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'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power': Why were the three elven rings hidden from Sauron?

Ahead of show’s premiere on September 1, let's take a look at the significance of 'Narya', 'Nenya' and 'Vilya'

It's almost time for all of us to return to Middle Earth. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ will do a curtain raiser for global viewers on September 1 on Amazon Prime Video. The series, based on late JRR Tolkien’s book ‘The Lord of the Rings and its appendices’, is the biggest multi-starrer fantasy adventure drama series that has been adapted for the small screen by showrunners JD Payne and Patrick Mckay. The series is set in the second age of middle-earth, thousands of years before ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings.’

Speaking about the characters in the series, one of the pivotal characters is that of the main antagonist Sauron (Anson Boon). The three rings of power which had been created by the elves were kept away from Sauron, according to Tolkien’s middle earth lore. Sauron, also known as Annatar, was not trusted by High King of Noldor Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker). In fact, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Gil-galad fought tooth and nail against Sauron to prevent the three rings of power from falling into the wrong hands.

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According to Tolkien’s lore, among the nineteen rings of power were three elven rings originally made by Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) solely for the elves. This separation from the other rings of power made these three rings slightly more resistant to the corruption of the one ring. These three rings were named ‘Narya', 'Nenya' and ‘Vilya’, after the elements of fire, water and air.

Narya, adorned with a ruby, gives its wearer the ability to manipulate fire and resistance to weariness. Nenya, with a white stone, safeguards its wearer from evil. Vilya is a gold band adorned with a blue sapphire and the strongest of the three rings. Its power has not been explicitly revealed, but it was implied that it can preserve and heal.

The lore also says that once the elves came to realize Sauron’s real intentions behind usurping the three rings, they hid them far beyond his reach. Nenya was given to Galadriel in Lothlorien, while High King of Noldor Gil-galad and his counterpart Cirdan were given Vilya and Narya respectively by Celebrimbor. These three powerful elven warriors managed to keep the three rings out of Sauron’s sight until his defeat in the ‘War of the Last Alliance.’ Galadriel kept Nenya, while Cirdan gave Narya to Gandalf and Gil-galad gave Vilya to Elrond. This resulted in Galadriel, Gandalf and Elrond becoming the Keepers of the Three Rings, who had been entrusted with the prime responsibility of keeping them safe until they lost their power with the destruction of the one ring.