The One Ring: Difference between revisions

From Tolkien Gateway
m (Fixed a few links)
No edit summary
(102 intermediate revisions by 37 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
The '''One Ring''', also known as the '''Ruling Ring''' or the '''Great Ring of Power''', is an artifact from [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s fictional [[Middle-earth]] universe. The Andvarinaut in the Volsunga saga is considered to have been the main inspiration. The story of the Quest to destroy the Ring is told in Tolkien's novel ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', as is most of the Ring's history.
{{cleanup}}
{{disambig-more|The One Ring|[[The One Ring (disambiguation)]]}}
{{objects
| image=[[File:John Howe - The One Ring 03.jpg|250px]]
| name=The One Ring
| othernames=Ruling Ring, Master-ring, Great Ring, the One, Ring of Rings, Ring of Power, Ring of Doom, Isildur's Bane, the Burden, Preciouss
| derivation=
| location=
| ownedby=[[Sauron]], but several bore it: [[Isildur]], [[Gollum]], [[Bilbo Baggins]], [[Frodo Baggins]], [[Samwise Gamgee]]
| maker=[[Sauron]]
| appearance=Plain gold ring with [[Black Speech]] inscriptions made visible by heat
| references=
|}}
The '''One Ring''', also known as the '''Ruling Ring''', '''Great Ring of Power''', and '''Isildur's Bane''', was an artifact created by the [[Dark Lord]] [[Sauron]] in the [[Second Age]] for the purpose of ruling over the [[Free peoples]] of [[Middle-earth]], especially the [[Elves]].  


== History ==
== History ==
===Origin and creation===
[[Image:Ted Nasmith - The Forging of the One.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ted Nasmith]] - ''The Forging of the One'']]
During the [[Second Age]] the Dark Lord [[Sauron]] persuaded [[Celebrimbor]] and his people, the [[Elves|Elven]] smiths of [[Eregion]], to forge the [[Rings of Power]]. Secretly, Sauron went back to [[Orodruin]] and forged the One in its fires.<ref name=RoP/>


The One Ring was created by the Dark Lord [[Sauron]] during the [[Second Age]] in order to enlarge his own might by combining it with the power of the [[Elves|Elven]] Smiths, and thus to give him control over the other [[Rings of Power]], which had been made by [[Celebrimbor]] and his people with Sauron's influence. The One Ring was forged secretly in the fires of [[Mount Doom]]. His will was then inside a ring that could control the other rings. Thus, he was more powerful than ever before when he wore the Ring, but became much weaker when he lost it. Though it appeared to be made of simple gold, the Ring was virtually impervious to damage, and could only be destroyed by throwing it into the pit of the volcanic [[Mount Doom]] in which it had originally been forged. Unlike the lesser Rings, it bore no gem, but its identity could be determined by a simple (though little-known) test: when heated in a fire, it displayed in fiery [[Tengwar]] letters in the [[Black Speech]] of [[Mordor]] a section of [[poetry]] from part of its lore - the [[Ring-inscription]].
It was made as the Master Ring, which would control the others, and dominate their bearers. Sauron had to let much of his will and power go into it. Thus, he was more powerful than ever before when he wore the Ring, as he possessed the power of those he controlled; but the drawback that Sauron never predicted, was that he would become much weaker when he lost it. Though it appeared to be made of simple gold, the Ring was virtually impervious to damage, and could only be destroyed by the very fires where it had originally been forged.<ref name=council>{{FR|Council}}</ref>
===The Dark Years===
Celebrimbor and the other Ring-bearers realized his treachery and took off their Rings, and went to war with him: the [[War of the Elves and Sauron]] destroyed Eregion and devastated much of Eriador. Sauron was able to claim all the Rings of Power (except the [[Three Rings|Three]]) and distribute them.<ref name=RoP/> During the time known as the [[Dark Years]], Sauron became master of almost all of Middle-earth beyond the coasts and was known as the [[Dark Lord]] of [[Mordor]]. He raised [[Barad-dûr]] near Mount Doom; constructed the [[Black Gate]] of Mordor to prevent invasion; and raised massive armies of [[Orcs]], [[Trolls]], and Men, chiefly [[Easterlings]] and [[Southrons]].


When a person wore the ring, he would be partly "shifted" out of the physical realm into the spiritual realm. There, if he managed to consciously subdue the Ring's will with his own, he could wield all the powers that Sauron had before he lost the ring; notably, he could control and enslave the will of others. A side effect (but usually the first effect noticed) of the Ring was that it made the wearer invisible to physical beings like living [[Men]] but highly visible to spiritual beings like the [[Nazgûl]], dimmed the wearer's sight, and sharpened his hearing. This "shadow world" was the world the Wraiths were forced to live in always, but it was also a world in which the [[Calaquendi]] (Elves of Light) held great power: therefore [[Glorfindel]] was able to stay the [[Witch-king of Angmar|Witch-king]] at the [[Battle of Fornost]] and later again at the [[ford (river)|ford]] of [[Bruinen]] at [[Rivendell]].
The power of the Ring allowed Sauron to link with it some of his works, like [[Barad-dûr]].<ref name=council/> With the Ring he controlled [[Nine Rings]] that were given to nine mortal Men, who were corrupted and turned into the [[Nazgûl]], his chief servants. However he was unable to control the [[Dwarves|Dwarf-lords]] who held [[Seven Rings|Seven of them]], because of their different and more hardy nature.<ref name=RoP>{{S|Rings}}</ref>


The enigmatic [[Tom Bombadil]] was unaffected by the Ring, or rather, the Ring had no effect on him. This may be explained in many ways. (See the [[Tom Bombadil|article on Tom Bombadil]], which includes some theories.)
Sauron's rise offended the arrogant [[Númenóreans]] and came to Middle-earth with great force of arms, and Sauron's forces fled. Realizing he could not defeat the Númenóreans with military strength, Sauron allowed himself to be taken as a hostage to Númenor by King [[Ar-Pharazôn]]. There, he quickly grew from captive to advisor and was known as '''Tar-Mairon'''; he corrupted many Númenóreans using the power of the Ring<ref>{{L|211}}</ref> and eventually convinced the king to rebel against the [[Valar]], resulting to the [[Fall of Númenor]].  Sauron was diminished in the destruction and his spirit (presumably with the Ring) fled back to Mordor, where he slowly rebuilt his strength.
 
In [[Peter Jackson]]'s [[Lord of the Rings movie trilogy]], the wearer of the Ring is always portrayed as moving to a shadowy realm where everything is distorted. Neither [[Bilbo Baggins]] nor [[Frodo Baggins]] ever mentioned anything about this while using the Ring, but when Sam puts on the Ring at the end of ''[[The Two Towers]]'' he does experience something similar to this. This is the only time that this is mentioned in the books and could be attributed to Sauron's power increasing, and because Sam is within the borders of Mordor at the time he uses the Ring. Sam never wore the Ring in Jackson's movie.
 
Part of the nature of the Ring is that it slowly but inevitably corrupted its wearer, regardless of any intentions to the contrary. Whether this was specifically designed into the Ring's magic or is simply an artifact of its evil origins is unknown. (Sauron might be expected to endow his One Ring with such a property, but he probably never intended anyone besides himself to wear it.) For this reason the Wise, including [[Gandalf]], [[Elrond]] and [[Galadriel]], refuse to wield it in their own defence, but instead determine that it must be destroyed. It appears that hobbits, being more pure of heart than Men, and far less powerful than Elves are the ideal vessels to resist its seductive power, this explains why Frodo and Bilbo bore it for long periods of time with very little ill effect, although Gollum, who bore it for over 500 years was warped out of recognition.


After its original forging, the Ring was cut from Sauron's hand by [[Isildur]], who lost it in the River [[Gladden]] just before he was killed (some time just after 3434 of the [[Second Age]]). The Ring remained hidden in the river bed for almost two millennia, until it was discovered on a fishing trip by a [[Stoors|Stoor]] [[Hobbit]] named [[Déagol]]. He was [[murder]]ed by his cousin [[Sméagol]], who stole the Ring, and was changed by the Ring's influence over many ages into the creature known as [[Gollum]]. The Ring, which Sauron had endowed with a [[will (philosophy)|will]] of its own, manipulated Gollum into settling in the [[Misty Mountains]] near [[Mirkwood]], where Sauron was beginning to resurface. There he and it remained for nearly five hundred years, until the Ring tired of him and fell off his finger as he was returning from killing an [[Orcs|Orc]].
When the [[Faithful]] Númenóreans founded the [[Realms in Exile]], Sauron begun an offense against [[Gondor]]; the Elves and the Númenóreans  formed the [[Last Alliance]] against Sauron, who was vanquished by [[Elendil]] and [[Gil-galad]]. Prince [[Isildur]] then cut the ring from his fingers and took it for himself.
===After Sauron===
The Ring incited its corrupting effect on Isildur, who wished to seize it instead of destroying it. Isildur realized its properties, such as the strange letters visible for short time after he removed it; he considered it precious, and an heirloom of his Kingdom of [[Gondor]] and documented it in [[Scroll of Isildur|a scroll he wrote]] in [[Minas Tirith]].<ref name=council/> He kept it with him on his way back to [[Arnor]], but during an [[Disaster of the Gladden Fields|ambush]], the Ring betrayed him by slipping off his finger and was lost in the River [[Gladden River|Gladden]] just before he was killed in [[Third Age 2]].  


As is told in ''[[The Hobbit]]'', Bilbo found the Ring while he was lost in the [[cavern]]s of the Misty Mountains, near Gollum's lair. (When ''The Hobbit'' was written Tolkien had not yet conceived of the Ring's sinister back-story.) After losing the [[Riddle Game]] to Bilbo, Gollum went to get his "Precious" (as he always called it) so he could kill and eat him, but flew into a rage when he found it missing. Deducing that Bilbo had it from his last riddle&mdash;"What have I got in my pocket?"&mdash;Gollum chased him through the caves, not knowing that the Hobbit had discovered the Ring's powers of invisibility and was following him to the cave's exit. Bilbo escaped Gollum and the Orcs who inhabited the Misty Mountains by remaining invisible, but left that power out of the story he told the [[Dwarves]] he was traveling with. Gandalf, who was also traveling with the Dwarves, later forced the real story out of Bilbo, and was immediately suspicious of the Ring's powers.  
The Ring remained hidden in the riverbed for over two millennia, until it was discovered on a fishing trip by a [[Stoors|Stoor]] named [[Déagol]]. Again, the Ring's evil powers acted on his friend and relative [[Sméagol]], who murdered him and stole the Ring. Over many ages, he was changed by the Ring's influence into the creature called [[Gollum]]. The Ring manipulated Gollum into settling in the [[Misty Mountains]] near [[Mirkwood]], where Sauron was beginning to resurface. There he and it remained for nearly five hundred years, until the Ring tired of him and, wished to be found by someone else (and eventually find its way back to Sauron), it fell off his finger as Gollum was returning from killing an [[Orcs|Orc]]. 
[[File:Darrell Sweet - The Riddle Game.jpg|left|thumb|Darrell Sweet - ''The Riddle-game'']]
Indeed, the hobbit [[Bilbo Baggin]] found the Ring while he was lost in the caverns of the Misty Mountains, near Gollum's lair. After losing the [[Riddle-game]] to Bilbo, Gollum went to get his "[[Precious]]" (as he always called it) so he could kill and eat him, but flew into a rage when he found it missing. Deducing that Bilbo had it from his last riddle&mdash;"What have I got in my pocket?"&mdash;Gollum chased him through the caves, not knowing that the Hobbit had discovered the Ring's powers of invisibility and was following him to the cave's exit. Bilbo escaped Gollum and the Orcs who inhabited the Misty Mountains by remaining invisible, but left that part out of the story he told the [[Dwarves]] he was traveling with. Gandalf, who was also traveling with the Dwarves, later forced the real story out of Bilbo, and was immediately suspicious of the Ring's powers.  


Gollum, meanwhile, eventually left the Misty Mountains to track down and reclaim the Ring. He wandered for decades, to be captured and interrogated by Sauron himself, to whom he revealed the existance of Bilbo and the Shire.   
Gollum, meanwhile, eventually left the Misty Mountains to track down and reclaim the Ring. He wandered for decades, only to be captured and interrogated by Sauron himself, to whom he revealed the existence of Bilbo and the Shire.   
[[File:Paul Rivoche - Frodo and Gandalf.jpg|thumb|Paul Rivoche - ''Frodo and Gandalf'']]
In {{TA|3001}}, following Gandalf's counsel, Bilbo gave the Ring to his nephew and adopted heir [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]. This first willing sacrifice of the Ring in its history sparked the chain of events which eventually led to its unmaking. Gandalf was suspicious about the effect it had on Bilbo and went to [[Minas Tirith]] and found Isildur's account on the Ring, being lost since his death. He returned to [[Hobbiton]] and tested Frodo's Ring in fire, only to confirm his fears, since the letters described by Isildur appeared inside its rim.


In 3001 of the [[Third Age]], following Gandalf's counsel, Bilbo gave the Ring to his nephew and adopted heir [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]. This first willing sacrifice of the Ring in its history sparks the chain of events which eventually lead to its unmaking. It is one example of the frequent interplay between apparent chance and [[destiny]], an ubiquitous [[theme]] in ''The Lord of the Rings''.  
By this time Sauron had begun to regain his power, and the [[Barad-dûr|Dark Tower]] in Mordor had been rebuilt. The [[War of the Ring]] had begun. Gandalf urged Frodo to carry the Ring to [[Rivendell]] where the Wise would decide their actions. Despite Gandalf's warnings, Frodo did wear the Ring several times during his journey. On [[Weathertop]] he was tempted by the Ring to wear it and evade the Ringwraiths, only to to make him more visible to them, and to be wounded by a [[Morgul-blade]].


By this time Sauron had begun to regain his power, and the [[Barad-dûr|Dark Tower]] in Mordor had been rebuilt. In order to prevent the recapture of the Ring, Frodo and eight other [[Fellowship of the Ring (characters)|companions]] set out from [[Rivendell]] for Mordor in an attempt to destroy the Ring in the fires of [[Mount Doom]]. During the quest, Frodo gradually became more and more susceptible to the Ring's power, and feared that it was going to corrupt him. When he and Sam discovered that Gollum was on their trail and "tamed" him into guiding them to Mordor, he began to feel a strange bond with the wretched, treacherous creature, seeing a possible future of himself that he felt he had to save in order to save himself. Gollum gave in to the Ring's temptation, however, and betrayed them to the [[spider]] [[Shelob]]. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam bore the Ring himself for a short time, and glimpsed its power, although he never gave in to it.  
In order to prevent the recapture of the Ring, Frodo and eight other [[Fellowship of the Ring|companions]] set out from [[Rivendell]] for Mordor in an attempt to destroy the Ring in the fires of [[Mount Doom]]. During the quest, Frodo gradually became more and more susceptible to the Ring's power, and feared that it was going to corrupt him. When he and Sam discovered that Gollum was on their trail and "tamed" him into guiding them to Mordor, he began to feel a strange bond with the wretched, treacherous creature, seeing a possible future of himself that he felt he had to save in order to save himself. Gollum gave in to the Ring's temptation, however, and betrayed them to the spider [[Shelob]] who stung Frodo. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam bore the Ring himself for a short time, and glimpsed its power, although he never gave in to it.  


Sam rescued Frodo from a band of Orcs at the Tower of [[Cirith Ungol]] and returned the Ring to him, but feared that the toll it was taking was too great. It nearly was: although Frodo and Sam, followed by Gollum, eventually arrived at Mount Doom, Frodo decided
Sam rescued Frodo from a band of Orcs at the Tower of [[Cirith Ungol]] and returned the Ring to him, but feared that the toll it was taking was too great. It nearly was: although Frodo and Sam, followed by Gollum, eventually arrived at Mount Doom, Frodo decided to keep the Ring for himself rather than destroy it, evincing its corruptive nature. However, he was attacked by Gollum, who bit off the finger holding the Ring before falling into the fires of Mount Doom, finally destroying the Ring, and Sauron with it.
to keep the Ring for himself rather than destroy it, evincing its corruptive nature. However, he was attacked by Gollum, who bit off the finger holding the Ring before falling into the fires of Mount Doom, finally destroying the Ring, and Sauron with it.


== Appearance ==
== Appearance ==
 
Physically the Ring resembled a geometrically perfect circle of pure gold, this perfection and purity being part of its allure. Unlike the lesser Rings, it bore no gem. It seems to have been able to expand and contract, in order to fit its wearer's finger or slip from it treacherously. Its identity could be determined by a simple (though little-known) test: when heated in fire, fine lines of fire, forming a script, would appear running along on the inside and outside of the Ring.<ref>{{FR|Shadow}}</ref> The letters were an [[Ring Verse|inscription]] in [[Tengwar]] of the [[Black Speech]] of Mordor, citing a section of poetry from part of its lore:
[[Image:One ring.jpg|thumb|The One Ring to Rule them All]]
[[Image:One ring.png|right|300px]]
 
Physically the Ring resembled a geometrically perfect circle of pure gold, this perfection and purity being part of its allure. It seems to have been able to expand and contract, in order to fit its wearer's finger or slip from it treacherously. In [[Peter Jackson]]'s film ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', the Ring can be seen contracting to fit [[Isildur]]'s finger. When heated in fire, the Ring would bear the following inscription in Elvish ([[Fëanor]]ian) Tengwar letters in the Black Speech of Mordor:


:''Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,''
:''Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,''
:''ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.''
:''ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.''


These are the first two lines from the end of a verse about the [[Rings of Power]] (see entry):
Whose translation is:


:''One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''
:''One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''
:''One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.''
:''One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.''


== Symbolism of the One Ring ==
==Effects==
[[Image:Roger Thomasson - The One Ring.jpg|thumb|left|''The One Ring'' by [[Roger Thomasson]].]]Being endowed with Sauron's will, the Ring was completely evil, and even when separated from him, it had somehow a will of its own, ultimately serving its master. When a person wore the Ring, he would be partly "shifted" out of the physical realm into the [[Wraith-world]]. There, if he managed to consciously subdue the Ring's will with his own, he could theoretically wield a large portion of the powers that Sauron had before he lost the Ring; notably, he could control and enslave the will of others. A side effect (but usually the first effect noticed) of the Ring was that it made the wearer invisible to physical beings like living [[Men]] (but highly visible to spiritual beings like the [[Nazgûl]]), dimmed the wearer's sight, and sharpened his hearing. When mortals wore the ring, only their faint and shaky shadow could be seen, and only in the full light of the sun.<ref>{{H|5}}</ref> This "shadow world" was the world which Wraiths inhabited, but also where the [[Calaquendi]] (Elves of Light) lived at the same time as the normal world and held great power: as was evidenced by [[Frodo]] viewing [[Glorfindel]] at the Ford of [[Bruinen]] near [[Rivendell]]<ref>{{FR|Flight}}</ref> and later explained by [[Gandalf]]<ref>{{FR|Meetings}}</ref>.
 
Part of the nature of the Ring was that it slowly but inevitably corrupted its wearer, regardless of any intentions to the contrary. Whether this was specifically designed into the Ring's magic or is simply an artifact of its evil origins is unknown. (Sauron might be expected to endow his One Ring with such a property, but he probably never intended anyone besides himself to wear it. It may be a side-effect of the portion of Sauron's will that lies within the Ring, influencing the wearer.) For this reason the Wise, including [[Gandalf]], [[Elrond]] and [[Galadriel]], refused to wield it in their own defence, but instead determined that it must be destroyed. It appears that Hobbits, being more pure of heart than Men, and far less powerful than Elves, were the ideal vessels to resist its seductive power; this explains why Frodo and Bilbo bore it for long periods of time with very little ill effect. Even Gollum had not turned into a Wraith after 500 years of bearing the Ring.
 
The enigmatic [[Tom Bombadil]] was unaffected by the Ring, or rather, the Ring had no effect on him. This may be explained in many ways. (See the [[Tom Bombadil|article on Tom Bombadil]], which includes some theories.)


Although Tolkien always strongly held that his works should not be seen as a [[metaphor]] for anything, and especially not for the political events of his time (for instance [[WWII]] or the [[Cold War]]; note that much of ''The Lord of the Rings'' was written prior to and during World War II and well before the Cold War), many people have felt an urge to see the One Ring as a symbol or metaphor for various things. Among them are [[atomic energy]] and the [[atomic bomb]], which would both be [[anachronism|anachronistic]], as the Ring was invented in the late [[1930s]], and the atom bomb did not become public knowledge until [[1945]]. Other possible interpretations are that the ring represents the urge for power, which in Tolkien's view is always [[Political corruption|corrupting]].
==Inspiration==
The One Ring may have been inspired by the [[Wikipedia:Ring of Silvianus|Ring of Silvianus]] and its inscribed curse. The hypothesis is based on Tolkien gaining knowledge about the Ring of Silvianus through the archaeologist [[Wikipedia:Mortimer Wheeler|Mortimer Wheeler]], for whom Tolkien wrote the text "[[The Name 'Nodens']]".<ref>{{webcite|author=|articleurl=http://www.lotrplaza.com/showthread.php?55657-A-Ring-with-a-Curse&p=563861#post563861|articlename=A Ring with a Curse|dated=|website=Plaza|accessed=10 April 2013}}</ref> However, Tolkien scholars [[Wayne G. Hammond]] and [[Christina Scull]] have pointed out that there is no "evidence, or good reason to believe, that Tolkien was inspired by the Roman ring".<ref>{{webcite|author=[[Wayne G. Hammond]], [[Christina Scull]]|articleurl=http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mythsoc/conversations/topics/24198|articlename=Re:Tolkien and Nodens in the news this morning (message 24198)|dated=9 April 2013|website=Mythsoc|accessed=23 November 2013}}</ref>


A recent interpretation by [[Denmark|Danish]] author [[Peter Kjaerulff]] is that the Ring symbolises [[The Cursed Ring]], a device described by both Plato in his ''Republic'' (the Ring of Gyges), and in Richard Wagner's ''Ring'' [[opera]]s, besides Tolkien. Although Tolkien denied any connection, it is certainly possible that the One Ring was inspired by the central artifact of Wagner's ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), without being meant to "symbolise" it. See also [[andvarinaut]].
==Portrayal in Adaptations==
<center><gallery>
Image:LOTR-vol2-ring1.png|The One Ring in ''[[The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers]]''
Image:Frodo One Ring viv lotr.JPG|The One Ring in [[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game)|''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' (video game)]]
Image:The Hobbit (2003) One Ring.JPG|The One Ring in [[The Hobbit (2003 video game)|''The Hobbit'' (2003 video game)]]
Image:The Lord of the Rings War in the North - One Ring3.jpg|The One Ring in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: War in the North]]''
Image:Lego One Ring.png|The One Ring as a ''[[Lego]] mini figure''
</gallery></center>


The quest to destroy the One Ring is unusual in both folklore and literary epics.  Quests to regain a treasure are common in folklore and literature.  Tolkien described such a quest in ''The Hobbit'' to recover the treasure stolen from the [[Dwarf|Dwarves]] by the dragon [[Smaug]].  Quests to destroy a treasure are seldom the theme of folklore or literature. 
'''2011: ''[[The Lord of the Rings: War in the North]]'':'''
:The One Ring is shown in the introduction of the game. In [[the Prancing Pony]] [[Aragorn]] refers to [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] and the Ring as a "Hobbit with an important burden".<ref>[[The Lord of the Rings: War in the North]], ''Prologue''</ref>


A different way to look at this question is to ask what gives the idea of the Ring its power as a story element, without considering whether it was intended as a symbol for any one thing.  The notion of a power too great for humans to wield safely is an evocative one, and already in the 1930s there were plenty of technologies available to make people think of that idea.  The lure and effect of the Ring and its physical and spiritual after-effects on Bilbo and Frodo are obsessions that can be compared with [[drug addiction]], for which the Ring serves as a powerful [[metaphor]].
==See also==
* [[Gwaith-i-Mírdain]]
* [[Annatar]]
* [[Orodruin]]
* [[Celebrimbor]]
* [[Rings of Power]]
* [[War of the Elves and Sauron]]
* [[Battle of the Gladden Fields]]
* [[Gollum]]
* ''[[The Hobbit]]''
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''


== List of times the One ring worn in Lord of the Rings ==
{{references}}


The One Ring was tried on by several people, at different points in the book:
{{rings}}


*Merry tells the story of Bilbo using the ring to escape being seen by the Sackville-Bagginses (not shown in the movie)
{{DEFAULTSORT:One Ring, The}}
*By Bilbo after his speech at his 111th birthday party.
[[Category:Evil]]
*Tom Bombadil puts on the ring but it has no effect on him. (not shown in the movie)
[[Category:Rings and Jewels]]
*Frodo tries on the ring shortly after this to see if it still works, yet Tom Bombadil can still see him. (not shown in the movie)
[[de:Der Eine Ring]]
*Frodo accidentally puts the ring on at Bree, tripping after he was singing a song at the Inn
[[fr:encyclo/artefacts/bijoux/anneaux/anneau_unique]]
*Frodo puts on the ring at Weathertop, when they are attacked by the Nazgul.
[[fi:Sormusten Sormus]]
*Frodo uses the ring to escape Boromir, at the Emyn Muil mountains.
*He uses it a second time shortly afterwards to take one of the boats and row across the river. Yet this is still noticed by Sam.
*Sam puts the ring on to stay hidden from an orc company at Cirith Ungol.
*Frodo puts on the ring at the crack of doom, when it is bitten off his finger by Gollum

Revision as of 09:22, 27 September 2014

"I shan't call it the end, till we've cleared up the mess." — Sam
This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.
The name The One Ring refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see The One Ring (disambiguation).
The One Ring
John Howe - The One Ring 03.jpg
Other namesRuling Ring, Master-ring, Great Ring, the One, Ring of Rings, Ring of Power, Ring of Doom, Isildur's Bane, the Burden, Preciouss
AppearancePlain gold ring with Black Speech inscriptions made visible by heat

The One Ring, also known as the Ruling Ring, Great Ring of Power, and Isildur's Bane, was an artifact created by the Dark Lord Sauron in the Second Age for the purpose of ruling over the Free peoples of Middle-earth, especially the Elves.

History

Origin and creation

Ted Nasmith - The Forging of the One

During the Second Age the Dark Lord Sauron persuaded Celebrimbor and his people, the Elven smiths of Eregion, to forge the Rings of Power. Secretly, Sauron went back to Orodruin and forged the One in its fires.[1]

It was made as the Master Ring, which would control the others, and dominate their bearers. Sauron had to let much of his will and power go into it. Thus, he was more powerful than ever before when he wore the Ring, as he possessed the power of those he controlled; but the drawback that Sauron never predicted, was that he would become much weaker when he lost it. Though it appeared to be made of simple gold, the Ring was virtually impervious to damage, and could only be destroyed by the very fires where it had originally been forged.[2]

The Dark Years

Celebrimbor and the other Ring-bearers realized his treachery and took off their Rings, and went to war with him: the War of the Elves and Sauron destroyed Eregion and devastated much of Eriador. Sauron was able to claim all the Rings of Power (except the Three) and distribute them.[1] During the time known as the Dark Years, Sauron became master of almost all of Middle-earth beyond the coasts and was known as the Dark Lord of Mordor. He raised Barad-dûr near Mount Doom; constructed the Black Gate of Mordor to prevent invasion; and raised massive armies of Orcs, Trolls, and Men, chiefly Easterlings and Southrons.

The power of the Ring allowed Sauron to link with it some of his works, like Barad-dûr.[2] With the Ring he controlled Nine Rings that were given to nine mortal Men, who were corrupted and turned into the Nazgûl, his chief servants. However he was unable to control the Dwarf-lords who held Seven of them, because of their different and more hardy nature.[1]

Sauron's rise offended the arrogant Númenóreans and came to Middle-earth with great force of arms, and Sauron's forces fled. Realizing he could not defeat the Númenóreans with military strength, Sauron allowed himself to be taken as a hostage to Númenor by King Ar-Pharazôn. There, he quickly grew from captive to advisor and was known as Tar-Mairon; he corrupted many Númenóreans using the power of the Ring[3] and eventually convinced the king to rebel against the Valar, resulting to the Fall of Númenor. Sauron was diminished in the destruction and his spirit (presumably with the Ring) fled back to Mordor, where he slowly rebuilt his strength.

When the Faithful Númenóreans founded the Realms in Exile, Sauron begun an offense against Gondor; the Elves and the Númenóreans formed the Last Alliance against Sauron, who was vanquished by Elendil and Gil-galad. Prince Isildur then cut the ring from his fingers and took it for himself.

After Sauron

The Ring incited its corrupting effect on Isildur, who wished to seize it instead of destroying it. Isildur realized its properties, such as the strange letters visible for short time after he removed it; he considered it precious, and an heirloom of his Kingdom of Gondor and documented it in a scroll he wrote in Minas Tirith.[2] He kept it with him on his way back to Arnor, but during an ambush, the Ring betrayed him by slipping off his finger and was lost in the River Gladden just before he was killed in Third Age 2.

The Ring remained hidden in the riverbed for over two millennia, until it was discovered on a fishing trip by a Stoor named Déagol. Again, the Ring's evil powers acted on his friend and relative Sméagol, who murdered him and stole the Ring. Over many ages, he was changed by the Ring's influence into the creature called Gollum. The Ring manipulated Gollum into settling in the Misty Mountains near Mirkwood, where Sauron was beginning to resurface. There he and it remained for nearly five hundred years, until the Ring tired of him and, wished to be found by someone else (and eventually find its way back to Sauron), it fell off his finger as Gollum was returning from killing an Orc.

Darrell Sweet - The Riddle-game

Indeed, the hobbit Bilbo Baggin found the Ring while he was lost in the caverns of the Misty Mountains, near Gollum's lair. After losing the Riddle-game to Bilbo, Gollum went to get his "Precious" (as he always called it) so he could kill and eat him, but flew into a rage when he found it missing. Deducing that Bilbo had it from his last riddle—"What have I got in my pocket?"—Gollum chased him through the caves, not knowing that the Hobbit had discovered the Ring's powers of invisibility and was following him to the cave's exit. Bilbo escaped Gollum and the Orcs who inhabited the Misty Mountains by remaining invisible, but left that part out of the story he told the Dwarves he was traveling with. Gandalf, who was also traveling with the Dwarves, later forced the real story out of Bilbo, and was immediately suspicious of the Ring's powers.

Gollum, meanwhile, eventually left the Misty Mountains to track down and reclaim the Ring. He wandered for decades, only to be captured and interrogated by Sauron himself, to whom he revealed the existence of Bilbo and the Shire.

Paul Rivoche - Frodo and Gandalf

In T.A. 3001, following Gandalf's counsel, Bilbo gave the Ring to his nephew and adopted heir Frodo. This first willing sacrifice of the Ring in its history sparked the chain of events which eventually led to its unmaking. Gandalf was suspicious about the effect it had on Bilbo and went to Minas Tirith and found Isildur's account on the Ring, being lost since his death. He returned to Hobbiton and tested Frodo's Ring in fire, only to confirm his fears, since the letters described by Isildur appeared inside its rim.

By this time Sauron had begun to regain his power, and the Dark Tower in Mordor had been rebuilt. The War of the Ring had begun. Gandalf urged Frodo to carry the Ring to Rivendell where the Wise would decide their actions. Despite Gandalf's warnings, Frodo did wear the Ring several times during his journey. On Weathertop he was tempted by the Ring to wear it and evade the Ringwraiths, only to to make him more visible to them, and to be wounded by a Morgul-blade.

In order to prevent the recapture of the Ring, Frodo and eight other companions set out from Rivendell for Mordor in an attempt to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. During the quest, Frodo gradually became more and more susceptible to the Ring's power, and feared that it was going to corrupt him. When he and Sam discovered that Gollum was on their trail and "tamed" him into guiding them to Mordor, he began to feel a strange bond with the wretched, treacherous creature, seeing a possible future of himself that he felt he had to save in order to save himself. Gollum gave in to the Ring's temptation, however, and betrayed them to the spider Shelob who stung Frodo. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam bore the Ring himself for a short time, and glimpsed its power, although he never gave in to it.

Sam rescued Frodo from a band of Orcs at the Tower of Cirith Ungol and returned the Ring to him, but feared that the toll it was taking was too great. It nearly was: although Frodo and Sam, followed by Gollum, eventually arrived at Mount Doom, Frodo decided to keep the Ring for himself rather than destroy it, evincing its corruptive nature. However, he was attacked by Gollum, who bit off the finger holding the Ring before falling into the fires of Mount Doom, finally destroying the Ring, and Sauron with it.

Appearance

Physically the Ring resembled a geometrically perfect circle of pure gold, this perfection and purity being part of its allure. Unlike the lesser Rings, it bore no gem. It seems to have been able to expand and contract, in order to fit its wearer's finger or slip from it treacherously. Its identity could be determined by a simple (though little-known) test: when heated in fire, fine lines of fire, forming a script, would appear running along on the inside and outside of the Ring.[4] The letters were an inscription in Tengwar of the Black Speech of Mordor, citing a section of poetry from part of its lore:

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

Whose translation is:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Effects

The One Ring by Roger Thomasson.

Being endowed with Sauron's will, the Ring was completely evil, and even when separated from him, it had somehow a will of its own, ultimately serving its master. When a person wore the Ring, he would be partly "shifted" out of the physical realm into the Wraith-world. There, if he managed to consciously subdue the Ring's will with his own, he could theoretically wield a large portion of the powers that Sauron had before he lost the Ring; notably, he could control and enslave the will of others. A side effect (but usually the first effect noticed) of the Ring was that it made the wearer invisible to physical beings like living Men (but highly visible to spiritual beings like the Nazgûl), dimmed the wearer's sight, and sharpened his hearing. When mortals wore the ring, only their faint and shaky shadow could be seen, and only in the full light of the sun.[5] This "shadow world" was the world which Wraiths inhabited, but also where the Calaquendi (Elves of Light) lived at the same time as the normal world and held great power: as was evidenced by Frodo viewing Glorfindel at the Ford of Bruinen near Rivendell[6] and later explained by Gandalf[7].

Part of the nature of the Ring was that it slowly but inevitably corrupted its wearer, regardless of any intentions to the contrary. Whether this was specifically designed into the Ring's magic or is simply an artifact of its evil origins is unknown. (Sauron might be expected to endow his One Ring with such a property, but he probably never intended anyone besides himself to wear it. It may be a side-effect of the portion of Sauron's will that lies within the Ring, influencing the wearer.) For this reason the Wise, including Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel, refused to wield it in their own defence, but instead determined that it must be destroyed. It appears that Hobbits, being more pure of heart than Men, and far less powerful than Elves, were the ideal vessels to resist its seductive power; this explains why Frodo and Bilbo bore it for long periods of time with very little ill effect. Even Gollum had not turned into a Wraith after 500 years of bearing the Ring.

The enigmatic Tom Bombadil was unaffected by the Ring, or rather, the Ring had no effect on him. This may be explained in many ways. (See the article on Tom Bombadil, which includes some theories.)

Inspiration

The One Ring may have been inspired by the Ring of Silvianus and its inscribed curse. The hypothesis is based on Tolkien gaining knowledge about the Ring of Silvianus through the archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, for whom Tolkien wrote the text "The Name 'Nodens'".[8] However, Tolkien scholars Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull have pointed out that there is no "evidence, or good reason to believe, that Tolkien was inspired by the Roman ring".[9]

Portrayal in Adaptations

2011: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North:

The One Ring is shown in the introduction of the game. In the Prancing Pony Aragorn refers to Frodo and the Ring as a "Hobbit with an important burden".[10]

See also

References


Rings of Power
The One Ring | Three Rings (Narya · Nenya · Vilya) | Seven Rings (Ring of Thrór) | Nine Rings