Usuário(a):Herenvaryar/rascunhos

Os Anéis do Poder eram artefatos mágicos na obra de J.R.R.Tolkien. A sua existência é introduzida pela primeira vez em O Senhor dos Anéis, com o seguinte poema, contado a Frodo Bolseiro por Gandalf, na tradução de Almiro Pisetta para a edição brasileira.

"Três Anéis para os Reis - Elfos sob este céu, Sete para os Senhores - Anões em seus rochosos corredores, Nove para Homens Mortais, fadados ao eterno sono, Um para o Senhor do Escuro em seu escuro trono Na Terra de Mordor onde as Sombras se deitam. Um Anel para a todos governar, Um Anel para encontrá-los, Um Anel para a todos trazer e na escuridão aprisioná-los Na Terra de Mordor onde as Sombras se deitam." Por causa desse poema, muitas vezes os Anéis são referidos apenas como os Três, os Sete e os Nove, assim como o Anel de Sauron, chamado de o Um.

Na obra

História

Depois da queda de Morgoth, Sauron implorou pelo perdão dos Valar, mas fugiu depois de recusar submeter-se a julgamento. Durante a Segunda Era, ele voltou à cena, apresentando-se numa bela forma, com o nome de Annatar (Senhor dos Presentes), aos líderes dos Eldar que restaram na Terra-média, oferecendo sua ajuda. Galadriel, Gil-galad e Círdan não confiavam nele, mas ainda assim Annatar foi recebido pelos ferreiros de Eregion, ávidos por aumentar seus conhecimentos e técnicas. De acordo com o Apêndice B do Senhor dos Anéis, a forja dos Anéis do Poder começou por volta do ano 1500 da Segunda Era. Os Sete e os Nove foram forjados pelos Elfos com assistência direta de Sauron. Os Três, os maiores dentre os Anéis Élficos, foram forjados por Celebrimbor, neto de Fëanor e chefe dos ferreiros de Eregion. Ele os fez sem ajuda direta de Sauron, e completou-os por volta do ano 1590, Segunda Era. Também fica implícito que muitos outros anéis do poder foram forjados, mas com poderes menores, limitados e não especificados.

Sauron forjou por último o seu Anel, o Um Anel ou Anel Governante. Ele o fez secretamente, no fogo da Montanha da Perdição no ano 1600, Segunda Era, colocando dentro dele uma parcela de seu poder. Seu propósito era dominar todos os outros Anéis, abrindo assim a porta do pensamento e das vontades daqueles que os usavam para sua visão e controle. Entretanto, tão logo Sauron colocou seu Anel, os Elfos imediatamente perceberam sua presença e sua intenção, e esconderam os Três.

Cerca de 90 anos depois, Sauron invadiu e conquistou Eregion, antes de conseguir o domínio de quase toda Eriador. Celebrimbor foi capturado e torturado para denunciar o paradeiro dos Sete e dos Nove, mas morreu sem revelar onde os Três estavam escondidos. Sauron roubou os Sete e os Nove, distribuindo-os aos líderes dos Anões e dos Humanos, respectivamente.

Poderes atribuidos aos Anéis

O propósito inicial, e também o poder, de todos os Anéis feitos pelos Elfos era o de curar, construir e compreender.

Os Anéis aparentemente davam ao seu usuário a visão de coisas geralmente ocultas, como a habilidade de Frodo de enxergar os Espectros do Anel em sua forma original enquanto usava o Um Anel, e também de ver o Nenya, Anel de Galadriel, ao passo que Sam não podia. Entretanto, acredita-se que esse poder de visão era mais um artifício de Sauron do que dos Elfos, e pode ser que os Três, jamais tocados por ele, não o tivessem.

Não está claro se esses poderes sempre estiveram presentes nos Nove e nos Sete ou se foram colocados neles por Sauron, quando este os roubou. É dito em Dos Anéis do Poder e da Terceira Era que Sauron corrompeu os Nove e os Sete para que enfeitiçar e trair quem os usasse.

Os Nove foram presenteados aos Reis e Feiticeiros dentre os Humanos, incluindo os Númenoreanos Negros. Eles foram rapidamente dominados e tornaram-se meros espectros, os Nazgûl. Os Nove provaram-se muito úteis a Sauron durante a Terceira Era, quando ele estava fraco demais para agir sozinho.

Os Sete foram dados aos sete líderes das casas dos Anões, mas por causa da ancestralidade única deles, Sauron não conseguia nem controlá-los nem ler suas mentes. Por isso, um dos objetivos de Sauron durante a Terceira Era foi recuperar todos os Sete que ainda existiam. No fim, somente três sobreviveram às labaredas dos Dragões, e acabaram em seu poder. O único mal perpetrado pelos Sete era o de inflamar a ganância dos Anões por ouro, jóias e objetos de artíficies, e também de tornar rico quem o usava. Tal riqueza atraiu os Dragões, e a maioria dos sete foi incinerada (juntamente com seus portadores).

Em um rascunho descartado, Tolkien indicou que os Calaquendi, como Glorfindel, poderiam usar o poder de invisibilidade de um Anel para esolher aparecer ou no mundo físico ou invisível, sem existir nos dois ao mesmo tempo. Isso guarda semelhanças, e até pode ser uma possível explicação, sobre como Sauron e Tom Bombadil poderiam permanecer visíveis enquanto usavam o Um Anel.

[edit] The Nine Main article: Nazgûl The Nine Rings caused Men wearing them to become invisible. They also extended the lifespans of Men who possessed them, although this eventually led to the Men becoming wraiths under Sauron's complete control. It is implied by Gandalf that all the Great Rings would have the same effects on Men, but Tolkien wrote that this was untrue of the Three and there are no instances of a Man bearing one of the Three.

The wraiths of the Men who received the Nine were the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths, Sauron's most feared servants. None are mentioned specifically in The Lord of The Rings except their leader, the Witch-king of Angmar. His second-in-command is named in Unfinished Tales as Khamûl, the Black Easterling. What is known is that three of the nine Ringwraiths were originally 'great lords' of Númenor in the mid Second Age.

The Nine were held by the Nazgûl after the fall of Sauron at the end of the Second Age, and they went on to wreak great evil with their powers in the East and South of Middle-earth, as well as the kingdom of Angmar, which warred on and destroyed the Dúnedain in the North. Later, Sauron was said to have gathered the Nine to himself, but this could also be construed as having the Nazgûl close at hand, rather than physically having these rings at Barad-dûr as was certainly the case with the remaining Dwarf-rings.

[edit] The Seven As there were seven Dwarf 'Houses' or nations, it is tempting to assume that the king of each House was given his own Ring, but this is not stated. However, It is mentioned by Gandalf that the seven hoards of the Dwarves were rumored to have each been started with a single golden ring. The Dwarves used their Rings to increase their treasure hoards, the rings bringing great wealth to their owners.

Tolkien wrote that the Rings could not make Dwarves invisible, turn them into wraiths, dominate their wills, or extend their lives due to essential traits of their kind. This greatly frustrated Sauron's plans, but through the Rings he was still able to influence them to anger and greed.

At the time of The Lord of the Rings, four of the Seven had been "consumed" by dragons, one was believed lost in Moria when Thrór was killed by Azog (one reason Balin returned to the ancient dwarf realm) and the remaining two were known to be recaptured by Sauron.

However, as revealed by Gandalf at the Council of Elrond, Thrór had given his ring, the last of the Seven, to his son Thráin II prior to Thrór's departure for Moria. Thráin II was subsequently captured, imprisoned, and tormented by Sauron at Dol Guldur nearly one hundred years before the beginning of The Hobbit in T.A. 2845. Therefore, Balin's hope to find the ring in Moria was futile. Apparently, the dwarves' secrecy worked against them, since Gandalf knew all of this long before Balin went to Moria, and could have warned Balin.

In the year before Frodo and Sam left the Shire with the One Ring, Sauron, through an unnamed emissary, promised to return the remaining three of the Seven to the Dwarves if they would recover "a little ring, the least of rings" from the "thief" who "stole" it. The emissary's words suggest Sauron hoped to convince the Dwarves that Bilbo's ring was one of the lesser rings forged by the Eregion smiths and not a Great Ring of Power. This offer was made repeatedly over the course of the year, and each time the Dwarves declined to answer. Distrustful of Sauron, who in fact correctly believed this ring to be the One, and not wanting to endanger Bilbo, the Dwarves instead sought out advice from Elrond. This is what brought Glóin and Gimli to Rivendell for the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring.

There is a tradition among the Dwarves that Durin III of Moria was not given a Ring by Sauron, but received his directly from Celebrimbor. As such, his ring would not have borne the taint of Sauron. For this reason, among others, Balin son of Fundin returned to Moria. He had hopes of finding a ring of power that could be used to help preserve and strengthen the dwarven people.

[edit] The Three Main article: Three Rings Unlike the other Rings, the Three did not confer invisibility or bear a curse beyond their vulnerability to the One (as Sauron himself never laid hand on them), but the rings themselves were invisible when worn. Only a few, such as other Ring-bearers, could see them.

The Three are the only Rings of Power other than the One that Tolkien depicted in the narrative. Narya, the Ring of Fire, was set with a ruby; Nenya, the Ring of Water or Ring of Adamant, was of mithril and set with a "white stone", presumably a diamond (although never stated explicitly, the usage of the word "adamant", an old synonym, is strongly suggestive); and Vilya, the Ring of Air, and "mightiest of the Three", was of gold and set with a sapphire. They remained hidden, and their possessors were not revealed until the end of the Third Age.

Before the sack of Eregion, Celebrimbor gave Vilya and Narya to Gil-galad and Nenya to Galadriel. Gil-galad later gave Narya to Círdan, and gave Vilya to Elrond shortly before he died.

The Three remained hidden from Sauron and untouched by him, and during the Third Age after he lost the One they were used for the preservation and enhancement of the three remaining realms of the Eldar. Vilya was used by Elrond at Rivendell, Nenya by Galadriel at Lothlórien, and Narya at Mithlond by Círdan. When the Istari, or wizards, arrived about T.A. 1000, Círdan gave Narya to Gandalf, who bore it until the end of the Third Age.

[edit] The One Main article: One Ring The Rings of Power were objects of great potency, and so to accomplish their domination Sauron was obliged to transfer most of his own power into the One Ring, a necessity that later led to his downfall.

In Eregion, a great many lesser rings were forged as "essays in the craft", of unknown but far lesser powers than the Great Rings. These were all "simple and unadorned" metal bands without any markings or gemstones. In contrast, the Great Rings other than the One were each set with 'their proper gem'. As with the lesser rings, the One was a plain band, apparently of ordinary gold, and with no visible markings. However, if the One was made hot enough an inscription of two lines of Black Speech in tengwar script could be made out in fiery letters covering both sides of the ring:

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. These words were spoken by Sauron when he first put on the One, and it was when they heard him speaking them that the Elves became aware of his purpose. Later, after Sauron had captured and distributed the Seven and the Nine, a translation of them was incorporated into the rhyme told to Frodo by Gandalf:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. Because the Elves did not use their Rings while Sauron possessed the One his original plan was unsuccessful, but the force he could bring to bear with the Ring upon the wills of others was vast nonetheless. With the Ring in his possession, Sauron was quickly able to corrupt the Númenóreans into Dark worship, human sacrifice, and open rebellion against the Valar, which led to their destruction by divine intervention.

As with the Nine, a mortal who wore it would become invisible. Gandalf told Frodo that while he wore the Ring he was invisible to his friends but even more visible to the Nazgûl since he then existed more fully in the spirit world they inhabited. With repeated use a mortal might 'fade' and become a wraith dominated by Sauron. It granted power to dominate the wills of others in proportion to the native abilities of its wearer. Thus, although Frodo was able to dominate Gollum for a time, he could never have done so with anyone greater. Any powerful being who possessed the Ring, such as Gandalf, would be so corrupted by it that he would simply take Sauron's place as Dark Lord.

It may have granted Sam the ability to understand the speech of Orcs in Mordor, and Bilbo Baggins the ability to understand the speech of the Great Spiders in Mirkwood.

The One possessed a kind of sentience or will of its own and could slip on or off at inopportune times or influence the bearer (cf. Isildur at the "Disaster of the Gladden Fields.") in an effort to return to its creator. It could even influence and corrupt those who had never touched it, such as when it drove Sméagol to murder Déagol.

[edit] Final disposition of the Rings In the climactic scene of The Lord of the Rings, the One was destroyed in the Crack of Doom at Orodruin, where it was originally forged, causing the downfall of Sauron and the undoing of all he created with it.

Galadriel tells Frodo that with the destruction of the One, the power of the other surviving Rings, though no longer bound to it, would fail. At the end of the Third Age, the Three were taken to Valinor by their bearers.

Dragons consumed four of the Seven Rings, and after Sauron's return in the Third Age he recaptured three of them. These were almost certainly buried in the rubble of Barad-dûr.

The fate of the Nine was likely the same as that of the remaining Seven. Tolkien wrote that "all of the Nine had come into the possession of Sauron", and that "they perished and became useless when the One was destroyed". This implies (contradicting a statement made by Gandalf at the Council of Elrond) that the Nazgûl no longer physically possessed the Nine. This implication is supported by the fact that the Witch-King's ring was not captured after he was killed. Leaving aside the peril of using it, Aragorn and Gandalf would not have allowed a Ring of Power to be left unattended on the battlefield. However, it is just as likely that the Nazgul's Nine Rings were still worn by each of them, but were automatically destroyed by the unmaking of the One Ring.

[edit] Adaptations

The bearers of the Rings of Power in Jackson. From top to bottom: Elves, Dwarves, MenRalph Bakshi's 1978 animated film begins with the forging of the Rings of Power and the events of the Last Alliance's war against Sauron, all portrayed in silhouette against a red background.

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring begins with a similar prologue, though longer and more detailed. The three Elven rings are shown being cast using a cuttlebone mold, an ancient primitive casting technique consistent with the book's description of them as "only essays in the craft before it was full-grown". Additionally, Tolkien illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee, employed as conceptual designers for the films, have cameoes as two of the nine human Ring-bearers (the future Nazgûl).