Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - What were the other Rings of Power in LOTR made of?


"One Ring to rule them all"...


Is there any detail in Tolkien's work indicating what those "all" rings - for Men, Elves and Dwarves - were made of?


Mithril?


Platinum?


Gold?


Some other magical material?


I would expect that The One's material would be "superior" to the ones it ruled?


Related to " What material was the One Ring made of? "



Answer




For some of them the material is known.



3 Elven ones (source: Wiki, presumably from LOTR or Silmarillion but don't have orignal quotes):




  • Narya (Gandalf's ring) - unspecified metal, red stone.




  • Nenya (Galadriel's ring) - mithril, with white stone, presumably a diamond.





  • Vilya - gold, with a blue stone (presumably sapphire)




Since mithril was a superior metal to gold, and both the mightiest of Elven rings (Vilya) AND the One Ring were made (or looked to be made) of gold, your theory of The One's material being superior is not likely to be correct, sorry.


Please note that the Elven rings were special in many ways; both in that they were not made by Sauron, and their powers; but ALSO they were the only ones containing the stones - the rest were unadorned metal bands.


In addition, Nenya (Galadriel's ring) was the only one made of mithril.



7 Dwarven rings:




It is said that the foundation of each of the Seven Hoards of the Dwarf-kings of old was a golden ring. (Source: The Silmarillion)



This means that the 7 Dwarven rings were made of gold.



9 Men (Nazgûl) rings:


I wasn't able to find any reference to the material yet. However, the answers to this question (" Were there any differences between the Rings of power given to the Dwarves and the Men? " ) seem to have a consensus that there was no difference in technology between Dwarves' and Nazgûl rings, therefore, as per the last section, the Nazgûl ones were also made of gold.





As an aside, I will provide apocryphal information. From the oft-mentioned (by me) Kirill Yeskov's "The Last Ring-bearer" (which is an "Anti-Tolkien" story told from the point of view of survivors of Mordor defeat):




[Nazgûl speaking to protagonist] ... Our rings are made of inoceramium, the most rare noble metal, a third again as heavy as gold, can’t confuse it with anything else.


...


[And, in the appendix] The story of inoceramium that supposedly served to make the rings of the Nazgúl is much simpler, and the reason people don’t often see it is obvious. This metal of the platinum group is not just extremely rare in Arda’s crust (its clark is 4x108; compare gold at 5x107 or iridium at 1x107) - But also, unlike the other platinoids, it is never found scattered, but only in large nuggets.


You can figure out the probability of finding one such yourself. Actually, not too long ago a nugget weighing a fantastic 87 ounces had been found in Kigvali mines in South Harad; the headline in the local paper was "Find of the Century РInoceramium Would Make Enough Rings for a Platoon of Nazg̼l".


This metal has absolutely no unusual characteristics aside from its density (higher than osmium).



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed....
Post a Comment
Read more