Questions on LOTR

Andrew D. Gable

First Post
In Lord of the Rings, did Tolkien ever say what exactly happened to the dwarf-kings and elf-kings given Rings? I know the men became the Nazgul - did the elves and dwarves become Ringwraiths as well? It's been a while since I read the series.
 

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Andrew D. Gable said:
In Lord of the Rings, did Tolkien ever say what exactly happened to the dwarf-kings and elf-kings given Rings? I know the men became the Nazgul - did the elves and dwarves become Ringwraiths as well? It's been a while since I read the series.

The dwarf rings were destroyed or captured by Sauron, no wraithage.

The elf rings were stayed with the elves and were never touch by Sauron and were not used while he possesed the on.
 


The elf rings were held by Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf at the end of the series. Gandalf's was originally Cirdan's, I think.
 

Samnell said:
The elf rings were held by Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf at the end of the series. Gandalf's was originally Cirdan's, I think.

You are correct sir. Cirdan secretly gave his to Gandolf who he felt was the wisest of the Wizards, even though Saruman was gennerally considered the leader and did lead the White Council until he betrayed them. Unlikely to be a spoiler as this is all appendix material.

Of the Dwarf rings, unlike the Elf rings, these were all corrupted and lead the dwarven kings into ruin through greed. About half the rings were returned to sauron by his minions after killing the kings, the other half were destroyed by things like being eaten by dragons.

Only the 9 rings given to men created the ringwraiths.
 
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Thanks, I wasn't sure if Nenya etc. were the rings given by Sauron. Did the dwarf-kings just die that Sauron retrieved their rings? Or did he take them back by force?
 

Originally posted by Andrew D. Gable Thanks, I wasn't sure if Nenya etc. were the rings given by Sauron.

Actually Sauron didn't give them to the elves, didn't create them and never even touched them. They were forged by Celebrimbor

Did the dwarf-kings just die that Sauron retrieved their rings? Or did he take them back by force?

Some of both I believe.

Check 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' in The Silmarillion if you'd like to read more about them.
 

Sauron worked with the elves to come up with how to create magic rings. Sauron worked with the elves to create the Dwarf and Men rings. These were not originally bad things, but Sauron essentially left a back door in them so that they would fall under the command of the One Ring when he secretly created it in Mt. Doom.

Sauron had originally been the #1 henchmen to Melkor (the True Dark Power of the First Age) After the defeat of Melkor he became a goodguy for awhile while secretly plotting against them. Thus he was able to work with the elves on how to create rings. Because of his past though the elves still did not fully trust him, which is why they created thier three rings without his help. This is why the 3 Elven rings were never corrupted and still worked even when the One Ring was created. All of the rings, even the Elven ones, though were still tied together in some way so that with the destruction of the One all the others would also cease to work.

As for the dwarven rings fate, I had read this somewhere but can't recall exactly where. The Appendix I believe, but I don't have a book handy.
 

Ack, 'twas Elrond. I am shamed. :(

I sort of consider the Gandalf bit to be a mild spoiler since I got a nice little "oooooh" out of it at the end. Oh well.
 

Brown Jenkin said:
Sauron had originally been the #1 henchmen to Melkor (the True Dark Power of the First Age) After the defeat of Melkor he became a goodguy for awhile while secretly plotting against them. Thus he was able to work with the elves on how to create rings. Because of his past though the elves still did not fully trust him, which is why they created thier three rings without his help. This is why the 3 Elven rings were never corrupted and still worked even when the One Ring was created. All of the rings, even the Elven ones, though were still tied together in some way so that with the destruction of the One all the others would also cease to work.

One extra imnportant bit on the Elven rings is that after Sauron put on the one ring the Elves chose not use theirs, because Sauron could see anything and had some control over anything created with one of the lesser rings.

As for the dwarven rings fate, I had read this somewhere but can't recall exactly where. The Appendix I believe, but I don't have a book handy.

'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' in The Silmarillion, which I mentioned earlier.
 

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