Gandalf’s Possible Inaccuracy in the chapter “The Shadow of the Past”

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Gothmog, LoB

We also have to keep in mind that Númenóreans must have known about the existence of the Rings of Power. Three Nazgûl were Númenóreans after all, and if some of them were of the line of Elros (which is not unlikely in my opinion) then they would have known even more about them.

In Letter 211, however, Professor Tolkien does state that "I do not think Ar-Pharazôn knew anything about the One Ring. The Elves kept the matter of the Rings very secret, as long as they could. In any case Ar-Pharazôn was not in communication with them."
Of course this is the same letter in which Professor Tolkien states that Sauron had the Ring with him in Númenor, so I suppose, if you dismiss that idea, the idea that Pharazôn was ignorant of the Ring can be dismissed as well, but that borders upon dismissing too much in my opinion. In any event the Ring could have been easily hidden when he was taken prisoner, and would have looked like a piece of ordinary jewellery in any event.

I don't have a problem with Sauron having the Ring in Númenor but I do find the image of his spirit carrying it off back to Middle-earth with him rather silly.

[Gothmog, LoB]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

In Letter 211, however, Professor Tolkien does state that "I do not think Ar-Pharazôn knew anything about the One Ring. The Elves kept the matter of the Rings very secret, as long as they could. In any case Ar-Pharazôn was not in communication with them."
Of course this is the same letter in which Professor Tolkien states that Sauron had the Ring with him in Númenor, so I suppose, if you dismiss that idea, the idea that Pharazôn was ignorant of the Ring can be dismissed as well, but that borders upon dismissing too much in my opinion. In any event the Ring could have been easily hidden when he was taken prisoner, and would have looked like a piece of ordinary jewellery in any event.

I don't have a problem with Sauron having the Ring in Númenor but I do find the image of his spirit carrying it off back to Middle-earth with him rather silly.

Well, that image isn't sillier than the idea that spirit beings would live in a city made of stone (Valmar). Or that spirit people can be bound by physical chains (Angainor).

In any case, the letter is at least partially at odds with spirit Sauron taking up the ring again. Here is the quote from The Akallabêth:

But Sauron was not of mortal flesh, and though he was robbed now of that shape in which he had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear fair to the eyes of Men, yet his spirit arose out of the deep and passed as a shadow and a black wind over the sea, and came back to Middle-earth and to Mordor that was his home. There he took up again his great Ring in Barad-dûr, and dwelt there, dark and silent, until he wrought himself a new guise, an image of malice and hatred made visible; and the Eye of Sauron the Terrible few could endure.

The context implies he didn't have the Ring with him when he returned from Númenor.

That's from Of the Rings of Power:

Thus the Exiles of Númenor established their realms in Arnor and in Gondor; but ere many years had passed it became manifest that their enemy, Sauron, had also returned. He came in secret, as has been told, to his ancient kingdom of Mordor beyond the Ephel Dúath, the Mountains of Shadow, and that country marched with Gondor upon the east. There above the valley of Gorgoroth was built his fortress vast and strong, Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower; and there was a fiery mountain in that land that the Elves named Orod-ruin. Indeed for that reason Sauron had set there his dwelling long before, for he used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and in his forging; and in the midst of the Land of Mordor he had fashioned the Ruling Ring. There now he brooded in the dark, until he had wrought for himself a new shape; and it was terrible, for his fair semblance had departed for ever when he was cast into the abyss at the drowning of Númenor. He took up again the great Ring and clothed himself in power; and the malice of the Eye of Sauron few even of the great among Elves and Men could endure.

There is only a difference as to when Sauron took the Great Ring up again. Either still in spirit form or only after he made himself a body again. But both quotes actually imply he didn't wear the Ring in spirit or in bodily form before he took it up again.

I really think we can dismiss the letter in those cases.

Not to mention that the talk about the Elves being secretive about the Rings isn't very convincing, if you think about it. Not if Sauron truly did give three of the Nine to Númenóreans. The fact that Sauron had magical rings and once given them to various people must have been known. And Sauron wearing some ring in Númenor could easily have triggered the greed of the One. After all, that thing looked very tempting to many people and could be most likely not easily be disguised as just some jewelery. Not to mention that it isn't even clear whether Sauron could wear the Ring and not have this burning hand he had when he fought Gil-galad (or display some other visible feature or great power and might). I mean, the One Ring is one of the most powerful artifacts in those stories and I'd be very irritated if Tolkien himself actually thought anybody else beside Tom Bombadil could treat it like a trinket. And Sauron would have at least play the charade of it being insignificant.

[Belegorn]

I think that perhaps the Nine and the One did have effect on the Númenórean population overall for many hundreds of years. In 1697 Sauron got the Rings of Power for the most part, but by the late 20th to the early 21st Centuries a shadow had fallen on Númenor. I think this was the shadow "in which may be the will of Morgoth was at work that still moved in the world." [Akallabêth] This perhaps started with some stray Númenóreans and a couple may have been given a Ring of Power at this time, working their influence on their bearers and those in their sphere of influence. After his capture I think Sauron put the One to heavy use in Númenor as it was his chief means to dominate others. He continued to stoke the fears perhaps stirred first by early infiltrators with the Nine (not all of the Nine of course) who were among the populace in Númenor. Melkor worship, human sacrifice, and not just of lesser Men, but of their own people, the Faithful, abandonment of any regard for the Valar, the attack on Valinor, et cetera. I believe in his letters Tolkien mentioned that it was not an altogether out there idea that Sauron could carry the Ring back from the destruction of Númenor without his body as he and his kind, as spirits, were involved in the shaping of Arda.

[Alcuin]

In Letter 211, Tolkien wrote,

Sauron was first defeated by a “miracle”: a direct action of God the Creator, changing the fashion of the world, when appealed to by Manwë… Though reduced to “a spirit of hatred borne on a dark wind”, I do not think one need boggle at this spirit carrying off the One Ring, upon which his power of dominating minds now largely depended.

You might ask why Sauron did not or could not do this after Elendil and Gil-galad killed him on the slopes of Orodruin, preventing Isildur from cutting off his finger and taking the One Ring.
In Letter 199, Tolkien wrote that the Ainur “often took the form and likeness” of Elves and Men, “especially after their appearance.”

…Sauron appeared in this shape. It is mythologically supposed that when this shape was “real”, that is a physical actuality in the physical world and not a vision transferred from mind to mind, it took some time to build up. It was then destructible like other physical organisms. But that … did not destroy the spirit, nor dismiss it from the world to which it was bound until the end. After the battle with Gil-galad and Elendil, Sauron took a long while to re-build, longer than he had done after the Downfall of Númenor (I suppose because each building-up used up some of the inherent energy of the spirit, which might be called the “will” or the effective link between the indestructible mind and being and the realization of its imagination). The impossibility of re-building after the destruction of the Ring, is sufficiently clear “mythologically” in the present book.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

This begs the question of why did they make so many and who were the original intended recipients.

The smiths of Eregion made them for themselves.

The original population of Rivendell was made up of survivors of Sauron’s assault upon Eregion in the Second Age: Gil-galad sent an expeditionary force from Lindon under Elrond to bolster Eregion’s defenses until the Númenórean fleet arrived. Sauron’s armies swept into and to the west of Eregion, to block both any further assistance from Gil-galad and any retreat to him from Eregion. Elrond led the survivors to Imladris; the context as I recall it indicated that these were not very numerous.

Before the War between Sauron and the Elves, there were two sizable Noldorin polities. The greater and more numerous was Lindon, where there were also a large number of Sindar. The smaller was Eregion, where the Noldor established what we might call a “colony” outside the immediate control of Gil-galad. Depending upon which storyline you follow, its settlement might have been instigated by Galadriel, Celebrimbor, or both acting together. Though nominally under the suzerainty of Gil-galad as Noldorin High King, Eregion was essentially politically independent. After Gil-galad prevented Annatar (Sauron in disguise) from entering Lindon, Celebrimbor and the Mírdain (society of smiths) welcomed him in Eregion. When Galadriel, who was in Eregion, objected to the Mírdain’s welcome of Annatar, she was ostracized and left; she did not return to Lindon, but rather to Lothlórien, a kingdom of Silvan Elves ruled by Sindar.

Though it isn’t stated, it is very difficult to resist these conclusions

• The Noldor were divided politically from the beginning. The Sindar said the Noldor returned to Middle-earth for more room to argue.
• It sounds as if a lot of the surviving Fëanorians still in Middle-earth followed Celebrimbor and Galadriel to Eregion, where they exercised considerable political independence, including a close alliance with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm.
• Though smaller in population than Lindon, the Elves of Eregion were numerous, certainly many times the number of refugees who founded Rivendell. It had a city, Ost-in-Edhil, well-executed roads, and seems to have had numerous other settlements as well. It sounds as if the Tower of the Mírdain was a sort of guild hall, with most of the shops and smithies of its members throughout the city and country.
• The appearance of Annatar further fractured Noldorin polity, with Galadriel splitting off and moving even further [west [sic]] east [hat tip Belegorn], over the Misty Mountains.

We aren’t given any indication how many Mírdain there were, but it seems they were rather numerous. Proud and self-willed, it isn’t difficult to see that they would all want Rings of various sorts, and of course these Rings should enable the Elves wielding them to shrug off or even forestall the effects of time, as well as enhance other skills or abilities the smiths found useful or desirable. Celebrimbor made the Three by himself; you may well ask for whom he made them, and why did he make three instead of only one? I cannot answer that, except that it permits Tolkien to tell a great story! You might also argue whether he alone made them, or other smiths assisted. But there is no reason for the proud Smiths of Eregion to craft rings for the use of Mortal Men or Dwarves, and there was no particular reason for them to stop making Great Rings until they bored of the effort. After all, they were Noldor, and it was Art. Useful Art, but Art. Why did they make so many? I don’t know, but I think you might as well as ask a famous painter why he continues to paint: He enjoys it. That’s what he does.

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

]The appearance of Annatar further fractured Noldorin polity, with Galadriel splitting off and moving even further west, over the Misty Mountains.

That'd be East. Silvan Elves always under the rule of a Sinda or Noldo!

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

The smiths of Eregion made them for themselves.

I had never given this aspect of the Rings much thought before.

What does this say about the inherent malign nature of the rings that when in the hands of Men and Dwarves they had such pronounced negative impacts, especially in the case of men?

Could the prolonging of life granted by the Nine in particular have something to do with the Elvish desire, and power put into the rings, to slow the effects of time?

Or were the negative aspects of the rings all rooted in the existence of the One Ring?

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I had never given this aspect of the Rings much thought before.

What does this say about the inherent malign nature of the rings that when in the hands of Men and Dwarves they had such pronounced negative impacts, especially in the case of men?

Could the prolonging of life granted by the Nine in particular have something to do with the Elvish desire, and power put into the rings, to slow the effects of time?

Or were the negative aspects of the rings all rooted in the existence of the One Ring?

I think it was perhaps a mitigating of the fading effecting Elves that Felagund said was already apparent in the First Age that had such an effect on mortals. The Rings were meant to stay time, perhaps not only externally, I.e. Rivendell.

Rings = (1) Stay the fading where the spirit eats up the body, & (2) the effects of time in Middle-earth itself.

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Belegorn

I think it was perhaps a mitigating of the fading effecting Elves that Felagund said was already apparent in the First Age that had such an effect on mortals. The Rings were meant to stay time, perhaps not only externally, I.e. Rivendell.

Rings = (1) Stay the fading where the spirit eats up the body, & (2) the effects of time in Middle-earth itself.

That is exactly my position. It isn’t obvious from the readers’ point of view, is it? Only upon reflection does it become clear. As for staying time, I don’t that happens. When Sam wonders about the new moon as they leave Lórien, Legolas says, “time does not tarry ever, but change and growth is not in all things and places alike.” To which Aragorn adds that in Lórien, “time flowed swiftly by us, as for the Elves.” Tolkien called the Elves “embalmers”, a result of their desire to keep things as they are. The Rings, he says, were an attempt to achieve this, and by offering them the means to do it, Sauron ensnared them.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

What does this say about the inherent malign nature of the rings that when in the hands of Men and Dwarves they had such pronounced negative impacts, especially in the case of men?

For Elves, I think most of what we regard as “negative effects” were very much like handling a machine – and I use that word in all its meaning – that was both very useful and very dangerous. I wouldn’t want to take on a remodeling or building project without a power saw. If a child had that power saw, I’d make haste to get it from him as fast as possible! Men just were not able to handle the effects, not even a Númenórean prince. Remember what Gandalf told Frodo:

The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven-smiths they were but trifles – yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals. But the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, they were perilous.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Could the prolonging of life granted by the Nine in particular have something to do with the Elvish desire, and power put into the rings, to slow the effects of time?

Yes, that’s what I believe. I think it also slowed progress around them: once the Rings were rendered powerless, the Elves left for good, and Men began a long process of “’progress’, as it is called”, as Tolkien put it.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Or were the negative aspects of the rings all rooted in the existence of the One Ring?

For the Three, the negative aspects were rooted in the existence of the One. For the Seven and Nine, I don’t know: Sauron had somehow “tainted” them.

One of the prime features of the One Ring was that it allowed Sauron to “eavesdrop” on the minds of the wearers of the other Great Rings. (I don’t think that was true for the lesser rings, but we never see any of those.) Men were completely overwhelmed by Sauron’s will, so that the Nazgûl could no longer resist it. Returning to Gandalf’s conversation with Frodo,

A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings. Yes, sooner or later – later, if he is strong or well-meaning to begin with, but neither strength nor good purpose will last – sooner or later the dark power will devour him.

So even a good person will be overthrown. I don’t know if that’s inherent without Sauron’s invading the wearer’s mind, but Tolkien says the Nine were somehow “tainted” by him. I also think Gandalf had a specific person in mind: the Lord of the Nazgûl. In all probability he was a senior member of the House of Elros, probably a member of the Royal Council of Númenor, and quite possibly – likely, in my view – vice-regent in Umbar sometime after 1800 S.A. His counsels and influence can be clearly seen in the response of Tar-Atanamir to the embassy send by the Valar to his court. He and the other two Númenóreans were “the Shadow [that] fell on Númenor.”

Originally Posted by Zigûr

…the Seven and the Nine were only delineated as such through the distribution of Sauron; the Elves never intended their use by Men or Dwarves at all. Perhaps they believed that sixteen Great Rings was a useful number for their plans of preserving and beautifying Middle-earth.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

…they were probably convinced to produce this number of Rings by Sauron, who had probably already calculated how many Rings he would need to most effectively subjugate the world, and he told them some convenient lie for why sixteen was a good number. That being said, he reckoned without the Three, so perhaps before he seized the Great Rings the distribution plan was somewhat different, because presumably he would have needed to give a few of the Seven-and-Nine to Elves.

I am unsure of this. I suspect Sauron only began giving them out to Dwarves and Men after Durin III received his from Celebrimbor. I believe the Rings of Power were an attempt by Sauron to rule the Eldar in Middle-earth by controlling their leaders. In the middle of the Second Age, there were still a lot of Eldar in Middle-earth. Gil-galad, Círdan, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn, and Celebrimbor were only a few of their leaders, though they were probably the greatest. All sixteen of the Great Rings Sauron tainted seem to have had some power of rulership, authority, wealth – all things that would have been useful to Sauron in subjugating the Elves. You may be absolutely correct, Zigûr, but I think corrupting Men was an afterthought, a fall-back position for Sauron when his original intention was thwarted by Tar-Minastir and the Númenóreans. The Rings only inflamed greed and pride in the Dwarves, helpful to Sauron’s machinations, but not sufficient for him to control them.

Originally Posted by Gothmog, LoB

[T]he talk about the Elves being secretive about the Rings isn't very convincing, if you think about it. Not if Sauron truly did give three of the Nine to Númenóreans. The fact that Sauron had magical rings and once given them to various people must have been known. And Sauron wearing some ring in Númenor could easily have triggered the greed of the One.

Tolkien tells us Ar-Pharazôn knew nothing of the One Ring. Perhaps Pharazôn simply did not recognize it for what it was; maybe he didn’t even see it: Sam never saw Galadriel’s Ring, and Frodo could see it only after his vision of Sauron in the Mirror. Though Zigûr has already cited the passage, I think it bears repeating,

Originally Posted by Zigûr

In Letter 211, however, Professor Tolkien does state that "I do not think Ar-Pharazôn knew anything about the One Ring. The Elves kept the matter of the Rings very secret, as long as they could. In any case Ar-Pharazôn was not in communication with them."

That means that when the Númenórean expeditionary force arrive in 1700 S.A., Tar-Minastir’s fleet and soldiers did not know why Sauron was attacking Gil-galad: they only knew he was, and in honor of their ancient alliance with the Eldar of Beleriand, they fought beside their ancient friends and allies.

If you think about it, it makes perfectly good sense. How else could Sauron ensnare three Númenórean noblemen (for they were surely commanders in Middle-earth) with Great Rings? Had they known about the Rings, they’d have all suspected a trap when some rich, handsome, brilliant fellow in Middle-earth came bearing gifts, a mysterious salesmen with magic trinkets.

As for the One Ring’s arousing passion to seize it in Númenor, I suspect you have not thought through the position. The One Ring belonged to Sauron: it was his, and his alone. Its power of arousing jealously was part of its “programming”. Nor Sam, nor Merry, nor Pippin ever felt any urge to take the Ring from Frodo. Boromir did: but Boromir was useful to the Ring! He would have exposed its whereabouts to Sauron, who’d eventually have found him and relieved him of it – to Sauron’s advantage!; and moreover, Boromir was a much greater person than Frodo. Faramir was tempted, but resisted the temptation in humility and obedience to his position as Heir of the Steward rather than as a King. (If you remember, Frodo and Sam told Faramir that the Heir of Isildur was coming to Minas Tirith.) Aragorn, if he was tempted at all, resisted it, too.

But to some people, Frodo actually offered the Ring! He urged it upon Gandalf; he gave it to Bombadil without hesitation; he jumped up in alarm when Elrond revealed that Aragorn was Isildur’s Heir, and though he didn’t offer it outright, expected Aragorn to take it; and he offered it to Galadriel. All of these people were far greater persons in power and ability than Frodo. The Ring itself was looking for a powerful keeper. In the case of Sméagol’s murder of Déagol, perhaps Sméagol was the “greater” of the two; but in any case, he seems the more wicked: he did not hesitate to kill his friend.

A strong case can be made that the Dúnedain only found out about the Rings of Power when Sauron attacked the new Kingdom of Gondor at the end of the Second Age, and Elendil forged the Last Alliance with Gil-galad. Only then, I think, did the Númenóreans learn the truth, and even then, not all of it. If Ar-Pharazôn knew nothing of the One Ring, Tar-Minastir did not, either. Elendil had to ask, How it is possible that Sauron was not destroyed in the Ruin of Númenor, Maia though he was? Gil-galad, Elrond, and Círdan told Elendil and Isildur (and eventually Anárion) only in desperation so that their allies could finally understand what they were up against.

This brings us to the famous Ring-rhyme.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

The Ring-rhyme is surely a rhyme of lore out of Arnor! That it was well-known among the Elves is how Gandalf described it to Frodo; but I don’t think the Elves needed a rhyme of lore to remember the details. Nor were these particular rhymes of lore widespread among the Dúnedain of Arnor. They were likely rhymes taught to the royal household and nobles so that “state secrets” were reliably transmitted from generation to generation. The palantíri, the subject of another rhyme of lore, were secret even before Elendil left Númenor: otherwise, Ar-Pharazôn would have seized them. As for the Ring-rhyme, it might have been well-known among the rulers of the Eldar, but it’s not likely IMO the Elves sitting in the trees in Rivendell teasing Bilbo and Dwarves knew it.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

I'm also not convinced how well Sauron's identity was known, such that people could realise the following people were actually the same person:
1. The person who had waged a great war against Eregion
2. The person who had set himself up as the 'King of Men' in Middle-earth, with his chief stronghold in Mordor
3. The person who had given Rings to Men and Dwarves (they might not have even known at the time that anyone other than them had Rings; we don't know the circumstances in which Sauron distributed them. Did he just show up one day or did he do it publicly?)
4. The Lieutenant of Morgoth who had suspiciously disappeared at the end of the First Age.

As soon as Sauron spoke the spell (the two lines embedded in the Ring-rhyme) and put on the One Ring, Celebrimbor and the other smiths “heard” the spell. I think at that point they knew who he was. Sauron never hid who he was in Mordor, and the Elves knew he was Morgoth’s lieutenant. The Elves and Númenóreans knew exactly who Sauron was after he completed the One Ring about 1600 S.A.

But think you are absolutely correct about the person who had given Rings to Men and Dwarves. For the Dwarves, Sauron probably cozened them first, in disguise (as he done as Annatar) offering them Rings that likely improved skills in their arts, the same skills the Noldor valued: smithying, stonework, and other crafts. Perhaps the fact that there were Seven Rings and Seven Houses of Dwarves, coupled with Celebrimbor’s giving the first of them to Durin, suggested this to Sauron. There do not seem to have been nine houses of Men, but he used the Nine to ensnare them. Some Men worshipped Sauron: they would take Rings from him in his own persona. The three Númenóreans must have met him wearing some other guise.

[Gothmog, LoB]

@Zigûr & Alcuin:

I've just rechecked the context of letter #211, and it actually did lead to a revision of LotR on the whole O/A discrepancy that is discussed earlier.

Earlier Akallabêth versions do not include the lines about Sauron taking up the Great Ring, so it would make sense to assume Tolkien's thoughts on the whole questions raised there might also have affected his later rewriting of The Akallabêth.

After all, that letter was written in 1958.

Anyway, in universe Ar-Pharazôn might not have known about the One Ring but once Tolkien had decided that three Nazgûl were going to be powerful Númenóreans it would be very difficult to imagine the Kings of Númenor never getting information about the Rings of Power - or rather that Sauron was giving away such Rings.

I don't think Gil-galad and the Elves told Minastir and his people what exactly was going on but they must have known that some old servant of Morgoth's had returned, and so on.
And once the Númenóreans had established their permanent colonies further down south they would also have clashed with Sauron occasionally.

We don't know where the dwarves and men lived who received the Seven and Nine, so the tale about Sauron giving them away could easily have reached the ears of the Númenóreans. And the effects the Rings had on the three Númenóreans who became Nazgûl must have not escaped the others. Perhaps they didn't know what was going on, perhaps they never found out, but they would eventually have learned that Ring-wraiths existed in Middle-earth, and that should have enabled them to connect the dots.

Even if not, the question is whether Sauron would have known and risked losing the Ring to Ar-Pharazôn? I mean, the man could have searched him, could even have forced him to undress and hand him all valuables. Sauron's plan was based on winning the trust of the Númenóreans and he most certainly had to spring to quite a few hoops before he won the trust of the King.

And I simply find the idea that he would have taken the Ring with him under such circumstances very unlikely indeed. Especially in light of the quotes from the actual texts.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

For the Three, the negative aspects were rooted in the existence of the One. For the Seven and Nine, I don’t know: Sauron had somehow “tainted” them.

If the existence of the One was enough to render the Rings harmful to the Elves, that would probably be enough to render the other Rings corrupt given the lesser spiritual strength of humans and dwarves.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Gothmog, LoB

Not to mention that the talk about the Elves being secretive about the Rings isn't very convincing, if you think about it. Not if Sauron truly did give three of the Nine to Númenóreans. The fact that Sauron had magical rings and once given them to various people must have been known.

It's possible, but I can also imagine that the possessors of the Nine might have kept them fairly secret in order to not risk attracting the greed of others. I'm also not convinced how well Sauron's identity was known, such that people could realise the following people were actually the same person:
1. The person who had waged a great war against Eregion
2. The person who had set himself up as the 'King of Men' in Middle-earth, with his chief stronghold in Mordor
3. The person who had given Rings to Men and Dwarves (they might not have even known at the time that anyone other than them had Rings; we don't know the circumstances in which Sauron distributed them. Did he just show up one day or did he do it publicly?)
4. The Lieutenant of Morgoth who had suspiciously disappeared at the end of the First Age.

How long might it have taken for people to draw these connections? We as readers operate from the convenient position of reading at the end of the Third Age, when all of these puzzles had been figured out.

Originally Posted by Alcuin

But there is no reason for the proud Smiths of Eregion to craft rings for the use of Mortal Men or Dwarves, and there was no particular reason for them to stop making Great Rings until they bored of the effort. After all, they were Noldor, and it was Art. Useful Art, but Art. Why did they make so many? I don’t know, but I think you might as well as ask a famous painter why he continues to paint: He enjoys it. That’s what he does.

To the best of my knowledge, the Seven and the Nine were only delineated as such through the distribution of Sauron; the Elves never intended their use by Men or Dwarves at all. Perhaps they believed that sixteen Great Rings was a useful number for their plans of preserving and beautifying Middle-earth. That being said, I imagine they were probably convinced to produce this number of Rings by Sauron, who had probably already calculated how many Rings he would need to most effectively subjugate the world, and he told them some convenient lie for why sixteen was a good number. That being said, he reckoned without the Three, so perhaps before he seized the Great Rings the distribution plan was somewhat different, because presumably he would have needed to give a few of the Seven-and-Nine to Elves.