One Ring

One Ring
Background Information
Other names	Ruling Ring, Ring of Power, Master Ring, Isildur's Bane, The One Ring to Rule Them All
Owner(s)	Sauron
Used by	Sauron, Isildur, Gollum, Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee

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

—The Ring's inscription, translated

The One Ring, also known as the Ruling Ring, Master Ring, Ring of Power, and Isildur's Bane, was among the most powerful artifacts ever created in Middle-earth, and by far the most dangerous. It was crafted by the Dark Lord Sauron in the fire of Orodruin, also known as Mount Doom, in the Second Age. Sauron's intent was to enhance his own power and exercise control over the other Rings of Power, which had been made by Celebrimbor and the Gwaith-i-Mírdain with Sauron's assistance. In this way, Sauron hoped to gain lordship over the Elves and all other peoples of Middle-earth.

History

Origin and War

Sauron forges the One Ring, by Ted Nasmith

The Ring was forged around the year SA 1600, within Sammath Naur upon Mount Doom. To accomplish his goal of bringing the peoples of Middle-earth under his dominion, Sauron knew that the One Ring would require an extraordinary amount of power. As such, he concentrated within the Ring a great part of his own fëa (soul). In this way, Sauron's fate became bound to that of the Ring. If it were damaged or destroyed, so too would be Sauron's strength and power.

Soon afterwards, Sauron attempted to use it first to subjugate the Elven wielders of the other Rings. However, when he placed the Ring on his finger, the Elves were immediately aware of him. Correctly assuming that his attempt to gain lordship had been thwarted, Sauron marshalled his armies to seize the Rings of Power by force. The conflict, which became known as the War of the Elves and Sauron, began in SA 1693. Initially, the war went very well for Sauron. He captured Eregion in short order and took back the Nine Rings that were kept there, and also Celebrimbor, the maker of the Elven Rings of Power. He tortured Celebrimbor until he divulged the location of the Seven Rings. Celebrimbor died under torment by Sauron, refusing to reveal what he had done with the Three Rings, which he valued most. After the destruction of Eregion, Sauron was able to conquer most of western Middle-earth fairly quickly, driving the Ñoldor under Gil-galad to the Grey Havens and besieging Imladris. But in SA 1700, as the Elves were nearing defeat, Tar-Minastir of Númenor sent a great armada to Middle-earth and, together with Gil-galad, completely destroyed Sauron's armies, forcing Sauron to return to Mordor to regroup.

In SA 3261, Ar-Pharazôn, the last and most powerful of the Kings of Númenor, landed at Umbar at the head of an even more gigantic army to do battle with Sauron, in contention of Sauron's self-proclaimed title as Overlord of Middle-earth and King of Men. The sheer size and might of the Númenórean army was enough to cause Sauron's forces to flee. Understanding that he could not overcome the Númenóreans through martial might, Sauron surrendered to Ar-Pharazôn and was taken back to Númenor as a prisoner. However, Sauron's surrender was both "voluntary and cunning", allowing him to gain access to the people of Númenor. The Elves had not revealed to the Númenóreans the existence of the Rings of Power, and so Ar-Pharazôn was unaware of the One Ring's existence and capabilities. Ascending rapidly to become the King's most trusted counsellor, Sauron was able to use the Númenóreans' fear of death as a way to turn them against the Valar, and toward worship of Melkor.

The Ring on Sauron's finger, in the films

Although Sauron's body was destroyed in the Fall of Númenor, his spirit was able to bear the Ring back to Middle-earth and he wielded it in his renewed war against the Last Alliance of Elves and Men between SA 3429 and 3441.

The Ring was cut from Sauron's hand by Isildur at the end of the Siege of Barad-dûr in SA 3441, and he in turn lost it in the River Anduin (at the Gladden Fields) just before he was killed in an Orc ambush (TA 2). Since it indirectly caused Isildur's death by slipping from his finger and revealing him to the Orcs, it was known in Gondor's lore as Isildur's Bane.

The Third Age

Discovery by Sméagol and Déagol

Déagol observing the Ring for the first time

The Ring remained hidden in the riverbed for almost two and a half millennia until a Stoor named Déagol discovered it on a fishing trip in TA 2463. His friend and cousin Sméagol stole the Ring, and murdered Déagol. Sméagol was changed by the Ring’s influence over four and a half centuries into the creature known as Gollum. Gollum, after being exiled from his home, sought shelter deep beneath the Misty Mountains. There, he and it remained for nearly five hundred years, its power corrupting his mind and soul and deforming him into a pathetic physical form until the Ring abandoned him and fell off his finger, landing on the floor of one of the tunnels. This is thought to be an example of one of the more noticeable powers of the Ring; the ability to change size at will. It also displayed that the Ring was sentient, having part of the spirit of Sauron inside it.

Possession by Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo finding the Ring in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

As is told in The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins found the Ring a few hours after Gollum lost it, while he was alone in the caverns of the Misty Mountains. Shortly after discovering it, Bilbo came upon Gollum himself, who had intended to eat the lost Hobbit. Bilbo managed to get Gollum to agree to a riddle game to determine his own fate; if he lost, Gollum could eat him, and if he won, Gollum would have to show him an exit from the caves. Gollum lost the game but had no intention of letting Bilbo leave. He went to retrieve the Ring in order to use its powers of invisibility to help him kill Bilbo, but flew into a rage when he found it missing. Deducing that Bilbo had it from his last question— "What have I got in my pocket?"— Gollum chased him through the caves, not knowing that Bilbo had discovered the Ring's powers of invisibility and was following him to the cave's exit. At one point as he neared the exit, Bilbo was presented with an opportunity to easily kill Gollum, but relented out of pity for Gollum's wretched condition.

Bilbo escaped from Gollum and the Orcs that inhabited the Misty Mountains by remaining invisible, and managed to regroup with Thorin's company and Gandalf. Upon meeting them, he claimed to have escaped the goblins simply by being very agile in the dark of the caverns. Of the Ring, he claimed to Gandalf to have received it from Gollum as a prize for winning the aforementioned riddle game. Gandalf quickly became suspicious both of Bilbo's story and of the Ring itself, which he immediately recognized as one of the Rings of Power due to the retarding effects it had had on Gollum's aging process. However, he appeared to have believed it to have been one of the lesser Rings. He knew that the smiths of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain had created such Rings as "essays in the craft", and knew nothing of the specific appearance of the One. At the time however, he was quite focused on finding a way to eliminate Smaug before Sauron grew powerful enough to influence him. As such, he did not concern himself overmuch with the Ring.

A few years after Bilbo's return to the Shire, Gandalf decided to address the issue of Bilbo's story with him once again. He managed to coerce from Bilbo the true account of how the Ring had come into his possession but somewhat counter-intuitively, the truth turned out to have been quite innocent. It was also so similar to Bilbo's initial fabrication that Gandalf saw no real reason why Bilbo would have lied about it in the first place, save perhaps to put his claim to the Ring beyond any possible doubt. Gandalf concluded that the Ring had an "unwholesome" effect on its owner that set to work almost immediately, as it was not in Bilbo's nature to lie, particularly about something so apparently trivial. However, he saw no real danger in letting Bilbo keep the Ring despite the Hobbit's strangely possessive attitude towards it. In addition, he would later tell Frodo that he believed that he had had no real right to take the Ring from Bilbo in any event, and so let the matter lie.

In the sixty years that Bilbo owned the Ring he seldom used it, although he kept it on his person at nearly all times. This lack of use meant its malign effects were slow to take hold, the most noticeable being that Bilbo retained a relatively young appearance even past 100 years old. Gandalf later theorized that Bilbo's virtuous mindset upon having acquired the Ring, specifically his pity for Gollum, had also played a significant role in slowing the Ring's malignancy.

Bilbo considers giving up the Ring prior to leaving Bag End, making him the first wearer to abandon it of own free will

In TA 3001, Bilbo concocted a plan to leave the Shire for Rivendell, and both he and Gandalf had initially intended for Bilbo's nephew and adopted heir Frodo to inherit both Bilbo's estate and the Ring. As the time came for Bilbo to give it up however, he became extremely reluctant to pass the Ring to his nephew, and his obstinacy over the issue led Gandalf to confront him directly about the Ring. At this point, though Gandalf did not yet know exactly what the Ring was, he could tell that it was both evil and gaining a great deal of influence over his old friend. As such, he advised Bilbo in the strongest terms to give the Ring to Frodo. However, Bilbo became uncharacteristically angry with Gandalf, and argued intensely with him over the matter. After a very stern warning from Gandalf, Bilbo realized that his old friend was right about the Ring's negative impact on his well-being. With Gandalf's aid and advice, Bilbo managed to give up the Ring willingly. He then departed from the Shire, and Frodo came into possession of the Ring.

The truth of the Ring

Frodo and the One Ring

However, Bilbo's strangely hostile reaction to giving up the Ring greatly disturbed Gandalf. Troubled by both his encounter with Bilbo and recent events abroad, Gandalf began to consider the possibility that the Ring might be more dangerous than he had suspected. He initially considered revealing his concerns to Saruman, head of the White Council and the Istari. Saruman had devoted many years of his life to the study of the Rings of Power, ostensibly for the purpose of countering Sauron's use of them should he resurface. As such, he was supremely knowledgeable regarding their properties, powers and natures. However, Saruman's pride had increased in tandem with his knowledge over the years, and this combined with a somewhat nebulous feeling of wariness on Gandalf's part led him to keep his own counsel.

Instead, he considered finding and interrogating Gollum in order to help him further understand the nature of the Ring. He searched for news of Gollum, and managed to determine that Gollum had indeed left the Misty Mountains to locate the Ring. However, lulled by the fact that Saruman had revealed to the White Council on at least one occasion that the Ring was beyond finding, he decided to let Gollum be. This proved to be a nearly catastrophic oversight on Gandalf's part, because Gollum's long possession of the Ring had incidentally left him open to a mental summons from Sauron. At the time, the Dark Lord was putting forth his power to draw as many evil beings as possible to Mordor to rebuild his forces. As such, Gollum was pulled away from his search for the Shire and came at last to Mordor.

Gollum was eventually captured while skulking around the borders of the Black Land, and was taken to the rebuilt Barad-dûr. Here, Sauron too recognized the effects of a Ring of Power on Gollum. As the other Rings were all accounted for, being in his possession, destroyed, or in the hands of the Elves, he knew that Gollum must have at some point possessed the One. Under torture, Gollum revealed the existence of Bilbo and the Shire.

Around this time, Gandalf requested of his close friend Aragorn and his fellow Dúnedain Rangers to keep an extremely close watch on the Shire. They soon reported that an inordinately large number of creatures not native to the Shire were being used to keep watch on it at the behest of an unknown party. It would turn out to be Saruman who was responsible for the spying, but at the time, he was trusted by all those who opposed Sauron. Extremely worried at this discovery, Gandalf decided at last to locate Gollum. He requested Aragorn's aid in hunting Gollum, as Aragorn's woodcraft was prodigious even amongst the Rangers. However, Gollum was at the time in Sauron's custody, and so the search was in vain. After months of fruitless wandering, Gandalf gave up on finding Gollum, and left the seemingly hopeless search to Aragorn.

Gandalf discovers Isildur's account of the Ring

Desperate for information, Gandalf realized while thinking of Saruman's Ring-lore that the only source from which he could have obtained knowledge of the One was some sort of account left by Isildur, as he was the only person known to have possessed the Ring besides Sauron. Gandalf then traveled to Minas Tirith in search of any records Isildur might have left behind concerning the Ring. After a thorough search, he finally came across a short manuscript by Isildur concerning the Ring's properties, including an important note that the Ring, when heated, seemed to manifest fiery writing on its outer band. Armed with this knowledge, Gandalf began a return trek to the Shire when he learned that, against all odds, Aragorn had somehow managed to find and capture Gollum. Gollum then revealed that he had been to Mordor, and that Sauron now knew virtually everything that Gandalf knew about the Ring's location.

Gandalf then hastened to the Shire and confirmed his suspicions; the Ring was indeed the One. Knowing that Sauron would use every means at his disposal to get it back, Gandalf instructed Frodo to flee to Rivendell with it, as it was the closest safe haven. Gandalf had intended to accompany them, but was lured to Isengard and imprisoned by Saruman, who wanted the location of the Ring so that he could take it for himself. Before he had departed however, he had given a letter to Barliman Butterbur, the innkeeper of The Prancing Pony in Bree with instructions that it was to be delivered to Frodo immediately. The letter contained a warning to Frodo that he needed to leave the Shire at once, and had also contained a bit of information about Aragorn, whom Gandalf had instructed to watch for the hobbits and aid them if he could. However, the letter was never delivered, and as such, Frodo delayed his departure in the hopes that Gandalf was simply late. Eventually however, Frodo decided that he could no longer wait, and with his companions, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck set out without him for Rivendell.

The Hobbits' delay, however, had allowed Sauron's servants, a number of strange black-clad horsemen, to journey to the Shire and begin searching for the Ring. The hobbits had a few close encounters with these black riders, but managed to stay out of their grasp. Within a few days, they reached the village of Bree and encountered Aragorn, who revealed to them that he knew of their quest and was a friend of Gandalf's. He offered to guide them to Rivendell, but the hobbits were wary of his intentions. Fortunately however, Butterbur revealed Gandalf's letter to the hobbit party and they accepted his offer. By then, Gandalf had managed to escape from Isengard, and had begun desperately seeking for Frodo. He quickly reached the Shire, and discovered to his dismay that Frodo had only left a few days before. Having intended for Frodo to have left weeks prior, he realized that Butterbur had almost certainly not delivered his letter.

Furious, he arrived at Bree a mere day after the hobbits had left it, and learned from Butterbur that Aragorn had found them and was guiding them to Rivendell. Greatly comforted by this knowledge, Gandalf set out for Rivendell the next morning. With virtually no hope of finding Aragorn and the hobbits in the wilderness, Gandalf set out for Weathertop, hoping that Aragorn would make for it as well. However, he was attacked at Weathertop by all nine of the Nazgûl, and though he managed to fend them off, he was ultimately forced to flee. In fleeing, he managed to draw four of the Nine into pursuing him, hoping that it would give the hobbits a greater chance of reaching Rivendell. His ploy worked to a degree, as the Nazgûl would later attack Aragorn and the hobbits at Weathertop, but with only five of their number. The Witch-king managed to stab Frodo in the shoulder with a Morgul-knife, but Aragorn managed to drive them off. Weeks later Aragorn and the Hobbits, with Glorfindel's aid, reached Rivendell. There, Frodo was saved by Elrond's healing arts from a fragment of the knife which had remained lodged in his shoulder, and the Ring was made temporarily secure.

Quest of the Ring

The Council of Elrond, as depicted in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

At Rivendell, a Council overseen by Elrond was convened, which incidentally included members of every free race in Middle-earth, to decide what to do with the Ring. Numerous members of the Council advocated for hiding the Ring, sending it to Aman, or using it against Sauron, but all were ultimately rejected as possibilities. It was also debated whether or not it could be given to a safe guardian, such as Tom Bombadil, or left in Rivendell. However, these options too were rejected, as no place or guardian could be entrusted to withstand Sauron's full power when he came at last to take the Ring. Additionally, it was noted at the Council that Sauron did not need to regain the Ring in order to achieve eventual victory.

The forces of the West, with both the Elves and Gondor as diminished as they had become, would not be able to win a protracted war against Sauron's armies. As such, it was eventually decided that the Ring needed to be taken to Mordor and cast into Mount Doom, where it could be destroyed. This action would cripple Sauron's powers, and would end his ability to influence the world forever. Frodo volunteered to carry the Ring there, and a company of eight companions were chosen to accompany him. The Fellowship of the Ring, as the group came to be known, began the long trek to Mordor.

Following their adventure through Moria, during which Gandalf fell, and their time in Lothlórien, the Fellowship was scattered when Frodo and Sam split off from the rest of the group after an Uruk-hai attack. They continued on from Nen Hithoel to Mordor alone, without any clear sense of how to get there. Frodo and Sam soon became lost in the Emyn Muil, where they encountered Gollum, who had been shadowing them ever since Moria. Frodo and Sam managed to capture him, and after swearing an oath to serve the Ring's owner (in the immediate case Frodo), Gollum was ordered to lead them to Mordor, as he had been there before and knew the way.

Passing through the Dead Marshes, the hobbits came to the Black Gate and prepared to enter Mordor. However Gollum, learning only upon their arrival of Frodo's intent to actually enter Mordor, revealed that there was another way in; the pass of Cirith Ungol. On their way to the pass, the hobbits encountered Faramir and a group of Ithilien Rangers. Learning of their goal, Faramir aided them, providing supplies of food and water, instead of taking the Ring as his father would have wished.

Reaching Minas Morgul, the hobbits began their climb up the winding Stairs of Cirith Ungol to a long tunnel. Here, Gollum betrayed them, for inside the tunnel dwelt the monstrous spider Shelob, who sought to consume the two hobbits. Sam and Frodo nearly escaped, but Frodo was stung by Shelob and captured by her. Sam managed to drive the gigantic spider off, but believing that Frodo was dead, he took the Ring and resolved to finish the quest himself. However, Frodo had simply been paralyzed by Shelob's venom, making him appear dead. He was captured by a group of Orcs while he was unable to move but Sam, who had overheard the Orcs discussing Frodo's condition, followed them to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Shortly thereafter, Sam rescued Frodo in the aftermath of a mutinous battle among the Orcs who had captured him, which had resulted in nearly the tower's entire garrison killing each other. Returning the Ring to Frodo, the two began the arduous trek towards Mount Doom.

Destruction

After a few days, Frodo and Sam reached the volcano, using Sauron's Road to climb it, but were ambushed by Gollum. Fending him off, Frodo continued to the Crack of Doom. But throughout his quest, the Ring had continued to tighten its hold on Frodo's mind, growing more and more powerful the closer it came to the place of its making. Entering and coming to the Cracks of Doom, Frodo claimed the Ring for his own and put it on. Sauron immediately spotted him and, realizing the magnitude of his folly, sent the Nazgûl on winged mounts to retrieve it. As fortune would have it however, Gollum, who had been spared moments before by Sam, attacked Frodo and bit the Ring and most of the finger it had been on off of Frodo's hand. Then, dancing with joy over retrieving the Ring, Gollum took one misstep and toppled over the side of a cliff into the Crack of Doom (this was one of Eru's few interventions in the events of Middle-earth). There, the Ring was swiftly melted, undoing Sauron's power and finally vanquishing him.

Properties

Effects

The One Ring as portrayed for the films

When a typical person put on the Ring, they would be partly "shifted" out of the physical realm into an unseen realm, walking its threshold. A side-effect (though usually the first effect noticed) was invisibility to physical beings like living Men, but this brought high visibility to other unseen beings, such as Ringwraiths.

For mortals, the Ring had several side-effects, most of them negative. Perhaps the first was that the bearer soon developed a strong attachment to it, becoming increasingly reluctant to relinquish it. Like the other Great Rings of Power, it would extend the lifespan of a mortal bearer indefinitely, but (as Gandalf explained) the bearer would not in fact "grow" further than they would otherwise, but instead merely continue, each new minute an accruing weariness. Gandalf also held that if the Ring was worn too frequently, the wearer would become wraith-like over time and become entirely subsumed into the spirit world. The rate at which this occurred depended largely on the wearer's inner nature. Race also seemed to perhaps play some part in it, as Hobbits in particular seemed to "fade" rather reluctantly. Merely keeping the Ring without using it greatly slowed most of the negative effects of the Ring, but it could not do so indefinitely.

Additionally, prolonged life came to its bearer independently of their use of the Ring. Bilbo and Gollum hardly ever used the Ring, yet aged remarkably well (even in Gollum's case, though his lifestyle and extreme age warped his body). The circumstances of initially finding the Ring also played a profound role in how quickly the Ring's negative effects began to take hold of the bearer, as did the bearer's own disposition. Gollum, for instance, obtained the Ring by murdering his close friend, and as such the negative effects of the Ring on his mind in particular manifested quickly. Bilbo, on the other hand, not only found and obtained the Ring by chance, but when confronted with an opportunity to slay Gollum minutes after finding it, chose to spare him out of pity for his wretchedness. Due to this, Bilbo was ultimately able to give it up (sixty years later) of his own free will, which Gollum would have been wholly unable to do.

One potentially positive effect was that the Ring may have granted the wearer some understanding of the speech of evil creatures: while wearing it, Samwise Gamgee was able to understand the Black Speech of the Orcs in Mordor and Bilbo was able to understand the Mirkwood Spiders. It also sharpened one's senses.

Frodo holding the One Ring

The Ring, being essentially an extension of Sauron himself, was evil in nature. It seemed to possess at least a limited will of its own, and could "call out" subliminally to other people, in an attempt to get them to pick it up or possibly kill the current holder. After being cut from Sauron's hand, the Ring was, as Gandalf put it, "trying to get back to its master" and used all of its power and influence to find its way back to the Dark Lord. It was also capable of changing sizes and could easily slip off of a finger where once it had been tight, with no obvious explanation as to why. Frodo Baggins was warned by Bilbo of this oddity, and kept it on a chain to make sure it never got lost.

The Ring's power grew throughout Frodo's journey, particularly on the last stage of the quest when Sam and Frodo entered Mordor and approached Mount Doom. Inside the Sammath Naur, the Ring was so powerful that not even a bearer that intended it harm would be able to do so, as was the case with Frodo Baggins.

Although the Ring was crafted by Sauron and served as a remote vessel of his essence and power, its loyalty for its maker was not absolute. Gandalf implies that if he or any other exceptionally powerful being (such as Saruman or Galadriel) were to take and use the Ring to enhance their power enough to destroy Sauron, the Ring would not lose its own power and instead consider its bearer its new master. However, the Ring would retain its corrupting nature and twist whomever had destroyed Sauron to evil.

Powers

"War is upon us and all our friends, a war in which only the use of the Ring could give us surety of victory."

—Gandalf

The Ring's primary power was control over the other Rings of Power, including "mastery over [their] powers" and domination of the wills of their users. However, its effectiveness in this manner proved limited, as the wielders of the Three never used them while Sauron held the One, and the Dwarves to whom the Seven had been given proved too tough for Sauron's mental influence to take hold. By extension, the Ring also conferred the power to dominate the wills of other beings whether they were wearing Rings or not. However, this was its least accessible power, since it granted this ability in proportion to the user's natural capacity.

Perhaps most usefully, the Ring was capable of augmenting the abilities and powers of whatever being held it. Also, the wielder of the One Ring might not have possessed most if not all the powers of the Ring. Only Sauron or someone similar in power and experience with the Ring would be able to wield its full power. Varying powers or effects of the Ring are seen in the wielder depending on their power, skill, abilities, natural capacity, and situation. When Samwise Gamgee held the Ring he could hear far better and with more acute accuracy while trying to sneak around Cirith Ungol to evade the Orcs and save Frodo. Frodo was able to see for miles when wearing it.

In all cases, a mortal wearing the Ring became invisible, except to anyone able to perceive the non-physical world, with only a thin, shaky shadow discernible in sunlight. Whether immortals would be made invisible by it is unknown, as the only immortal being who ever wore the Ring was Tom Bombadil, over whom the Ring had absolutely no power whatsoever. However, Bombadil appeared to have been unique in that regard, as both Gandalf and Saruman were susceptible to the Ring's influence, and Bombadil was anomalous in many other ways.

Another power of the Ring was the ability to project a false vision of its wearer to observers. When Sam encountered an Orc in the Tower of Cirith Ungol while holding the Ring, he appeared to the Orc as a powerful warrior cloaked in shadow "[holding] some nameless menace of power and doom." The Orc was so terrified of this illusion that it fled from the otherwise unintimidating Sam. Similarly at Mount Doom, when Frodo and Sam were attacked by Gollum, Frodo grabbed the Ring and appeared as "a figure robed in white... [and] it held a wheel of fire." In this scene, Frodo (or perhaps the Ring itself) spoke "with a commanding voice" foretelling the destruction of Gollum.

However, the Ring did not offer the wielder protection from physical harm. While wearing the Ring, Frodo was still seriously injured by the Witch-king and his Morgul-knife, and lost a finger when Gollum bit it off. Sauron himself suffered the destruction of his physical body at the hands of Gil-galad and Elendil while wearing the Ring.

As it contained the better part of Sauron's native power, it seemed to exhibit a malevolent, but limited, form of sentience. While separated from Sauron, the Ring would strive to return to him, both by impelling its bearer to yield to Sauron or his servants, or by abandoning its possessor at key moments. The Ring had the ability to change size. As well as adapting to fingers of varying size, from Sauron's to Frodo's, it sometimes suddenly expanded to escape from its wearer. For example, it slipped off of Gollum's finger when the time was right for it to be brought back into the world at large. Sauron was also capable of sensing the location of the Ring if someone put it on for any extended period of time, even if that person was hundreds of miles away from him.

To fully master all of the Ring's abilities, a wielder of the Ring would need an extremely disciplined and well-trained mind, a strong will, and a high degree of spiritual development. Even for those with the necessary prerequisites it would have taken time to master the Ring's powers to the point at which they would be strong enough to overthrow Sauron, and, hypothetically, bring peace. While this is a tantalizing prospect for some, in the end, the Ring's inherent corruption would twist its bearer into another Dark Lord as evil as Sauron was, or worse, regardless of their intentions at the outset. This result was apparently inevitable no matter how well-intentioned the bearer, as even fellow Maiar like Gandalf feared to so much as possess the Ring lest its power begin to take hold.

Despite its powerful qualities, neither the Ring's innate power nor its power over others was absolute. Three times Sauron suffered military defeat with it in his possession, first by Tar-Minastir in the SA 1700, and again by Ar-Pharazôn in SA 3262 when the Númenóreans' might so overawed his armies that they deserted him. He was defeated militarily once more at the end of the Second Age by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, which culminated in his personal defeat at the hands of Gil-galad, Elendil and Isildur.

Ring-bearers

In total, the One Ring existed for c. 4867 years and was held by nine people, five of whom were hobbits. Sauron was by far the one to carry it for the most time (c. 1850 years), followed by Gollum (478 years), Bilbo (60 years), Frodo (17 years) and Isildur (2 years). Tom Bombadil wore the Ring temporarily on September 26, 3018 but was apparently unaffected by it. Of those who ever wore it, only Samwise Gamgee, Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Tom Bombadil gave it up willingly. "Bearing" the Ring does not seem to be synonymous with merely touching or carrying it, since Gandalf refused to bear the Ring but was willing to handle it for a few seconds in Bag End.

Order	Name of Holder	From	Until	Duration
1st	Sauron	About SA 1600, when it was forged	SA 3441	about 1850 years
2nd	Isildur	SA 3441, after the defeat of Sauron; equivalent to TA 1	October 5, TA 2	about 2 years
---	the Ring was lost in the Anduin River	October 5, TA 2	TA 2463	2461 years
3rd	Déagol	Unknown date, TA 2463	The same day, TA 2463	A few minutes
4th	Gollum (Sméagol)	TA 2463	July, TA 2941	478 years
5th	Bilbo Baggins	July, TA 2941	September 22, TA 3001	60 years
6th	Frodo Baggins	September 22, TA 3001	March 14, TA 3019	About 17 years, 6 months
7th	Gandalf	TA 3018	TA 3018	A few seconds
8th	Tom Bombadil	September 26, TA 3018	September 26, TA 3018	A few minutes
9th	Samwise Gamgee	March 14, TA 3019	March 15, TA 3019	1 day
---	Frodo Baggins	March 15, TA 3019	March 25, TA 3019	10 days
---	Gollum (Sméagol)	March 25, TA 3019	March 25, TA 3019	A few seconds

Fate

Of the several bearers of the One Ring, three were still alive following the One Ring's destruction: Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, and Samwise Gamgee. Bilbo, having borne the Ring longest of the three, had reached a very advanced age for a Hobbit. Frodo suffered both physical and psychological scars from his strenuous quest to destroy the Ring. Samwise, having only briefly kept the Ring was affected the least and appeared to carry on a normal life following the Ring's destruction.

In consideration of the trials the Ring-bearers had endured, special dispensation was granted them by the Valar to travel to Tol Eressëa, the Elvenhome; though not the Undying Lands themselves, where it was hoped they could find rest and healing. At the close of The Return of the King, Bilbo and Frodo embark for the voyage to the West along with Galadriel, Elrond, and many of their folk, as well as Gandalf. Near the end of his life, Samwise is also said to have sailed to Eressëa. Tolkien in one of his letters described the process as a period of extended life and healing, after which, their spiritual scars cured, they would die in peace—if they so wished. Otherwise no mortal could set foot in the Undying Lands.

Description

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

The Ring appeared to be made of real gold, but was impervious to damage. Even dragon-fire was said to be inadequate to harm the One Ring. It could only be destroyed by someone whose smithcraft was as great as Sauron's, or, by the fires within Mount Doom, where it had been created. Like the lesser rings forged by the Elves as "essays in the craft" before the Great Rings, it bore no gem, but when heated, it displayed a fiery Tengwar inscription in Elvish Runes. The lines were later taken up into a rhyme of lore describing the Rings, but they were evidently part of the spell that imbued the One Ring with power, since the Elves heard Sauron utter the same words during the Ring's creation, whereupon they took off their own Rings and foiled his plan.

Normally, the One Ring appeared perfectly plain and featureless, but when cast into fire the inscription appeared in fiery letters inside and outside the Ring. A transliteration was seen when Gandalf read the ring-inscription during the Council of Elrond.

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
—The inscription on the One Ring

Roughly translated, the words mean:

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

When the Ring was first forged, Sauron spoke these words aloud, and Celebrimbor, maker of the Three Rings of the Elves, heard him from afar and was aware of his now-revealed purposes. The inscription uses Elvish lettering because all forms of writing J.R.R. Tolkien describes at that time were invented by the Elves.

Some recent editions of The Fellowship of the Ring accidentally omit the first two clauses of this phrase from Chapter 2, an error that was corrected by the time of the 50th Anniversary editions. The first four lines of the verse introduce three of the races inhabiting Middle-earth, as well as the eponymous title character, the Lord of the Rings:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Gandalf first learned of the Ring-inscription when he read the account that Isildur had written before marching north to his death and the loss of the Ring. When Isildur had cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, it was burning hot, and so Isildur was able to transcribe the inscription before it faded. When Gandalf subsequently heated the Ring that Bilbo Baggins had found and passed on to Frodo the inscription appeared, the wizard had no doubt that it was the One Ring.

Symbolism and meaning

"The ring that Frodo carries is so real that it can't be tossed away and forgotten about. The consequences of doing so would be so disastrous that it would be an unthinkable act......The ring is not a fantasy, a figment of the mind, an urge, a desire, or an opinion which can be changed, it is a fact which must be faced, borne and finally overcome."

—Joseph Pearce on the objectivity of the One Ring

Sauron's Ring is undoubtedly the most significant and relevant "MacGuffin" in all works of fantasy. It represents the addiction to power, the idolization of material things, and the contravening of human nature (in giving its bearer a wholly unnatural lifespan).

J.R.R. Tolkien held, however, that his works should not be seen as strict symbolism (he in fact believed that an author telling a reader how to think or feel about a story acts as a kind of tyrant, as seen in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien). The Andvarinaut in the Völsunga saga is considered to be one of the inspirations for the Ring, though Tolkien himself credited many other myths that revolve around the separation of a part of oneself to grant immortality.

In The Philosophy of Tolkien, Peter Kreeft explains how the One Ring, in meaning and utility, is the opposite of the Christian cross.

Earlier in the 20th century, many readers thought the Ring was an allegorical symbol of the Atomic bomb used in World War II.

In other versions

When The Hobbit was written, Tolkien had not yet conceived the Ring's sinister back-story. Thus, in the first edition of The Hobbit, Gollum surrenders the Ring to Bilbo as a reward for winning the Riddle Game. However, as Tolkien changed the nature of the Ring to fit into the legendarium of Middle-earth, he realized that the Ring's grip on Gollum would never permit him to give it up willingly. Therefore, Tolkien revised this chapter in the second edition of The Hobbit, having Gollum offer to show Bilbo the way out instead of offering to give up the Ring. Tolkien then decided that the first edition's version of events was how Bilbo had originally told the story to Gandalf and the Dwarves of Thorin's company, rather than what had actually occurred.

Trivia

• The 13th Century Welsh king of Gwynedd, Llywelyn the Great, had a ring made for his wife-to-be Joan, Lady of Wales, the illegitimate daughter of King John of England. The ring had an inscription which read:

Un fodrwy i ddangos ein cariad; Un fodrwy i'n clymu.

This inscription translates as:

One ring to show our love; One ring to bind us.

Llywelyn and Joan married in 1206. The inscription would have been known to Tolkien who had ready access to the Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch, the two main sources of the Welsh legends of the Mabinogion, in which Llywelyn the Great features and is known to have been part of Tolkien's library.

• The sequence in Magyk by Angie Sage in which the main character Septimus finds the Dragon Ring is oddly similar to when Bilbo finds the Ruling Ring.
• An imitation of the One Ring makes an appearance in the animated movie Shrek 2; this version is a new wedding ring that Shrek has forged for his new wife Fiona, which displays 'I love you' in fiery writing once on her finger.
• The One Ring bears many similarities to the magic ring in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle. Both rings' powers were bestowed upon them by dark magic, both are desired by all who do not possess them yet bring no contentment to their owners, and both have caused an individual to kill someone close to them in order to gain possession of it, an act for which they are cursed and eventually turned into a grotesque creature.
• Fans of both Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have compared the One Ring to the Horcruxes used by Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, as both the Ring and Horcruxes contain the essence of their creators and serve to protect the one who created them from permanent death by preserving a part of the creator's soul in another object.
• So powerful was the One Ring that even looking at it could inspire "Dragon Fever" Boromir attacked Frodo because of it although he redeemed himself by dying in defense of the hobbits from the Orcs; Saruman and Gollum were another victims of "Dragon Fever" because they both desired the One Ring. Saruman because he desired power for himself; Gollum because he killed his cousin Deagol for possession of it; at the end Frodo Baggins despite knowing the consequences of not destroying the One Ring fell under its power and proclaimed it was his; Gollum fought Frodo and biting off his finger regained possession of the One Ring until he falls into the Cracks of Doom; the ring survives him by only a few seconds before it is destroyed. Of all those who had possession of the One Ring only three were not affected very much by "Dragon Fever"; Bilbo Baggins because he showed mercy to the wretched Gollum; Deagol had the ring for a few minutes; Samwie Gamgee had it but never let it dominate his mind-in fact he took it from Frodo because he did not want the Orcs to have possession of it after Frodo was spider bitten and captured by Goblins; Sam in fact gives the ring back to Frodo and reminds Frodo not to forget their quest at the Crack of Doom. A variation on "Dragon-Sickness" is greed: In Tolkien poem "The Hoard" an old elven treasure hoard is claimed by a dwarf; a dragon and a King-each in turn becomes consumed with the possession of the treasure until each in turn is destroyed by someone even more greedier than the present owner.

See also

• Rings of Power

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Arabic	الخاتم الأوحد
Afrikaans	Een Ring
Albanian	Një Unazë
Amharic	ነጠላ ቀለበት
Aragonese	Aniello Unico
Armenian	Իշխանության մատանի
Assamese	একক আঙঠি
Basque	Eraztun Bakarra
Belarusian Cyrillic	Адзіны Пярсцёнак
Bengali	একক রিং
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Един пръстен
Cambodian	ចិញ្ចៀនតែមួយ
Catalan	Anell Únic
Chinese (Hong Kong/Taiwan)	至尊魔戒
Chinese (Mainland)	指环王
Cornish	Huni Besow
Croatian	Jedinstveni Prsten
Czech	Jeden Prsten
Danish	Herskerringen
Dutch	De Ene Ring
Estonian	Üks Sõrmus
Esperanto	Unu Ringo
Faroese	Einkringur
Filipino	Ang Iisang Singsing
Finnish	Sormusten sormus
French	Anneau Unique
Galician	Anel Único
Georgian	ერთი ბეჭედი
German	Der eine Ring
Greek	Το ένα δαχτυλίδι
Gujarati	એક વીંટી
Hebrew	הטבעת האחת
Hindi	एक रिंग
Hmong	Ib lub nplhaib
Hungarian	Egy Gyűrű
Icelandic	Hringurinn eini
Irish Gaelic	Fáinne Amháin
Italian	Unico Anello
Interlingua	Anello Unic
Japanese	一つの指輪
Kannada	ಒಂದೇ ಉಂಗುರ
Kazakh	Бір сақина (Cyrillic) Bir saqïna (Latin)
Konkani	एकूच रिंग
Korean	절대반지
Kurdish	تاکە ئەڵقە (Sorani) Yek Qulp (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Бир шакек
Laotian	ແຫວນຫນຶ່ງ
Latin	Unus Anulus
Latvian	Viens Gredzens
Lithuanian	Vienas žiedas
Luxembourgish	Een Ring
Macedonian Cyrillic	Оне Ринг
Maithili	एकल अंगूठी
Malayalam	ഒരു മോതിരം
Malaysian	Satu Cincin
Maltese	Ċirku Wieħed
Manx	Un Fainey
Maori	Kotahi te mowhiti
Marathi	एक अंगठी
Mongolian Cyrillic	Нэг бөгж
Nepalese	एकल औंठी
Norwegian	Ene Ringen
Pashto	واحد گوته
Persian	حلقه یگانه
Polish	Jedyny Pierścień
Portuguese (Portugal and Latin America)	Um Anel
Querétaro Otomi	'Nar Anillo
Romanian	Inelul Suprem , Unul
Russian	Кольцо Всевластья
Samoan	Tasi Mama
Sanskrit	एकवलयम्
Scots	Ane Ring
Scottish Gaelic	Aon Fàinne
Serbian	Један Прстен (Cyrillic) Jedan Prsten (Latin)
Shona	Mumwe Mhete
Sicilian	Unu Aneddu
Sinhalese	එක් මුදුවක්
Slovak	Jeden Prsteň
Slovenian	Prstan Mogote
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Anillo Único
Sundanese	Hiji Ngirining
Swahili	Pete Moja
Swedish	Härskarringen
Tamil	ஒன்று மோதிரம்
Tatar	Бер боҗра
Telugu	ఒక ఉంగరం
Thai	เอกธำมรงค์
Turkish	Tek Yüzük
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Єдиний Перстень
Uzbek	Битта узук (Cyrillic) Bitta uzuk (Latin)
Welsh	Un Fodrwy
Xhosa	Nye Indandatho
Yiddish	איין רינג
Yoruba	Oruka Kan
Zazaki	Engıştaneyo Gırd