Q: Could Anyone Have Used More Than One Ring of Power?
ANSWER: As interesting as this question is, I don’t believe there is a way to provide an authoritative, definitive answer based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s (post-humously) published writings. A little more than a year ago one of our readers submitted the following question: “What would have happenend, if a Nazgûl (or any Ringbearer, Dwarf, Elf, Gandalf) used more than one of the Great Rings? Wouldn’t the cumulated power have been enough to overpower Sauron (and place a new dark queen or lord in his place)?”
I simplified the question because I think there is a semantic way to provide at least one correct answer for the first part. In fact, that method is attested in the story. However, the second part of the question was already answered in the Council of Elrond. The Elven rings (and by extension the Dwarf and Nazgûl rings) could not be used to overpower Sauron. They were all subject to the One Ring, which made them subject to Sauron’s will.
I don’t know if anyone could have wielded two Rings of Power at one time. That is left up to the reader’s imagination. I suppose if you could wear two RIngs of Power you might benefit from both their powers, at least indirectly.
BUT WHAT ABOUT SAURON’S SECOND AGE DEFEATS? When you think about it, Sauron lost to the Elves and the Dunedain on three occasions. First, they defeated him during the War of the Elves and Sauron. Second, Ar-Pharazôn’s army defeated Sauron’s armies (which fled away in fear). And finally the Last Alliance not only defeated Sauron militarily, but they also killed him and took the One Ring from his dead or dying body.
Given how powerful the One Ring supposedly made him, why did Sauron keep losing wars during the Second Age? Well, the answer appears to be that he was very poorly informed about the strengths and resolve of his enemies. Sauron overran the western lands during the War of the Elves and Sauron but he didn’t expect Numneor to provide as much help as eventually came. Sauron’s plans worked against the Eldar and the men and dwarves who aligned with them. But when the Numenoreans landed an army behind his main forces (apparently divided into two groups in Eriador), Sauron was unable to adapt to the changing conditions of the war.
Tolkien’s description of the war follows a number of historical precedents. Large, powerful armies can be stopped by smaller forces given the right terrain. But when a second force strikes from the rear of the enemy, the battle may well be lost regardless of how large or small the encircled force is. The Persians used that tactic to displace and destroy the Spartans and their allies at Thermopylae. During the American Civil War the Union Army employed the tactic more than once as well. So did the Confederates. And the Zulu empire thrived for several generations using their famous “horns of the buffalo” formation, in which enemies were pinned down by a feint from the front and crushed from the rear or the flank.
Tolkien notes that Sauron was surprised by the strength of Ar-Pharazôn’s army when the Numenoreans humbled him. Of course, Sauron agreed to return to Numenor so that he could corrupt the Kings of Men (which he did, for the most part). They were already vulnerable to that corruption, but I’ll come back to that point later.
In Appendix A to The Lord of the Rings Tolkien notes that Sauron struck Gondor too soon. His forces weren’t ready to take on Gil-galad and Elendil’s realms. Sauron simply didn’t know what he was going up against.
RINGS OF POWER DO NOT CONFER PERFECT KNOWLEDGE. Even when he possessed the One Ring, and he was at the height of his power, Sauron didn’t know how strong his enemies were at the heights of their powers. His intelligence failures led to his military failures. That’s classic martial principle. Although Tolkien goes out of his way to make Sauron appear to be extremely powerful and terrifying throughout The Lord of the Rings, he also reminds the reader that Sauron is filled with doubt and fear because he does not know everything. Even though Sauron possessed the Seeing Stone of Minas Ithil at the end of the Third Age, he still could not use it to provide himself with complete intelligence about what his enemies were doing.
A fair argument could be made that Gandalf’s plan to destroy the Ring was simply unthinkable to Sauron. Hence, Sauron didn’t know what to look for (or where to look) for the Ringbearer after Frodo left the Fellowship.
Now, let me make one more point in this topic: During the Second Age, Sauron was served by the Nazgûl for over a thousand years. They were not around to help him during the War of the Elves and Sauron, but they were available during the next two wars. And yet, even with TEN Rings of Power working for him, Sauron was defeated militarily. Their cumulative powers had limits.
The Rings of Power Had Two Functions
The Elves’ original intentions for the Great Rings (and perhaps all the lesser “essays in the craft”) appear to have been solely to enhance the keepers’ abilities to heal the hurts of Middle-earth, whatever those might be. As Tolkien noted, they wanted to recreate the paradise of Valinor in Middle-earth (without being directly ruled by the Valar). This means the Rings were designed to project and magnify the Elves’ own power. Hence, anyone wearing such a Ring would also be able to project and magnify their own power (or at least project the power of the Ring they possessed). That is how the nine men to whom Sauron gave Rings of Power were able to become great sorcerers.
Sauron’s hidden function, of course, was to enhance his own ability to control other wills. Because the One Ring was embued with Sauron’s own power and he kept it with him, its purpose was really designed to help Sauron influence and control other creatures. But Sauron also wanted to control the keepers of the other Rings of Power. By binding all the rings under the rule of the One he was able to master the rings and anyone who possessed them.
We need not debate whether Sauron could have controlled the keepers without the One Ring: he made the One Ring for that purpose. It ensured that his control would be complete. The Elves knew that. That is why they took off their Rings (the Seven, the Nine, and the Three) and hid them. They had no chance of resisting Sauron’s will if they wore their rings while he wore the One.
Let’s Assume Aragorn Captured a Few Rings of Power
Here is where the semantic game allows us to play a bit of “what if” logic with the story. We know from Sam’s experience in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, when he was wearing the Ring and wielding the Phial of Galadriel, that his own presence was enhanced into some terrifying shadow. Snaga, the low ranking Orc on the stairs, fled in terror from Sam.
Frodo also warned Gollum that the Ring would hold him to his promise to be faithful to Frodo. We can infer from the way the One Ring cowed weak-minded beings that its own will was powerful and aggressive. Although the keepers of the Three did not engage in similar daunting behavior (that can be attributed solely to their rings), we know that Sauron possessed and corrupted the Seven and the Nine. The Seven had almost no effect on the Dwarves but the Nine made their keepers great kings and warriors as well as sorcerers.
Hence, anyone possessing one of these Great Rings should have been able to command respect and fear from an army in the field. Whoever faced that Ringbearer would likewise be intimidated or cowed into submission. That seems to be what Tolkien implied about the Nazgûl’s early success when they used their Rings of Power.
So if Aragorn had captured, say, three of the Nine or Seven he could have given those rings to three of his captains (say, Eomer, Imrahil, and Faramir) and used them as proxy leaders.
Sauron’s Control Over His Creatures Was Not Perfect But …
We know from the Orcs’ near-constant bickering that they retained some independence of thought. Even when Sauron was controlling them they were not fully controlled. No mortal man would have been able to exert the kind of mass control over tens of thousands of servants the way Sauron did, not even with one of the Nine or Seven. Whatever control they would have wielded would still have been subjugated to the One Ring.
When the One Ring was destroyed Sauron became too weak to maintain his influence over his servants. Many of them, especially the Orcs, lost their wills to fight. Hence, I think it’s fair to say that had Aragorn and his allies held any of the Great Rings they could have become formidable captains, driving their own soldiers to fight hard and overcome many obstacles.
It still would not have been enough, though.
Sauron Had the Military Advantage
Sauron played a long game during the Third Age. For two thousand years he gradually wore down his enemies and divided them, so that they could no longer assemble great alliances against him. He ensured that his final military strategy would not be upended by some unexpected force arriving out of the blue. Everyone who could and would field an army in Middle-earth either went over to Sauron or suffered his long, simmering attention. Only the Rohirrim managed to increase their strengths during the last few centuries of the Third Age. Everyone else dwindled in numbers and military power. It could be said that Thranduil’s people were thriving, but they suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Five Armies. We don’t know if they had recovered.
Sauron’s military power at the end of the Third Age was simply overwhelming. Everyone knew there was no way to defeat his armies in the field. They had too great numbers. And Sauron didn’t even possess the One Ring. He wasn’t able to fully and effectively assert his will over all his servants the way he should have been.
Could A Few Ring Keepers Have Defeated Ringless Sauron Personally?
We know that Sauron’s military plans could be foiled by surprise; and yet by the end of the Third Age he had nearly eliminated all chances of surprise.
We know that Sauron’s ability to control lesser wills was enhanced by the One Ring. And yet even when deprived of the One Ring and greatly weakened by two physical deaths, Sauron still maintained control over vast numbers of servants at the end of the Third AGe.
And we know that, after being deprived of his armies at the end of the Second Age, Sauron himself attacked Gil-galad and Elendil personally in a final act of desperation. He nearly succeeded, too, but Elendil dealt Sauron a mortal blow.
If the Sauron of the final years of the Second Age could be defeated in personal combat, then it follows that the weaker Sauron of the final years of the Third Age should have been vulnerable to a similar fate. That may explain why Sauron chose not to leave his fortress, except to retreat. When Gandalf went to investigate Dol Guldur the first time Sauron fled. After Gandalf’s second investigation revealed that Sauron had indeed returned, the White Council moved against him. But Sauron retreated again.
In other words, Sauron was not about to directly face anyone whom he would have considered a threat to his physical existence. Hence, anyone wielding a Great Ring (as several members of the White Council did) against Sauron could not hope to draw him into a situation where he could be defeated in personal combat.
I think that effectively moots this question.
Finally, Could Sauron Have Wrested Control over a Ring-led Army?
Our hypothetical scenario still leaves us with Aragorn and a few trusted captains wielding (somehow captured) Great Rings (from the Seven or the Nine) in the field against’s Sauron’s forces. Aragorn’s ringbearers would not have wielded as much power, individually, as Sauron still wielded without the One Ring. They may very well have been able to lead their troops into a desperate situation where they would fight until sheer weight of numbers wore them down.
The only Great Ring that we do know was used against Mordor’s armies in the final war was Narya. Gandalf wore the ring when he went to Gondor. He used the ring to “kindle hearts” (most likely enhancing his own Maiaran power). Even so, Gandalf was unable to ensure that Minas Tirith would defeat Mordor. In fact, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was only won because of two surprise strikes against Mordor’s army. Theoden and the Rohirrim struck the besieging forces from the north and Aragorn’s hastily assembled forces struck from the south.
Clearly, Sauron’s power was insufficient to carry the day. He had used a volcanic cloud to enhance the power of the Nazgûl and depress the spirits of the defenders of Minas Tirith. Everyone felt that oppressive will working against them (and we saw Saruman use a similar oppressive will against Aragorn and his companions earlier in the story). It seems to me that Sauron pulled out all the stops, stacked the deck in his favor, and was still unable to win what should have been a quick, simple victory at Minas Tirith.
No matter how great his control over his own forces, and no matter how much he cowed his enemies’ soldiers, Sauron was still taken by surprise. But by the same token, it was only the element of surprise that allowed the western forces to win the battle at Minas Tirith. Even with Gandalf’s enhanced power (through the grace of Ilúvatar AND Narya’s power) the forces of Gondor and Rohan were only successful because they took the initiative away from Sauron’s army.
But in the aftermath of their victory the Captains of the West agreed there was no hope of a military victory. There was simply nothing left with which to surprise Sauron’s forces. That trick had finally played itself out. The only way to defeat Sauron was to destroy the One Ring.
In Other Words, The Hypothetical Scenario Doesn’t Matter
We know that Elrond and Galadriel both had powerful rings. We know that Gandalf had a powerful ring. We know that the Elves were very tough fighters to begin with. And yet they had no hope of militarily defeating Sauron’s forces.
The only way the Last Alliance forced Sauron to engage in personal combat was to strip him of his armies. They must have literally slaughtered all his forces. And that was not going to happen at the end of the Third Age. The West simply didn’t have the numbers required to sustain the heavy losses they would take fighting Sauron’s forces.
My Conclusion: They Would Have Lost
Even if Aragorn could have recovered all the remaining Dwarf and Nazgûl rings, and deployed them with trusted commanders in the field, they might have made a sizable dent in Sauron’s forces but they still would have gone down fighting. In a way, Tolkien covered all his bases without writing out this hypothetical scenario. He showed us through the story how everyone still in possession of a ring (including Saruman, who claimed to have made his own) knew beyond all doubt there was no way they could win even if they all united and stood together against him.
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
“They may very well have been able to lead their troops into a desperate situation where they would fight until sheer weight of numbers wore them down.”
Eomer and the Rohirrim were willing and able to do that anyway. Would a ring have made much difference in their case?
The only scene in the story (that I can think of) where a ring-wielding commander might have made a difference was when some of the 7,000 men became fearful as Aragorn’s army approached Mordor, and he gave them a new mission to help them preserve their dignity and honor. Maybe in that scenario a ring would have kept them in line. But we can only guess at how Tolkien would have interpreted the scenario. He knew better than us what he thought the limits of a newly acquired Ring of Power might be.
Excellent article as always.
My only question in response is if the Nine rings gave their bearers the ability to become great kings/warriors/sorcerers as you say, or if Sauron distributed them to their bearers because they were already great kings/warriors/sorcerers. Ultimately it doesn’t matter for this question, because I agree that at the end of the Third Age, a bearer of one or more of the Nine couldn’t have defeated Sauron anyway.
It just makes me wonder what the Nine were supposed to do. Ultimately they were Elven rings, so the were supposed to preserve and prevent “fading” (as you mentioned in another article as well). But the bearers of the Nine ended up fading into Wraiths anyway. So it makes me ask, what were the Nine supposed to do after Sauron cursed/corrupted them?
But perhaps that is a story for another time. 🙂
Use of multiple rings of power at once (for anyone but Sauron, perhaps) must remain theoretical, unless some new document of Tolkien’s emerges. We do know, however, that it was possible for great persons at least of Elven Race to *possess* more than one ring of power at one time, which is at least suggestive.
It’s worth noting that we have from Tolkien noted instances where one personage (other than Sauron) actually held multiple rings of power at once. The obvious case in point is, of course, Celebrimbor himself. There’s no indication that he ever *used* or wore more than one ring at once (and obviously having custody of all was not enough to keep Sauron at bay when he stormed Eregion, which may be a telling point), but the possibility cannot be excluded.
But even beyond that: according to at least some of Tolkien’s narrative versions of the Second Age, the rings Vilya and Narya went initially to Gil-galad. Little is made of this, nor is any hint offered that Gil-galad ever used more than one at a time; the impression one has is that Gil-galad was perhaps merely a custodian of Narya, never actually wielding it before he handed it over to Cirdan. But there’s so little developed about this period by Tolkien that it’s impossible to say.
Very good! Interesting question. The geek in me loves this stuff! :). The Rings are mostly shrouded in mystery. What little we know is fascinating. We know they slowed Time. We know they ‘enhanced the(innate or natural) powers of the wielder’ Did each Great Ring have unique powers? What about the Lesser?We do know of the Three, that one was the ring of Fire, one of Water and one of Air for example. I assume that with each Ring one could do different effects. Could two or more Rings be used at once, or was the strain on the wearer to great? We know little of the Nine-the least actually. Did they confer different types of sorcery on the bearers? I assume they could make a mortal wearer invisible. The Seven seemed to be used to increase Treasure. Could they turn lead to gold?
The only Ring the reader sees up close is the One, and by necessity, Frodo cannot experiment with it much. The only place I have seen ‘stats’ on the Rings (including Saruman’s ring) and other magic items in Middle earth is in a Role-playing game, so of course its not cannon.
Questions and answers of this sort tend to focus on the quantitative. Indeed, how many Maiar can dance on the head of a pin? I feel JRRT was far more interested in the moral questions that accompany such power. It doesn’t matter whether those powers might be enhanced by the Rings; the greater problem was that, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Neither Gandalf, Elrond, nor Galadriel suggest that adding the power of the One to one (or more) of the Three would be insufficient to vanquish Sauron. Rather, they focus on the longer-term consequences.
At the Council of Elrond, Elrond replies to Boromir, “And there is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise… I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it.” Gandalf immediately concurs.
Later, in The Mirror of Galadriel, the Lady tells Frodo, “I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer…. In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night… Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”
They would rather lose that which their own rings have wrought than risk the consequences of a greater concentration of power. This is also why the Valar rarely intervened in the affairs of Middle-earth, and Ilúvatar intervened even less frequently. They’ve learned that their powers must be applied very judiciously. Conceivably, Gandalf the White was returned to Middle-earth not only to vanquish Sauron, but to eliminate all Rings of Power as an influence on Arda’s affairs.
It would seem to be the same impulse that left the remaining Silmaril forever in the skies above Arda, rather than return that corrupting beauty to any ones possession. Perhaps part of the Music of the Ainur was a theme that required the Ainur (and Elves) to both overreach their powers and to learn the folly of that path. The Silmarils could be considered Melkor’s Downfall, and for Sauron it was the Ring. In both cases, works of Elven craft were able to seduce and corrupt even the gods.
By casting the Silmaril into the heavens, the Valar demonstrate that they’ve learned their lesson. By encouraging the destruction of the One Ring, the Elves demonstrated that they had finally learned theirs.
Excellent article as usual.
I’ve noticed over the years that most readers fail to understand why the Wise were so convinced that their only real option was to destroy the One Ring.
Definitely this article has to be added as an Appendix to the published edition of the LotR book 😉