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Lord Of The Rings: How Many Rings Are There And What Do They Do?

The stories are called The Lord of the Rings, but who is the Lord and what are the Rings? It’s pretty obvious the Lord in this story is Sauron, as he is the evil threat whose lifeforce is attached to the One Ring whom all (or most) in Middle Earth fear.

To some extent, the other Rings of Power are discussed in the movies, but many first-time viewers go into The Lord of the Rings trilogy expecting it to be a story about many magical rings. However, in the movies the other rings are never fully explained or even shown except briefly. It may leave some questions about how many rings exist and what they do.

RELATED: Lord Of The Rings: How Was The One Ring Made?

Twenty total Rings of Power were made in the Second Age when Sauron came out of hiding to finish the work the first Dark Lord (and Sauron’s master) started in the First Age. Sauron disguised himself as something fair and beautiful—similar to an elf—and went to the Elven Smiths of Eregion to seduce them into creating the Rings of Power. But in secret, he created another ring that would be stronger than the others and capable of controlling all life.

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Because the other nineteen rings were forged with the same dark magic (or spell-like recipe), they were linked to the One Ring. So, with this connection, Sauron hoped to seduce the leaders of all the different races of Middle Earth into following him and carrying out his evil will. There were three rings crafted for the Elves, but they were crafted independently of Sauron—though still using the same dark magic. They were made while Sauron forged his Ring. When Sauron put on his Ring, the three Elves who wore the other rings immediately became aware of Sauron’s intentions, and they took them off and hid them.

Seven Rings of Power were made for the Dwarves, and nine were made for the race of Men. Because the other rings were connected to the One Ring, their powers were bound to the Ring as well. When Sauron had the Ring on, the others were under his control if they wore their rings. And when the One Ring was destroyed, the power of the other rings went with it. There are Lesser Rings that were made, but these rings were never discussed in detail as they were merely crafted by smiths for practice, and whether they were connected to the Ring or not didn’t matter since their powers left when the Ring was destroyed as well.

The three Elven Rings, made without Sauron’s knowledge, were Narya Ring of Fire, Nenya Ring of Adamant, and Vilya Ring of Air. These three rings were invisible except to Frodo, who was in possession of the Ring. Their powers were also limited. The Ring of Fire was said to make the wearer be able to resist despair, weariness of time, or domination. Nenya (Ring of Adamant) had the ability to protect and conceal the wearer from evil. Galadriel used this Ring after Sauron was defeated to protect Lothlórien. The Ring of Air was the most powerful of the three Elven Rings. It possessed the power to heal and preserve, and it also had some control over the other two Elven Rings. The full extent of its powers is not known.

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The seven rings given to the Dwarves were given only to the strongest and most powerful Dwarf lords. Being a naturally hardy and robust race, the Dwarf lords (who were the best of the race) were able to resist some of the effects of the Ring, and Sauron was unable to gain control of them. The purpose of the Dwarven Rings was to bring the wearer great wealth but to also cause them to become extremely greedy. Treasure and gold or riches attract dragons, so the Dwarves' natural desire for wealth amplified with the rings and attracted dragons. Four of the Dwarven Rings were destroyed by dragon fire, and the other three were taken back by Sauron. A messenger of Sauron approached the Dwarves after Sauron was defeated and the One Ring was lost, and they tried to get the Dwarves to help them look for the Ring in exchange for returning the remaining three Rings of Power, but the Dwarves refused.

The nine rings “for mortal Men doomed to die” were given to nine Men who later became the Nazgûl. The race of Men was envious of the Elf’s immortal lives, and Sauron used this envy as well as their desire for power to seduce the Men into becoming his servants. Their rings were fully under the control of Sauron while he wore his Ring and even after he was defeated. The Nine gave the wearer great power, wealth, and eternal life without aging. But these powers are said to have ended once the Nine became Ringwraiths. The rings made the Nine who wore them invisible (and later permanently invisible) to all except Maiar spirits, any Elves still left in Middle Earth who had lived in the Undying Lands before, and anyone who wore the Ring. Because their souls were forever linked with Sauron, when he was weak so were they, but when he got stronger so did they.

Gandalf said “there are many Rings of Power in this world” to Bilbo, but without reading the books audiences wouldn’t ever know what other magical rings there were. And in the story of The Lord of the Rings, there is a shocking lack of rings for they aren’t the focus of the story. And the Rings of Power don’t seem all that useful to anyone but the Elves as Sauron didn’t care about crafting highly powerful rings since his one and only goal was to enslave all.

MORE: The Order Of The Wizards: Who Were The 5 Wizards In The Lord Of The Rings?

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