The One Ring Explained

These books are all about this ring. How it's found and [spoiler alert] how it's destroyed. While Tolkien built the largest and most consistent fictional universe, he sure didn't mind being vague at times. So, if you finished the story and then thought: wait, what can this ring do and where did it come from? This is your video.

First thing first: The One Ring is not the only ring -- it's Lord of the Rings, after all -- and that lord is Sauron. Long before this story starts, Sauron disguised himself and came to the elves to work with their master craftsman Celebrimbor to forge the rings of power. Together they made 16 -- called the lesser rings; then Celebrimbor took Sauron's formula and made three on his own that turned out more powerful than the original 16.

Why make rings based on the suggestion of a stranger whose resume has a millennia-long gap? Because he promised the rings would fix the Elves' biggest problem: this world is winding down. The amount of big and awesome and magic decreases as a function of time here. For elves, magic immortal creatures, this is bad news. Sauron said the rings would preserve what their wearers cared about most.

That's why the Elven kingdoms are so fantastical compared to the rest of the world -- their rings have preserved them. Unlike the famous poem implies, the elves made all the rings for themselves intending exactly 0 to get into the hands of men or dwarves, whom the elves think are stinky -- so obviously something went wrong.

Which brings us back to The One Ring to rule them all. Sauron's chief ability is to dominate the minds of others -- that's partly why he's able to control such large armies -- and he secretly made The One Ring as a kind of lens to focus this power. His formula for ring construction, unknown to Celebrimbor, also made the wearers of the nineteen rings more vulnerable.

Basically: The One Ring buffs his psychological attack and the other rings debuff psychological defense. Plan A was to control a bunch of high-level elves. But when he put The One Ring on, the elves' base-level stats allowed them to resist and take off their rings just in time. Sauron captured Celebrimbor and tortured him until he gave up the 16 lesser rings -- but he died before revealing who was protecting the three most powerful ones.

So, Sauron now had 16 mind-controlling rings and had to turn to plan B: dwarves. Sauron manipulated seven rings into the hands of the dwarven kings, but that didn't work well either -- Dwarves are a kind of clockwork creature Sauron found impossible to control. But the rings weren't super helpful for dwarves either, who loved treasure above all else, so the rings grew their hordes large enough to attract dragons who ate the dwarves and their precious rings.

Finally, in the hands of men, ever the corruptible species, the rings worked as expected: Sauron controlled their minds. And, as mortals, they valued their lives the most, which the rings stretched for thousands of years. Stretched so thin, the men turn into invisible wraiths.

Anyway, these domination plans don't go unnoticed; there’s a big war -- Sauron is defeated and fades, and The One Ring is lost. But The One Ring is tricksy. It has a mind of its own and wants to get back to Sauron, which brings us back to its powers: First, the ring tempts everyone (Well, almost everyone) with promises that, yes, this little ring can be a mighty weapon or a tool to reshape the world.

And gosh, don't you just look like the best guy to use it? Let's go vanquish the powerful demigod who lives over there to get started, shall we? Hmmm? This is why the Hobbits made great ring bearers: because they're pretty happy with the way things are and don't aspire to greatness. Of course, there's Gollum, who started out as a hobbit, but all things considered he held out pretty well for a couple of hundred years.

Set the ring on the desk of most men, and they wouldn't be able to finish their coffee before heading to Mordor to rule the world and do it right this time. It's worth considering that The One Ring's promises are just lies -- that no one could really overthrow Sauron with it -- The Ring only wants to trick its wearer to get found, which brings us to... Invisibility.

Which, outside the minds of characters, is the only tangible power the ring displays for everyone else -- Invisibility seems great -- but while you're hiding from that troll, you shine like a beacon in the unseen world. Where the also invisible ring wraiths can easily spot you.

In summary: The One Ring a) Turns you invisible in the most unhelpful manner b) Is probably filled with lies, because c) It's part of Sauron and works for him. He's so connected to it, that its destruction ends him for good. But the formula also intertwines The One Ring with all the rest. And so when it fails, so do they.

This is why the elves are so somber. Victory over Sauron also means that the rings won't preserve their kingdoms anymore -- and all will diminish. These books are the end of the age of magic and the beginning of the age of men.

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