Full spoilers for The Rings Of Power Seasons 1 and 2, with Tolkien context for the future of the Rings.
Quick answer: Celebrimbor and the Elven smiths of Eregion make the Rings of Power with knowledge, influence, and direct manipulation from Sauron. The Rings Of Power has currently forged 19 Great Rings: Three for the Elves, Seven for the Dwarves, and Nine intended for Men. Sauron possesses the Nine, the Seven have been distributed among Dwarven rulers, and Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Círdan carry the Three. Sauron’s next step is forging the One Ring, which he intends to use to control the other Rings and dominate their bearers.
The Rings are more than magical weapons or pieces of jewelry. Each group is created to answer a real fear. The Elves fear fading. The Dwarves fear the loss of their kingdom and wealth. Mortal Men fear death. Sauron studies those desires and turns the promise of preservation into a system of control.
This guide explains who made every Ring of Power, what each group does, who carries the known Rings in the Prime Video series, how the show differs from Tolkien’s written history, and why the One Ring is the final piece of Sauron’s design.
For the full story surrounding their creation, visit our Season 1 recap and episode guide, Season 2 recap and episode guide, or the complete recap before Season 3.
How Many Rings Of Power Are There?
There are 20 Great Rings of Power in the central story: Three associated with the Elves, Seven given to Dwarven rulers, Nine given to mortal Men, and the One Ring forged by Sauron.
- Three Rings for the Elves: Nenya, Vilya, and Narya
- Seven Rings for the Dwarves: Distributed among the Dwarf-lords
- Nine Rings for Men: Used to create Sauron’s future Ringwraiths
- One Ring: Forged by Sauron to rule the others
Tolkien’s history also includes lesser rings created as the Elven smiths developed their craft. The 20 Great Rings are the ones that shape the struggle involving Sauron, the Elves, the Dwarves, Men, and the eventual War of the Ring.
By the end of The Rings Of Power Season 2, the Three, Seven, and Nine have been completed. That means 19 Great Rings currently exist in the series. Season 3 follows Sauron as he attempts to forge the final and most dangerous Ring: the One. Prime Video has confirmed that his quest to create it is underway after the five-year time jump.
Who Made The Rings Of Power?
Celebrimbor and the Elven smiths of Eregion physically forge the Rings of Power. Sauron provides the knowledge, pressure, deception, and corruption that turn Celebrimbor’s work into the foundation of his plan.
Celebrimbor is one of Middle-earth’s greatest craftsmen and the grandson of Fëanor, the legendary Elf responsible for creating the Silmarils. Celebrimbor wants to make something capable of transforming Middle-earth and proving that his own work belongs beside the achievements of his family.
Sauron recognizes that ambition. As Halbrand, he gives Celebrimbor the idea of treating mithril as part of an alloy. As Annatar, the supposed Lord of Gifts, he returns to Eregion and convinces Celebrimbor that the gods have chosen him to create more Rings.
Sauron’s greatest weapon is his understanding of desire. Celebrimbor wants to preserve beauty, save the Elves, and leave behind a defining creation. Sauron turns those worthy goals into pressure. Every apparent success makes Celebrimbor more willing to continue, while each failure increases his dependence on Annatar.
Amazon describes Sauron as the central figure manipulating the creation of the Rings so he can eventually bind the peoples of Middle-earth to his will.
Why Were The Rings Of Power Created?
The Rings are created because the people of Middle-earth face problems that ordinary power cannot solve.
The Elves believe their light is fading and that they will be forced to leave Middle-earth. Mithril appears capable of preserving them, but the Elves possess only a small amount. Celebrimbor combines it with metal from Finrod’s dagger to create the Three.
The Dwarves accept the Seven after an earthquake blocks the light shafts of Khazad-dûm and leaves the kingdom struggling. A Ring allows King Durin III to perceive the mountain’s resources and restore the light, making the object appear to be the answer to a genuine crisis.
The Nine are created for mortal Men because mortality gives Sauron his greatest opening. Human rulers can be tempted by longer life, greater authority, power over their enemies, and the ability to preserve everything death will eventually take from them.
Sauron does not invent every desire. He offers a miraculous solution and quietly makes himself necessary to it.
The Three Elven Rings Explained
The Three Elven Rings are Nenya, Vilya, and Narya. Celebrimbor forges them during the Season 1 finale using mithril and the gold and silver of Finrod’s dagger.
Halbrand gives Celebrimbor the alloy idea that makes the Three possible, but Sauron does not personally participate in their final forging. That gives the Three a degree of separation from his direct corruption, although their creation still depends upon knowledge he introduced.
The Three are designed to preserve, heal, and protect. During Season 2, their combined power restores the Great Tree of Lindon and allows the Elves to remain in Middle-earth. They also heal Galadriel after her final confrontation with Sauron.
Prime Video’s series changes the forging order from Tolkien’s written history. The show creates the Three first, followed by the Seven and Nine. Tolkien’s account generally places the Three after the other Rings made with Sauron’s knowledge, although before Sauron privately forges the One.
Nenya: Galadriel’s Ring Of Water
Galadriel carries Nenya, the Ring of Water. It is made from mithril and set with a white stone.
In the Prime Video series, Galadriel initially resists the idea that the Three can be used safely. She eventually accepts Nenya because the Rings allow the Elves to remain in Middle-earth and continue opposing Sauron.
Nenya also plays a central part in the conflict with Adar and Sauron. Adar takes the Ring and uses it, briefly healing the corruption inflicted upon his body. Galadriel later recovers Nenya and refuses to surrender it during her battle with Sauron.
Within Tolkien’s larger history, Galadriel uses Nenya to preserve and protect Lothlórien. The Ring helps make the realm feel removed from the ordinary passage and decay of time. Its purpose reflects Galadriel’s desire to protect beauty, memory, and the things she fears losing.
Vilya: Gil-galad’s Ring Of Air
Gil-galad carries Vilya, the Ring of Air. It is a gold Ring set with a blue sapphire and is considered the mightiest of the Three in Tolkien’s history.
During Season 2, Gil-galad uses Vilya alongside Galadriel and Círdan to preserve the Elves and later to help heal Galadriel.
Vilya will eventually pass to Elrond. In Tolkien’s later history, Elrond uses the Ring to help protect and preserve Rivendell. The series has already placed Elrond among the survivors gathering in the refuge that will become Rivendell, creating a natural path toward his future possession of Vilya.
Narya: Círdan’s Ring Of Fire
Círdan carries Narya, the Ring of Fire. The Ring is set with a red stone and becomes associated with courage, resistance, and the ability to rekindle hope.
Círdan initially intends to destroy the Three because Elrond fears Sauron’s influence. He ultimately recognizes their value and becomes one of their first bearers.
In Tolkien’s history, Círdan later gives Narya to Gandalf after recognizing the Wizard’s purpose. Gandalf carries it throughout the events of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings. Its ability to inspire courage and resist despair fits Gandalf’s role far more closely than a conventional offensive power.
Can Sauron Control The Three Elven Rings?
The Three are safer from Sauron’s direct influence because he did not physically forge or touch them. They remain connected to the larger craft he helped establish, which means they will still be bound to the power of the One Ring.
In Tolkien’s history, the Elven bearers become aware of Sauron when he first wears the One. They remove the Three and hide them, preventing him from using the One to dominate their minds. They can use the Three again after Sauron loses the One at the end of the Second Age.
The Prime Video series may adapt that relationship differently because its Three have already been used extensively before the One exists. Season 3 will need to show what happens when Sauron completes a master Ring designed to reach into a system that Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Círdan already depend upon.
That creates one of the season’s strongest conflicts. The Three are protecting Lindon and Rivendell from Sauron’s armies, while the weapon he is forging could transform that protection into a vulnerability. Prime Video confirms that the surviving Elven realms remain protected by the Three as Sauron works toward the One.
The Seven Dwarven Rings Explained
Celebrimbor and Annatar create the Seven Rings for the Dwarves during Season 2. The Rings are presented as a way to help Khazad-dûm and establish stronger cooperation between the Elves and Dwarves.
The Seven do not control Dwarves in the same way the Nine eventually enslave Men. Dwarves are unusually resistant to domination. The Rings amplify qualities already inside their bearers, particularly pride, anger, possessiveness, and the desire for wealth.
King Durin III demonstrates the effect. His Ring gives him the ability to see hidden resources inside the mountain. He uses that knowledge to restore Khazad-dûm’s light and solve an immediate crisis.
The success makes his judgment increasingly absolute. Durin III demands greater tribute, ignores warnings, and orders the Dwarves to mine in places they know may be dangerous. The Ring strengthens his belief that the mountain and everything inside it belong to him.
Prime Video’s episode description for “Halls Of Stone” centers the growing suspicion surrounding the Dwarven Rings, while the season uses Durin III to dramatize how their apparent gifts become destructive.
Who Has The Seven Dwarven Rings?
The series has shown King Durin III wearing one of the Seven. After Durin IV removes it, the Ring’s exact location is not clearly established at the end of Season 2.
Annatar and Celebrimbor intend the remaining Rings for the leaders of the Dwarven kingdoms. The series has not yet identified every recipient or shown each ruler using one.
In Tolkien’s larger history, one Ring goes to each of the seven houses of the Dwarves. The Rings help their bearers accumulate enormous treasure hoards. Sauron eventually recovers three, while dragons consume four.
Did A Dwarven Ring Awaken The Balrog?
The Ring contributes to the choices that lead King Durin III deeper into the mountain. It magnifies his certainty and greed, causing him to ignore the danger surrounding the forbidden mine.
The Balrog already exists beneath Khazad-dûm. The Ring does not create it. Durin III’s Ring-driven mining opens the path that awakens the creature and brings the Dwarves into direct contact with it.
Durin III removes the Ring’s influence long enough to understand what he has done. He sacrifices himself by attacking the Balrog, allowing Durin IV and the others to escape.
The Nine Rings For Men Explained
The Nine are the final Rings Celebrimbor creates before his death. They are intended for mortal Men and become the most directly corrupted objects produced in Eregion.
Celebrimbor believes he is using mithril to forge them. Sauron secretly substitutes his own blood, placing part of himself directly into the material. By the time Celebrimbor understands the deception, the Nine are nearly complete.
Celebrimbor attempts to protect the Rings by hiding them and giving them to Galadriel. Sauron tortures and kills him while searching for their location. After the fall of Eregion, Sauron takes possession of the Nine.
The Season 2 finale ends with Sauron holding the Rings and controlling the Orc army, leaving him ready to begin choosing the mortal leaders he will corrupt.
Who Will Receive The Nine Rings?
The Prime Video series has not yet revealed all nine recipients.
Season 3 introduces Khamûl, an Easterling who becomes one of Sauron’s most important Ring-servants in Tolkien’s history. Prime Video’s Season 3 promotion also introduces the “Nazgnagôl,” described as Sauron’s Second Age ring-servants and the predecessors of the Nazgûl known during the Third Age.
The remaining bearers may include kings, warriors, political leaders, and other powerful Men whom Sauron can tempt with authority or extended life. Tolkien identifies the Nine as once-great Men who become kings, sorcerers, and warriors before fading into the Ringwraiths.
How Do The Nine Turn Men Into Ringwraiths?
The Nine extend mortal life without granting true immortality. Their bearers continue existing far beyond their natural years while becoming increasingly dependent upon the Rings and the power controlling them.
Over time, they fade from the visible world. Their bodies become permanently invisible, and their wills become bound to Sauron. The Men who hoped to escape death become the Nazgûl, servants with almost no independent identity left.
The process fulfills Sauron’s preferred form of domination. He offers each bearer the thing that person most wants, then allows the gift to consume everything that made the person worth preserving.
The One Ring Explained
The One Ring is Sauron’s master Ring. He forges it personally in the fires of Mount Doom and places a significant amount of his own power inside it.
The Ring is intended to control the other Rings and the minds of their bearers. It also strengthens Sauron because so much of his power has been concentrated inside it.
The One differs visually from the other Great Rings. It appears as a plain gold band without a gemstone. Its inscription becomes visible when the Ring is heated.
Sauron’s connection to the Ring also creates a weakness. As long as the One survives, Sauron can endure even after losing his physical form. Destroying the Ring destroys the power he placed within it and causes his final defeat. The One can only be unmade in the fires where it was created.
Has Sauron Forged The One Ring In The Rings Of Power?
Sauron has not forged the One Ring by the end of Season 2.
Season 3 begins five years after the fall of Eregion, with Sauron’s armies controlling much of Middle-earth and Barad-dûr completed in Mordor. Prime Video says his effort to forge the One is fully underway.
The One provides Season 3 with a direct dramatic objective. Sauron needs to complete the Ring before the remaining Elves, Dwarves, Men, and Wizards can stop him. The free peoples need to overcome their divisions before the Ring gives him control over every other part of his plan.
Read our analysis of why the One Ring gives The Rings Of Power Season 3 a clear dramatic spine.
How Does The One Ring Control The Other Rings?
Sauron understands the craft behind the other Rings because he helped establish and manipulate it. The One is built as the controlling center of that system.
A sufficiently powerful bearer of the One can perceive, influence, and dominate people using the subordinate Rings. The degree of control depends upon the Ring and its bearer.
Men are the easiest to enslave. The Nine eventually surrender their identities completely.
Dwarves resist direct control, although the Seven magnify the greed and anger that can ruin their kingdoms.
The Elves recognize Sauron when he first uses the One and remove the Three before he can dominate them. Their awareness protects them, although the Three remain dependent upon the continued existence of the One.
The One Ring is therefore less like an ordinary weapon and more like the final controlling mechanism inside a network Sauron has spent years constructing.
Why Does Sauron Need The Rings?
Sauron wants order, but his definition of order requires every other will to submit to his own.
Armies can conquer territory. Fear can force temporary obedience. The Rings offer something deeper. They allow Sauron to reach rulers through their desires and transform those rulers into instruments of his authority.
The Three attach the Elves to preservation. The Seven attach the Dwarves to wealth and control of their kingdoms. The Nine attach Men to power and the hope of escaping death. The One allows Sauron to place himself above the entire structure.
His plan is effective because the other Rings appear to work. They heal, preserve, reveal resources, extend life, and increase power. The corruption enters through dependence. The bearer eventually cannot imagine surrendering the solution, even after understanding its cost.
Are The Rings Evil?
The Three are created for preservation and do not carry the same direct corruption as the Seven and Nine. They still participate in a craft connected to Sauron and become vulnerable to the One.
The Seven and Nine are made while Sauron is directly manipulating Celebrimbor. Their gifts are tied to the desires Sauron intends to exploit.
The One is an instrument of domination by design. Sauron creates it to control the others and places his own power inside it.
The larger moral danger does not come from wearing jewelry or using magic. The Rings promise that loss, mortality, uncertainty, and disagreement can be solved through enough power. Sauron uses that promise to make control feel reasonable.
How The Show Changes Tolkien’s Ring History
The Rings Of Power keeps the fundamental structure of the Ring story while changing its order and several details.
In Tolkien’s history, Sauron arrives in Eregion as Annatar and teaches the Elven smiths. They create lesser rings, the Seven, and the Nine. Celebrimbor later creates the Three without Sauron’s direct participation. Sauron then forges the One in Mordor.
The Prime Video series creates the Three first after Halbrand offers Celebrimbor the alloy solution. Sauron later returns as Annatar and guides the creation of the Seven and Nine. The series also gives the Three a direct role in stopping the Elves from fading before the One exists.
The show gives King Durin III a specific story demonstrating the Seven’s effects and uses Sauron’s blood to create a direct physical connection to the Nine.
These changes allow the series to organize each group of Rings around a character and a dramatic need. Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Círdan show preservation. Durin III shows greed and the seduction of apparent success. The future Ringwraiths will show the human terror of mortality.
Every Ring Of Power And Its Current Owner
Nenya: Carried by Galadriel. It is the Elven Ring associated with water and preservation.
Vilya: Carried by Gil-galad. It is the Elven Ring associated with air and will eventually pass to Elrond.
Narya: Carried by Círdan. It is the Elven Ring associated with fire and will eventually pass to Gandalf.
The Seven: Created for the Dwarf-lords. King Durin III wears one during Season 2. The series has not shown the status and bearer of every individual Ring.
The Nine: Held by Sauron after the fall of Eregion. Their future mortal bearers have not all been revealed.
The One: Not yet forged by the end of Season 2. Sauron is attempting to create it during Season 3.
Who Made The Rings Of Power? The Complete Answer
Celebrimbor and the smiths of Eregion forge the Three, Seven, and Nine. Sauron makes their creation possible through knowledge, manipulation, corrupted material, and his control over Celebrimbor as Annatar.
Sauron will forge the One alone in Mordor.
The division of responsibility is what makes Celebrimbor’s story tragic. He is genuinely creating objects of extraordinary beauty and power. He believes they can heal Middle-earth. Sauron takes that creative desire and builds a mechanism for domination inside it.
The Rings carry both truths. They are masterpieces capable of preserving kingdoms, revealing hidden wealth, and extending life. They are also the path Sauron creates into the deepest fears of their bearers.
The Rings Of Power FAQ
How many Rings of Power are there?
There are 20 Great Rings: Three for the Elves, Seven for the Dwarves, Nine for Men, and the One Ring.
Who made the Rings of Power?
Celebrimbor and the Elven smiths of Eregion make the Three, Seven, and Nine with knowledge and manipulation from Sauron. Sauron makes the One Ring himself.
Who made the Three Elven Rings?
Celebrimbor and the smiths of Eregion forge the Three using mithril and metal from Finrod’s dagger.
Did Sauron make the Three Elven Rings?
Sauron does not physically forge the Three. His suggestion about creating an alloy helps Celebrimbor solve the problem that makes their creation possible.
What are the names of the Three Elven Rings?
The Three are Nenya, the Ring of Water; Vilya, the Ring of Air; and Narya, the Ring of Fire.
Who wears the Three Elven Rings?
Galadriel carries Nenya, Gil-galad carries Vilya, and Círdan carries Narya at the end of Season 2.
Who has the Seven Dwarven Rings?
The Rings are intended for the rulers of the Dwarven kingdoms. King Durin III wears one during Season 2, but the series has not shown every bearer.
Who has the Nine Rings?
Sauron possesses the Nine at the end of Season 2. He has not yet distributed them to their future mortal bearers.
Do the Nine Rings create the Nazgûl?
Yes. The Nine gradually extend the lives of their mortal bearers, cause them to fade, and enslave them to Sauron as the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths.
Has the One Ring been forged?
No. The One has not been forged by the end of Season 2. Its creation is one of Sauron’s central objectives during Season 3.
Why can the One Ring control the others?
Sauron designs the One as the master Ring and places much of his own power within it. His knowledge of the other Rings allows him to use the One to influence and dominate their bearers.
Why do the Dwarven Rings cause greed?
Dwarves resist direct enslavement, so the Rings amplify their pride, anger, possessiveness, and desire for wealth instead.
Why do the Elves need the Three Rings?
The Three preserve the Elves and their realms against fading and decay. In the series, they allow the Elves to remain in Middle-earth.
Can Sauron control Galadriel through Nenya?
Sauron cannot directly control Galadriel through Nenya before the One exists. The Three remain connected to the Ring craft, meaning the One will create a future danger for every Elven bearer.
Continue Through Middle-earth With Mary & Blake
Follow the entire story through our master episode guide, then revisit the creation of the Three in the Season 1 guide and the Seven and Nine in the Season 2 guide.
Our Season 3 hub will track Sauron’s attempt to forge the One Ring, the rise of his new Ring-servants, and the war to stop him. You can also listen to our Season 2 finale recap and reaction or visit The Rings Of Power With Mary & Blake podcast hub.
