What happened to the other Rings of Power

[solicitr]

The minor rings were made by the Mirdain on their own, before the advent of "Annatar." It was he whose knowledge enabled them to make the Great Rings... and even though Sauron didn't participate in the making of the Three, nonetheless Celebrimbor unwittingly included ""Mordorsoft" code in their firmware, so to speak.

[Morwenna]

The minor rings were made by the Mirdain on their own, before the advent of "Annatar." It was he whose knowledge enabled them to make the Great Rings... and even though Sauron didn't participate in the making of the Three, nonetheless Celebrimbor unwittingly included ""Mordorsoft" code in their firmware, so to speak.

Great way of putting it!

I'd forgotten that the lesser rings came before Sauron's influence. I've also forgotten where that's written. Appendices? Unfinished Tales? HoME? Letters?

[Mitheradan]

IMO, the biggest misconception about the Rings is that they were made for anyone but the Elves. The whole reason behind their making, and how Sauron was able to manipulate the MIrdain, was that the Noldor that remained in Middle-Earth still longed for the Timeless feeling of the Undying Lands and sought to recreate it in Middle-Earth. Sauron, as Annatar, showed them how to do this via the creation of the Rings of Power and played on that desire. They were designed to make things more "Elven"-like (for lack of a better term) and to slow the passage of Time (or at least the feeling of it) but Sauron corrupted this when he helped them make the rings. When the rings were taken by Sauron, he gave 7 (or 6 depending on if you go with the story of Celebrimbor giving one to Durin III) possibly out of spite of his former Master, Aule the Smith, and a desire to corrupt his creations. After that, he only had 9 left so he gave them to greedy Men, who I think had the Rings not had the corruption of Sauron in them, may have made them more "Elven"-like as well. I think with Sauron's corrupting of their intended purpose, they still performed their task, but in a twisted, dark way.

The Three Rings were not subject to the corruption of Sauron because Celebrimbor made them himself and so Sauron never touched them, but they were still subject to the One Ring because that weakness was inherent to the design.

Remember that the Ring poem (with the exception of the Ring Inscription) was written by a Gondorian Scholar in the 4th Age after the War of the Ring.

[ngaur]

Remember that the Ring poem (with the exception of the Ring Inscription) was written by a Gondorian Scholar in the 4th Age after the War of the Ring.

Actually Gandalf spoke the full ring Poem to Frodo in Bag End and claimed that it was a verse long known in elven-lore.

Strange perhaps, given that Celebrimbor made the three in secret unknown to Sauron, and the Elves went to great lengths in hiding them from him, and yet they would happily reveal exactly how many there were in a verse that had to be written after Sauron distributed the other 16 rings, and the Elves somehow found out who they were distributed to. One can only assume That the Elves wore the three when Sauron first put on the One, and he became aware that the numbers didn't add up.

Ah, there are my babies, all 16 of them. No wait.. 17, eh.. 18.. no one more.. 19 of them. Hrrmm... Precious! You got something to tell me?

[Mitheradan]

Remember that the Ring poem (with the exception of the Ring Inscription) was written by a Gondorian Scholar in the 4th Age after the War of the Ring.

Actually Gandalf spoke the full ring Poem to Frodo in Bag End and claimed that it was a verse long known in elven-lore.

Strange perhaps, given that Celebrimbor made the three in secret unknown to Sauron, and the Elves went to great lengths in hiding them from him, and yet they would happily reveal exactly how many there were in a verse that had to be written after Sauron distributed the other 16 rings, and the Elves somehow found out who they were distributed to. One can only assume That the Elves wore the three when Sauron first put on the One, and he became aware that the numbers didn't add up.

Ah, there are my babies, all 16 of them. No wait.. 17, eh.. 18.. no one more.. 19 of them. Hrrmm... Precious! You got something to tell me?

You are right. Man I really need to read the book again. I think I was mistaking that for the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen which was written by Faramir and Eowyn's grandson, Barahir.

I still hold to that belief that the Rings were conceived by the Mirdain as tools for the Elves alone originally and that it was Sauron who used them to try to ensnare the other races and bend them to his will.

[Gadget2]

I still hold to that belief that the Rings were conceived by the Mirdain as tools for the Elves alone originally and that it was Sauron who used them to try to ensnare the other races and bend them to his will.

I believe you are quite correct in this. Too many people take the "Ring Poem" at face value, "Three Rings for Elven...", and assume the sets of Rings were made for various races, which is not true. I'm not sure I agree that without Sauron's 'corruption' they would have merely made Men more "Elven-like" though. Setting aside the fact that without Sauron and his craft the Great Rings would not have been possible, the creation of the Rings of Power by the Elves is often referred to by Tolkien as the Elves' "Second Fall" (the 'First Fall' being the rebellion and exile from Valinor) because it was trying to subvert the natural order of things as dictated by Eru and prevent the fading and passing away that comes with mortal time. I believe he describes it as the elves wanting to "have their cake and eat it too". As such, I think it would have been 'perilous' (as Gandalf puts it) for mortals, unnaturally prolonging their lives and altering their being over time.

[Xlranet]

Sauron was not just aware, he was afraid. At the time he was in complete power of the lands to the right of the Misty Mountains (end of second age), or when he had his ringwraiths going around Middle-earth looking for the ring (start of LOTR), he could have easily attacked Lorien for a ring. Either he couldn't invade Lorien because of Nenya's power or, most likely, was afraid of the elven rings.

(I say the second option is most likely because, as discussed, using one of the 3 rings' power for destruction/violence could corrupt the ring and protecting Lorien from invasion may have resulted in violent use of Nenya's power)

[Morwenna]

Sauron was not just aware, he was afraid. At the time he was in complete power of the lands to the right of the Misty Mountains (end of second age), or when he had his ringwraiths going around Middle-earth looking for the ring (start of LOTR), he could have easily attacked Lorien for a ring. Either he couldn't invade Lorien because of Nenya's power or, most likely, was afraid of the elven rings.

(I say the second option is most likely because, as discussed, using one of the 3 rings' power for destruction/violence could corrupt the ring and protecting Lorien from invasion may have resulted in violent use of Nenya's power)

Galadriel destroyed Dol Guldur, I'm assuming with the aid of Nenya; violent enough?