One Ring

Villainous Item
Full Name	The One Ring
Alias	The Ring
Origin	The Lord of the Rings
Object	Magic ring
Creation	About SA 1600, in the Second Age
Location	Throughout Middle-earth including the land of Mordor
Users	Sauron Isildur Déagol Gollum Bilbo Baggins Frodo Baggins Tom Bombadil (temporarily) Samwise Gamgee (temporarily)
Victims	Isildur (it was used by Sauron to betray him to his death) Gollum (it completely transformed him into an ugly creature)
Usage / Powers	Dark powers Invisibility
Purposes	Find and control other Rings. Grant Sauron additional magical power to rule over Middle-earth.
Status	Destroyed
Type of Villainous Item	Corrupt Magical Ring

“	One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.	„
	~ The One Ring's inscription.

The One Ring is a powerful, cursed ring, and the central focus of the novel The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It is fought over by the forces of Sauron and the forces of good in order to determine the very fate of Middle-earth and is considered a part of Sauron himself, as well as the Dark Lord's most magnificient creation.

Description

The One Ring corrupts any who get in contact with it and has shown the ability to turn its host invisible while also attracting the evil presence of Sauron, who it instinctively tries to return to regardless of its current host: the being most corrupted by the One Ring in all of Middle-earth is the tragic Gollum, who would also play a part in its destruction on Mount Doom.

History

Background

Sauron crafted One Ring around the year SA 1600, within Sammath Naur upon Mount Doom in a bid to accomplish his goal of bringing the peoples of Middle-earth under his dominion. For that, it would require an extraordinary amount of power hence his decision to concentrate within the Ring a great part of his own fëa (soul). As a result, his fate is bound to his said ultimate weapon; if it were damaged or destroyed, so too would be Sauron's strength and power.

As soon as One Ring was completed, Sauron attempted to force Elven wielders of the other Rings of Power into his servitude. The attempt failed because they were alarmed by their Rings' connection to One Ring when the Dark Lord wore his so, Sauron rallied his army to seize Elves' Rings by force, commencing the War of the Elves and Sauron in SA 1693. The war initially went very well for Sauron, as he able to capture Eregion in short order and took back the Nine Rings that were kept there, and also Celebrimbor, the maker of the Elven Rings of Power. His attempt to learn the whereabouts of the Three Rings through Celebrimbor failed because the smith was rather perished instead of giving what the Dark Lord wanted. Most of western Middle-earth fell under his rule afterwards, driving the Ñoldor under Gil-galad to the Grey Havens and besieging Imladris. But reinforcements sent by Tar-Minastir of Númenor and Gil-galad in SA 1700 proved too much for Sauron's armies, forcing Sauron to return to Mordor to regroup.

Upon Sauron's self-proclaimed title as Overlord of Middle-earth and King of Men despite such loss, Ar-Pharazôn, the last and most powerful of the Kings of Númenor, arrived at Umbar at the head of an even more gigantic army to defeat him. Due to the sheer size and might of Ar-Pharazôn's forces, Sauron pretends to surrender in a bid to safely approach the people of Númenor, taken back to Númenor as a prisoner. The plan worked, as he proceeded to meticulously win the King's trust to the point of becoming his trusty counsellor and exploited the Númenóreans' fear of death as a way to turn them against the Valar, and toward worship of Melkor. His success was further attributed to the Elves not revealed to the Númenóreans the existence of the Rings of Power and Ar-Pharazôn was unaware of the One Ring's existence and capabilities as the result.

Thanks to One Ring, Sauron managed to cheat death when Eru Ilúvatar smite the Númenóreans for breaking the Ban of the Valar, though he could no longer assume fair form ever since. It mattered little for Sauron as with most of Númenóreans being out of picture, he could commence the war against the Last Alliance of Elves and Men between SA 3429 and 3441. However, at the end of the Siege of Barad-dûr, Isildur cut the ring off Sauron's hand after the Dark Lord defeated Elendil and Gil-galad, and seized it for himself after defeating its owner rather than destroying it. One Ring would later left Isildur to perish at hands of Orcs during an ambush by slipping from his finger and revealing him to the attackers in TA 2, a turn of events that earned One Ring the moniker of Isildur's Bane in Gondor's lore.

Note: In the prologue of Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring film adaptation, Sauron fared better against Elendil and Gil-galad with his overconfidence allowed Isildur to defeat the Dark Lord and seized the Ring in a surprise attack — a contrast to the source materials which stated that Sauron was battered from his two opponents' combined might thus making it easier for Isildur to claim One Ring.

For almost two and a half millennia, One Ring remained hidden in the riverbed of Gladden, one of Anduin's tributaries, where Isildur perished until it revealed itself to a Stoor named Déagol while fishing in TA 2463. Both he and friend and cousin Sméagol were corruptible enough to fell under its evil, though the latter had it worse; Sméagol, displaying signs of mutation into a creature named Gollum, killed Déagol to claim One Ring and moved to caves underneath Misty Mountains after being casted out by his people. There, his transformation completed in the next decades.

The Hobbit

The Ring abandoned Gollum to Bilbo Baggins who found it in the former's lair beneath Misty Mountains. At the time, Bilbo and Gollum engage in a riddle game to determine the former's fate; if he lost, Gollum could eat him, and if he won, Gollum would have to show him an exit from the caves. Gollum aimed to eat Bilbo regardless despite losing but, he couldn't because Bilbo already harnessed One Ring's power of invisibility to escape. To add insult to injury, Gollum discovered that Bilbo had it all along from his last question ("What have I got in my pocket?"). Upon reaching the exit, Bilbo once considered to put Gollum out of his misery but unable to bring himself to do it due to his wretched condition.

Shortly afterwards, Bilbo reunited with Thorin's company and Gandalf. The Grey Wizard inquired him about how he escaped the Orcs when they were separated. Bilbo claimed that he was simply being agile in the dark and won the Ring from aforementioned riddle game with Gollum. Suspicious at first, Gandalf thought it should be a concern for another day due to their priorites at the time being eliminating Smaug both to ensure Thorin and his people able to return home and importantly, robbing Sauron of the chance to sway the dragon to his cause. As much as he suspected the Ring in Bilbi's hand being attributed to retarding effects of Gollum's aging process, he didn't rule out the Ring to be one of the lesser Rings the smiths of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain forged as "essays in the craft".

The Lord of the Rings

The Fellowship of the Ring

“	This is the Master-ring, the One Ring to rule them all. This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to the great weakening of his power. He greatly desires it – but he must not get it.	„
	~ Gandalf the Grey to Frodo about the true nature of Bilbo's magic ring.

A few years after Bilbo's return to the Shire, Gandalf questioned his friend about the Ring he acquired back then once again. Bilbo's accounts turned out to be mostly genuine, though for some reasons he embellished certain parts that keft Gandalf puzzled as is was not in Bilbo's nature to lie, particularly about something so apparently trivial. Moreover, Bilbo was unusually possessive regarding the Ring, Nevertheless, Gandalf chose to let his dear friend keep it since he saw no real danger in doing so, citing to Frodo later on that he believed that he didn't had no real right to take the Ring from Bilbo in any event.

Since Bilbo seldom used it while simultaneously keeping it in his person at all times and had a virtuous mindset as Gandalf put it, One Ring's malign effects took hold on him far slower than with Gollum. In fact, none of occasions of him resorting to use the Ring were out of malice; he only used it to elude Sackville-Bagginses and theatrically vanished at the conclusion of his Farewell Birthday Party speech in which he ensured everyone to assume it to be a parlor trick they can replicate. Not to mention he retained a relatively young appearance even past 100 years of age. All of this of course, contrasted to Gollum whose early uses of the Ring being primarily to commit theft or spy upon people and things went downhill from there.

When Bilbo finally departed for another adventure following his 111th birthday party and left the One Ring and his home of Bag End in the possession of his relative, Frodo Baggins, as per his and Gandalf's arrangements, the two best friends could no longer ignore the evil within One Ring. Bilbo found himself too reluctant to leave the Ring that he became uncharacteristically angry toward Gandalf. Horrified by Bilbo's outburst, Gandalf snapped his old friend out of it by standing to his full height and projected his power. In his realization over his mistake, Bilbo begrudgingly and wisely left it behind. He then departed from the Shire as planned, but not before warned Frodo not to use the Ring.

Note: In Peter Jackson's adaptation, it was the similarly shakened Gandalf who warned Frodo instead. When the Grey Wizard touched the Ring, he received a vision of Sauron's "Eye" form which prompted him to look back about Gollum and Bilbo's accounts pertaining it.

Fearful that Bilbo's ring might be more dangerous than either he or Bilbo believed to be, Gandalf set out to investigate the matter based on his said best friend's accounts. Considering to confide with Saruman since the White Wizard devoted many years of his life to the study of the Rings of Power at first, Gandalf chose to locate Gollum instead and determined the corrupted hobbit had indeed left the Misty Mountains to locate the Ring. But lulled by the fact that Saruman had told the White Council on at least one occasion that the Ring was beyond finding, Gandalf chose to study the records in Minas Tirith for One Ring's fate since Isildur seized it for himself long ago. This proved to be a nearly catastrophic oversight on Gandalf's part; by the time he came to the conclusion of One Ring and Bilbo's ring were one in the same, Gollum was drawn to Mordor due to the severity of his corruption owing to One Ring's evil made him susceptible to Sauron's call as much as evil beings who joined his cause. As a result, the corrupted hobbit was captured and tortured by the Dark Lord, leading to him revealed how Bilbo took One Ring from him back at the Misty Mountains all those decades ago. Around this time, Gandalf asked his close friend Aragorn and his fellow Dúnedain Rangers to keep an extremely close watch on the Shire and later, locate Gollum in order to be certain of his findings. The situation became dire when they reported to him about unknown parties (which later revealed to be Saruman's subordinates) also watched over the Shire and worse, the traumatized Gollum, who either escaped or released by Sauron only to be captured by Dúnedain Rangers, implied to them and Gandalf things he went through as the Dark Lord's prisoner.

Returning to the Shire in haste, Gandalf revealed to Frodo the true nature of Bilbo's Ring, along with recent activities of Sauron's forces after they tortured Gollum. With no time to lose, the Grey Wizard instructed Frodo and Sam to bring it to Rivendell, making some arrangements to discreetly depart from the Shire.

Note: In the film, the time between Bilbo's departure from the Shire and Frodo's — much of it being spent by Gandalf in his aforementioned investigation — is implied to be around one year instead of seventeen years due to time constraints. Also, to stress the urgency of keeping One Ring from Sauron and his forces' reach, Frodo caught the Grey Wizard frantically ransacking his home for the Ring only for that proven unnecessary since the young Hobbit hid it as instructed all along. Arrangements made between Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf were simplified into a rendezvous in Pranching Pony and meeting Aragorn.

Thanks to Saruman who had betrayed the White Council however, the group's departure didn't go as planned; the fallen Maia summoned Gandalf to his counsel to inquire him of One Ring's whereabouts and persuade him to join Sauron to no avail, ultimately resorted to imprison the Grey Wizard. As if it was bad enough, Gandalf's attempt to have Barliman Butterbur, the innkeeper of The Prancing Pony in Bree, to deliver a letter to Frodo containing the warning where the hobbit had to leave the shire as soon as possible along with their ally Aragorn, failed due to his very bad memory; only after Frodo himself, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck arrived at his doorstep which coincides with Aragorn's presence in his bar Butterbur gave the letter, but even it was because the four hobbits felt that they waited for too long and they managed to evade Nazgûl several times. The reason Butterbur got spared from the escaped Gandalf's wrath was because he managed to remember the Grey Wizard's request upon meeting Frodo and co..

Still, Gandalf's attempt to catch up with the hobbits and the ranger at Weathertop saw him intercepted by the Nazgûl who after them as well, forcing the Grey Wizard to draw four of the Nine into pursuing him in a bid to improve Frodo and co.'s chance to escape. The Witch-King of Angmar stabbed Frodo with Morgul Blade in the ensuing fight before being forced to retreat thanks to Aragorn. With Frodo wounded, the group made haste to Rivendell as the Nazgûl wouldn't give up the pursuit. They soon aided by Glorfindel who just drove the four who pursuit Gandalf off the Last Bridge and took Frodo onto his white horse, Asfaloth, in a bid to have his ailment treated as soon as possible. The regroup Nazgûl soon targeted the two and upon reaching the Ford of Bruinen, demanded Frodo to give them the Ring. Frodo defiantly refused, prompting the Nazgûl to prepare to take One Ring by force. As they crossed the river however, the waters of the Bruinen rose under Elrond's clmmand, forming a great wave and sweeping the Nine away, robbing them of their steed and forced them to retreat to Mordor by foot. Subsequenly, Frodo's life was saved by Eldrond who removed the shard of the blade in his shoulder and One Ring was safe for a time being.

Soon after, in the same week of Frodo and co.'s arrival at Rivendell, a secret meeting between Elrond and important figures of Middle-Earth was held there, with the latter originally came for their own reasons;

• Gimli and his father Glóin came to warn Bilbo about Sauron's attempt to inquire them of their dear friend's whereabouts through his messengers in exchange of one or more of the Seven Rings of Power. They also sought the news of Balin whom they lost contact with since the latter's departure to Moria in TA 2989 with Ori and Óin.
• Boromir revealed a dream he shared with Faramir regarding the resurgence of Isildur's Bane, One Ring itself.
• Legolas and Aragorn came to inform about Gollum's escape from Dúnedain Rangers's captivity which didn't help by the knowledge of the fallen Hobbit's time as the Dark Lord's prisoner.

Regardless, they all understood how dangerous One Ring was. Ultimately, bringing it to Mordor and casting it into fires of Mount Doom where it could be destroyed thus ending Sauron once and for all was the best and only solution; hiding it and/or having a guardian securing it won't do any good as it would be a matter of time before Sauron showed up at last to reclaim it. This didn't help by the strength of the remaining Elves and Edain of Middle-earth no longer as mighty as it used to be. Using it against Sauron as proposed by Boromir would backfire spectacularly since the Ring answers only to its original owner. Eventually, Frodo volunteered to be the one who destroy the Ring and had eight companions escorting him (Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir), establishing the Fellowship of the Ring.

Note: In Peter Jackson's adaptation, Middle-Earth's important figures who came to Rivendell were specifically invited by Elrond and Bilbo not joined the meeting due to pacing issues. Also, it was deliberate to stress the danger of One Ring in which not only Gimli failed to destroy it (the axe used for the endeavor got blown into pieces as soon as both it and the Ring met), but also Frodo noticed it subtly goading everyone to argue until he broke the fight by volunteering to carry it to Mordor.

Following their adventure through Moria — during which Gandalf gave his life to defeat Durin's Bane — and the stop at Lothlórien, Saruman's Uruk-hai troops ambushed the survivors, killing Boromir who briefly giving in to One Ring's evil influence before recovering in time to give his life so everyone could escape. Despite his efforts, Boromir failed to prevent their enemies from capturing Merry and Pippin thus forcing Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli to give chase shortly after giving their fallen friend a proper funeral by the river. The despaired Frodo concluded that he should carry One Ring alone from start until Sam proved how wrong his friend was by remain on his side no matter what.

The Two Towers

It became apparent that the Fellowship of the Ring was meant to save Middle-Earth as splintered groups: The task to destroy One Ring lies in Frodo, Sam, and the reluctant Gollum whom they encountered at Emyn Muil. Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin found themselves joining forces with Treebeard and his brethren in taking over Isengard to stop Saruman from assiting Sauron further after being saved by the ents and Rohan horsemen led by Éomer and subsequently reunited with Gandalf who revived and promoted by Eru Ilúvatar as the true White Wizard, rendering Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas' rescue attempt unnecessary. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas themselves are reassigned by Gandalf the White to liberate Rohan from Saruman's menace, freeing Theoden and setting Battle at Helm's Deep in motion. Merry and Pippin would reunite with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas who accompany Théoden to the now ruined Isengard following their respective battle, though catching up with Frodo and Sam wasn't an option since they would be needed at Gondor.

Meanwhile, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum moved past Dead Marshes and reached Black Gate. As per Gollum's advice due to the gate being heavily guarded (and aware of their actual destination), they took another route which brought them to the pass of Cirith Ungol. There, they cross-pathed with Faramir and Ithilien Rangers who provided them supplies of food and water upon learning their quest instead of confiscating One Ring on Denethor's behalf.

Note: In Peter Jackson's adaptation by contrast, Faramir greatly considered seizing the Ring due to its influence over him by taking advantages of his insecurities; it took Sam snapping Faramir back to his senses by warning him that he about to befell the same fate as Boromir did and the latter saving Frodo from an approaching Nazgûl he eventually changed his mind.

The Return of the King

Ae the rest of the Fellowship busily playing their part in saving Gondor thus setting Battle of the Pelennor Fields in motion, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum reached Minas Morgul and climbed up the winding Stairs of Cirith Ungol to a long tunnel. There, Golum betrayed them by living them at Shelob's mercy. In the ensuing chaos, Frodo got incapacitated by the giant spider-like entity's venom and assumed by Sam to be dead until the conversation among orc patrols who drawn by the commotion revealed otherwise. Sam managed to secure the Ring from Frodo's incapacitated body before the orcs revealed themselves, leading to Sauron's evil within tempted him with visions of a great garden all for himself. But Sam rejected it, eventually returning it to Frodo as soon as his found his said best friend in Tower of Cirith Ungol whose guards had killed each other in a mutinous battle.

Note: In Peter Jackson's adaptation, Gollum abandoned only Frodo within Shelob's reach since he already framed Sam — a folly which allowed Sam to properly ambush Shelob. Sam's attempt to save Frodo saw him dispatching surviving orc guard, including the one who intended to disembowel Frodo.

In the next few days that saw Gondor's recovery and Sauron regrouping his forces, Sam and Frodo used Sauron's Road to quickly reach Cracks of Doom. There, thanks to the rest of the Fellowship invaded Black Gate to distract the Dark Lord and his forces, their only obstacle was the furious Gollum. Fending the fallen Hobbit off, Frodo, who could feel One Ring's tightening hold over him, desperately reached Cracks of Doom with the intention of dropping it into the lava below. But like Isildur before him, Frodo eventually succumbed to its influence because One Ring's power was at its peak at the place of its creation.

However, One Ring and Sauron's victory was short-lived; just as Sauron realized his folly (One Ring has reached the Cracks of Doom and in possession of the ones who attempted to destroy it) One Ring ended up seized by Gollum who bit off the finger Frodo put it on. To add insult to injury, this was when Eru Ilúvatar intervened; he willed Gollum to recklessly dance by the Cracks of Mount Doom leading him and One Ring to fall into the lava below, putting him out of his misery once and for all as well as melting One Ring thus undoing Sauron's power and finally vanquishing him.

Note: The film adaptation has Frodo goaded by Eru Ilúvatar to tackle Gollum, leading to a fight that culminated to them falling into the Cracks of Doom. Whereas Gollum perished, Frodo was hanging by the edge as One Ring calling upon him, though he finally ignored it upon Sam's plea at last. But it took One Ring and Sauron's destruction Frodo finally exorcized from the Ring's evil.

Gallery

One Ring within Isildur grasp

Ditto

Trivia

• Dark whispers from One Ring which occasionally heard in film adaptations of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King are voiced by the late Alan Howard, who also voiced Sauron in the same films. As expected, this reflected to how Sauron poured a great part of his own fëa (soul) into the Ring and therefore Gandalf claimed the Dark Lord and One Ring are one in the same.
• The very inscription in the One Ring was written in the Elvish dialect, which Gandalf was able to read.
• For the scene when Bilbo dropped One Ring leading to it landed on the floor of Bag End with a thud like heavier object instead of rebounding like regular jewelry of similar size thus highlighting its malevolent nature, a magnet was positioned beneath the floor thus securing One Ring prop and creating such effect.
• Because of One Ring's construction involved Sauron pouring a great part of his own fëa (soul) into it and therefore allows it to corrupt unfortunate souls who hold it, ensuring its creator indestructible as long as it intact, cannot be destroyed through conventional means among other features, fans compared One Ring with Horcruxes from Harry Potter franchise. Note that Horcruxes are in turn, parallels phylactery, enchanted item utilized by liches to bind their soul with to attain immortality.
• The early draft of The Hobbit had Gollum willingly handed what would later be revealed as One Ring to Bilbo during their ridddle contest. It was during the writing of The Lord of the Rings which revealed the Ring's true sinister nature Tolkien revised such part in the former's second edition which established Gollum offering to show Bilbo the way out instead of giving up the Ring. Nevertheless, said draft was repurposed as Bilbo's embellished account to Gandalf about how he acquired it.

External Links

• One Ring on the The Lord of the Rings Wiki.