The (Three) Elven Rings Of Power
@forgetthepastbelieveyourfut-blog asked, (in reply to this: Why Elrond Couldn’t Have Destroyed The One Ring) :
“I did not read every books, so I’ll do with what I know/think. You’re telling us about Elrond’s ring but wasn’t it Gil Galad’s first? He died/disappeared? during the last alliance as I understood it, but did he already gave the ring to Elrond by this point?”
This is a good question! The ring was originally Gil-Galad’s. Celebrimbor gave Nenya to Galadriel, and Narya and Vilya to Gil-Galad. Gil-Galad gave Narya to Círdan, (Lord of the Havens of Mithlond), who was his lieutenant at the time, and kept Vilya for himself.
Vilya was the most powerful of the three Elven rings. Gil-Galad received it when Sauron laid waste to Eregion, as he was considered the best person to wield the most powerful of the three rings as he was the high King of the Noldor at the time. Late in the Second Age, the ring was trusted to Elrond, Gil-Galad’s herald and second-in-command, whilst in the stronghold of Imladris, before Gil-Galad marched on Mordor for the Battle of Dagorlad and the Siege of Barad- dûr, where he ultimately perished in single combat with Elendil against Sauron.
During the Third Age, Círdan gave his ring to Olorin, a Maiar sent from Valinor to help the people of Middle Earth resist evil. The ring itself has the power to help others resist despair and domination by evil forces, which makes it a good fit for its last owner, who bore it into the West at the end of the Third Age. Never heard of Olorin, who appears to be somewhat important? You have – you just know him as Gandalf.
(And Galadriel sailed with her ring too – which granted protection and preservation to the extent that it was said that Lothlórien wouldn’t have fallen unless Sauron had personally come to attack it, at the price of strengthening her longing for the Sea and the Undying Lands – just in case you were wondering.)
