In the world of Lord of the Rings, there are various types of rings, each of them having a separate meaning and holding a different concept. There are almost 20 well-known rings in the world of Lord of Rings, so what are they? What do they mean?
Let’s unravel their powers and history!
The One Ring
The One Ring looks like a normal golden ring but its powers aren’t anything as it looks. It is one of the strongest rings that possess the power to control almost every other ring. The One Ring made its first appearance in the book The Hobbit (1937). It appeared as a ring that could grant its user the power of invisibility, but there was more than that.
The One Ring was made to dominate the whole of living beings. It was created by Sauron and during its forging [process it was made by adding the parts of Sauron himself. It looked like a normal ring, but Sauron had concentrated powerful evil magic on the ring, which made it one of the most powerful rings that held the capacity to dominate the whole world.
The One Ring sure is one of the most dangerous rings because it can control every other ring and dominate them. How can we be so sure? because it is written on the ring. In the One Ring, there is a set of letters which explains as One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them; One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
The One Ring is sure one of the most powerful but to use the full power of the One Ring the wearer should also be completely ready to wear the ring and use its ability at its full capability. To use the power of the ring, the wearer should be mentally and physically prepared.
Being prepared mentally is an important part to use its power and ability. The ones who have weaker and mentally unprepared minds such as hobbits and lesser Men can’t unlock the true potential of the One Ring and could use only a little portion of its powers.
In short. to use the full potential of the One Ring, the user should be able to overcome Sauron and his powers. Even if the users are able to control the power of the One Ring, it is not omnipotent. Sauron himself was defeated more than one time when he wore the One Ring.
One Ring sure is filled with immense power but it won’t guarantee your safety and give you some kind of awesome guard, the wearer should be aware of this and make sure of their own safety. Despite being filled with powers it is certainly not omnipotent.
Three Rings
Three Rings are the most powerful rings after the One Ring. The Three Rings were forged by Eregion and Elves. The One Ring itself had the power to dominate the world, so the Three Rings are just a little bit lower than the One Ring in terms of power. Let’s see what are these Three Rings.
Narya
A part of the Three Ring, Nenya is one of the most powerful rings which is also known as the Red Ring or the Ring of Fire. The Narya Ring was originally made for Elvis. The ring’s name “Narya” denotes fire, that’s why it is known as the Ring of Fire.
Narya is known for its incredible powers and it is known for having the ability to resist tyranny and to do the domination on the world. The ring, Narya is made from a Ruby set in a gold band. It appears as a shiny red ruby ring, it is far more attractive than the One Ring but less powerful than it.
Narya holds the ability to make its wielder disappear from other spectators but it doesn’t work in front of the One Ring wielders. It was created by Celebrimbor when Annatar left Eregion.
Nenya
Nenya, the second ring from the Three Rings was made by Celebrimbor and was given to Elves in the Second Age. Nenya is also known as the Ring of Water or the White Ring. The word “Nenya” is also meant water. The second ring was created from Mithril, a white stone of adamant.
The ring was wielded by Lady Galadriel of Lothlórien, and it was not visible. Frodo Baggins even stated that he could only see Nenya through virtue, though he was the ring bearer, and even Sam Gamgee stated that he saw a star through Galadarial’s fingers.
The White Ring also looks beautiful in its appearance, and just like its appearance its powers also work to save the user against evils. It provides protection and aware the user from evil. It sure is a powerful ring because it is a secret power that holds the ground from evil.
Galadriel used this ring to sustain Lothlórien but this was long before the ring’s power got faded after the defeat of Sauron and the destruction of the One Ring.
Vilya
Vilya is the third ring from the Three Rings. It was created by Celebrimbor as a ring for Elvis. It was made by Sapphire set wrapped in a gold band. Vilya is also known as the Ring of Air or the Ring of Sapphire because its name “Vilya” denotes Air.
It is stated that Vilya is the most powerful ring of the Three Rings. Although the exact powers of Vilya aren’t stated, we know that it works as a healing factor. It is stated that Celebrimbor forged this ring to preserve and heal rather than making it powerful and giving it enhanced strength.
Vilya also possesses the power to control certain elements such as water because once Elrond summoned water when the Nazgul tried to cross the Bruinen.
After the defeat of Sauron and the destruction of the One Ring, the power of the Vilya faded and returned to the water.
The Seven
The Seven are the other most powerful rings. Sauron recovered the Seven Rings by looking at the information which was provided by Celebrimbor. He recovered the Seven Rings and gave them to the Dwarf Lords, which is why it is also known as The Seven Dwarf-rings.
The Dwarf Lords were the Kings of the Seven Houses and their Dwarf Clan was also mentioned in Durin’s Folk, Firebeards, Blacklocks, etc, The History of Middle-Earth. The Dwarves Lord use their rings to give them a massive amount of wealth but it also increased their greed which led to ruins.
It is also stated that the rings gave the Dwarves an increased life span. The ring had the power to multiply anything they possesses, it couldn’t turn them invisible or give them enhanced strengths.
Sauron was only able to recover two from those seven rings, the other four were swallowed and destroyed by the Dragons and the remaining one was wielded by Thráin II, but it didn’t long for Sauron to find that out. During T.A. 2845, he was held captive by Sauron and the ring was taken away from him.
It is stated that the most famous ring among the seven was the Ring of Thrór, it was the first ring that was forged and the last one that Sauron. recovered. It is said that the creator himself, Celebrimbor gave the Ring of Thrór to King Durin III of Khazad-dûm. For more than a thousand years the ring remained under the House of Durin. Eventually, it was wielded by the King under the Mountain, Thrór.
The Nine
The Nine Rings were wielded by the servants of Sauron. They supported Sauron in his evil deeds and started to work under him. He gave these rings to the leaders of Men, they were kings, sorcerers, warriors of old, and mighty people of their days.
They became corrupt Men of Sauron, the people who wielded the Nine Rings were now known as the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths. The Nine Rings provided great strength and wealth to each wielder. They gained eternal life and became powerful sorcerers, they didn’t age and gained great powers but it was only a matter of time before it started to take a turn.
The wielder of the Nine Ring suddenly started to see delusions of Sauron. Their life started to become hard to endure. They were slowly falling under the control of Sauron and it was only a matter of time before it become permanent. Sauron took complete control over the wielders, a part of his evil plan.
Slowly one by one, every wielder of the Nine fell into the power of the Ring eventually becoming The Invisible Ringwraiths. The wielders of the Nine, Nazgûl were feared by the world, as they were one of the strongest servants of the Sauron as they helped him to find the One Ring.
The ring gave them power, strength, wealth, and immortal life, but they were also falling into the evil spell, the power of the One Ring, and became powerful sorcerers.
The Ring Of Barahir
The Ring of Barahir, also known as Aragorn’s ring was made during the Year of the Trees, in Valinor for Finarfin. It has an appearance like of silver ring, with two serpents who had the eyes of emerald. They were surrounding a green gem in the center. It made its first appearance in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Finrod (Galadriel’s brother) used the Ring to fight against the Drak Lord of that time, Morgoth. He then passed the ring to Barahir as a token of friendship because Barahir saved Finrod’s life during the Dagor Bragollach.
Barahir wore the token of friendship given by Finrod until he was killed by Gorgol the Butcher, leader of the Orcs. But the Orc lost the ring and it was eventually retrieved by Beren, son of Barahir.
You must be thinking that the Ring of Barahir must’ve some kind of incredible power, but the truth is, it didn’t contain mankind of power or magic abilities. It is one of the oldest crafted objects which was crafted before the First Age.
The Lesser Rings
The Lesser Rings were forged during the time period between S.A. 1200 – 1500 when the crafting of the Rings of Power began. They are one of the unique rings which wasn’t frequently mentioned in the series. The Lesser Rings are also known as the Magic Rings.
The Magic Rings are unique because it has a plain appearance, it doesn’t have any kind of gem inside them, and they are similar to One Ring in terms of appearance. There is only a handful of information about the Lesser Rings, their powers and abilities still remain shrouded in mystery because they were forged as a practice by the craftsmen.
Although their abilities and power remain a mystery, Gandalf once said “none are to be used lightly”, there should be a reason why Gandalf said this, don’t you think so?
