What Powered The Three?

[Ivriniel]

I have stumbled on an inconsistency -- maybe -- in Ring Lore. We are told Sauron had to imbue his Ring with his very essence to amp it up to critical threshold, enough to subsume dominance over the lot.

Sauron did not touch the Three. I don't see anywhere anything about 'three Elves' pouring 'their essences' into Elvish Rings, (or for that matter, any vampiric 'nett draining' of Elvish People's on mass). So how did Celebrimbor manage to create *three* Rings - one of which if we look at Galadriel's realm halted time or something.

Was the Time Stop effect unique to her Ring. What was the "special" power equivalent of Ereinion's Ring (the most powerful) and the Third - Fire. So what.

Does anyone know?

[Pitchwife]

Hail, Giantfriend! Long time no read.

It boots little, methinks, to consider the Rings of Power as engines dependent on either an inbuilt fuel cell or an external energy source; nor do I think that the way Sauron imbued the One with his will and power was categorically different from the way every maker imbues their creations with some of their own personalities, values, desires, and the greater the art the greater the maker's control over what and how much of them gets put into the product (see the little story The Faithful Stone in UT for an illustration of the principle).

Now Sauron, he was all about power and domination, so the will and power to dominate was what he put into his creation. The smiths of Eregion desired other things - preservation of what they kept, restoration of (a semblance of) what they had lost, so it was these desires that guided them in the making of their rings.

As for the Three, it would seem that Nenya was an instrument of preservation, used by Galadriel to create and preserve in Lothlórien an echo of the Undying Lands she had been exiled from, and fiddling with time was just part of its modus operandi. About Narya we have Círdan's words when he gave it to Gandalf:

Originally Posted by Unfinished Tales, The Istari

'It was entrusted to me only to keep secret, and here upon the West-shores it is idle; but I deem that in days ere long to come it should be in nobler hands than mine, that may wield it for the kindling of all hearts to courage.'

Judging from this, I'd guess that Narya's special purpose was to inspire and wake courage and dedication. About Vilya we have very little, but it may have had something to do with Elrond's renowned healing powers (restoration).

We don't know how the Three accomplished their functions, but I don't think they were powered by anything else than the enchantments wrought into them by the art of their makers, and to explain how these worked would mean to explain the nature of Elven 'magic' in general. We might as well ask what powered the cloaks of the Fellowship or Sam's hithlain rope or the Lady's starglass. They work the way they do because they were made to, and that's it.

Or at least this is my take on the matter.

[Andsigil]

Good question.

None of this is canon; just some semi-educated w.a.g.-ing on my part, but I've always had the impression that Middle Earth was a world born of immense magical energy that depleted slowly over the eons.

The most powerful dwarves, men, and elves were always the oldest. This is especially true of the elves who were either old enough to have seen the light of Valinor, and/or those of the oldest and most distinguished lineages. Galadriel was the last of the elves in the 3rd age, for example, who saw Valinor, and she remained the most powerful because of it.

Celebrimbor, though born in Middle Earth, was nonetheless the grandson of Feanor, the greatest elven smith and the son of Curufin, the son most like Feanor. "Feanor" meant "spirit of fire"and was written in a way (at least to me) which gave the impression that he radiated inner energy and power. That light was barely dimmed in his grandson.

Compare Feanor's creation, imbued(?) with his inner power and energy: the Silmarils. They were Valar-level and world-changing relics. Similarly, the Three Rings were Celebrimbor's creation, imbued with his inner power and energy. They, too were world-changing relics, but for all their greatness, they were slightly more modest (Maiar-level if you will?) in their power.

I hope I was able to articulate my version of all this with at least a modicum of acceptability.

Cheers.

Addendum: This depletion of power over generations is not in a straight line, but more of a trend. Much as the stock market has peaks and valleys, while overall going up over the decades, so does the inherited power of ME heroes have peaks and valleys while going down. This explains why, for example, Aragorn could hold his own with the heroes of old (the quote or quotes on this escape me, sorry) despite being around at the advent of the Fourth Age.

[Belegorn]

I've no idea what the power source is for the Three. Perhaps in their design to do specific things, they draw on the power or essence of the wielder to work. The One itself draws on the power that is already in it and it can only be fully accessed by some really mighty folk.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Belegorn

I've no idea what the power source is for the Three. Perhaps in their design to do specific things, they draw on the power or essence of the wielder to work. The One itself draws on the power that is already in it and it can only be fully accessed by some really mighty folk.

It isn't apparent to me why Celebrimbor would have endowed the Three with different respective powers. They weren't intended for any specific user, and the "Fire", "Air", and "Water" designations may have thus been only for cosmetic reasons with respect to their stones.

The purpose behind their making was to promote general healing and preservation, and that power would have to have been drawn from the fea of the maker(s). The specific use of that power and its manifestation would have been colored by the individual will and desires of the keeper.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

It isn't apparent to me why Celebrimbor would have endowed the Three with different respective powers. They weren't intended for any specific user, and the "Fire", "Air", and "Water" designations may have thus been only for cosmetic reasons with respect to their stones.

The purpose behind their making was to promote general healing and preservation, and that power would have to have been drawn from the fea of the maker(s). The specific use of that power and its manifestation would have been colored by the individual will and desires of the keeper.

I agree. I think the way the Three were used does not necessarily correlate with some "specialisation" on the part of the respective Rings, just the priorities and necessities of their wielders. For instance, Rivendell was not quite a "Land out of Time" to the same extent as Lothlórien, but it seems to me that similar effects of "staying" and preservation were used through Vilya and Nenya in their respective locations.

What Círdan said of Narya, by this logic, could probably be applied to all of them; it may have simply been that Narya was the one Círdan was discussing at the time.

Interestingly, Círdan's claim that Narya was "idle" in his care suggests that Lindon was not under the same "staying" effect as Rivendell or Lórien.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Interestingly, Círdan's claim that Narya was "idle" in his care suggests that Lindon was not under the same "staying" effect as Rivendell or Lórien.

Agreed. Mithlond predated the creation of the Three, and had not been established with any parallel to Rivendell or Lórien. Its role had nothing to do with "preservation", and Círdan seemingly could find no use for Narya there.

[denethorthefirst]

Even an Elda as powerful as Celebrimbor could not create "power" ex nihilo. So the power of the 19 Rings had to come from somewhere. Sadly, Tolkien never explained that, as he never in detail wrote about "magic" in his world and how it worked exactly.

I have two theories:


1. The elven Rings as a national project.

The Elven Rings were not the work of a single Elf but a collective project. The remaining Noldor in Eregion and Lindon pooled their collective power into the Rings, like Sauron did with the One, in order to achieve their objective: re-create Valinor in Middle-Earth. That way it also becomes believable how Sauron could hope to enslave the Noldor through the rings: the nineteen rings, if worn and used by the elven leaders, would give him access and control over their collective spiritual being. I do not quite believe that, its a bit of a wonky idea.


2. The elven Rings "tapped into" the dispersed power of the Valar.

There is the fan-theory floating around that the One Ring somehow enabled Sauron to control the "Morgoth-Element". Its a convenient theory that explains how Sauron somehow became more powerful after the forging of the One Ring even though his planned scheme utterly failed. What if the other 19 Rings worked in the same way, but instead of controlling the Morgoth Element they would allow the wearers to control the "elements" of the other Valar and other powerful Maiar, who, like Morgoth, although on a lesser scale, poured their power into Arda during its shaping?

For example: Narya, the Ring of Fire, would allow the wearer to control the Aule-(or Varda?)Element, Nenya, the Ring of Water, would allow the wearer to control the Ulmo-Element, and Vilya, the Ring of Air, would allow the wearer to control the Manwe-Element, and so on. Maybe thats why those three Rings were the most powerful of the 19 Elven Rings, because they allowed the wearer to control the dispersed power of the three most powerful of the Valar: Manwe, Aule (or Varda) und Ulmo. It would also explain why Vilya was the most powerful of the Three.

In this theory the Noldor would in effect "usurp" the power the Valar, and I am not quite sure if that could be considered as a „blasphemous“ act. It would certainly rhyme with the rebellious and somewhat anti-valinorean character of the (exiled) Noldor. Was this the „Sales-Pitch“ of Annatar: to use the dispersed Power of the Valar to create a second, independent Valinor in Middle-Earth? Maybe that could be one of the reason for the rift between the Wood-Elves and the Noldor in the Second Age? The Wood-Elves under Oropher maybe moved as far away from the Noldor as possible not only for political reasons but also because they rejected this form of magic as blasphemous, unnatural and antithetical to their Way of Life and their „back to the roots“-worldview?

But, if that is the case, then why did Gandalf, an emissary of the Valar, use one of the Three? So that part does not quite work. A lot of open questions. Of course I cant back that up with quotes, its just my head canon.