Chapter 4 – The Study of Ringlore
TA 1600
Saruman's Assignment
The five Istari were assembled at Radagast's house in Rhosgobel, discussing how each of them would study some aspect of the Ways of the Enemy.
"If we know everything there is to know about Sauron, we'll be better able to counter him." said Saruman.
"I can watch Dol Guldur." said Radagast.
"I'll go to talk to Elrond and Glorfindel. They faced Sauron in battle a number of times.[1] They can tell us how Sauron fights a war." said Gandalf.
"I'd like to know what powers the Ring gave him." said Saruman.
"Why? He doesn't have it anymore. I don't see what we'd gain by learning more about it. Are you just looking for an excuse to study something related to craft?" asked Pallando.
"When he made the Ring, he put a lot of himself into it. I'd like to know, how much the loss of it weakened him." said Saruman.
"I'd like to know what would happen if he found it again." said Gandalf.
The Apprentices In Imladris
Saruman followed Elrond down a steep flight of stairs cut into the rock foundations beneath Imladris. Elrond had offered to show him to the Workshop of the Elves, where the Elven Smiths had their forges. Saruman had never been down here before.
Saruman had come to Imladris to interview Elrond and several others about Sauron's motives when he tried to conquer all of Arda in SA 1700. Elrond met Sauron when he first appeared as Annatar. He was the first to suspect there was something 'off' about him.
When Saruman finished talking to everyone he had come to see, Elrond suggested he talk to the Elven smiths from Ost-in-Edhil.
"I can introduce you to a few people who worked with Celebrimbor at the Gwaith-i-Mírdain. They witnessed the Great Rings being forged. They may even have helped to make them." said Elrond.
"But remember, they were traumatized by what happened afterwards.[2] They may not want to talk about it, so be prepared to back off."
They reached the bottom of the staircase and entered the forge. Saruman smelled smoke and heard the clink of hammers against steel. They stopped before an older smith, working by himself. Elrond introduced them and left them alone together.
Saruman waited quietly while the smith gathered his thoughts. Finally he began to speak.
The Workshop Of The Jewel Smiths
"I apprenticed under Celebrimbor. I was anxious about going to work for him. He was the head of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, the Workshop of the Jewel Smiths. He was also the leader of the city, so I expected him to be stern and commanding. Worse, he was Fëanor's grandson, so I expected him to be self-centered, violent tempered, and more than a little crazy.
"But Celebrimbor wasn't like his grandfather. He was one of the most good-natured and reasonable people I've ever met.
"He and Annatar were a team. Each achieved more with the help of the other than they ever could have accomplished alone. They did amazing things together, and were close friends, as well.
"No, I never thought there was anything 'off' about Annatar. Of course, we now know he was Sauron in disguise, but at the time, we never suspected.
"He became a respected member of our community. Then one day, he was gone. We never knew why. Celebrimbor knew, but he wouldn't say anything other than, 'Good riddance to bad rubbish'. Obviously they'd quarreled. But they'd worked together in harmony for almost three hundred years. We expected them to patch things up, but they never did. Their feud escalated until it ended with Celebrimbor's death."
Saruman knew the story. Sauron tortured Celebrimbor to death, then impaled his body on a pole and carried it into battle like a banner. Even for Sauron, that was bad.
The Sixteen Great Rings
"Tell me about the Great Rings. How were they made?"
"Each one took at least a year to make. They weren't intended for any particular race, it just ended up that seven were given to the Dwarves and nine to Men. They're more or less interchangeable, although the different races use them different ways. They don't make a man greedy for gold, for instance, and they won't lengthen the life of a Dwarf."
Binding The Sixteen
"How did Sauron bind the Great Rings to the One? asked Saruman.
"He developed a binding mechanism long before the Great Rings were made. We know that, because it was built into each of them at the time they were made." said the smith.
"Are you sure? Which of the Great Rings was made first?" asked Saruman.
"The one given to the Chief of the Nazgûl." said the smith.
That one's definitely bound, thought Saruman.
"Now that we know to look for it, we can see evidence of the binding mechanism in early drawings and figures." said the smith.
He led Saruman over to a row of narrow drawers where drawings were stored flat like maps. He pulled open one of the drawers and lifted out a sheet of parchment, brown with age.
"It's a copy, but it's one of the best examples of Annatar's drawings we have. It shows most of the mechanisms of a Great Ring. If the binding mechanism is documented anywhere, it's here." said the smith.
"Do you have any of Annatar's original drawings or notes?" asked Saruman.
"No, we burned them when we learned who he was."
The Three Rings
"How were the three Elven Rings made?"
"They're different than the sixteen Great Rings that came before them. The Elven Rings required more skill to make than anything we'd ever done before, and they were harder to make. It took Celebrimbor and the Elven smiths ninety years to make three of them."
Binding The Three
"How did Sauron bind the Three to the One, given that he never saw or touched them?" asked Saruman.
"Our best guess is that he bound the Three exactly the same way he bound all the other great Rings.
"But weren't the Elven Rings entirely different from the previous Sixteen?"
"They were. But Celebrimbor was like any other craftsman. He concentrated on the creative parts of the design, and reused the utilitarian parts from previous work. It's likely that the binding mechanism was copied into the Three by accident.[3]
"Do you think the Elven Rings could be unbound? Could they be freed from the One?" asked Saruman.
"Without having physical possession of the One? Not a chance. With it? I don't know. It might be possible.
"But even if it were, I don't know that it would be a good idea. The Three draw their power from the One. It would be unwise to risk harming them, because they preserve Imladris, Lothlorian, and Lindon, our three havens." said the smith.
Binding The Three
"Could the One be destroyed?" asked Saruman.
"I don't see why not. Four of the Great Rings were consumed by Dragon's fire. I imagine it could be, too." said the smith.
The One Ring
"I know you weren't there, but what do you know about how the One was made?" asked Saruman.
"Forging it probably wasn't all that hard, but it was dangerous."
"Because he was working in a volcano?" asked Saruman.
"Because he was attempting something that had never been done before, and which may have been beyond his ability. He had a lot of self-confidence, but as a craftsman, he wasn't all that good."
"But how exactly did he do it?" asked Saruman.
"We don't know much, but we assume he made a simplified version of a Great Ring."
"A simplified version? Surely the One was more complicated than the other Great Rings? It's far more powerful than the others, and all the others are bound to it."
"From what I saw, Annatar was more brawn than brains. The high temperatures in the volcano and the large infusion of his own power are both examples of resorting to force. Not to mention how fast he made it." said the smith.
How Long Did It Take
"But I thought it took him a hundred years to forge the One." said Saruman.
"More like ten. Probably less.
"But they say he begin working on it right after he left the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, and finished it a hundred years later?"
"That's right. After he left us, he went straight to Mordor and set up his workshop in the Sammath Naur. He probably began to draw the design then.
"And I believe he began thinking about it much earlier, before any of the Great Rings were made, based on the binding mechanism.
However, I don't think he made the One until after the Elven Rings were finished. The One could only have been forged after the Three were completed, because he couldn't have bound the Three to it unless they already existed." said the smith.
"There was a ten year window in which it must have happened. The Elven rings were made in SA 1590. Sauron began wearing his Ring ten years later. We know this, because the bearers of the Elven Rings felt it when he put it on.
"And it's likely didn't find out about the Three right away. They were made in great secrecy and kept hidden from him. Depending on when he learned of them, it's possible he made the One in only a year."
"That's fast, right?" asked Saruman.
"For a project of that magnitude, it's astonishing." said the smith.
The Binding Spell
"Are you sure he made it that quickly? Couldn't he have begun the One first, and bound the others to it later?" asked Saruman.
"I don't think so. I expect the binding spell was cast over the Ring when it was made. Perhaps it could be done later, but I don't think it would take." said the smith.
Claiming It
"And think of the timing. The Three were already bound when Sauron put the Ring on for the first time and claimed it." said the smith.
"Claimed it?"
"All the Great Rings are claimed by the person who becomes their Master. A ring can be used without being claimed, of course, but it's not nearly as responsive."
Double Or Nothing
"How much of himself did he put into it, do you think?" asked Saruman.
"That's the surprising thing. When Sauron made the Ring, he put the greater part of his own power into it. That's a very risky think to do." said the smith.
"He's not usually one to take stupid risks." said Saruman.
"I think it happened like this. He planned to put a portion of his own power into the Ring, but after he started, he discovered it wasn't enough. But if he stopped at that point, he'd lose everything he'd put in so far.
"So he put in more, and when that wasn't enough, he kept going. He couldn't quit at that point, because if he did, he'd be crippled for life.
"And if he ran out of power before he put enough to finish the project, he'd have perished. It must have been like a gambler getting caught in a double or nothing bet. One story says he was so frightened while he was forging it that tears ran down his face.
"Anyway, I think that's how he ended up putting so much of himself into it. Although in the end, from his point of view, it turned out well. He lived, and the Ring was even more powerful than anticipated.
"But still, he's lucky he wasn't permanently crippled, or more likely, killed outright. If forging the Ring was a thing done in anger, then anger drove him to take stupid risks. He could have planned carefully and taken precautions, but my impression is, he barged right in and thought about it later."
The Ring Makes Him Evil
"Let me ask you something else. Why did the Ring make Sauron evil?" said Saruman.
"I don't think it did." said the smith.
"It must have. Before he forged the Ring, he lived among the Elves, and was generally liked and well regarded.
"But right afterwards, he led an army from Mordor to the Grey Havens, burning everything in his path and wiping out the Gwaith-i-Mírdain. The Ring must be toxic. Wearing it must have poisoned his mind. He was never like that when I knew him, and from what you say, when you knew him either." said Saruman.
"I don't think the Ring is toxic. It's part of him. It didn't put cruelty or malice into him, it only exaggerated what was already there." said the smith.
Enslaved By His Own Ring
Saruman got up to go.
"Is there anything else we should know?" he asked.
"That's pretty much it. No wait, there's one thing. Sauron put so much of himself into the Ring, it's stronger than he is. Normally that wouldn't matter, because it's part of him. But if someone else were to claim it, that person would also control him."
"What do you mean, control him?"
"Read his thoughts, overpower his will. Enslave him, basically."
"You mean, make him a ringwraith to his own Ring?"
"Pretty much."
Saruman gasped. Until now, The White Council had no way to control Sauron. This was a gift.
"How would someone claim the Ring?" Saruman asked.
"If it's like all the other Great Rings, you put it on and say 'I claim this for my own.' The specific words don't matter, but you have to really mean it. And you have to be strong enough to pull it off."
In his mind's eye Saruman saw the Ring on his hand and heard himself speaking the words to claim it.
Saruman looked up and saw Elrond listening to them. Elrond waited until the smith had gone, then said to Saruman,
"It is unwise to study too deeply the ways of the Enemy."
[1] In Eregion in SA 1700, and again in the War of the Last Alliance in SA 3434.
[2] Please see the MEFA award winning fanfic, 'The Apprentice' by pandemonium_213
[3] In the language of Object Oriented Programming, the Elven Rings inherited from the sixteen Great Rings. The binding function, which Annatar bundled with other housekeeping utilities, was too useful to delete, but too mundane to examine closely.