Rings of Power
 

Okay, so I got to thinking one day: "If the One Ring has the power to turn its wearer invisible, what do Narya, Nenya, Vilya, the 7 Dwarven Rings, and the nine Rings given to men do for their wearers?" Anybody care to help me out? I mean, I know that each ring has another name like "Ring of Fire," "Ring of Water," etc. but WHAT SPECIAL POWER DO THEY BESTOW UPON THOSE WHO DARE TO SLIP THEM ON? Thanks for trying to help me out! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Beeing invisible was a side effect of the ring. Remember that it was "invented" in "The Hobbit" which it was a rather childish (I mean for children, not naive) book. So that property of the ring existed before the emerging of the others and could not be changed by Tolkien. It was a lesser, but inevitable to mention power of the ring. Could anybody think that Sauron had any need to be invisible? Remember he was a spirit "dressed" with shape. So the One HAD to make you invisible just because it was written so in "Hobbit". As for the other rings it doesn' matter. It' unworthy to mention

The One Ring gave power according to one´s own power, so Frodo and Bilbo only became invisible and had very accute senses when wearing the Ring, maybe because they - being hobbits - were very stealthy and perceptive in their own nature. When for instance Gandalf or Galadriel would have taken the Ring the power they would draw from the Ring would probably be far greater.

The Elven rings were designed to give protection, healing and preserving.

We can suppose that the Three were invisible depending on the will of the bearer: Gandalf didn't reveal Narya (?) until the end and I think Frodo saw Nenya (?) not until Galadriel decided to show it to him. But the Three don't make ther bearer invisible. The Nazgûl became invisible because they served the Dark Lord too long, not because they wore the Nine too long. So we can suppose only the One Ring out of the 20 Rings of Power rendered invisible.

Good points all of you. I commend you for your excellent intellect in this matter. Thanks! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Remember when Tob Bombadil put on the One Ring? He did not become invisable.

I believe that invisibility was a property that could be used at the will of the wearer. I think that it was possible to wear the Ring and be visible if the wearer wanted to be seen.

I might be wrong about that, but I think I read that somewhere.

I partially agree with Kuruharan. But I think it said somewhere that the Ring had no power over Tom Bombadil.

Anyone can correct me on this... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

You are correct, the Ring only granted invisibility to those with no power. Tom Bombadil was not affected

The Ring wouldn't turn you invisible if you could control the Ring. If you could, you might become visible and invisible at will, but Frodo could not.

Tom Bombadil didn't turn invisible, because he was Master. Nothing could 'harm' him, between his borders.

As some have already mentioned here in this post it is really obvious to me what the ring does to the bearer. It is such a powerful ring. With Saurons dark force in it. Anyone who puts on the ring or even is the bearer of the ring will be used in some way by the ring. They might indeed get benefits from the ring but we do only know from the Hobbits who use it and Gollum that it makes them invisible. Tom who does not become invisible is an extraordinary character whom I would really like to know more about. He seems to be totally unaffected by its power and he also does not seem to be able to use it ... very interesting.

Magnus