Lord of the Rings: number of rings

"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

Why are there no rings for Ents? Hobbits are a race of Men (hence the lack of an origin in the Silmarillion). The Ents, though, are a wholly distinct species, and Sauron knew of them, as some were corrupted into the first trolls. So why lesser rings for only three races?

Ents presumably have no need for wealth, private property or possessions, so maybe they lack the emotions of greed and ambition necessary for the rings to do their work. I don't recall the ring ever getting close enough to an Ent to see if his behaviour was changed by it.

Also, the Rings were originally all made for and by the Elves (except for the One). Sauron captured all of them except for the Three (which were the most powerful) after his attempt to use the One to dominate the rings, and by extension their Elven wearers, failed. He then gave nine to Men and seven to Dwarves, races he felt would be easier to bend to his will (though the Dwarves of Durin's line maintained that their ring was given by the Elves, not Sauron).

Ents would have told him to shove them up his ass.

This

Because Tolkien hadn't thought of Ents when he first came up with the idea and started writing the book.

Probably the real answer, but that's no fun is it.

Eleven for the Ent-chiefs as little trees they reared

Marriage rings for Ent-wives and Ent-wives disappeared.

Because Sauron has no need to give Rings to the Ents. After all, for one, he's not going to be able to subvert them, as they have no need for wealth or urbanized civilization, and for the other, they're going to be suspicious of Sauron (with very good reasons) even when he intended it for the best.

While I'll go with Imip's answer, the lack of Ent-rings seems wholly appropriate for a story that places this much importance on humility and the rejection of power.

I'm reminded of the Ring's attempt on Sam near Minas Morgul. As you know, the lure of the Ring shows up more often and in more detail in the book. It tries to offer Sam a garden the size of a realm, which fails to work at all. What would he do with it? It's more than he could care for. The Ents themselves are gardeners and shepherds. They have a tree's grasp of time, achievement, and boredom. They mostly care about the outside world insofar as it enroaches on their trees.

How do you corrupt that?

I suppose that Sauron could've created some very touchy woods, but I doubt that he woudld've seen that as an achievement.

I guess the same reason there are a no rings for balrogs or dragons. At the age they were forged, these creature had simply stopped to matter or interfere in the fate of Middle Earth. It could also simply be because they are no creature created (or accepted) by Eru.

The Dwarves weren't created by Eru, and I don't recall most of the Valar being happy about them, either.

Yes, but he ultimately accepted them as one of the races.

It's been a while since I read the Silmarillion, but I always assumed that most of the more mystical beings were maia in some way or another.

edited 15th Jul '11 10:27:20 AM by eX

Mystical beings were, Ents weren't. Illuvatar agreed to let Yavanna create the Ents to protect trees from the other races. Chapter 2 of the Silmarillion.

IIRC, both Ents and Dwarves were created by other Valar, but Eru accepted them anyway. Dragons and Balrogs are Maiar, though, and IDT they'd be easily corrupted. Or, they'd realize what the rings were.

So wait

What happens when a human gets a dwarven ring?

He becomes gradually corrupted and ultimately turns into a wraith, the same as if he got a human ring. The fundamental nature of the Seven and the Nine appears to be the same; their effects differ because of the different natures of their wielders (Men and Dwarves not being the same). The only rings that are actually different themselves are the Three (made by Celebrimbor alone as tools of protection and healing; not inherently corrutpive like the others, but still subject to the One if Sauron holds it) and the One (created by Sauron alone to dominate the others, it's both much more powerful and much more evil).

EDIT: To clarify about Dwarves, they were created by one of the Valar (Aule) and designed to be very resistant to any form of mental domination (he created them while Melkor was at the height of his powers, and didn't want his creations to be snatched up and enslaved). The Seven were able therefore to exert a degree of influence over their wearers, but were never able to dominate them outright, so the Dwarf-lords, unlike the Kings of Men, never fell under Sauron's dominion or became wraiths. No doubt this is also why Dwarves are so stubborn even under ordinary circumstances :).

edited 16th Jul '11 5:36:26 PM by MasterGhandalf

I agree, although I wonder what would happen if one of the lesser rings was given to an elf.

edited 18th Jul '11 8:00:43 AM by Olorin486

Assuming you mean the Seven and the Nine, I'm pretty sure an Elf who used one would eventually become corrupted (this was Sauron's original plan), but they wouldn't become a wraith because they're already immortal.

Of course, the term "lesser rings" is also used in the book to refer to magic rings created by Sauron and the Elven-smiths as, essentially, prototypes of the full Rings of Power. Gandalf mentions them briefly, but exactly what their capabilities are is never elaborated on (though apparently they don't give long life, which is how Gandalf realized Gollum's ring had to be a full Ring of Power- only they do that).

I thought that the seven and the nine were given by the elves to the dwarves and the humans, respectively, but were captured and corrupted by Sauron (who then also turned the nine human kings who bore the rings into the ringwraiths because they were the most easily corrupted).

Nope; all the Rings (except for the One) were originally for the Elves, but when Sauron first put on the One and tried to dominate them with it they were able to sense it and took their Rings off before he could get his psychic talons into them. Sauron then attacked the Elves and stole back most of the Rings (the Three were hidden from him) and handed them out to Men and Dwarves. The Kings of Men were gradually corrupted and fell under Sauron's sway, ultimately becoming wraiths; the Dwarf-lords, as mentioned above, were affected to a degree but not enough for Sauron to control them. He therefore tried to take the Seven back, and had recaptured several of them by the time of LOTR (we don't know what he did with them)- the others were lost and believed destroyed by dragons who had killed their wielders.

Of course, the Dwarves of Durin's line always maintained that their Ring was given to them by the Elves, not Sauron, but there's no way to know for sure.

Forgive me for asking this, seeing as to how I only saw the movies, but not the books, but what exactly happened to the Dwarven rings?

The Seven Rings were generally a failure at enslaving the dwarves. Sauron reclaimed some of them; the others were destroyed (along with their unfortunate wielders) by dragons (the Dwarven rings had the power to create great wealth, which naturally attracted dragons, and dragonfire is one of the few things that can destroy a Ring of Power, with the exception of the One). Those that survived presumably lost their powers when the One was destroyed, like the Three did.

edited 20th Dec '14 2:05:48 PM by MasterGhandalf

Thanks

It would have been perfectly in character for Sauron to dismiss the Ents as a bunch of useless plodders, with no ambitions higher than forest preservation. "What could I even gain by corrupting them—an evil orchard?" As with the Hobbits, Sauron probably lacked the insight needed to see their value, and so valued them too little even to bother co-opting.