History Main / RingOfPower

* Keiji Sosano, The BigBad of the ''Naruto'' Fanfic ''Fanfic/AFathersWrath'' in a ShoutOut to The Mandarin above wears eight rings on his fingers that possess power and they are said to have been worn by [[GodOfEvil Jashin]].

* ''Literature/TheRepublic'' of Creator/{{Plato}}: To illustrate his point that people act justly only because of outward social forces, Glaucon relates the tale of Gyges: The shepherd Gyges, having taken a gold ring from an AncientTomb, finds out that the ring [[InvisibilityCloak makes him invisible]] when he turns the collet of the ring inwards. Soon after, Gyges uses the invisibility provided by the ring to [[InvisibleJerkass seduce the queen and murder the king.]] The Ring of Gyges is a contender to be the TropeMaker for all magic rings.
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's historical fantasy novel ''Literature/TheSpiritRing'' the "spirit rings" of the title derive their considerable magical powers from having the soul or spirit of a dead person bound to them. This ''can'' be a voluntary arrangement, with the ring's bearer promising to look after a dying man's family in exchange for the dying man's service in the afterlife, along with a promise to release the spirit from the ring when the bearer is nearing death, so as not to leave the ghostly servant permanently separated from God and thereby damned. It can also ''not'' be a voluntary arrangement: The soul of a murdered, unbaptized, unburied infant makes for an exceptionally strong spirit ring.

** The One Ring was personally crafted by Sauron to give him dominion over all other rings of power, and control their wielders. This mostly failed because the elves immediately detected the attack and Sauron could not properly control the dwarves. Its most prominent effect on the one who wears it is invisibility; however, it also works very hard to corrupt the wielder. The One Ring proved a double-edged sword, as it effectively became a SoulJar for Sauron: if he gets it back he can be made whole, but if it's destroyed, he'll fade to nothingness. Its negative effects are slow-acting but tend to cause paranoia, obsessive protectiveness of the ring, and physical mutation of the user into a near-hairless crawling wretch, although this takes a substantial amount of time based on its four bearers (Isildur, Gollum, Bilbo, Frodo).

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': the White Queen and Black Queen both possess rings which transfer the powers and physical properties of [[SpiritAdvisor all pre-entry sprite prototypings]] onto the body of the ring-wearer, [[OneWingedAngel resulting in]] a NinjaPirateZombieRobot sort of appearance and power array. It also seems to provide significant power of its own - the "Red Miles" blast it generates is enough to cause severe damage to the Battlefield and completely destroy Prospit. In the kids' session, [[TheStarscream Jack Noir]] claimed the Black Queen's ring as his own after he snapped and murdered her. [[OmnicidalManiac Mass]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom destruction]] [[FromBadToWorse ensued]]. In the trolls' session, he would've attempted to do the same after [[EnemyMine aiding the trolls]] in deposing the Black Queen, and they had to take extra care to ensure he didn't get it, culminating in [[ShoutOut throwing it into the volcano on Kanaya's planet]].

* Dean's hallucination sequence in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' featured an actual Ring of Power of ill-defined abilities.

* A very prominent example in the ''Belphegor'' animated series. Belphegor's red ring with the Tanit symbol on it is his iconic weapon and the only one he uses. It has the ability to emit a beam of light that either knocks people unconscious or breaks through solid objects, depending on which he wants to do. A whole episode dedicated to him losing it shows that it's actually much more powerful and dangerous, with Belphegor being the only one able to use it without a problem.

* Stella's ring in ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' turns into a scepter, provides light, and teleports people.

* Gilli from ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' had a magic ring that supplemented his power.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E133RingADingGirl Ring-A-Ding Girl]]", Bunny Blake receives a ring from her fan club in her home town of Howardsville. As soon as she puts it on, she experiences a premonition telling her that it is urgent that she come home at once. Bunny is then able to [[AstralProjection astrally project]] herself so that she can prevent as many of the townspeople as possible from being killed when the plane on which is traveling crashes into Howardsville. When she disappears, her sister Hildy and nephew Bud find the charred and damaged ring on the floor of their living room.

* In ''Eternal Ring,'' all equipment not a weapon (yes, even armor) is a magic ring, from magic attacks to meta-magic (Fork, which splits shots in two, and Seek, which turns magic attacks into HomingProjectiles) to stat-boosting equipment. You can wear ''no less than six'' rings; one for each full-sized proper finger.

[[caption-width-right:417:[[ComicBook/SpiderMan With great power]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility comes great responsibility]]. {{Literature/Aladdin}} [[FlavorText was never that responsible]].]]

* ''ComicBook/TheFly'': The Fly gains his powers by rubbing a magic ring.

[[caption-width-right:417:[[Franchise/SpiderMan With great power]] [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility comes great responsibility]]. {{Literature/Aladdin}} [[FlavorText was never that responsible]].]]

* Members of the Franchise/GreenLantern Corps channel the power from their central power battery through their rings (which they recharge using their lanterns). The other ring-bearing Corps/organisations (being the [[ThePowerOfHate Red Lantern Corps]], [[{{Greed}} Agent Orange]], the [[IKnowWhatYouFear Sinestro Corps]], the [[HopeSpringsEternal Blue Lantern Corps]], the [[FriendToAllLivingThings Indigo Tribe]], the [[ThePowerOfLove Star Sapphires]], the [[ZombieApocalypse Black Lantern Corps]] and the bearers of the [[LifeEnergy White Lantern]] rings) operate in a similar fashion. Even before John Broome created and unveiled the Green Lantern Corps and their rings in 1959, the original character to use the name Green Lantern, Alan Scott, was using a magic ring crafted from a piece of a lantern containing the magic of an entire universe. While it functions in a fashion similar to the rings of the various Lantern Corps, it also let him distort time, teleport, turn intangible or invisible, shrink objects, and more, though it also possessed a different weakness; [[Main/WeaksauceWeakness wood and plant matter]].
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': The Legion rings grant the power of flight to those who do not possess it as an innate ability.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'': Lana Lang was given a ring by an alien that allowed her to become the superheroine Insect Queen. She later became an honorary member of [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes The Legion Of Super-Heroes]].

* In the Valiant Universe, alien armors such as the XO Man-O-War are summoned and controlled by special rings.
* Diamond Jack, from ''Slam Bang Comics'', had a ring that gave him several superpowers including super strength, invulnerability and the ability to create anything he could imagine.
* Peter Ward became the superhero the Scarab by rubbing a mystical ring.
* Wonder Man, a character from Fox Comics, got his powers, which included super strength, from a magical ring.
* Craig Carter, from ''Wham Comics'', had a ring that could summon mythological figures.
* Atom Blake, from ''Wow Comics'', received a magical ring that granted wishes.
* Echo, who appeared in ''Yankee Comics'' and ''The Weekender'', had a ring that allowed him to shoot beams from his eyes.
* Thesson, Son of the Gods, got his superpowers from a ring.
* In the ''Creator/CrossGen'' series ''Way of the Rat'', there are several magical rings that grant their bearers mastery over certain types of weapons. The protagonist Boon Sai Hong is the destined bearer of the Ring of Staffs, making him a consummate master of fighting with staves. Boon briefly wore the Ring of Blades [[spoiler: after defeating its previous owner Bhuto Khan]] but eventually passed it on [[spoiler: to Silken Ghost]]. Before the series was cancelled due to ''Creator/CrossGen'' going bankrupt, a third ring was introduced, the Ring of Fists.
* Marvel's young superhero Freedom Ring possesses a ring with a shard of a Cosmic Cube in it, allowing him to manipulate reality in a radius of 15 feet around himself. The skrull superhero Crusader inherits it after Freedom Ring's death.
* In ''ComicBook/TheCourageousPrincess'', Princess Mabelrose steals it from her dragon kidnapper's horde, but never really figures out what it does. It hides the mind of the wearer, which is quite useful as the furiously pursuing dragon is capable of reading minds.
* ''ComicBook/BlackMoonChronicles'': The Lords of Negation are Haazheel Thorn's most elite soldiers, and are controlled by him through several mind control rings. When Wismerhill turns against Haazheel, he has Shamballeau build other rings that will negate their effect. It works for a moment, but as soon as Haazheel notices this he destroys the second rings in swift order.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheThing'', a cartoon starring an AU version of [[Franchise/FantasticFour The Thing]] without the Franchise/FantasticFour, used this trope to turn The Thing into a HenshinHero. The premise was that some bizarre incident reverted pilot Benjamin Grimm into a gangly teenager again that the other characters called "Benji". The incident also gave him the power to turn into The Thing after putting the two halves of his "Thing Ring" together.