin was left unexplained. Following the novel's success, Tolkien was persuaded by his publishers Allen & Unwin to write a sequel. Intending to give Bilbo another adventure, he instead devised a background story around the Ring with its power of invisibility , forming a framework for the new work. He tied

420-609: A Latin inscription at a Roman temple at Lydney Park was a "pivotal" influence , combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. The god-hero was Nodens , whom Tolkien traced to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám , "Nuada of the Silver-Hand", and the inscription carried a curse on a stolen ring. "Silver-Hand" is the English translation of "Celebrimbor", the Elven-smith who made

525-432: A Tolkien scholar, notes that Tolkien did not provide the same "elaborate textual history" to contextualise his maps as he did for his writings . Danielson suggests that this has assisted the tendency among Tolkien's fans to treat his maps as "geographical fact". He calls Fonstad's atlas "magisterial", and comments that like Tolkien, Fonstad worked from the assumption that the maps, like the texts, "are objective facts" which

630-412: A high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name.... He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them... On the land of Lórien there was no stain. Curry cites what he calls Max Weber 's crucial insight, namely that "The unity of the primitive image of

735-834: A magic horn, brought from the North by Eorl the Young, founder of Rohan , from the dragon-hoard of Scatha the Worm. The horn, he explains, is "a magic one, though only modestly so": blowing it brings joy to his friends in arms, fear to his enemies, and it awakens the Hobbits to purify the Shire of Saruman's ruffians. Shippey suggests that Tolkien wished to do the same for England, and notes that with his novels he at least succeeded in bringing joy. The historian Caitlin Vaughn Carlos writes that Sam Gamgee's exclamation "This

840-497: A map, and made the story fit (generally with meticulous care for distances). The other way about lands one in confusions and impossibilities, and in any case it is weary work to compose a map from a story. Writing in Mythlore , Jefferson P. Swycaffer suggested that the political and strategic situations of Gondor and Mordor in the Siege of Gondor were "analogous to Constantinople facing

945-435: A means of "power ... [and] domination of things and wills" that corrupts those who use it, for example, trapping the wizard Saruman in his desire for ultimate knowledge and order. Such magic contrasts with the enchantment of Tolkien's fictional elvish lands, which he saw as a form of pure art and an appreciation of the wonders of the world. In an unsent draft of a letter in 1954, Tolkien distinguished two kinds of magic with

1050-583: A plain, and so escape the ogre." As Tolkien was well acquainted with fairy tales like The Brothers Grimm 's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Jeanette White from Comic Book Resources suggested that his choice "to gift seven rings of power to the Dwarf Lords of the seven kingdoms is probably no accident". The nine rings for Mortal Men match the number of the Nazgûl. Edward Pettit, in Mallorn , states that nine

1155-455: A single place in the real world, while other locations have had two or more real-world origins proposed for them. The sources are diverse, spanning classical , medieval , and modern elements . Other elements relate to Old English poetry : several of the customs of Rohan in particular can be traced to Beowulf , on which Tolkien was an expert. Some Middle-earth placenames were based on the sound of places named in literature; thus, Beleriand

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1260-407: A sufficiently powerful bearer to perceive what is done using the other rings and to govern the thoughts of their bearers. To use the One Ring to its full extent, the bearer needs to be strong and train their will to the domination of others. A mortal Man or Hobbit who takes possession of a Ring of Power can manifest its power, becoming invisible and able to see things that are normally invisible, as

1365-475: Is Erebor, the Lonely Mountain , once home to Smaug the dragon , and afterwards to Thorin 's dwarves. The large lands to the east of Rhûn and to the south and east of Harad are not described in the stories, which take place in the north-western part of Middle-earth. The events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place in the north-west of the continent of Middle-earth. Both quests begin in

1470-472: Is "Silver-Hand", or in Elvish "Celebrimbor", the name of the Elven-smith who made the Rings of Power. The inscription contained a curse upon a ring, and the site was called Dwarf's Hill. The Rings of Power have been described as symbolising the way that power conflicts with moral behaviour; Tolkien explores the way that different characters, from the humble gardener Sam Gamgee to the powerful Elf ruler Galadriel ,

1575-676: Is "the commonest 'mystic' number in Germanic lore". He quotes the " Nine Herbs Charm " from the Lacnunga , an Old English book of spells, suggesting that Tolkien may have made multiple uses of such spells to derive attributes of the Nazgûl: against venom and vile things and all the loathly ones, that through the land rove, ... against nine fugitives from glory, against nine poisons and against nine flying diseases. The One Ring first appeared in Tolkien's children's fantasy The Hobbit in 1937 as

1680-659: Is "to be yourself". Tolkien was certainly influenced by the Germanic legend: Andvaranaut is a magical ring that can give its wielder wealth, while Draupnir is a self-multiplying ring that holds dominion over all the rings it creates. Richard Wagner 's opera series Der Ring des Nibelungen adapted Norse mythology to provide a magical but cursed golden ring. Tolkien denied any connection, but scholars agreed that Wagner's Ring powerfully influenced Tolkien. The scholar of religion Stefan Arvidsson writes that Tolkien's ring differs from Wagner's in being concerned with power for its own sake and that he turned one ring into many, an echo of

1785-484: Is answered in different ways: the monster Gollum is weak, quickly corrupted, and finally destroyed; Boromir , son of the Steward of Gondor , begins virtuous but like Plato's Gyges is corrupted "by the temptation of power" from the Ring, even if he wants to use it for good, but redeems himself by defending the hobbits to his own death; the "strong and virtuous" Galadriel , who sees clearly what she would become if she accepted

1890-479: Is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of time will sweep it away". Hood further writes that Tolkien was suggesting technology , such as the making of Rings of Power, is in itself neither good nor evil; both the Elves and Sauron (with his armies of orcs ) use that technology, as they also both make and wear swords and mail armour , and shoot with bows . Ralph Bakshi 's 1978 animated film The Lord of

1995-492: Is that one should not try to double-guess the future through any device, but should trust in providence and make one's own mind up, bravely facing one's duty in each situation. The One Ring offers power to its wearer, and progressively corrupts the wearer's mind to evil ; the effect is strongly addictive. Shippey applied Lord Acton 's 1887 statement that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" to it, noting that this

2100-709: Is the volcanic Plateau of Gorgoroth, with the tall volcano of Orodruin or Mount Doom , where the Dark Lord Sauron forged the One Ring . To the mountain's east is Sauron's Dark Tower, Barad-dur . To the south of Gondor and Mordor lie Harad and Khand. To the east of Rhovanion and to the north of Mordor lies the Sea of Rhûn, home to the Easterlings . North of that lie the Iron Hills of Dain 's dwarves ; between those and Mirkwood

2205-504: Is worse than Mordor! ... It comes home to you, they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was ruined" encapsulates the impulse to nostalgia . Lindon (Middle-earth) In The Lord of the Rings , Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age is described as having free peoples, namely Men , Hobbits , Elves , and Dwarves in the West, opposed to peoples under the control of

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2310-723: The Noldor . Gil-galad later entrusted Vilya to his lieutenant Elrond , and Narya to Círdan the Shipwright, Lord of the Havens of Mithlond and leader of the Falathrim or "People of the Shore". Tolkien suggested that Sauron did not discover where the Three were hidden, though he guessed that they were given to Gil-galad and Galadriel. In the published The Lord of the Rings , Gil-galad received only Vilya, while Círdan

2415-705: The Second Age , he arrived disguised as a handsome emissary of the Valar named Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, offering the knowledge to transform Middle-earth with the light of Valinor , the home of the Valar. He was shunned by the Elven leaders Gil-galad and Elrond in Lindon , but managed to persuade the Noldorin Elves of Eregion. With Sauron's help, they learnt to forge Rings of Power, creating

2520-551: The Valar , and the Elves called the Eldar . Initially, the western part of Middle-earth was the subcontinent Beleriand ; it was engulfed by the ocean at the end of the First Age . Ossë , on behalf of the Valar, then raised the island continent of Númenor as a gift to the now homeless Men of Beleriand, thenceforth called Númenóreans . After Eru Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor near the end of

2625-504: The morality of the wearer. Scholars including Frederick A. de Armas note parallels between Plato's and Tolkien's rings. De Armas suggests that both Bilbo and Gyges, going into deep dark places to find hidden treasure, may have "undergone a Catabasis ", a psychological journey to the Underworld. The Tolkien scholar Eric Katz writes that "Plato argues that such [moral] corruption will occur, but Tolkien shows us this corruption through

2730-501: The "natural power" of its possessor, thus approaching its "magical aspect", which can be "easily corruptible to evil and lust of domination". Gandalf explains that a Ring of Power is self-serving and can "look after itself": the One Ring, in particular, can "slip off treacherously" to return to its master Sauron, betraying its bearer when an opportunity arrives. As the Ruling Ring, the One enables

2835-523: The 2014 video game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor , the wraith-like spirit of Celebrimbor (fused with the body of the Ranger Talion) recalls how Sauron had deceived him into forging the Rings of Power. In the sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War , Celebrimbor forges a new Ring of Power unsullied by Sauron's influence. The 2022 television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power depicts

2940-587: The Dark Lord Melkor in the First Age to impede Oromë , one of the Valar, who often rode across Middle-earth hunting. The Dwarf -realm of Moria was built in the First Age beneath the midpoint of the mountain range. The two major passes across the mountains were the High Pass or Pass of Imladris near Rivendell , with a higher and a lower route, and the all-year Redhorn Pass further south near Moria. East of

3045-715: The Dark Lord Sauron in the East. Some commentators have seen this as implying a moral geography of Middle-earth. Tolkien scholars have traced many features of Middle-earth to literary sources such as Beowulf , the Poetic Edda , or the mythical Myrkviðr . They have in addition suggested real-world places such as Venice , Rome , and Constantinople / Byzantium as analogues of places in Middle-earth. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad has created detailed thematic maps for Tolkien's major Middle-earth books, The Hobbit , The Lord of

3150-613: The Earth. The extreme west of Middle-earth in the First Age was Beleriand . It and Eriador were separated from much of the south of Middle-earth by the Great Gulf. Beleriand was largely destroyed in the cataclysm of the War of Wrath , leaving only a remnant coastal plain, Lindon, just to the west of the Ered Luin (also called Ered Lindon or Blue Mountains). The cataclysm divided Ered Luin and Lindon by

3255-723: The Eastfarthing, while the once good but corrupted Saruman 's men arrive in the Southfarthing. J. K. Newman compares the adventurous quest to Mordor to "the perpetual temptation felt in the West 'to hold the gorgeous East in fee'" (citing Wordsworth on Venice ), in a tradition which he traces back to Herodotus and to the myth of the Golden Fleece . Tolkien scholars including John Garth have traced many features of Middle-earth to literary sources or real-world places. Some places in Middle-earth can be more or less firmly associated with

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3360-555: The Elven rings a "special status" – somehow linked to the One, and thus endangered by it, but also "unsullied", having no direct connection with Sauron. By the time he was writing the chapter "The Mirror of Galadriel", Tolkien had decided that the Seven and the Nine were made by the Elven-smiths of Eregion under Sauron's guidance and that the Three were made by Celebrimbor alone. He considered setting

3465-510: The Elves can only be immortal as long as the world endures, leading them to be concerned with burdens of deathlessness in time and change. Since they wanted the bliss and perfect memory of Valinor , yet to remain in Middle-earth with their prestige as the fairest, as opposed to being at the bottom of the hierarchy in the Undying Lands , they became obsessed with " fading ". According to the scholars of philosophy Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson,

3570-471: The Elves might then seem entirely perfect; but she argues that this is not so. In her 2001 book A Question of Time , she writes that in Middle-earth, as in human life, any attempt to hold on to enchantment is doomed; the Elves are put to the test of letting Lórien's timeless beauty go, just as the members of the Fellowship of the Ring are put to the test of letting the Ring go. In Curry's view, this explains why

3675-587: The Elvish realms of Rivendell and Lothlórien , both preserved by the power of the Three Elvish Rings . That too can be a trap, as the Elves are obliged to let their Rings and their realms fade, just as the Fellowship of the Ring have to let the One Ring go, its addictive power corrupting the wearer's mind to evil. Middle-earth is described both as being quite natural, with the ordinary features of Earth's rivers, mountains and plains , trees and plants under

3780-628: The Greek words μαγεία ( mageia "ordinary magic") and γοητεία ( goeteia , "witchcraft"). Tolkien stated that these could not be acquired by studying ancient lore or books of spells, but that they were "inherent power not possessed or attainable by Men as such". He however qualified this by writing "But the Númenóreans used 'spells' in making swords?" alongside the end of the letter explaining these points. He further explained that both Mageia and Goeteia could be used for good and bad purposes, but neither

3885-629: The Grey Havens wearing the Three, with Galadriel proclaiming the end of its power and the beginning of the Dominion of Men. Four Rings of Power appeared in Jackson's The Hobbit film series. In An Unexpected Journey (2012), the One Ring was found by Bilbo Baggins (portrayed by Martin Freeman ). In the extended version of the succeeding film The Desolation of Smaug (2013), Gandalf discovers that Sauron took

3990-512: 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. — J.R.R. Tolkien , The Lord of the Rings , Epigraph As observed by Saruman , each Ring of Power was adorned with its "proper gem", except for the One Ring, which was unadorned. Unlike

4095-479: The Men of Númenor, leading to their civilisation's eventual downfall . The exiled Númenóreans who survived, led by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion, established the realms of Arnor and Gondor . Together with the Elves of Lindon, they formed the last alliance against Sauron and emerged victorious. Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand and kept it, refusing to destroy it; he was later killed in an ambush, and

4200-542: The Misty Mountains, Anduin, the Great River, flows southwards, with the forest of Mirkwood to its east. On its west bank opposite the southern end of Mirkwood is the Elvish land of Lothlorien . Further south, backing on to the Misty Mountains, lies the forest of Fangorn , home of the tree-giants, the ents . In a valley at the southern end of the Misty Mountains is Isengard , home to the wizard Saruman . Just to

4305-617: The Nine and three of the Seven. During the Third Age, the One Ring is discovered by Bilbo Baggins (in The Hobbit ). At the start of The Lord of the Rings , the Wizard Gandalf explains the One Ring's history to Bilbo's heir Frodo , and recites the Rhyme of the Rings . A Fellowship is formed to destroy it, led by Frodo. Following the successful destruction of the One Ring and the fall of Sauron,

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4410-526: The North "barbaric", South "the region of decadence", East "danger" but also the "locale of adventure", West "safety" (and uttermost West "ultimate safety"), North-West "specifically English insularity" where hobbits of the Shire live "in provincial satisfaction". Other scholars such as Walter Scheps and Isabel G. MacCaffrey have noted Middle-earth's "spatial cum moral dimensions", though not identically with Magoun's interpretation. In their view, North and West are generally good, South and East evil. That places

4515-486: The One Ring. He initially made Sauron instrumental in forging the Rings. He then briefly considered having Fëanor, creator of the Silmarils , forge the Rings of Power, under the influence of Morgoth , the first Dark Lord. He settled on Celebrimbor, a descendant of Fëanor, as the Ring's principal maker, under the tutelage of Sauron, Morgoth's chief servant. While writing the lore behind the One Ring, Tolkien struggled with giving

4620-578: The One was made in the fires of Mount Doom, it could only be unmade there. Sauron, being evil, never imagined that anyone might try to destroy the One Ring, as he imagined that anyone bearing it would be corrupted by it. Named after the three elements of fire, water, and air, the Three were the last to be made before Sauron's solo creation of the One. Although Celebrimbor forged the Three Rings alone in Eregion, they were moulded by Sauron's craft and were bound to

4725-585: The One. Only after Sauron's defeat, when the One Ring was cut from his finger at the end of the Second Age, did the Elves begin to actively use the Three to ward off the decay brought by time. Even then, the Rings could be worn without being seen. After the One Ring, they are the most powerful of the twenty Rings of Power. They are: Sauron recovered the Seven Rings from information provided by Celebrimbor, and gave them to

4830-688: The Pelennor Fields has parallels with the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields . The Misty Mountains derive from the Poetic Edda , where the protagonist in the Skírnismál notes that his quest will involve misty mountains peopled with orcs and giants, while the mountains' character was partly inspired by Tolkien's travels in the Swiss Alps in 1911. Mirkwood is based on Myrkviðr , the romantic vision of

4935-420: The Ring of Thrór (a Dwarf-Lord) from Thráin ( Antony Sher ), who revealed in a flashback scene his possession of the Ring during a siege of Moria. In the concluding film The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), Galadriel (Blanchett) reveals Nenya in rescuing Gandalf (McKellen) from Sauron ( Benedict Cumberbatch ), aided by Saruman ( Christopher Lee ) and Elrond (Weaving), who is wearing Vilya, the Ring of Air. In

5040-410: The Ring to mythical elements from the unfinished manuscripts for The Silmarillion to create an impression of depth in The Lord of the Rings . Gollum's characterisation in The Hobbit was revised for the second edition to bring it into line with his portrayal in The Lord of the Rings as a being addicted to the One Ring . Tolkien's conception of Ring-lore was closely linked to his development of

5145-431: The Ring was lost for centuries. During this time, the Elves were able to use the Three Rings, while the Nine given to the leaders of Men corrupted their wearers and turned them into the Nazgûl . The Seven given to the Dwarves failed to subject them directly to Sauron's will but ignited a sense of avarice within them. Over the years, Sauron sought to recapture the Rings, primarily the One, but was only successful in recovering

5250-415: The Rings begins with the forging of the Rings of Power and the events of the War of the Last Alliance against Sauron, all of which are animated in a silhouette against a red background using rotoscoping . The forging of the Rings of Power opens the prologue of Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film series in the 2001 The Fellowship of the Ring . The Three Elven Rings are shown being cast using

5355-528: The Rings – as well as the events described in The Silmarillion . The editor of Tolkien Studies , David Bratman , notes that the atlas provides historical, geological , and battle maps, with a detailed commentary and explanation of how Fonstad approached the mapping task from the available evidence. Michael Brisbois, also in Tolkien Studies , describes the atlas as "authorized", while the cartographers Ina Habermann and Nikolaus Kuhn take Fonstad's maps as defining Middle-earth's geography. Stentor Danielson,

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5460-410: The Rings , and The Silmarillion . Tolkien's Middle-earth was part of his created world of Arda . It was a flat world surrounded by ocean. It included the Undying Lands of Aman and Eressëa , which were all part of the wider creation, Eä . Aman and Middle-earth were separated from each other by the Great Sea Belegaer , analogous to the Atlantic Ocean . The western continent, Aman, was the home of

5565-662: The Rings of Power can be seen as a modern representation of the relationship between power and morality , since it portrays an idea that "absolute power is in conflict with behaviour that respects the wishes and needs of others". They also observed that several of Tolkien's characters have responded in different ways when faced with the possibility of possessing the One Ring—characters such as Samwise Gamgee and Galadriel have rejected it; Boromir and Gollum , were seduced by its power; and Frodo Baggins , though in limited use, ultimately succumbs to it; while Tom Bombadil can transcend its power entirely. They also noted that for Tolkien,

5670-420: The Rings of Power range from Germanic legend with the ring Andvaranaut and eventually Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen , to fairy tales such as Snow White , which features both a magic ring and seven dwarfs. One experience that may have been pivotal was Tolkien's professional work on a Latin inscription at the temple of Nodens ; he was a god-hero linked to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám , whose epithet

5775-448: The Rings of Power, in association with the Dwarven-smith Narvi. The temple was at a place called Dwarf's Hill. Magical rings occur in classical legend , in the form of the Ring of Gyges in Plato 's Republic . It grants the power of invisibility to its wearer, creating a moral dilemma , enabling people to commit injustices without fearing they would be caught. In contrast, Tolkien's One Ring actively exerts an evil force that destroys

5880-426: The River Baranduin (Brandywine), were abandoned. A small part of the region was occupied by Hobbits to form the Shire . To the northwest lay Lake Evendim, once called Nenuial by the Elves. A remnant of the ancient forest of Eriador survived throughout the Third Age just to the east of the Shire as the Old Forest , the domain of Tom Bombadil . Northeast of there is Bree , the only place where hobbits and Men live in

5985-442: The Second Age, he remade Arda as a round world, and the Undying Lands were removed from Arda so that Men could not reach them. The Elves could go there only by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the sphere of the earth. Tolkien then equated Arda, consisting of both Middle-earth's planet and the heavenly Aman, with the Solar System , the Sun and Moon being celestial objects in their own right, no longer orbiting

6090-461: The Seven and the Nine. While Celebrimbor created a set of Three on his own, Sauron left for Mordor and forged the One Ring , a master ring to control all the others, in the fires of Mount Doom . When the One Ring was made using the Black Speech , the Elves immediately became aware of Sauron's true motive to control the other Rings. When Sauron set the completed One Ring upon his finger, the Elves quickly hid their rings. Celebrimbor entrusted one of

6195-428: The Shire and the elves' Grey Havens in the Northwest as certainly good, and Mordor in the Southeast as certainly Evil; Gondor in the Southwest is in their view morally ambivalent, matching the characters of both Boromir and Denethor . They observe further that the Shire's four quadrants or "Farthings" serve as a "microcosm" of the moral geography of Middle-earth as a whole: thus, the evil Black Riders appear first in

6300-421: The Shire, travel east through the wilds of Eriador to Rivendell and then across the Misty Mountains, involve further travels in the lands of Rhovanion or Wilderland to the east of those mountains, and return home to the Shire. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad prepared The Atlas of Middle-earth to clarify and map the two journeys – of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit , and of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of

6405-430: The South of both Fangorn and Isengard is the wide grassy land of the Riders of Rohan , who provide cavalry to its southerly neighbour, Gondor . The River Anduin passes the hills of Emyn Muil and the enormous rock statues of the Argonath and flows through the dangerous rapids of Sarn Gebir and over the Falls of Rauros into Gondor. Gondor's border with Rohan is the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains, which run east–west from

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6510-426: The Three Rings of the Elves , Seven Rings for the Dwarves , and Nine for Men . He stated that there were in addition many lesser rings with minor powers. A key story element in The Lord of the Rings is the addictive power of the One Ring , made secretly by the Dark Lord Sauron ; the Nine Rings enslave their bearers as the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), Sauron's most deadly servants. Proposed sources of inspiration for

6615-502: The Three free from the One when it was destroyed but dropped the idea. Tolkien's posthumous works, including The Silmarillion , Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth offer further glimpses of the creation of the Rings. Jason Fisher , writing in Tolkien Studies , notes that Tolkien developed the names, descriptions and powers of the Three Rings late and slowly through many drafts of his narratives. In Fisher's view, Tolkien found it difficult to work these Rings both into

6720-412: The Three to Galadriel and sent the other Two to Gil-galad and Círdan. In an attempt to seize all the Rings of Power for himself, Sauron waged an assault upon the Elves. He destroyed Eregion and captured the Nine. Under torture, Celebrimbor revealed where the Seven were, but refused to reveal the Three. Toward the end of the Second Age, the Númenóreans took Sauron prisoner. Sauron however managed to corrupt

6825-474: The ability to see things in worlds invisible to mortal Men. One by one, the Men fell to the power of the One Ring; by the end of the Second Age, all nine had become invisible ring-wraiths – the Nazgûl , Sauron's most terrible servants. In particular, they helped him search for the One Ring, to which they were powerfully attracted. The Rings of Power were made using the craft taught by Sauron to give their wearers "wealth and dominion over others". Each Ring enhances

6930-439: The angelic race of Maiar ) and the immortal Elves to Dragons and to some extent also Dwarves . Men and Hobbits could not directly work magic, but could make use of more or less magical artefacts made by others, such as Númenorean swords (made by Men with Elvish blood) and the Phial of Galadriel given to Frodo . Some of the magical artefacts were of great power, including the Palantíri or Stones of Seeing, but by far

7035-471: The bearer is partly transported into the spirit world . However, they also "fade"; the Rings unnaturally extend their life-spans, but gradually transform them into permanently invisible wraiths . The Rings affect other beings differently. The Seven are used by their Dwarven bearers to increase their treasure hoards, but they do not gain invisibility, and Sauron was unable to bend the Dwarves to his will, instead only amplifying their greed and anger. Tom Bombadil,

7140-425: The boxshape of Asia Minor "; that "Dol Amroth makes a fine Venice "; that the Rohirrim and their grasslands are comparable to " Hungary of the Magyars , who were weak allies of Byzantine Constantinople"; and that the Corsairs of Umbar resembled the Barbary pirates who served Mehmed the Conqueror . The linguist David Salo writes that Gondor recalls "a kind of decaying Byzantium"; its piratical enemy Umbar like

7245-422: The cartographer must fully reconcile. He gives as an instance the work that she did to make the journey of Thorin's company in The Hobbit consistent with the map, something that Tolkien found himself unable to do. Danielson writes that in addition, Fonstad created "the most comprehensive set" of thematic maps of Middle-earth, presenting geographic data including political boundaries, climate, population density, and

7350-526: The crucial moment of each character in the story is the moment in which they are tempted to use a Ring, a choice that will determine their fate. The science fiction author Isaac Asimov described the Rings of Power as symbols of industrial technology . While Tolkien denied that The Lord of the Rings was an allegory , he stated that it could be applied to situations and described it as an examination of "placing power in external objects". Gwyneth Hood, writing in Mythlore , explores two Catholic elements in

7455-426: The dark forests of the North. Scholars have likened Gondor to Byzantium (medieval Istanbul), while Tolkien connected it to Venice. The Corsairs of Umbar have been linked to the Barbary corsairs of the late Middle Ages. Númenor echoes the mythical Atlantis described by Plato . About the origins of his storytelling and the place of cartography within it, Tolkien stated in a letter: I wisely started with

7560-420: The existing story of the One Ring , and into the enormous but Ring-free legendarium . Some of the descriptions, such as that Vilya was the mightiest of the Three, and that Narya was called "The Great", were added at the galley proof stage, just before printing. The Rings had earlier been named Kemen, Ëar, and Menel, meaning the Rings of Earth, Sea, and Heaven. According to Johann Köberl, Tolkien struggled with

7665-541: The facts. This applies even to Sauron, when he sees Pippin in Saruman's stone and assumes that Pippin has the One Ring , and that Saruman has therefore captured it. Similarly, Denethor is deceived by Sauron, who drives Denethor to suicide by truthfully showing him the Black Fleet approaching Gondor, without telling him that the ships are crewed by Aragorn 's men. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey suggests that Tolkien's message

7770-536: The forging of the Rings of Power. Magic in Middle-earth Magic in Middle-earth is the use of supernatural power in J. R. R. Tolkien 's fictional Middle-earth . Tolkien distinguishes ordinary magic from witchcraft, the latter always deceptive, stating that either type could be used for good or evil . Several of the races of Middle-earth are inherently able to work magic, from the godlike Ainur (including Wizards and Balrogs , both being members of

7875-512: The grandson of Fëanor , the greatest craftsman of the Noldor, working with Dwarves from Khazad-dûm (Moria) led by his friend Narvi. Sauron , powerful and ambitious, but humiliated by the fall of his evil master Morgoth at the end of the First Age , had evaded the summons of the godlike Valar to surrender and face judgment; he chose to remain in Middle-earth and seek dominion over its people. In

7980-655: The leaders of the seven kindreds of the Dwarves : Durin's Folk (Longbeards), Firebeards, Broadbeams, Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots, though a tradition of Durin's Folk claimed that Durin received his ring from the Elven-smiths. Over the years, Sauron was able to recover only three of the Seven rings from the Dwarves. The last of the three was seized from Thráin II during his captivity in Dol Guldur . Gandalf recounts to Frodo that

8085-458: The magical power of the three Elvish Rings too must fade when the One Ring is destroyed. A palantír could not be made to create false images, even by Sauron, but he could use one to selectively display truthful images to create a false impression in the viewer's mind. In each of the four uses of a stone in The Lord of the Rings , a true image is shown, but the viewer draws a false conclusion from

8190-442: The most powerful was the One Ring , made by the Dark Lord Sauron and embodying much of his former power. Scholars have written that Tolkien felt the need for a magical cosmology to counter modernity's war against mystery and magic. In the sense that magic is the use of power to dominate other people, it is evil, and associated in Tolkien's mind with technology. The opposite of that is enchantment, something that Frodo experiences in

8295-409: The newly created Gulf of Lune; the northern part was Forlindon, the southern Harlindon. In the northwest of Middle-earth, Eriador was the region between the Ered Luin and the Misty Mountains. Early in the Third Age, the northern kingdom of Arnor founded by Elendil occupied a large part of the region. After its collapse, much of Eriador became wild; regions such as Minhiriath, on the coast south of

8400-586: The notion of a "special status" for the Elven-Rings, and considered having The Three set free when the One Ring was destroyed. In an unused draft by Tolkien, Galadriel counselled Celebrimbor to destroy all the Rings when Sauron's deception was revealed, but when he could not bear to ruin them, she suggested that the Three be hidden. According to Unfinished Tales , at the start of the War of the Elves and Sauron, Celebrimbor gave both Narya and Vilya to Gil-galad , High King of

8505-429: The only person unaffected by the power of the One Ring, could both see its wearer and remained visible when he wore it. Unlike the other Rings, the main purpose of the Three is to "heal and preserve", as when Galadriel used Nenya to preserve her realm of Lothlórien over long periods. The Elves made the Three Rings to try to halt the passage of time , or as Tolkien had Elrond say, "to preserve all things unstained". This

8610-810: The other great rings, the One was created as an unadorned gold band similar in appearance to the lesser rings, though it bore Sauron's incantation, the Ring Verse, in the Black Speech; it became visible only when heated, whether by fire or by Sauron's hand. As the other Rings were made under the influence of Sauron, the power of all the Rings depended on the One Ring's survival. To make the One Ring, Sauron had to put almost all his power into it—when worn, it enhanced his power; unworn, it remained aligned to him unless another seized it and took control of it. A prospective possessor could, if sufficiently strong, overthrow Sauron and usurp his place; but they would become as evil as he. As

8715-610: The power of the rings fades. While the Nine are destroyed, the Three are rendered powerless; their bearers leave Middle-earth for Valinor at the end of the Third Age, inaugurating the Dominion of Men . 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

8820-586: The proud warrior Boromir to the Ring-addicted monster Gollum , interact with the One Ring. Tolkien stated that The Lord of the Rings was an examination of "placing power in external objects". "But wherefore should Middle-earth remain for ever desolate and dark, whereas the Elves could make it as fair as Eressëa , nay even as Valinor ? And since you have not returned thither, as you might, I perceive that you love this Middle-earth, as do I. Is it not then our task to labour together for its enrichment, and for

8925-636: The raising of all the Elven-kindreds that wander here untaught to the height of that power and knowledge which those have who are beyond the Sea?" — J.R.R. Tolkien , The Silmarillion , "The Rings of Power and the Third Age" The Rings of Power were forged by the Elven -smiths of the Noldorin settlement of Eregion. Best-known were the twenty Great Rings, which conferred powers including invisibility, but many lesser rings with minor powers were also created at that time. The smiths were led by Celebrimbor,

9030-604: The remaining four were consumed by dragons. Before the outbreak of the War of the Ring , an envoy from Sauron attempted to bribe Dain II Ironfoot of the Lonely Mountain with the three surviving rings and the lost realm of Moria in exchange for information leading to the recovery of the One Ring, but Dain refused. Sauron gave Nine of the Rings of Power to leaders of Men , who became "mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old". They gained unending lifespans, and

9135-551: The ring, and rejects it; the immortal Tom Bombadil , exempt from the Ring's corrupting power and from its gift of invisibility; Sam who in a moment of need faithfully uses the ring, but is not seduced by its vision of "Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age"; and finally Frodo who is gradually corrupted, but is saved by his earlier mercy to Gollum, and Gollum's desperation for the Ring. Katz concludes that Tolkien's answer to Plato's "Why be moral?"

9240-505: The routes of characters and armies. At the end of the Third Age, much of the northwest of Middle-earth is wild, with traces here and there of ruined cities and fortresses from earlier civilisations among the mountains, rivers, forests, hills, plains and marshes. The major nations that appear in The Lord of the Rings are Rohan and Gondor on the side of the Free Peoples, and Mordor and its allies Harad (Southrons) and Rhûn (Easterlings) on

9345-543: The same villages. Further east from Bree is the hill of Weathertop with the ancient fortress of Amon Sûl, and then Rivendell , the home of Elrond . South from there is the ancient land of Hollin, once the elvish land of Eregion, where the Rings of Power were forged. At the Grey Havens (Mithlond), on the Gulf of Lune, Círdan built the ships in which the Elves departed from Middle-earth to Valinor. The Misty Mountains were thrown up by

9450-769: The sea to a point near the Anduin; at that point is Gondor's capital city, Minas Tirith . Across the river to the East is the land of Mordor . It is bordered to the north by the Ered Lithui, the Ash Mountains; to the west by the Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow. Between those two ranges, at Mordor's northwest tip, are the Black Gates of the Morannon . In the angle between the two ranges

9555-570: The seagoing Carthage ; the Southrons (of Harad) "Arab-like"; and the Easterlings "suggesting Sarmatians , Huns and Avars ". The geologist Alex Acks, writing on Tor.com , outlines mismatches between Tolkien's maps and the processes of plate tectonics which shape the Earth's continents and mountain ranges . Acks comments that no natural process creates right-angle junctions in mountain ranges, such as are seen around Mordor and at both ends of

9660-452: The self-multiplying ring. "Magic rings are a frequent motif in fairy tales ; they confer powers such as invisibility or flight; they can summon wish-granting djinns and dwarves", writes the Tolkien and feminist scholar Melanie Rawls. She adds that they "identify the enchanted princess, hold the tiny golden key to the secret room, give one the power to transform oneself into any form — animal, vegetable, or mineral: duck, lake, rock or tree on

9765-463: The side of the Dark Lord. Gondor, once extremely powerful, is by that time much reduced in its reach, and has lost control of Ithilien (bordering Mordor) and South Gondor (bordering Harad). Forgotten by most of the rest of the world is the Shire, a small region in the northwest of Middle-earth inhabited by hobbits amidst the abandoned lands of Eriador. With his "Southrons" from Harad, Tolkien had – in

9870-695: The sky, and supernatural, with magical powers shared by many of its races of beings from Wizards to Dwarves, and a variety of magical artefacts from rings to impenetrable walls. The various races of Middle-earth had differing powers: Magical power is wielded through different artefacts: The scholar and critic Patrick Curry argued that Tolkien felt the need for a magical cosmology combining polytheism and animism with Christian values like compassion and humility, to counter modernity's "war against mystery and magic". He believed that Tolkien considered magic as something negative, associated with modern science and machinery, as in his essay On Fairy-Stories :

9975-491: The story of the Three Rings: the angelic and sacrificial aspects of the Elves in the War of the Ring. To the Hobbits of the Fellowship of the Ring , the bearers of the Elven-Rings appear as angelic messengers, offering wise counsel. To save Middle-earth, they have to accept the plan to destroy the One Ring, and with it, the power of the Three Rings, which embody much of their own power. Hood notes that while Gandalf, as one of

10080-509: The supernatural Maiar sent from Valinor , is "remarkably unlike an elf", he is the character who most closely combines the angelic and the sacrificial among the wielders of the Three Rings. The poet W. H. Auden , an early supporter of Lord of the Rings , wrote in the Tolkien Journal that good triumphs over evil in the War of the Ring, but the Three Rings lose their power, as Galadriel had prophesied : "Yet if you succeed, then our power

10185-415: The thoughts and actions of his characters". Plato argues that immoral life is no good as it corrupts one's soul. So, Katz states, according to Plato a moral person has peace and happiness, and would not use a Ring of Power. In Katz's view, Tolkien's story "demonstrate[s] various responses to the question posed by Plato: would a just person be corrupted by the possibility of almost unlimited power?" The question

10290-651: The view of John Magoun, writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia – constructed a "fully expressed moral geography", from the hobbits' home in the Northwest, evil in the East, and "imperial sophistication and decadence" in the South. Magoun explains that Gondor is both virtuous, being West, and has problems, being South; Mordor in the Southeast is hellish, while Harad in the extreme South "regresses into hot savagery". Steve Walker similarly speaks of "Tolkien's moral geography", naming

10395-468: The world, in which everything was concrete magic [his italics], has tended to split into rational cognition and mastery of nature, on the one hand, and into 'mystic' experiences, on the other". In his view, enchantment heals the split, seen in Platonic , Christian , and Cartesian philosophy , between subjectivity and objectivity. In the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger 's view, the attractive enchantment of

10500-471: Was a distinctively modern thought: contemporary authors such as George Orwell with Animal Farm (1945), William Golding with Lord of the Flies (1954), and T. H. White with The Once and Future King (1958) similarly wrote about the corrupting effects of power. Shippey writes that there is a "streak of ' wish-fulfilment '" in the account of " The Scouring of the Shire ". Merry returns from Rohan with

10605-511: Was borrowed from the Broceliand of medieval romance. Tolkien tried out many invented names in search of the right sound , in Beleriand's case including Golodhinand, Noldórinan ("valley of the Noldor "), Geleriand, Bladorinand, Belaurien, Arsiriand, Lassiriand, and Ossiriand (later used as a name for the easternmost part of Beleriand). The Elves have been linked to Celtic mythology. The Battle of

10710-592: Was inherently good or bad in itself. In his view, using them to control free will was the most extreme kind of evil . Curry states that enchantment is "the paradigmatic experience, property and concern of the Elves", as seen both in Rivendell when Frodo listens to the Elves' singing in the Hall of Fire, and even more strongly in Lothlórien : Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through

10815-465: Was seen most clearly in Lothlórien , which was free of both evil and the passage of time. The Three do not make their wearers invisible. The Three had other powers: Narya could rekindle hearts with its fire and inspire others to resist tyranny, domination, and despair; Nenya had a secret power in its water that protected from evil; while Vilya healed and preserved wisdom in its element of air. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey thought that Tolkien's work on

10920-523: Was shown to have the ability to adjust in size to the finger of its wearer, such as when it became smaller to fit Isildur ( Harry Sinclair ). In the extended version, Galadriel properly introduces Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, to Frodo. In the concluding film, The Return of the King (2003), the final wearers of the Three Rings—Gandalf ( Ian McKellen ), Elrond ( Hugo Weaving ), and Galadriel, appear openly at

11025-438: Was the direct recipient of Narya from Celebrimbor. Tolkien noted in his letters that the primary power of the Three was to "the prevention and slowing of decay ", which appealed to the Elves in their pursuit of preserving what they loved in Middle-earth. As changeless beings in a changing world, the Elves who remained in Middle-earth relied on the Three to delay the inevitable rise of the Dominion of Men . Tolkien explained that

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