Lord of the Rings: What did the Seven Dwarven Rings do?

[Chronos]

I like Pratchett’s take, that courtship among dwarves mostly consists in each party delicately trying to determine the gender of the other.

[artemis]

@jayjay

Cirdan (the original owner) gave it to him when he arrived in Middle-Earth.

Minor nitpick: Cirdan wasn’t the original owner. Gil-galad was (having received the ring from its maker, Celebrimbor). But when Gil-galad marched west to join up with Elendil and his sons in the joint assault on Sauron, he left Narya in Cirdan’s keeping. Cirdan kept it safely hidden until Gandalf’s arrival, then passed it on in turn to Gandalf.

[jayjay]

@artemis

Minor nitpick: Cirdan wasn’t the original owner. Gil-galad was (having received the ring from its maker, Celebrimbor). But when Gil-galad marched west to join up with Elendil and his sons in the joint assault on Sauron, he left Narya in Cirdan’s keeping. Cirdan kept it safely hidden until Gandalf’s arrival, then passed it on in turn to Gandalf.

We’re both right, actually. In Unfinished Tales, Celebrimbor gave both Narya and Vilya to Gil-Galad, who gave Narya to Cirdan. But in the appendices to LOTR, Celebrimbor gave Narya directly to Cirdan.

[TBG]

@jayjay

Cirdan (the original owner) gave it to him when he arrived in Middle-Earth.

@Balance

To expand on that, Círdan was the shipwright responsible for building the ships that were carrying the elves into the West. He was tied down to a job, essentially. When Gandalf arrived, Círdan saw that he would be able to make better use of Narya as he traveled around, inspiring others to oppose the darkness.

Círdan: “For this is the Ring of Fire, and herewith, maybe, thou shalt rekindle hearts to the valour of old in a world that grows chill.”

@artemis

Minor nitpick: Cirdan wasn’t the original owner. Gil-galad was (having received the ring from its maker, Celebrimbor). But when Gil-galad marched west to join up with Elendil and his sons in the joint assault on Sauron, he left Narya in Cirdan’s keeping. Cirdan kept it safely hidden until Gandalf’s arrival, then passed it on in turn to Gandalf.

@jayjay

We’re both right, actually. In Unfinished Tales, Celebrimbor gave both Narya and Vilya to Gil-Galad, who gave Narya to Cirdan. But in the appendices to LOTR, Celebrimbor gave Narya directly to Cirdan.

Thanks for all the info. Anything about why it was given to Gandalf instead of another elf?

[Johnny_Bravo]

The elves were in the process of leaving Middle Earth forever - Cirdan seems to have wanted Gandalf to use the ring to help the people who were remaining.

[AClockworkMelon]

Man, good thing for the people of Middle Earth that Sauron was a fucking idiot that basically failed at everything he did.

[Steophan]

@AClockworkMelon

Man, good thing for the people of Middle Earth that Sauron was a fucking idiot that basically failed at everything he did.

It was a fundamental part of Tolkien’s universe that evil always contained the seeds of it’s own destruction, which was probably a reflection of his Catholicism.

[AClockworkMelon]

@Steophan

It was a fundamental part of Tolkien’s universe that evil always contained the seeds of it’s own destruction, which was probably a reflection of his Catholicism.

I understand that (the Ring promising to kill Gollum if he touched it again leading to them both being tossed into the fire, etc - I think that’s all pretty slick). I mean a story about a bad guy making a magic ring that would let him control the leaders of other peoples sounds like a pretty good one, but that doesn’t happen. The elves go “Oh, fuck!” and stop using them and the dwarves just aren’t affected at all. I can never get over how incompetent that makes Sauron seem.

[Steophan]

@AClockworkMelon

I understand that (the Ring promising to kill Gollum if he touched it again leading to them both being tossed into the fire, etc - I think that’s all pretty slick). I mean a story about a bad guy making a magic ring that would let him control the leaders of other peoples sounds like a pretty good one, but that doesn’t happen. The elves go “Oh, fuck!” and stop using them and the dwarves just aren’t affected at all. I can never get over how incompetent that makes Sauron seem.

He did control large parts of Middle-earth for hundreds of years, after spending thousands of years as Morgoth’s second in command. He was literally worshipped as a god in Numenor. Even without the ring, he’s in control of a good portion of the world, and slowly winning the war for the conquest of the rest of it - if the ring wasn’t either destroyed or used, Gondor would have fallen, and with it the West.

[AClockworkMelon]

I’ll bow to your superior knowledge, but I’ve just never found him a particularly menacing villain, for whatever reason.

[Steophan]

@AClockworkMelon

I’ll bow to your superior knowledge, but I’ve just never found him a particularly menacing villain, for whatever reason.

I can understand that, based just on Lord Of The Rings, especially if you don’t bother with the appendices. He’s not really a character at all, just a distant and vaguely described threat.

Tolkien did that with a few characters, to be honest. Elrond is one of the most powerful people in Middle-earth, not just at that time but in it’s history, but at no point in LOTR does he display it, and whilst it is mentioned it’s pretty much buried.