Rings of Power revisited

[Michael Martinez]

Hi, folks.

Sorry for being away so long. My road trip lasted two weeks and I had to immediately start taking care of a lot of tasks when I got home last Saturday.

I'll try to stop by later this week. And I thought you all might be interested in my latest Suite101 article.


What possessed the Elves of Eregion to make Rings of Power, and what did they actually try to do with the Rings?

"Middle-earth Connections: Lore of the Rings" is a detailed examination of the motivations behind the Elves' creaion of the Rings of Power, and some speculations on how the Rings may have been used.

[Finduilas]

I read it, and it was much more fascinating than the movie based articles. A definite thought provoking article

[Spock1]

Not to sound too dull, but for those who have not read the article and have precious time to do so; would you give us a synopsis of the facts.
To post such a thread with only tantalyzing hints is indeed thought provoking in the least.

:)

[anduin]

I must be an idiot, I can't seem to find the article....even though I have been to suite101 before to read MM's articles. Would someone be so kind to post a link? Thanks in advance. :)

[Fat middle]

www.suite101.com/article....kien/43808 (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/tolkien/43808)

i cannot comment cuz i haven´t read it yet

[Michael Martinez]

I would be hard pressed to faithfully summarize the article. I started out trying to do something like the "Connections" series that is produced on PBS (or was -- maybe it's now moved to one of the cable channels). What they do with each show is follow a winding trail of logic and invention through history, starting out with some obscure device and ending back up with it.

But as I wrote the essay I found I was influenced by a recent debate I was engaged in on Xenite.Org's White Council concerning the nature of Good and Evil in Tolkien. This debate was inspired by my harsh criticism of Terry Pratchett over an article he published in the Washington Post last month. Pratchett took the 2-dimensional view and said there were Good and Bad races in Tolkien.

I pointed out (in the White Council debate) that the Elves actually committed greater evil than the Orcs. It was the Elves who created the Rings of Power (under Sauron's guidance). And they made the Rings for purely selfish reasons.

My article cites Tolkien in various letters as he discusses the Elves' motivations and what they were trying to achieve, and why the Rings of Power were so important to them. They were doomed to fade if they stayed in Middle-earth, and they wanted to remain there but live as they always had. Sauron offered them the chance to create their own Aman, and some of the Elves took the bait.

But later, after Sauron's goals were revealed and the Elves had paid dearly for their mistakes, Elrond and Galadriel chose to use the Rings given to them in the Third Age. Their use of the Rings makes their morality suspect, and I believe it is in part because of their use of the Rings that they feel responsible for helping bring about Sauron's final demise. But they must still depart over Sea because the Rings have empowered them at a heavy cost.

[Fat middle]

Great article MM! i´ve ejoyed reading it and it gives me new light for understanding the fading of elves and their feeling about.

Now i think i see under a new shape those scenes of LOTR that show the fading: the "council" of the Three at the foot of Caradhras and the passinf of the elves through The Shire to the Havens.

I like your theory of the fading of the "elder" elves and the delay given by the Rings, but i have one question: what about Cirdan and his people? He is one of the "elder" (with his beard and all :p ), and there are no rings around his territory.

I guess we must assume that surely he used the his ring during a period of time and that the effects were permanente though the ring were no more close to him. But his people would be fading or parting in the ships. What do you think?

[Michael Martinez]

Cirdan kept a Ring of Power for a long time, and the Rings didn't have to be worn to hold back the effects of Time, although over at Xenite.Org we're debating (I think) whether the Rings had to be consciously used to benefit the lands that experienced a slowing of the effects of Time.

I think that he must have felt less of an effect, however, since he didn't consciously use Narya, whereas Elrond and Galadriel seem to have consciously used Vilya and Nenya.