Q: Why Does Thranduil Wear Rings in the Movies?
ANSWER: A reader asked the following question:
In Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies, Thranduil is seen wearing various rings. Do these rings have any significance? I know that Thranduil was never given an Elven ring of power in Tolkien’s books, but do they have a story behind them or some magical properties?
To the best of my knowledge the rings in the movies do not have any special powers, but I am not as well-versed in movie lore as I am in book lore. There is an extended scene from the movies where Bilbo talks about the history of strife between Elves and Dwarves. The scene (watch the video below) implies that Thranduil believes he is entitled to a box of white jewels that Thror withholds from him.
See the links at the bottom of this article if you are curious about why Peter Jackson would change so much from the book. Remember, he has to tell a story for an audience that may not be as familiar with all the minutiae of Tolkien’s background material. So these contrivances are designed to work within the movie world first, and possibly to reflect what may be in the books. But for legal reasons the movies cannot directly adapt material that was published outside of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
In a great cave some miles within the edge of Mirkwood on its eastern side there lived at this time their greatest king. Before his huge doors of stone a river ran out of the heights of the forest and flowed on and out into the marshes at the feet of the high wooded lands. This great cave, from which countless smaller ones opened out on every side, wound far underground and had many passages and wide halls; but it was lighter and more wholesome than any goblin-dwelling, and neither so deep nor so dangerous. In fact the subjects of the king mostly lived and hunted in the open woods, and had houses or huts on the ground and in the branches. The beeches were their favourite trees. The king’s cave was his palace, and the strong place of his treasure, and the fortress of his people against their enemies.
It was also the dungeon of his prisoners. So to the cave they dragged Thorin-not too gently, for they did not love dwarves, and thought he was an enemy. In ancient days they had had wars with some of the dwarves, whom they accused of stealing their treasure. It is only fair to say that the dwarves gave a different account, and said that they only took what was their due, for the elf-king had bargained with them to shape his raw gold and silver, and had afterwards refused to give them their pay. If the elf-king had a weakness it was for treasure, especially for silver and white gems; and though his hoard was rich, he was ever eager for more, since he had not yet as great a treasure as other elf-lords of old. His people neither mined nor worked metals or jewels, nor did they bother much with trade or with tilling the earth. All this was well known to every dwarf, though Thorin’s family had had nothing to do with the old quarrel I have spoken of. Consequently Thorin was angry at their treatment of him, when they took their spell off him and he came to his senses; and also he was determined that no word of gold or jewels should be dragged out of him.
Here we are told about two Elf-kings, Thranduil and Thingol, but the segue between them is so vague that many readers are confused by it. John Rateliff discussed this conundrum at length in The History of the Hobbit and his summation of the problem works out to (in my own words) the Elven-king of The Hobbit is both King Thingol of Doriath and some lesser Elf-king. The hows and whys of that conclusion are too complicated to dwell upon here. Canonically (if I may use that word with respect to any of Tolkien’s stories) the Elven-king of the formally published texts is NOT Thingol of Doriath; hence, the anecdote in The Hobbit must be treated as two anecdotes.
In other words, Thranduil never fought a war with Dwarves so far as can be shown from the published Tolkien texts. In a pre-publication conception where he was sort of Thingol it could be said that he did fight such a war (maybe). The Hobbit is definitely connected to The Silmarillion in terms of conception but Tolkien consciously separated the two stories at least by the time he prepared the book for publication, if not earlier.
But this leaves us with a jewel-loving Wood Elf king and I think that Peter Jackson and his collaborators wrote this confusing background tale into the film’s story arc as succinctly as possible. Bilbo’s narrative does not agree with the published texts because the Jackson writing team was elaborating on minor elements of the book, creating a conflict that would work within the story they wanted to tell.
Although the first two movies do not explain Thranduil’s fascination with the white gems his desire for them is consistent with, if somewhat exaggerated, Tolkien’s own description of the Elf king. So as far as Thranduil’s rings are concerned, unless some backstory for them emerges either in the extended features or the third movie, I would guess they just mean the dude loves some bling.
See also
How is Thranduil Different from the Book?
Why Did Thranduil Refuse to Help the Dwarves of Erebor?
Was the Elvenking of the Hobbit Supposed to be Thingol Greycloak?
Why Didn’t the Elves Help the Dwarves in The Hobbit?
Why Did Peter Jackson Change The Hobbit?
How Faithful is Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” to Tolkien’s Book?
Legolas Will Be In The Hobbit Movie but Is Legolas in The Hobbit Book?
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
We discussed this here last year, after Michael wrote his review of DoS. I voiced the suspicion back then that Thranduil might have a ring of power in Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth universe.
Tolkien never implied anything like that, but as Michael said, Peter Jackson tries to tell an interesting and surprising story, which works within the film.
While I have many things I don’t like about DoS (I liked AUJ a lot btw), I’m quite okay with Peter Jackson’s version of Thranduil. This story line actually kept my interest for the movies alive. Also, Lee Pace is a marvelous actor, who overshadows Orlando Bloom’s Legolas IMO. Lee Pace disclosed in an interview that Thranduil’s rings are important to him, and my son, with whom I recently discussed this, said spontaneously ‘Of course Thranduil has a ring of power; it’s obvious, isn’t it?’ Actually, his hands with the rings are shown prominently, when we first see him on his throne, after the Hobbits were brought into his hall. When he talks to Thorin, though, his hands are hidden behind his back- until he talks about dragon fire and discloses his spectacular self mending scar. He then seems to forget his contrived posture. In AUJ Gandalf told Saruman, that he is concerned about Thrain’s ring being out there somewhere. So, Gandalf knows that Thrain doesn’t have the ring anymore, but apparently he doesn’t think the Necromancer has taken is, as in the book. Also, Thranduil seems to be aware of ring wearing Bilbo : ‘Don’t linger in the shadow’. While it is implied that he spoke to Tauriel,I doubt that. She didn’t linger in the shadow, she simply came to talk to Thranduil, who also seems to know that the Necromancer plans to unleash a terrible weapon, as he says to Legolas. To me the movie ring(s) seem to be like Tchechows Gun: The Russian playwright said: ‘If you introduce a gun lying around in plain view, you better use it later in the play’. If Thranduil really has a ring of power, the ones we’ve seen so far might be a decoy, though. The movie dvarven ring (and they are the only ones, where some are not accounted for) look completely different.
I rest my case.Let’s wait and see 🙂
Yeah right! I can understand needs for changes since movie is different medium and PJ needs to tell a story yadda yadda yadda, but I hated portrayal of Thranduil in movies, so far he shows no actual good traits nor is he in any way sympathetic character, he is one dimensional supporting villain which is totally false if talking about source material (ha children’s book gives more complicated characterization than movie). The movie is suppose to be ADAPTATION of a book, sure some things might be different but DoS is total travesty and how to put it…ah yes desolation of plotlines (that are not consequent at all, like the Arkenstone role, they wanted to steal it so they can reinforce Thorin’s position and gather army, the quest was supposed to be based on stealth yet they enter the mountain to openly fight dragon, I facepalmed at that course of events). Elvenking of book has even more warmth and mercy when not angered than this cold movie individual (and the fact how he treats his own people ”the lowly silvan elf” in this case hated character of useless Tauriel, then this villainizing process is seen clearly), no matter how we interpret the the anecdote about war for treasure (which also does not fully reflect the matter of Doriath and Thingol since no raw gold or silver was at stake but Nauglamir joined with Silmaril though if someone is trying too hard then he will explain it by imprefect information being given) sure Tolkien at first made the story of The Hobbit stand alone with elements of elder days slipped in (or even as said many times set in time and world of those First Age stories) but the whole idea of setting some sort of conflict between elves and dwarves is misguided since the story is not focusing on that the role of Thorin or Thranduil is important but what was done with that is more of a fanfic than adaptation. Of course I might be a minority but in my opinion it’s all unnecessary to the story at hand which is….quest for treasure and reclaiming Lonely Mountain from dragon Smaug and conflict that leads to Battle of Five Armies.
So Thranduil might have weakness to white gems and silver (just like dwarves have for gold and jewels of all kinds) but he is not overly greedy since he is even reluctant to start a war in the first place, also we are told that elves on their feasts adorned themselves with many white and green jewels (Elvenking also like green ones, he is said to have great treasure yet wanting more like elf-lords of old) elves trade with other people too and well every realm even in fantasy needs some wealth 🙂 so the very fact of king possessing jewellery (gasp what a notion 🙂 ;)) isn’t strange and any rings or signets are simply show of wealth and there is no indication in movie about any possible magical qualities of those rings (the reference to Ring of Thrór is fleeting but if they would make it right and put this fricking Thrain in Dol Guldur scene there would be explanation of it’s fate, the dragon fire reference has no backstory whatsoever since it’s not central to storyline, if anything it serves as vague and confusing explanation why Thranduil didn’t fight dragon which wouldn’t be the problem to just say that dragon was too strong for them, since you know….the ”greatest dragon of his days” deal).
Again about the rings all kinds of rulers wore rings even Denethor had a ring and Pippin kissed it in his movie oath of fealty scene so what’s so strange about that one (those)