The One Ring: A Thing of Beauty?

[Bêthberry]

It harkens after the difference between an engagement ring (jewelled) and a wedding ring (plain). It's the second that is binding.

[Boromir88]

Very good topic Sardy. I think Esty is on to something and poses some good questions:

I wonder if that was a trick of the Ring? Did it enchant its viewers to think it beautiful, or was it so perfectly formed that it was indeed beautiful?

I think we can say it's a bit of both. As a band of gold it would hold some beauty and attraction to it. However, the One Ring is nothing specially 'beautiful' it is a simple band of gold, therefor it is mostly the deceit of the Ring.

in Tolkien's writings, evil does not normally appear to be beautiful - unless it deceives.

Good point, as Galadriel says:

'And you?' she said turning to Sam. 'For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe, though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy.'~The Mirror of Galadriel

The Ring itself is one of these 'deceits of the Enemy':

'It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power.'~Letter 246

The Ring was already deceitful in the way that it made people believe with the Ring you can have 'supreme power' and get what you want. For example, if Boromir took the Ring he could march a great host to overthrow Sauron and beat him. And Sam could turn the horrid Gorgoroth into a giant and beautiful garden, all he had to do was claim the Ring. That is one of the 'deceits' of the Ring.

If we read how the Ring appears and looks, we see I think as Sardy wonders; what is so unnaturally beautiful about it? And as TM quotes the One Ring looks as if it's one of the lesser rings. What Tolkien does do is use a rich language (to the masterful skill that he is able to do) to make the Ring look like something it really isn't...as splendid and 'awing' object to look at. You could even say he is not only trying to deceive the characters in his story, but he's also trying to deceive his readers!

Taking the descriptions Esty has provided, the Ring is described as if it is one of the 7 wonders of the world:

...there in his hand lay a beautiful golden ring (1); and it shone and glittered in the sun (2) so that his heart was glad.
Sméagol... strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful (3).

1. The One Ring was indeed beautiful. As it is a piece of gold, it should have some sort of attraction and beauty to it. However, does this mean that this 'band of gold' is the greatest thing since sliced bread? I don't believe so, I think it is an ordinary and simple looking ring, but the Ring tricks and deceives it's victims.

2. The ring 'glittered in the sun.' So it was a shiny ring, nothing really spectacular about that. Gold does glitter in the sunlight. It probably makes it look pretty, but there is nothing unusually beautiful about the Ring shining in the sunlight.

3. This part is from Smeagol's perspective. Smeagol strangled Deagol because the Ring 'looked so bright and beautiful.' Now, I think that this is Smeagol under the power of the Ring. He is already lost to the Ring and under it's hold; hence why he kills for it.

The gold looked very fair and pure, and Frodo thought how rich and beautiful was its colour, how perfect was its roundness. It was an admirable thing and altogether precious.

Again here we have the 'gold looked very fair and pure.' (In Frodo's eyes) So, it looked like it was pure gold and it was pretty...still nothing spectacular stands out about the Ring's 'beauty.' The rest is from Frodo's perspective, and this is right before he contemplates throwing the Ring into his fire and possibly injuring the Ring. Frodo can't bring himself to do it because when he looks at the Ring, it is so perfect, admirable and precious. In Tolkien's Letter to Milton Waldman (I'll be paraphrasing here)...Tolkien says that 'so great was the Ring's power of lust it was beyond the strength of any will (even Sauron's); to neglect it, injure it, or cast it away.'

The Ring appearing 'perfect' and 'precious' to Frodo was right before he was thinking about tossing it into his fire...hmm can we say that this is the power of the Ring and not the actual appearance of the Ring? I think so. As it is only then when the Ring looks 'perfect' to Frodo, so 'perfect' that he can't bring himself to throwing it in his fire.

So, from the descriptions of the Ring we are given, I come to believe that it is an ordinary band of gold. It's simple, it's plain (as the script on it has disappeared), it's ordinary, there is nothing special about it's beauty. It glitters in the sun...so does all gold and shiny objects. It's shape is 'perfectly round,' I would hope a ring is round and not a square or something (it is from Frodo's eyes that the Ring is 'perfectly round' - remember that). So, when we get down to it, as a band of gold, it would hold value and therefor have some attraction to it. But to say if this 'band of gold' is specially beautiful...so pretty in fact that someone killed over it, Bilbo had trouble letting it go, and Frodo couldn't bring himself to throwing it in his fire. I would have to say it's not, it's a plain band of gold. It is the very power and deceit of the Ring (as Esty touches upon) that makes the Ring look more than what it actually is. I also think Tolkien uses language to the great skill that he does, to not only deceive Frodo and Smeagol into believing the Ring is this precious and perfect object, but also deceive his readers. He uses rich language to make the readers also think this One Ring is an object with a great and special beauty to it. But, when you get down to it, and read the descriptions there's nothing special about the Ring at all...it's a plain band of gold. It deceives and appears to be something more beautiful than what it actually is.

[Morwen]

One person who does not see the Ring as a thing of beauty is Bombadil who tells Frodo to "Take off your golden ring! Your hand's more fair without it."
The Ring has no power over him and cannot deceive him into seeing it as something especially beautiful.

[Iarwain Ben-adar]

The three Elven rings, the seven dwarf rings, and the nine rings of Men all had a Gem in them. The one ring did not. It was a magnificent gold band which, as we all know, shows the ring inscription (Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. ) when heated. It is so beautiful and precious because of the greed and lust for power that it instills in its beholder.An example of this lust for the ring and for power is Boromir; a seemingly strong man turned into what seemded like a child when he beheld the ring that Frodo held. He wanted it for his people, and was overcome by Greed. That is why it is so precious and beautiful to its beholder. As we also know, there were many Rings made by the elves of Eregion that had NO gem in them, and were of considerably less power than the great rings that I have mentioned above. The one ring was made in the manner of these rings; a plain band with no gem or stone in it.

[Lalwendë]

Gold of course is a metal associated with Melkor so it was the appropriate choice of material. And if you look at how Gold is referenced in the text then it is certainly not portrayed as being dull or 'boring'. Just from the saying "All that glitters is not Gold" we know that Gold is very highly prized. Yes, Mithril is more rare but does that automatically make it more beautiful? Platinum after all is more rare and more expensive than Gold to us, but people still lust for Gold.

As for setting a gem into the One, it would interrupt the flow of the engraving! A circle containing a 'spell' or 'charm' is a hugely powerful thing - note how many Megalithic monuments were constructed in circular form, and this was carried on in the form of the Celtic Cross, the symbol of Christianity set into the unending symbolism of a simple circle. A literal Ring Of Words would not be as effective were it interrupted by a gem stone. The gem would in fact tarnish the magic.