Understand how the Rings of Power and the One Ring were made and how this part joins “The Silmarillion” to “The Lord of the Rings.”
Guide to this part
The Rings, Sauron, and a bridge to “The Lord of the Rings”
The last part links the ancient days to the age of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” In the Second Age, after Morgoth's fall, his servant Sauron, a Maia once in Aulë's service, seeks to rule Middle-earth “for its own good,” through order and power.
As “Annatar, Lord of Gifts,” he teaches smithcraft to the Elves of Eregion, whose smiths, led by Celebrimbor (Fëanor's grandson), forge the Rings of Power. But in secret, deep in Orodruin (Mount Doom), Sauron forges the One Ring, to rule all the others. He puts part of his power into it, hence its might and danger.
When Sauron puts on the One, the Elves hear his voice in their minds, see the deceit, and take off their Three Rings (untouched by Sauron, and pure). In the war Eregion is laid waste and Celebrimbor killed. The Rings: Three for the Elves (Nenya, Narya, Vilya), Seven for the Dwarves, Nine for Men, whose nine lords become the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths.
At the end of the Second Age the Last Alliance of Elves and Men (Gil-galad and Elendil) overthrows Sauron. Isildur cuts the Ring from his hand with the shard of Narsil but keeps it. The Ring is lost in the Anduin and, ages later, comes to Gollum and Bilbo. Then comes “The Lord of the Rings”: the Third Age ends with the Ring destroyed, Sauron's fall, Aragorn's crowning, and the Elves (and the Ring-bearers) leaving over the Sea.
Lesson notes
The Rings, Sauron, and a bridge to “The Lord of the Rings”
The last part links the ancient days to the age of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” In the Second Age, after Morgoth's fall, his servant Sauron, a Maia once in Aulë's service, seeks to rule Middle-earth “for its own good,” through order and power.
As “Annatar, Lord of Gifts,” he teaches smithcraft to the Elves of Eregion, whose smiths, led by Celebrimbor (Fëanor's grandson), forge the Rings of Power. But in secret, deep in Orodruin (Mount Doom), Sauron forges the One Ring, to rule all the others. He puts part of his power into it, hence its might and danger.
When Sauron puts on the One, the Elves hear his voice in their minds, see the deceit, and take off their Three Rings (untouched by Sauron, and pure). In the war Eregion is laid waste and Celebrimbor killed. The Rings: Three for the Elves (Nenya, Narya, Vilya), Seven for the Dwarves, Nine for Men, whose nine lords become the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths.
At the end of the Second Age the Last Alliance of Elves and Men (Gil-galad and Elendil) overthrows Sauron. Isildur cuts the Ring from his hand with the shard of Narsil but keeps it. The Ring is lost in the Anduin and, ages later, comes to Gollum and Bilbo. Then comes “The Lord of the Rings”: the Third Age ends with the Ring destroyed, Sauron's fall, Aragorn's crowning, and the Elves (and the Ring-bearers) leaving over the Sea.
Power, fading, and the completion of the legendarium
The Rings are about power and time. The Elven Rings are not for war: they preserve, heal, and hold back fading (this is how Rivendell and Lothlórien endure). But they are bound to the One: destroying Sauron's Ring quenches the power of the Three too, and the Elves must leave. This is a recurring motif in Tolkien: magic leaving the world as the age of Men begins.
The pride of knowledge. The Elves of Eregion fell not to the sword but to the temptation to create beautiful things and hold on to them; Sauron played on exactly that. An echo of Fëanor and Númenor: the urge to possess and never let go destroys once more.
Who holds the Three Rings. Vilya (air) is Elrond's; Nenya (water), Galadriel's; Narya (fire), Círdan's, then Gandalf's. Knowing this turns the ending of “The Lord of the Rings” into a direct continuation of “The Silmarillion.”
Closing the circle. The book began with the Music of the Ainur and the making of the world, passed through the light of the Trees, the Silmarils, and the falls of the Noldor, of Men, and of kings, and ends with the last Elves departing into the West. Evil (Morgoth, then Sauron) is defeated every time, but the world grows irreversibly poorer in light. So “The Silmarillion” joins “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” in a single legendarium.