Editing Rings of Power (section)

== Analysis ==

=== Plot device to core element ===

The One Ring first appeared in Tolkien's [[Juvenile fantasy|children's fantasy]] ''The Hobbit'' in 1937 as a [[plot device]], a mysterious [[magic ring]] that the titular character had stumbled upon, but its origin was left unexplained.{{sfn|Köberl|2006|p=4|ref=Köberl 2006}} Following the novel's success, Tolkien was persuaded by his publishers [[Allen & Unwin]] to write a sequel.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter #19 to [[Stanley Unwin (publisher)|Stanley Unwin]], 16 December 1937 }}</ref>{{sfn|Köberl|2006|p=1|ref=Köberl 2006}} Intending to give Bilbo another adventure, he instead devised a background story around the Ring with its power of [[invisibility]], forming a framework for the new work.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter #21 to Allen & Unwin, 1 February 1938 }}</ref> He tied the Ring to mythical elements from the unfinished manuscripts for ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' to create an [[impression of depth in The Lord of the Rings|impression of depth in ''The Lord of the Rings'']].{{sfn|Rérolle |2012|ref=Rérolle 2012}} Gollum's characterisation in ''The Hobbit'' was revised for the second edition to bring it into line with his portrayal in ''The Lord of the Rings'' as a being [[Addiction to power in The Lord of the Rings|addicted to the One Ring]].<ref name="The Hobbit 1" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|ps=: In the first published edition of ''The Hobbit'', Gollum is portrayed as less obsessed with the One Ring, even offering it as a prize to Bilbo Baggins.}}</ref>

Tolkien's conception of Ring-lore was closely linked to his development of the One Ring.{{sfn|Drout|2006|p=572}} He initially made Sauron instrumental in forging the Rings.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1989|p=155}}</ref> He then briefly considered having Fëanor, creator of the [[Silmaril]]s, forge the Rings of Power, under the influence of [[Morgoth]], the first Dark Lord. He settled on Celebrimbor, a descendant of Fëanor, as the Ring's principal maker, under the tutelage of Sauron, Morgoth's chief servant.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1989|p=255}}</ref> While writing the lore behind the One Ring, Tolkien struggled with giving the Elven rings a "special status" – somehow linked to the One, and thus endangered by it, but also "unsullied", having no direct connection with Sauron.<ref name="Köberl 1">{{harvnb|Köberl|2006|p=16|ref=Köberl 2006}}</ref> By the time he was writing the chapter "The Mirror of Galadriel", Tolkien had decided that the Seven and the Nine were made by the Elven-smiths of Eregion under Sauron's guidance and that the Three were made by Celebrimbor alone.<ref name="Köberl 1"/> He considered setting the Three free from the One when it was destroyed but dropped the idea.<ref name="Köberl 1"/> Tolkien's posthumous works, including ''The Silmarillion'', ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'' and ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'' offer further glimpses of the creation of the Rings.<ref name="History of Galadriel and Celeborn" group=T/><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1988|loc=ch. 3 "Of Gollum and the Ring"}}</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1989|loc=chs. 6, 7 "The Council of Elrond" (parts 1 & 2)}}</ref>

[[Jason Fisher]], writing in ''[[Tolkien Studies]]'', notes that Tolkien developed the names, descriptions and powers of the Three Rings late and slowly through many drafts of his narratives. In Fisher's view, Tolkien found it difficult to work these Rings both into the existing story of the [[One Ring]], and into the enormous but Ring-free [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]].<ref name="Fisher 2008">{{cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Fisher |title=Three Rings for—Whom Exactly? And Why?: Justifying the Disposition of the Three Elven Rings |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |date=2008 |volume=5 |pages=99–108 |doi=10.1353/tks.0.0015 |s2cid=171012566 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/239841/summary}}</ref> Some of the descriptions, such as that Vilya was the mightiest of the Three, and that Narya was called "The Great", were added at the [[galley proof]] stage, just before printing.<ref name="Fisher 2008"/>{{sfn|Hammond|Scull|2005|pp=670–676}} The Rings had earlier been named Kemen, Ëar, and Menel, meaning the Rings of Earth, Sea, and Heaven.{{sfn|Hammond|Scull|2005|pp=670–671}}

According to Johann Köberl, Tolkien struggled with the notion of a "special status" for the Elven-Rings, and considered having The Three set free when the One Ring was destroyed.<ref name="Köberl 1"/> In an unused draft by Tolkien, Galadriel counselled Celebrimbor to destroy all the Rings when Sauron's deception was revealed, but when he could not bear to ruin them, she suggested that the Three be hidden.<ref name="Three Rings 1" group=T/><ref name="Unfinished Tales 1" group=T>{{harvp|Tolkien|1980|loc=The History of Galadriel and Celeborn}}</ref> According to ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', at the start of the War of the Elves and Sauron, Celebrimbor gave both Narya and Vilya to [[Gil-galad]], High King of the [[Noldor]]. Gil-galad later entrusted Vilya to his lieutenant [[Elrond]], and Narya to [[Círdan]] the Shipwright, Lord of the Havens of Mithlond and leader of the Falathrim or "People of the Shore".<ref name="Dickerson 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Dickerson |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Dickerson |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Elves: Kindreds and Migrations |encyclopedia=[[J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=152–154}}</ref> Tolkien suggested that Sauron did not discover where the Three were hidden, though he guessed that they were given to Gil-galad and Galadriel.<ref name="Unfinished Tales 1" group=T/> In the published ''The Lord of the Rings'', Gil-galad received only Vilya, while Círdan was the direct recipient of Narya from Celebrimbor. 

Tolkien noted in his letters that the primary power of the Three was to "the prevention and slowing of ''decay''", which appealed to the Elves in their pursuit of preserving what they loved in Middle-earth.{{sfn|Bassham|Bronson|2013|pp=23–25}}<ref name="Tolkien 1" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter #121 to [[Allen & Unwin]], 13 July 1949 }}</ref> As changeless beings in a changing world, the Elves who remained in Middle-earth relied on the Three to delay the inevitable rise of the [[Dominion of Men]].{{sfn|Bassham|Bronson|2013|pp=23–25}}<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=Letter #154 to [[Naomi Mitchison]], 25 September 1954 }}</ref><ref name="Fellowship 3" group=T/> Tolkien explained that the Elves can only be immortal as long as the world endures, leading them to be concerned with burdens of deathlessness in time and change. Since they wanted the bliss and perfect memory of [[Valinor]], yet to remain in Middle-earth with their prestige as the fairest, as opposed to being at the bottom of the hierarchy in the [[Undying Lands]], they became obsessed with "[[Elf (Middle-earth)#Second and Third Ages|fading]]".<ref group="T" name="Letter 131" />

=== Power and morality ===

{{further|Addiction to power in The Lord of the Rings}}

According to the scholars of philosophy Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson, the Rings of Power can be seen as a modern representation of the relationship between [[Power (social and political)|power]] and [[morality]], since it portrays an idea that "absolute power is in conflict with behaviour that respects the wishes and needs of others".<ref name="Bassham 1">{{harvnb|Bassham|Bronson|2013|p=6-7}}</ref> They also observed that several of Tolkien's characters have responded in different ways when faced with the possibility of possessing the One Ring—characters such as [[Samwise Gamgee]] and [[Galadriel]] have rejected it; [[Boromir]] and [[Gollum]], were seduced by its power; and [[Frodo Baggins]], though in limited use, ultimately succumbs to it; while [[Tom Bombadil]] can transcend its power entirely.<ref name="Bassham 1"/> They also noted that for Tolkien, the crucial moment of each character in the story is the moment in which they are tempted to use a Ring, a choice that will determine their fate.{{sfn|Bassham|Bronson|2013|p=10}} The [[science fiction]] author [[Isaac Asimov]] described the Rings of Power as symbols of [[industrial technology]].{{sfn|Asimov|1996|loc=Concerning Tolkien|p=155}}{{sfn|Bassham|Bronson|2013|p=21}} While Tolkien denied that ''The Lord of the Rings'' was an [[allegory]], he stated that it could be applied to situations and described it as an examination of "placing power in external objects".{{sfn|Bassham|Bronson|2013|pp=23–25}}

=== Catholicism ===

Gwyneth Hood, writing in ''[[Mythlore]]'', explores two [[Christianity in Middle-earth|Catholic elements in the story]] of the Three Rings: the [[angel]]ic and [[Sacrifice|sacrificial]] aspects of the Elves in the War of the Ring. To the Hobbits of the [[Fellowship of the Ring (characters)|Fellowship of the Ring]], the bearers of the Elven-Rings appear as angelic messengers, offering wise counsel. To save Middle-earth, they have to accept the plan to destroy the One Ring, and with it, the power of the Three Rings, which embody much of their own power. Hood notes that while Gandalf, as one of the supernatural [[Maiar]] sent from [[Valinor]], is "remarkably unlike an elf",<ref name="Hood 1993"/> he is the character who most closely combines the angelic and the sacrificial among the wielders of the Three Rings.<ref name="Hood 1993">{{cite journal |last1=Hood |first1=Gwyneth |title=Nature and Technology: Angelic and Sacrificial Strategies in Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' |journal=[[Mythlore]] |date=1993 |volume=19 |issue=4 |location=article 2 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol19/iss4/2}}</ref> The poet [[W. H. Auden]], an early supporter of ''Lord of the Rings'', wrote in the ''[[Tolkien Journal]]'' that good triumphs over [[evil]] in the War of the Ring, but the Three Rings lose their power, as Galadriel had [[Prophecy|prophesied]]: "Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of time will sweep it away".<ref name="Auden 1967">{{cite journal |last=Auden |first=W. H. |author-link=W. H. Auden |title=Good and Evil in 'The Lord of the Rings' |journal=Tolkien Journal |volume=3 |issue=1 |year=1967 |pages=5–8 |jstor=26807102 }}</ref> Hood further writes that Tolkien was suggesting [[technology]], such as the making of Rings of Power, is in itself neither good nor evil; both the Elves and Sauron (with his armies of [[orc]]s) use that technology, as they also both make and wear [[sword]]s and [[chain mail|mail armour]], and shoot with [[Bow (archery)|bows]].<ref name="Hood 1993"/>