Elrond's speech

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

While I realise that "The Council of Elrond" as a chapter is already extremely long and full of backstory and exposition, one thing which has always given me pause is the fact that this vital information about what really went on with the forging of the Rings of Power, why they were made and what Sauron was up to never really gets explained in The Lord of the Rings itself, not even the Appendices. We have to go to The Silmarillion and elsewhere for this information. Personally I've always felt that the narrative might have benefited, even marginally, from just a little more detail in The Lord of the Rings itself regarding what Sauron's motivations were, as well as the intentions of Celebrimbor and the Gwaith-i-Mírdain who wished to build a "separate independent paradise" away from Valinor, and why the Rings of the title actually mattered beyond the One.

I don't think LOTR is diminished in any way by not having more details of the making of the Rings of Power.
The reader is told enough for narrative purposes: Sauron made the Rings to enslave the "free peoples", and intended to do so by using the One to know the thoughts and govern the actions of their wearers. We know Sauron's motives were domination, and free from any good purpose. We know the Elves of Eregion were too enamored of "crafts" and works of the hand to see Sauron's scheme until it was too late. I think too much detail would have sidetracked the story.

One of the draws of LOTR to me, has always been the way in which Tolkien gives just enough "history" and backstory to give depth to the book, but not enough to make one feel that the history has supplanted the main narrative. History ought to support, not take center stage, and I think Tolkien got it right.