We know that Sauron made the nine rings for men (who became ring-wraiths) and seven for the dwarves (who mostly resisted the rings but became more greedy).
But why not the Elves? We know Celebrimbor made three in secret that Sauron had nothing to do with. But why would Sauron not have been on top of making rings for the Elves too? Seems an oversight.
Also, why were the rings Celebrimbor made plugged into the One Ring if Sauron had no part in their making?
Also also, it would seem the whole “make rings to rule Middle Earth” plan was mostly a failure. Men fell for it. Dwarves mostly resisted them (but they did become worse) and Elves sensed what was happening and took their rings off. Less than half the rings really performed as hoped.
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
That’s twenty Rings of Power altogether, minus the three the Elves made on their own, so that leaves 17 rings made by the Enemy.
Now it’s been a while since my last read through, but as I recall it, Sauron only made one ring, the big bad one. The rest of the rings were made by the elves under his tutelage, with the three elven tings being made at the end and in secret. It wasn’t until he put on the one ring that the elves realized that Sauron’s teachings hid a big gotcha ya.
Maybe then the better question is, “Why didn’t Sauron ask the elves to make elven rings as part of the original purchase order?” That I don’t know.
From Mr. Wiki
The Rings of Power were forged by the Elven-smiths of the Noldorin settlement of Eregion.[T 2] The smiths were led by Celebrimbor, the grandson of Fëanor, the greatest craftsman of the Noldor, working with Dwarves from Khazad-dûm (Moria) led by his friend Narvi. Sauron, powerful and ambitious, but humiliated by the fall of his evil master Morgoth at the end of the First Age, had evaded the summons of the godlike Valar to surrender and face judgment; he chose to remain in Middle-earthand seek dominion over its people.[T 3] In the Second Age, he arrived disguised as a handsome emissary of the Valar named Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, offering the knowledge to transform Middle-earth with the light of Valinor, the home of the Valar.[T 2]He was shunned by the Elven leaders Gil-galad and Elrond in Lindon, but managed to persuade the Noldorin Elves of Eregion.[T 3] With Sauron’s help, they learnt to forge Rings of Power, creating the Seven and the Nine. While Celebrimbor created a set of Three on his own, Sauron left for Mordor and forged the One Ring, a master ring to control all the others, in the fires of Mount Doom.[T 2]
He could make ones for humans – they’d be satisfied with rings out of a CrackerJack box, especially if you promised that they were secret decoder rings that gave you magic powers.
The Dwarves would like the stiff, angular Art Deco style rings he undoubtedly churned out for them.
But the Elves were refined artists, and Sauron probably couldn’t hack that Art Nouveau with Celtic Knot style they were into and make it look believable.
It reminds me of that Mitchell and Webb bit, Are we the Baddies? “Annatar, why does everything you make look so angry. Do we really need so many skulls on everything?”
That said, as above, Sauron didn’t make any of the rings other than the one ring. He was the technology consultant, not the execution team.
The Rings weren’t earmarked for specific races at the time of their making. Of the sixteen, nine happened to end up going to humans and seven to dwarves, but any of the rings could equally well have gone to anyone.
And it’s not known whether he ever actually used hammer, anvil, or tongs himself for the nine and seven, but he did explicitly help, in some way, in their making, in cooperation with elven smiths, and that help, whatever it was, was not present with the three.
I have always thought that he wasn’t physically involved, but I no longer remember if I got that out of the History of Middle Earth series or just made that up. But since I floated the idea that he operated like a consultant, I am fully onboard with the idea that he make Celebrimbor sit through a bunch of PowerPoint presentations full of bad charts and weak animations.
Goal of ring-making operational procedures…
Enhance latent powers
Foster a stronger commitment to personal goals
Priority access to spirit world - health benefits = long life
Build and maintain shared camaraderie with other ring wearers - exclusivity!
No secret backdoors. Don’t know who brought that up - WRONG.
Which specific rings, maybe, but since the One Ring inscription is from its forging, the relative numbers for each group were always baked-in from at least then.
Mmm, you’re right, I thought the full verse was what Sauron spoke and the Elves sensed, but looking into it, it does seem like the rest is a post-forging-and-doling-out expansion on the Ring verse. Chronos has the right of it.
Sauron & ring-making is heavily featured in the War/Shadow of Mordor games, but in it he is mainly an advisor in their creation. Especially since you’re working with the ghost of Celebrimbor who makes a new Ring of Power at the end of the first. Not sure how well it fits in the canon, obviously.
The reasoning is that he does the same trick as Sauron-he invests himself into the ring. Though obviously he’d have a smaller tank to draw from than the Big S. (Are the games old enough that I still need spoilers?)
Yeah, if you’re looking for games that stay true to the canon, stay far away from the Shadow of Mordor games. They’re excellent games, don’t get me wrong, but they take very wide liberties with the source material.
