Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Were there any differences between the Rings of power given to the Dwarves and the Men?



Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,



Were the Seven Dwarf-destined rings actually different (aside from possibly physical fit due to finger size differences) from the Nine Ringwraith rings?


Or were all 16 fully identical?


NOTE: We know that the the same Ring of Power can have different effects on different people (witness different effects of The One on bearers), so merely citing "well, Dwarvish rings had different end result on bearers" is not sufficient proof of the fact that the rings differed.



Answer



Tolkien's clearest statement on the Rings suggests that all of the Rings made in Eregion with Sauron's help, both Great and lesser, differed at most in potency; it was only the Three made solely by the Elven-Smiths that were really unlike the others.




The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e., 'change' viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance -- this is more or less an Elvish motive. But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor .... And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron ... such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.


The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings, almost solely of their own imagination, and directed to the preservation of beauty: they did not confer invisibility.



from "The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien"


This passage suggests that the later a Ring was made, the more potent it was: the Three Rings, made after Sauron left Eregion and therefore without his help, were nevertheless "supremely powerful" because the Elven-Smiths had become more skilled in ring-making. Gandalf says much the same:



In Eregion long ago many Elvin-rings were made, magic rings as you call them, and they were, of course, of various kinds: some more potent and some less. The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown...



from "The Shadow of the Past" in "The Fellowship of the Ring"



Were some of the Seven and the Nine, then, more powerful than others? It seems likely, but perhaps not markedly so. Certainly any differences in strength between them were not nearly as large as the differences between the Great Rings and the lesser rings.


Per Saruman (as recalled by Gandalf), the Rings of Power -- with One notable exception -- were different in design from the lesser rings:



"The Nine, the Seven, and the Three," he said, "had each their proper gem. Not so the One. It was round and unadorned, as it were one of the lesser rings..."



from "The Council of Elrond" in "The Fellowship of the Ring"


The final chapter of "The Lord of the Rings" describes the Three Rings as each having a gem of a different color; Galadriel's ring is in addition made of mithril, implying the others were not. Likely enough the Seven and the Nine also differed from one another to at least some extent in ring material and gem.


Addendum: it's specifically mentioned of Thror's Ring -- and by extension, all of the Seven -- that it had an ability to multiply wealth:



Of the Ring he said to Thrain at their parting: 'This may prove the foundation of new fortune for you yet, though that seems unlikely. But it needs gold to breed gold.'




from "Durin's Folk", Appendix A, Part III to "The Return of the King"



It is said that the foundation of each of the Seven Hoards of the Dwarf-kings of old was a golden ring...



from "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" in "The Silmarillion"


The One would also have had this ability, the Three certainly would not. It's not stated whether the Nine or the lesser Rings did.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

Is there good canon evidence for the "Nightmare Matrix"?

On the Matrix wiki, there's an article about the Nightmare Matrix which says: The Nightmare Matrix was the second prototype Matrix, designed by The Architect after the massive failure of the Paradise Matrix in the hope that human minds would more readily accept an imperfect world with suffering. Unlike the first version, this Matrix instituted a basic cause-and-effect programming and forcibly made those connected to it accept the program. Vamp Prime, a possible remnant of the Nightmare Matrix. It also featured programs that resembled mythical evil creatures in various human mythologies such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, etc. It also failed, but many of the programs who were designed for it survived deletion in exile. The Merovingian and his wife, Persephone may have had their roots in this version of the Matrix. Upon its failure, the Merovingian started a smuggling ring of programs and information to provide a haven for exiles that would last for 6 cycles in the final ...

story identification - Anime with a boy hiring a creature from a stone, meets a man named Dante and starts a journey to collect crystals

I am from India, this anime or animated series (I can't remember this was made by the Japan or other countries) was aired between 2009 and 2012 probably in Jetix/Disney XD (but I'm not sure). This anime starts with a boy (the main character, I forgot his name) who find a stone (or crystal like thing) in his dad's property, his dad was missing that time. Some day he accidentally hire a creature/monster from that stone. Other day some creature attack him and he was saved by his creature and the story begins. In his journey to solve the mystery he meets a middle aged man 'Dante' (probably that was the name; this is the only character name I can remember). He had also some stone. After that they meet with one girl and a women (one of the girls is same age with the main boy character and probably will become his partner as the story goes on). Another women probably Dante's partner. Four of them started their journey to collect all the stone/crystal. They are collecti...