There are countless iconic pieces in theLord of The Ringsseries, from Andúril (a reforged sword from the War of the Last Alliance) to the Phial of Galadriel (full of the light of a Silmaril.) But the most important object in Middle-Earth has to be The One Ring, the focus of theLord of The Ringstrilogy and the reason Frodo and his fellowship make their harrowing journey to Mount Doom in the first place.
But for being the root of all the action in the series, there’s only a snippet of information aboutThe One Ringshown to audiences inThe Lord of The Ringsfilms — mostly about who it was created by: Sauron, the main villain of the trilogy, and how it has the power to bring down Middle Earth as we know it. But how exactly did Sauron craft a ring so dangerously powerful and why was it created in the first place?
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The One Ring’s Origins
The Lord of The Rings, hinted by its namesake, involves a lot of rings, but The One Ring is the last in a long line of others. As mentioned at the beginning ofThe Fellowship of The Ring(the first film in the trilogy) by Galadriel, nineteen rings were originally made, known as The Rings of Power. What Fellowship leaves out is the fact that the rings were crafted by Elven-smiths after they were taught by a being called Annatar — who was really Sauron, the Dark Lord and ruler of Mordor, in disguise.
The nineteen rings were an attempt by Sauron at bringing the races of Middle Earth to evil and were distributed among them.Three ringswere given to the Elves, seven to the Dwarves, and nine to the race of Men, whom Galadriel warns inThe Fellowship of the Ringthat “above all else desire power.” Instead of letting The Rings of Power lead the Elves, Dwarves, and Men to their doom, Sauron decided it would be a better idea if he was able to control The Rings of Power themselves, using the wearers like puppets.
The One Ring’s Creation
Without telling anyone, Sauron returned to Mordor and forged what would become the most powerful ring in all of Middle-Earth — The One Ring. Sauron created The One Ring in the fires of Orodruin (also known as Mount Doom.) Due to the way in which The Ring was created, the only way it can be truly destroyed is if it is thrown back into the fires ofMount Doom. To make The One Ring as powerful as he could, Sauron added himself into the process, both metaphorically and literally. The villainous force put all of the hatred in his heart into The Ring, as well as all of his cruelty and desire to rule over every being on Earth. To top it all off, Sauron added a piece of his fëa (or soul) into The Ring, knowing that it would need all the power he could supply it. By tying a piece of himself to The One Ring, Sauron also tied his destiny to it. The One Ring is assuming at first glance but bears an inscription when heated in a fire that says, “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”
The One Ring stayed with Sauron until his “defeat” in the War of the Last Alliance by the Alliance of Elves and Men when The One Ring was cut from his finger by Isildur, who ruled Gondor until The One Ring ultimately caused his demise after he refused to destroy it. Despite his physical form being destroyed, Sauron was far from dead. Because of the amount of Sauron’s fëa that was poured into the creation of The One Ring, as long as The Ring was intact, so was Sauron’s existence. He spent years regaining his strength and preparing for what would ultimately become the events ofLord of The Rings. The One Ring itself became a lost relic of sorts, that is until Smeagol discovered it and felt its immense power.
Due to The Ring’s dangerous powers, Smeagol became Gollum, an obsessed husk of a creature. Bilbo Baggins finds Gollum and becomes the new owner of The One Ring, which helps him appear youthful despite his old age for a Hobbit. Bilbo gives Frodo The Ring before he leaves for Rivendell. As Frodo gets The One Ring, Sauron is gaining his strength back, returning to Mordor in the form of an all-seeing eye that tries to track down Frodo and the fellowship as they make their way to finally ridMiddle-Earthof The One Ring and its evil.
