‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’: How were the 19 lesser rings distributed by Sauron in middle-earth?
In about a fortnight, we will be able to return to Lothlorien and witness middle-earth in all its glory. The highly anticipated fantasy adventure war saga ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ is about to have a global curtain raiser on September 1 on Amazon Prime Video. The series is based on late author JRR Tolkien’s book ‘The Lord of the Rings and its appendices.’ The story takes place thousands of years before 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'.
Speaking about the rings of power, it is important to note that according to middle-earth lore, originally, 19 lesser rings had been given by the evil Sauron (Annatar) to the people of middle-earth in the hope that they would all fall prey to his gifts and be bound to him. He wanted to rule the world without having to wage a war.
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How did Sauron distribute the 19 lesser rings on middle-earth?
Of the 19, nine went to mortal men doomed to die. Those who received these rings became immortal even when their endless life eventually became unbearable. The rings caused them to have visions of Sauron, and eventually they fell before him. These men became ringwraiths known as Nazgul who are the servants to Sauron. Even though Nazgul possess incredible power they were all completely under Sauron. Their leader, the Witch-king of Angmar, was Sauron’s second in command.
The dwarves in their halls of stone received seven of these rings. The dwarves were tougher than men and they did not submit to Sauron. However, the rings caused great greed in them causing them to amass an astronomical amount of wealth. The dwarven leaders who possessed the rings all eventually fell to their greed. The most powerful of these seven rings was given to Durin III and eventually passed down to Thrain II. Thrain II lost it when he was captured by Sauron who came disguised as the Necromancer. The ring’s curse, however, did not leave the line of Durin once it was taken from Thrain II. Instead, it caused a ‘gold sickness’ among the line of Durin. Thorin, son of Thrain and King Under the Mountain was also afflicted by it.
The last three of the lesser rings were originally created by Celebrimbor (Edward Charles) in secret for the elves under the sky. Also known as the elven ‘Rings of Power,’ these rings had been created without Sauron's knowledge as Celebrimbor knew the sorcerer's intentions. These three rings were untoched by Sauron and had been hidden from him. These rings were called Narya, Nenya, and Vilya. Each ring was associated with an element and possessed unique powers. They were invisible to all save for the one who bore the one ring of power.