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Unlike the original Rings of Power, the "New Ring" was crafted by Celebrimbor's hand through his host body, Talion, in the video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
The ring functioned the same way as one of the Nazgûl's Nine Rings of Power, but without the corruption caused by Sauron's imbued power. Though the function was the same, Celebrimbor believed the New Ring to be pure, as it used his own strength instead of than Sauron's, leaving it free of the Dark Lord's influence.
The "New Ring" is non-canonical, as it is not from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
History[]
After the events of Shadow of Mordor, Talion says the time has come for a new ring. Talion helps him forge the ring unbeknownst to his true intentions - however, Shelob realizes them and thus separates Celebrimbor from Talion's body, forcing him to wear the new ring to survive. Talion eventually chooses to give up the ring for Celebrimbor, so that they might get stronger and eventually take it back.
Later Shelob is attacked by Sauron's forces, yet after Talion drives them away, Shelob chooses to give back the new ring to them, ominously stating "Sacrifices must be made". With the new ring back in their hands, Celebrimbor and Talion start recruiting orcs to take over Sauron's fortresses.
After Isildur's defeat, Talion releases Isildur to stop Celebrimbor from dominating him, whereupon Celebrimbor reveals his true intentions to dominate Sauron. Eventually Talion is betrayed by Celebrimbor and Eltariel, who then wears the new ring while they go to Barad-dûr to confront Sauron. The new ring is subsequently cut from Eltariel's hand, and Celebrimbor is forcibly fused with Sauron.
Thereafter Eltariel is seen by Galadriel, who tells her there is still one Ringwraith to defeat. Eltariel, knowing the wraith is Talion, takes the new ring to confront him after it has given her new wraith fingers. In the ending, after The One Ring is found and Sauron is destroyed, Eltariel observes that Celebrimbor's spirit is free, and that he is calling for the new ring. She decides to follow this call.
Abilities[]
Visually, the New Ring is a sort of inverse of the One Ring, silver and cold blue in oppositon to the One Rings gold with fire colors. The New Ring was made with the intent of rivaling Sauron's own, and thus bestow upon its wearers the ability of Domination over many sentient lifeforms susceptible to its immense magical power. This allows one to enslave others and assemble an army with sufficient effort. The effectiveness of the new ring's Domination is not absolute however, as there were cases where sapient beings like Bruz the Olog broke free of its power and even grew resistant against it. Willpower seems to be essential in fighting off the ring's Domination, with the mentally weak and broken being more prone to its influence, whilst those with iron will can deny it altogether.
The ring's Domination was at some point proven capable of breaking Sauron's hold on one of his Ringwraiths, Isildur, making the former King of Gondor tethered to the power of the new ring instead of Sauron's. This grants the then-wielder of the ring, Talion, the power to kill Isildur (or rather release him from undeath).
The new ring, like the other Rings of Power, also grants augmentative effects to beings who wear it enhancing their existing abilities to new heights. To Elves, it grants resurrection power like that of a Wraith, allowing them a hastened process of reconstituting into the the world should their physical body be killed. Similarly, the new ring was able to sustain Talion for some time after he was temporarily separated from Celebrimbor. The new ring can also enhance the power of Galadriel's Light, making deadlier weapons of the artifacts.
Trivia[]
- One of Shelob's possible lines in Eltariel's Quest death screen in Shadow of War mentions that "The Ring brings war and despair to whoever wears it". What this exactly means has not been thoroughly explained.
- The Elvish writing on the New Ring translates to "I renounce the Blessed Realm. To redeem the Land of Shadow. And bind the walls of Arda, In place of the Dark Lord, You shall have light undiminished, All shall fear me and rejoice."