forums.cubicle7.co.uk
archive

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I've checked the last 10 pages and couldn't find reference.

Is it known where the rings of power are at the time of TOR, circa 2946? Am I way off the mark and they've all been taken by Sauron by now, or are there any of the Dwarven or Elven rings waiting to be rediscovered?

The Elven rings are all held by their respective owners, most of the Dwarven rings are held by Sauron or believed to be devoured by Dragons. Erebor has a write up for the Ring of Durin which was lost with Thrain so I'd say that would most likely be the easiest one of the twenty Rings of Power to locate...if you are willing to brave Dol Guldur for it

The three Elven rings are with Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf and each have their role in the canon.

The 7 Dwarven rings were believed lost, retrieved by Sauron or destroyed by dragonfire. The last of these was said to be Durin's ring (the first to be given) and that was lost to Sauron in the pits of Dol Guldur. The canon likely assumes Sauron took it when he left Dol Guldur (as his flight was long-prepared) however it would not be too great a stretch for the ring to have gone amiss during that time. One option might even be that Saruman retrieved it for his studies.

Of course this is knowledge we have as readers. Not even Sauron knows where the Elven rings are (although he has his suspicions) and the Dwarves have no idea that Thror passed the ring to Thrain. Indeed one of the reasons Balin goes to Moria is to discover if that ring is still there. Gandalf would most likely be one of the few who knows the fate of that ring.

bluejay wrote:The 7 Dwarven rings were believed lost, retrieved by Sauron or destroyed by dragonfire. The last of these was said to be Durin's ring (the first to be given) and that was lost to Sauron in the pits of Dol Guldur. The canon likely assumes Sauron took it when he left Dol Guldur (as his flight was long-prepared) however it would not be too great a stretch for the ring to have gone amiss during that time. One option might even be that Saruman retrieved it for his studies.

Of course this is knowledge we have as readers.

So it could be possible that some of the Dwarven rings are still out there, perhaps in the ruins of dwarf-holds in the Blue Mountains or elsewhere?

Is there any mention of what the rings were capable of?

silverfoxdmt73 wrote:So it could be possible that some of the Dwarven rings are still out there, perhaps in the ruins of dwarf-holds in the Blue Mountains or elsewhere?

That depends how you view the canon. In the LotR it is said that the "last" ring was Thráin's (said by Thráin himself and in Appendix B) - which was captured by Sauron in TA 2845. It is described as the "last" of the Seven, strongly implying that the others have been either destroyed by dragons or captured by Sauron before this date (and thus the ring of Durin's Folk was the only one missing from this perspective - until TA 2845).

silverfoxdmt73 wrote: Is there any mention of what the rings were capable of?

As with all the other 19 rings made in Eregion, these were made by Elves for Elves - and their specific needs/purposes. The chief power was always preservation (the overarching motive to create the rings in the first place). Another one (intended or not) was the enhancement of a wearer's natural talents/gifts.

Of course this is not very specific in terms of numbers, but should get you a good idea of the direction

Cheers
Tolwen

I believe preservation against the decay of time.

I'm striked by the few evolution of mannish population and the few evolution in second age and third age given the span of time cover by their respetive period. I suspect the Rings of power, whatever they are, to keep at bay evolutions or to slow them drastically.

Is there not mention that Dwarven rings increased their wealth (or at least that is how the Dwarves perceived them)?

The Encyclopedia of Arda gives a few more details (although I'm not sure what their source is for this) http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/s/sevenrings.html

silverfoxdmt73 wrote:Apologies if this has been asked before, but I've checked the last 10 pages and couldn't find reference.

Instead of scrolling through pages to find things (as you so often have to do on many forums!), this site has an outstanding way of (usually) finding things, silverfox. It's called the Palantir, and you can find it by going to the 'TOR Resources' thread (that always stays on the first page here).

The Dragon's Ring (see link to it in my sig) is a starting adventure set in Lake-town which posits the idea that Smaug had taken one of these rings, and that an orc then found the ring after it had dropped off Smaug's corpse into the lake.

One fan (I forget who) contributed an article on the Rings of Power and their suggested TOR powers, you can find it in my Fan Supplement (also link via my sig). There was a really good article in an issue of Other Minds about the general powers of the rings (the Dwarven ones were no different) - they had the basic power of preservation - in dwarven hands this meant to help preserve and accumulate wealth, but because Sauron assisted in making them these rings were also Cursed - for Dwarves this meant they gained (or worsened) the Dragon-Sickness Shadow Weakness.

Robin S.

Thanks for all the input so far chaps, I'll take a look at all of the links etc as soon as I can.