Prologue:

Near-Forgotten Memories

It seems as though what was has almost been forgotten, because most of the people who remember have long since died. I shall tell this story to the best of my ability, because time has blurred my memory as much as anyone else's. This is the story of the One Ring, and it goes something like this:

It all began with the rings. Three were given to elves, tall, immortal warriors who were unimaginably wise; they didn't trust the rings so they immediately took them off. Seven were given to the dwarfs, who didn't wear them, but put them in their prized collection. And nine were given to sons of Man, but Man was greedy and selfish, and kept the rings for themselves.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone, in Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doof, the dark lord, Sauron, forged another ring, one with the power to control all the other rings, into it he poured his hatred, anger, and willingness to destroy all things, one ring to rule them all.

The elves found out of this, and formed a massive army of elves, dwarfs, and men to defeat Sauron's army. And so, a great battle ensued, and a massive amount of blood was spilled that day. It was not until the heir to the throne of Man grabbed a shard of his blade, which shattered in battle, and cut the ring from the hand of Sauron, that the battle was won. But even though Sauron had been defeated, the ring was still intact, the ring was still warm, so it's fiery inscription could still be read, Sauron's life force was attached to his ring, so as long as it lived, so did he. Man had the chance to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doof, the one place where it could be destroyed, but the ring manipulated it's holder, and so, Man kept it; But it was a costly mistake, the return party was ambushed on the trail, and the ring was lost, until one day, somebody picked it up.

For two hundred and fifty years, the ring was kept in the company of the creature Krrlum, whose cave lay hidden below the Misty Mountains. Then, one day, the ring decided that it's time had come. The ring abandoned Krrlum, who had become attached to the ring so much that he drove himself over the edge when he thought he lost it. But then, something happened that the One Ring didn't expect; a hobbit, Lilbo Baggins, of the Shire. He then kept the ring in his possession for sixty years, until…something unexpected happened.