Current Events > What does the ring of power do for Sauron exactly?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Gives him the power to put another eye tower next to another one

yknow, to have two to see better

Gives him the power to turn invisible obviously

You saw what happened when Frodo put it on

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That was his primary goal, yes.

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No. Prior to the Rings being made he was mostly known as the 2nd in command to the first Dark Lord, the fallen Vala, Morgoth. After Morgoth's defeat he stayed quiet for awhile until he appeared (in disguise) to the elves and convinced them to help make the other Rings.

Sauron version of horcrux made him immortal

Makes him look very fashionable.

The Ring just completes his outfit in a way that makes it abundantly clear that without it Sauron doesn't have "the fit" and therefore, isn't fit to rule middle earth.

DB_Insider posted...

Sauron version of horcrux made him immortal

Hes still technically immortal. He just no longer has a corporeal form or something. And no power. Just a breeze in the wind

The One Ring gives Sauron wildly different powers that Frodo simply because when Sauron puts it on, it's not on his finger. I'll never forgive the movies for screwing up that one very important detail.

masterpug53 posted...

The One Ring gives Sauron wildly different powers that Frodo simply because when Sauron puts it on, it's not on his finger. I'll never forgive the movies for screwing up that one very important detail.

Where does he wear in the books?

modena posted...

Where does he wear in the books?

His finger. Sauron in the books does have physical form. Gollum describes his hand as having only four fingers.

The Ring boosts Sauron's power to the max and allows him to control the other ringbearers. He already has control over the men, the dwarf rings are either reclaimed by him or destroyed, but the elven rings would be game over

Sauron would recover his old power, in essence.

modena posted...

Where does he wear in the books?

He was making a joke about it being a cock-ring.

Basically, the One Ring is not just a ring: it contains a huge amount of his magic power (he had to put that into it because he planned to use it to control all the people wearing their rings, and the elves would have been hard to dominate). When he's wearing it, he's basically at 100% strength. But if it's destroyed, all the power just goes with it and he's reduced to almost nothing.

It's just a really nice ring okay

Brings his whole ensemble together

KanWan posted...

Gives him the power to put another eye tower next to another one

yknow, to have two to see better

Depth perception is important!

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The elves kept their rings hidden from him and were much sharper than the men. Also, the Elven rings were forged in different circumstances and not as subject to his influence

Also, he didn't give her the ring. Celebrimbor the Smith gave the elven rings to the elven rulers. These were made in secret

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Because Galadriel is a total domme. If you look closely at shots of Celeborn you can see the hithlain rope-burns around his wrists and ankles.

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He didn't give the ring to her. The elven rings were made without his knowing, and when he put his ring on he could sense them. That's why he went to war with the elves to claim them. And he would have been able to control them, so Galadriel and the others actually took their rings off while he held the one to avoid that.

Doesn't it give him the power to rule over the other lesser rings he gave to the other races?

VeggetaX posted...

Doesn't it give him the power to rule over the other lesser rings he gave to the other races?

Yes. Because he learned the art from Celebrimbor, he was able to incorporate that into the One.

In other words, even if he didn't personally make the other three, there's still a connection and the One can control them

VeggetaX posted...

Doesn't it give him the power to rule over the other lesser rings he gave to the other races?

That is how the Nazgul were made. It would have worked on the elves, if they had not sensed his intentions and took the rings off. It did not work on the dwarves, because they had differences in how they (the dwarves, not the rings) were created. Sauron did not like that, the dwarves ended up losing all their rings. Four destroyed by dragons, Sauron reclaimed the other three.

LightSnake posted...

Yes. Because he learned the art from Celebrimbor, he was able to incorporate that into the One.

In other words, even if he didn't personally make the other three, there's still a connection and the One can control them

Oh Celeby isn't a fanfic character created for that wb game? He's part of the canon?

They saw themselves in the mirror liked what they saw and put a ring on it.

saspa posted...

Oh Celeby isn't a fanfic character created for that wb game? He's part of the canon?

Yes. Celebrimbor is the son of Curufin and grandson of Feanor, the greatest craftsman of the Noldor Elves. Curufin was Feanor's favorite son and the most like his dad in crafting talent, which he passed to Celebrimbor

https://youtu.be/WKU0qDpu3AM

Tl;dnw - for Sauron, it basically acts as a buff to his powers and weakens the resistence of others, it makes the person wearing it incredibly visible in his realm (while being invisible in ours), and it corrupts the mind of the ringwearer to do Sauron's bidding.

Also note what it took to fight him the last time he had the ring. Compared to that era, mem an elves are signicantly weaker. So his return at max power would be a huge problem.

LightSnake posted...

Yes. Because he learned the art from Celebrimbor, he was able to incorporate that into the One.

In other words, even if he didn't personally make the other three, there's still a connection and the One can control them

Backwards, he taught Celebrimbor the art. And because it's Sauron's technique, the 3 rings are controlled by the One even though Sauron didn't have a hand in actually making them. The same is true of the ring Sarumon made himself, even though it was an imperfect imitation of Sauron's technique.

AH, right. Sorry, lore is sometimes a lot

DB_Insider posted...

Sauron version of horcrux made him immortal

He was an angelic being like Gandalf and Saruman, so he was already immortal.

it gets him 10% off selected items at costco

DarkChozoGhost posted...

Backwards, he taught Celebrimbor the art. And because it's Sauron's technique, the 3 rings are controlled by the One even though Sauron didn't have a hand in actually making them. The same is true of the ring Sarumon made himself, even though it was an imperfect imitation of Sauron's technique.

We have no evidence of that one way or another with Sarumans ring. We dont even have evidence it really had power. It was just something he briefly mentioned once, foreshadowing his corruption, then was never mentioned again.

the primary thing it does is ties his essence to middle earth, which gives him dominion over it and makes him immortal. all the other rings impart control of the world to the bearers in relation to their own personal power and ability, its why rivendell and lothlorien are untouched by time and why the dwarven ring holders gained massive amounts of wealth while they held them. the one ring does the same thing but greater, because you're talking about a ring crafted by a god, and also acts as a way to control the other races who have been 'infected' by the lesser rings.

even with the ring destroyed he's still tied to middle earth, its just that he imparted so much of his 'soul' into the ring that its destruction left him so dispersed that he cant really do anything. i think tolkien called his state little more then a shadow after the ring was gone.

monkmith posted...

the primary thing it does is ties his essence to middle earth, which gives him dominion over it and makes him immortal. all the other rings impart control of the world to the bearers in relation to their own personal power and ability, its why rivendell and lothlorien are untouched by time and why the dwarven ring holders gained massive amounts of wealth while they held them. the one ring does the same thing but greater, because you're talking about a ring crafted by a god, and also acts as a way to control the other races who have been 'infected' by the lesser rings.

even with the ring destroyed he's still tied to middle earth, its just that he imparted so much of his 'soul' into the ring that its destruction left him so dispersed that he cant really do anything. i think tolkien called his state little more then a shadow after the ring was gone.

Saurons soul was already tied to the world. That was true of all Ainur that chose to enter it, rather than staying with Eru in the Timeless Halls. Though yes, destroying the Ring destroyed so much of his power that he became a powerless spirit that would never again be able to regain strength or cause trouble.

Also, Sauron isn't a god, he's a fallen Maiar (angel, basically). Same order of being as Gandalf and the other Istari, and possibly the Balrogs? I think Tolkein didn't quite make up his mind about the Balrogs being fallen Maiar before he died.

Metal_Gear_Raxis posted...

Also, Sauron isn't a god, he's a fallen Maiar (angel, basically). Same order of being as Gandalf and the other Istari, and possibly the Balrogs? I think Tolkein didn't quite make up his mind about the Balrogs being fallen Maiar before he died.

I thought that was one thing that was pretty much set in stone.

It gives him the ability to tell the difference between butter and I Can't Believe it's Not Butter.

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Hes the same as the wizards. Maiar. With out his armies hes not much. Hes a Lich so destroy the ring you destroy him.

KanWan posted...

Gives him the power to put another eye tower next to another one

yknow, to have two to see better

Everyone knows if you are playing a tower defense you need multiples next to each other to prevent infantry spam...

On a serious note - why did he want dominion over the elf ring wearers? The men were already nazgul, the dwarves (from this thread) weren't an issue...

it gives him the power to rule them all

duh

Metal_Gear_Raxis posted...

Also, Sauron isn't a god, he's a fallen Maiar (angel, basically). Same order of being as Gandalf and the other Istari, and possibly the Balrogs? I think Tolkein didn't quite make up his mind about the Balrogs being fallen Maiar before he died.

I believe dragons too.

Ruvan22 posted...

Everyone knows if you are playing a tower defense you need multiples next to each other to prevent infantry spam...

On a serious note - why did he want dominion over the elf ring wearers? The men were already nazgul, the dwarves (from this thread) weren't an issue...

I mean. The Elves were extremely powerful. He had been beefing with them for millenia. Enslaving and corrupting them would be the ultimate power move.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Ring

The One Ring was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron during the Second Age to gain dominion over the free peoples of Middle-earth. In his deceptive disguise as Annatar, or "Lord of Gifts", he aided the Elven smiths of Eregion and their leader Celebrimbor in the making of the Rings of Power. He then secretly and deceitfully forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.[T 1]
Sauron intended it to be the most powerful of all Rings, able to rule and control those who wore the others. Since the other Rings were powerful on their own, Sauron was obliged to place much of his own power into the One to achieve his purpose.[T 2]
Creating the Ring simultaneously strengthened and weakened Sauron. With the Ring, he could control the power of all the other Rings, and thus he was significantly more powerful after its creation than before;[T 3] but by binding his power within the Ring, Sauron became dependent on it.

In other words, it completes him. The rings of power do nothing for him other than give him control if he has his ring and other wear them.

Ruvan22 posted...

Everyone knows if you are playing a tower defense you need multiples next to each other to prevent infantry spam...

On a serious note - why did he want dominion over the elf ring wearers? The men were already nazgul, the dwarves (from this thread) weren't an issue...

No they were not. When he first put the Ring on, the elves had all the Rings. They realized what Sauron was up to, took them off. This started the War of the Elves and Sauron. Which led to Eregions (where the Rings were made) destruction and taking all the Rings, except the three which were hidden. The elves would have lost that war, if Gil-Galad had not asked for help from Numenor and got it. Numenor drove Sauron back, but he stilll had the rings and gave out the 7 and 9. 9 worked, as I noted the 7 did not. The 3 went unworn for something like 2000 years, until he lost the Ring to Isildur.

The elves, even if weakened over the ages were probably his greatest enemy. He wanted them defeated. He wanted to control everyone. The point of the rings was to control powerful lords who could help him conquer everything.

Ruvan22 posted...

Everyone knows if you are playing a tower defense you need multiples next to each other to prevent infantry spam...

On a serious note - why did he want dominion over the elf ring wearers? The men were already nazgul, the dwarves (from this thread) weren't an issue...

It took time for the nine to become Nazgul, centuries probably.

It adds life points but sends them straight to the shadow realm!

So far as we know it just gave him control over other ring bearers, but it could do other things as well as Sauron was afraid of other people possessing and using it.

In fact part of the heroes trap was them convincing Sauron that Aragorn had the ring and planned to use it.

McmadnessV3 posted...

So far as we know it just gave him control over other ring bearers, but it could do other things as well as Sauron was afraid of other people possessing and using it.

In fact part of the heroes trap was them convincing Sauron that Aragorn had the ring and planned to use it.

The fear with someone like Aragorn was that someone with a strong enough mind could influence others, build an empire strong enough to challenge him. Aragorn did not have anything close to that, but in theory he could with the Ring and enough time. Sauron wanted to get the Ring back before he had a chance.

Yes, that a side ability I had forgotten about. It comes up in the story a number of times. Includding Frodo asking Galadriel about it and her warning him about it. Tolkien's letters also indicate it helped him in Numenor, further corrupting Ar-Pharazon and others.

The other fear was someone powerful enough, claiming the Ring, gaining mastery of it and being able to defeat Sauron in a personal challenge (again though essentially making them the new Dark Lord). Tolkien noted though that Gandalf was probably the only one who even had a chance of being able to do that.

Ruvan22 posted...

On a serious note - why did he want dominion over the elf ring wearers? The men were already nazgul, the dwarves (from this thread) weren't an issue...

The Three had the ability to "stave off the weariness of the world", i.e. prevent immoratality from becoming a burden (where you just exist, with no purpose). That's how Galadriel and Elrond were able to maintain Lothlorien and Rivendell for millennia.

But when The One was destroyed, The Three lost their power, which was why nearly all the elves left around the time Gandalf, Bilbo, and Frodo did.

suchiuomizu posted...

No they were not. When he first put the Ring on, the elves had all the Rings. They realized what Sauron was up to, took them off. This started the War of the Elves and Sauron. Which led to Eregions (where the Rings were made) destruction and taking all the Rings, except the three which were hidden. The elves would have lost that war, if Gil-Galad had not asked for help from Numenor and got it. Numenor drove Sauron back, but he stilll had the rings and gave out the 7 and 9. 9 worked, as I noted the 7 did not. The 3 went unworn for something like 2000 years, until he lost the Ring to Isildur.

The elves, even if weakened over the ages were probably his greatest enemy. He wanted them defeated. He wanted to control everyone. The point of the rings was to control powerful lords who could help him conquer everything.

DiScOrDtHeLuNaTiC posted...

The Three had the ability to "stave off the weariness of the world", i.e. prevent immoratality from becoming a burden (where you just exist, with no purpose). That's how Galadriel and Elrond were able to maintain Lothlorien and Rivendell for millennia.

But when The One was destroyed, The Three lost their power, which was why nearly all the elves left around the time Gandalf, Bilbo, and Frodo did.

Thank you for the in depth explanation!

Ruvan22 posted...

On a serious note - why did he want dominion over the elf ring wearers? The men were already nazgul, the dwarves (from this thread) weren't an issue...

The elves were probably the greatest threat to Sauron's rule. Dwarves were generally disinterested in the affairs of surface-dwellers and largely kept to themselves and also had racial beef with the elves, so they were not considered a threat, and Sauron viewed men as weak and corruptible; ents were too few in number to pose any real danger to him, while hobbits were so non-interventionalist and tucked away in their own corner of the world that Sauron's canonical reaction when told that one of them had the ring was, to paraphrase, "What the fuck is a 'hobbit'?". The elves played a big role in both the fall of Morgoth (Sauron's old boss, who was more powerful than him and who Sauron appeared to still be loyal to, even though Morgoth wasn't exactly doing a whole lot after the First Age, being banished to the void and all) and in Sauron's defeat at the end of the Second Age. Though the elves were diminishing in power and number, they still posed enough of a threat to Sauron that he needed to deal with them.

As well, domination was a core part to Sauron's character. In a way, it is the essence of who he is. Sauron wasn't originally a servant of Morgoth, instead being a Maiar dedicated to smithing (hence why he could forge the rings of power in the first place; it's also how he knew Saruman, as the two of them were co-workers and old buddies in LotR heaven before shit went down), but the part of smithing that appealed to him was how it involved using power to bend and shape something into a form useful to the smith. Hence, he chose to join Morgoth after he saw the way the dark lord wanted to dominate and control the world. Sauron chose to continue along that path after Morgoth's banishment, seeking to establish dominion over every living creature in Middle Earth and beyond.

This is why the magic rings (both the One Ring and the lesser rings of power) work as they do, as they allow Sauron to directly impose his will to dominate against the wearers, which is something that no mortal would be able to withstand for long. Incidentally, it's also why Sauron was more focused on stopping the men of Gondor and falling for Aragorn's obvious trap at the black gate than he was about worrying exactly where the ring was and that Aragorn's stand might be a diversion to direct attention away from infiltrators in Mordor - he was convinced that no living creature had the willpower to defy him and destroy the ring (and not without reason - most people would have found it physically impossible to do, and it's worth noting that even Frodo, someone with a good soul from a race that was naturally predisposed to having incredible resistance to the One Ring's pull by generally being content with life, still succumbed to it in the end).

darkknight109 posted...

The elves were probably the greatest threat to Sauron's rule. Dwarves were generally disinterested in the affairs of surface-dwellers and largely kept to themselves and also had racial beef with the elves, so they were not considered a threat, and Sauron viewed men as weak and corruptible; ents were too few in number to pose any real danger to him, while hobbits were so non-interventionalist and tucked away in their own corner of the world that Sauron's canonical reaction when told that one of them had the ring was, to paraphrase, "What the fuck is a 'hobbit'?". The elves played a big role in both the fall of Morgoth (Sauron's old boss, who was more powerful than him and who Sauron appeared to still be loyal to, even though Morgoth wasn't exactly doing a whole lot after the First Age, being banished to the void and all) and in Sauron's defeat at the end of the Second Age. Though the elves were diminishing in power and number, they still posed enough of a threat to Sauron that he needed to deal with them.

As well, domination was a core part to Sauron's character. In a way, it is the essence of who he is. Sauron wasn't originally a servant of Morgoth, instead being a Maiar dedicated to smithing (hence why he could forge the rings of power in the first place; it's also how he knew Saruman, as the two of them were co-workers and old buddies in LotR heaven before shit went down), but the part of smithing that appealed to him was how it involved using power to bend and shape something into a form useful to the smith. Hence, he chose to join Morgoth after he saw the way the dark lord wanted to dominate and control the world. Sauron chose to continue along that path after Morgoth's banishment, seeking to establish dominion over every living creature in Middle Earth and beyond.

This is why the magic rings (both the One Ring and the lesser rings of power) work as they do, as they allow Sauron to directly impose his will to dominate against the wearers, which is something that no mortal would be able to withstand for long. Incidentally, it's also why Sauron was more focused on stopping the men of Gondor and falling for Aragorn's obvious trap at the black gate than he was about worrying exactly where the ring was and that Aragorn's stand might be a diversion to direct attention away from infiltrators in Mordor - he was convinced that no living creature had the willpower to defy him and destroy the ring (and not without reason - most people would have found it physically impossible to do, and it's worth noting that even Frodo, someone with a good soul from a race that was naturally predisposed to having incredible resistance to the One Ring's pull by generally being content with life, still succumbed to it in the end).

Thank you for the breakdown!