I can’t back jayjay up with a site atm, but I’m dead certain he’s right.
I thought Sauron stole the secret of magical ringmaking from the elves. I think Sauron also made the 3 for the elves, 7 for the dwarves and certainly he made the 9 for mortal men.
I think he made these rings using the power of the One.
Remember the mortal men were doomed to die until the ring stepped in.
Everything made with the One ring would be unmade when it was destroyed.
Is there a reference to the Nazgul actually still wearing their rings? I thought after they turned to wraiths, Sauron kept their rings:
“The Nine he has gathered to Himself. The Seven also, or else destroyed.” IIRC
Or else there’d be more call to go looking downstream from the Fords of Bruinen, since destruction in the floodwaters discorporated the Nazgul there.
It’s clearly stated that Sauron never got his dirty little hands on the Three Rings, and that he devised the One as a parallel project of his own; not that he used the One to make the Seven and the Nine.
But the dwarves were too resistant to domination for that to work on them. The Seven could not make them into Wraiths and Sauron could not control their wearers as he could the wearers of the Nine. They probably would make their wearers prideful enough to think they could beat a dragon, though.
Three of the Seven were back in Sauron’s keeping by the time of the War of the Ring. He offered them to Daìn if Daìn would bring him “Baggins” and the One. However, they’re certainly gone by the time Barad-Dûr has done collapsing.
The Nazgul did not wear their rings by the time of the War of the Ring. It is uncertain if they were kept safely in Barad-Dûr or elsewhere.
To add to this, Sauron taught the forging of the rings as Annatar, “the Lord of Gifts”. He helped in the forging of all the Great Rings except the Three Elven Rings and possibly the Dwarven Ring given to Durin. Thráin II father of Thorin Oakenshield lost this Ring in Dol Guldur before Gandalf the Grey found him in the dungeons and recovered the map.
Celebrimbor by tradition forged the Elven Rings and directly gave the ring to Durin III.
BTW: Celebrimbor was the son of Curufin who was the son of Fëanor. He was captured in the destruction of Eregion, but defied Suaron unto his death, as he was tortured for the whereabouts of the Three.
It is important to remember that many lesser rings were forged that may not be tied to the one ring at all, but still capable of mischief.
Inigo Montoya: feel free to fudge on the Ring Wraith somehow surviving. Say their rings were stored outside Barad-Dûr and escaped destruction. Establish they at added their own sorceries to them or have some Black Numenoeran use the rings to raise them back up. It is not Canon, but it will facilitate your game.
Jim
I checked out The Encyclopedia of Arda which normaly has most answers to all things hobbitesquise, but no mention of the final fate of the great rings wsa found. Though Honestly I didn’t look very long and it might be the online (FREE) version isn’t 100% cross refrenced or its incomplete. etiher way its still a good starting point.
You didn’t look too hard, as it resolves the OP nicely.
In 3019–
It just hit me, why if the Elven rings were made first, and with no help from Sauron did they too loose their power?
They were not made first. They were made without Sauron’s help. You might say they were a secret master work for Celebrimbor. IRC, Galadriel explained that these rings would still lose their power.
Jim
Well according to the site I just mentioned: Narya, Nenya and Vilya were completed in 1590, where the one ring was forged in 1600. And even if she said it would lose power, she doesn’t explain why. Thats what I ment to ask, sorry bout the confusion.
The one ring aside, I believe that the Tolkien’s general theme was that the fourth age would be the end of magic in the world. That is, the fourth age would evolve into our world. As such, there are no more rings, elves or anything like that. More’s the pity but just from a macro point of view it’s really all over once the ring is destroyed. To suggest otherwise (outside of the context of a game of course) lessens the impact of the books.
There is no explanation I have ever found of why they would lose power. We are left to trust Galadriel that this is correct. Perhaps the power behind all the rings ultimately came from Sauron and he took this part of his power and used it in the “One Ring to Bind them All”.
The elves only left gradually and it is questionable if they all left. The Dwarves retreated deeper from Humans, but it was not implied they went extinct. The Hobbits dwindled and it was implied that they became the basis for stories of the wee folk. The Ents would indeed fade away. There are no more Entlings and the older Ents were all becoming ‘treeish’.
It is also important to recall that what we call magic and what the elves used outside the rings were not truly the same.
Jim
The Elves were not able to craft the Rings of Power without Saruon’s teachings and aid. Celebrimbor was able to take that learning and craft the three greatest rings to hold back the slow decay of time but that crafting was aided by what he learned from Sauron. Since the point of the deception was to control the elves through the rings it makes sense that the destruction of the one ring would interrupt their operation. That and the old elf lady said so. 
You could argue that someone rummaged through Isengard and found technical treaties by Sauruman on the nature of rings of power. From that they managed to salvage the Witch King’s ring and by forging a “new” one ring allowed for a neo-nazgul to emerge.
Also, they didn’t loose their power. Their power was lost.
I view it like this: originally the elven rings of power were forged and gained their power from the general source where Gandalf is able to get his mojo. However, Sauron forged the One Ring and bound their magic up into it, hence why it took so much of his power to create and maintain. It’s not so much that their source of magic was the One Ring, but rather that the only way to access their source of magic was through Sauron’s ring.
So basicly the rings still work, but the batteries are dead?
Intresting idea. For the OP who’s trying to set up a game on this you could always have the depowered rings found in the ruins of mordor by some baddie with means to find a new power source for hte rings.
And Godwin rears his ugl…oh.
Interesting idea about some evil entity locating Sauron’s secrets. Either through tech manuals or some way-cool divination process (Clearly a lich-bard will have to be involved somehow). After Sauron, Inc. has Tolkein left us anyone evil enough to do this? figure if I’m taking liberties with his world I may as well try and stick to his pantheon. I am I probably looking at The Mouth picking up the pieces? There was mention in The Hobbit of “The Necromancer” whom Thorin wanted to ‘visit’ but it’s been too long for me to determine if he’s a.k.a. one of the Mordor players.
Any input on The Necromancer?
I thought the Necromancer was either Sauron or the Witch-King?
I though it was also fairly clear in the books that magic, the elves, the hobbits were all fading. Eventually all of the elves would leave Middle-Earth (I think the index references that).
Didn’t Tolkien pepare a draft for a new book that dealt with a liche or other (relatively) minor spirit unrelated to the rings causing trouble?
The necromancer was actually Sauron, though after he fled back to Mordor he made one of the nazgul “captain” of Dol Guldur.
The Mouth might be good enough, but I’d opt for one of the blue wizards. Tolkien thought that they failed and effectively began various occult movements. They also have more inherent power than the Mouth and so would be able to “power up” a new one ring. Have one of them migrate back following the fall of Sauron and take up the mantle of the new enemy.
I am ignorant of Blue Wizards. Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast I’ve heard of. Saruman’s dead, Gandalf’s retired. Where’s Radagast, who are the blue dudes, and would the wizards have a purpose and power now that Sauron’s been defeated?