Originally Posted by FlimFlamSam
Aiwendil spoke: I don't know if there's all that much to say on this topic, but I do find it somewhat puzzling and was wondering what others make of it.
It's a tangled web.
Several of the timelines were shifted in writing, screwing up other things.
Note that the author attempts to cover these fumblings with a "SA c.1600" in the final text as the date of forging--circa 1600 or somewhere therabouts (we think, maybe, who the hell knows).
In other words he passes the whole situation off as pure guess-work on the part of the "historians" and avoids solving the issue altogether.
Too many readers take this guess-work information in the Tale of Years as definitive.
The original timelines in Peoples are a bit more precise, even if there are several of them, often contradictory.
Sauron creates the Orodruin forge in SA 900. Waits 300 years to approach the elves and "teach them" for 300 more years, waits another 100 years to complete the One Ring, supposedly using the knowledge of the Elves to do so.
As given in the Tale of Years that's a hell of a lot of iffy planning on Sauron's part.
In setting a "trap", do you really depend on your "prey" to teach you not only how to make it work (if it would at all) but to even fall for it? That make sense to you?
Me neither.
The trick was to get the elves to make their own "precious" rings using his knowledge to trap themselves into his service.
Does it make more sense that the One Ring was forged before he approached the elves?
This is also when the Barad-dur was begun--before the elves and their Rings and thus the foundations done when the Ring was around.
Kind of explains the 300 years from the time of the construction of the Orodruin forge until approaching the elves.
Where did he get the knowledge to pass on? He made a basic unadorned ring that would be the anchor for anything else created likewise. Translated: he knew it would work because he made one already. The Master Ring upon which all others were based.
Sauron is called the Necromancer. He deals in the Spirit Realm. His top servants are of the Spirit Realm--Wraiths, Wights, Spirit Werewolves, among the notables. The Rings tapped into the Spirit Realm, where they derive thier power--Sauron's dominion.
The Three Elven Rings untouched by Sauron tap into the Spirit (Shadow) Realm held open by the One Ring as well, but not as Sauron planned. Note that Galadriel's Ring (and presumably also the other two) is normally "Invisible"--not the wearer, as Sam noted. He saw a star through her finger. The Rings utilize Invisibility, the power of longevity and preservation. Ever wonder why the Three lost their power after the One Ring was destroyed? Now you have an idea. The door to the Spirit (Shadow) Realm got slammed shut with its destruction. You don't really think that Sauron himself was the door, do you?
Note that Celebrimbor only perceives the One Ring when Sauron "activates" it with the words of command to take control of the other rings tapping into his playground.
Aiwendil spoke: It's perhaps worth noting that in earlier versions of the Tale of Years and of the Akallabeth the dates line up somewhat better
Many of the details work bettter in earlier drafts. Including the earlier finding of the Ring by Smeagol who takes it into the Misty Mountains just as Sauron returns to Mirkwood. Instead, with the shifting of the date, we get the Stoors playing some version of a tennis ball being batted back and forth to reconcile the date-shift.
Yeah, because a 500+ year-old Gollum is so much more believable than a 2,000+ year-old Gollum. Or the fact that with the date-shift that the Ring would lay so close nearby for 1,500 years without being felt. What's a ring laying in a river with 2,500 years of silt being so easily found versus only 1,000 years worth of silt. Funky thinking all around really. It's dangerous to look too close at the logic in this book, it's truly mind-boggling at times. That said...
The Rings of Power are a mess, so it should be no surprise that the One Ring and anything involved with it is also a mess. If Ringlore 101 were a class, the author would fail. The more he attempted to "clarify" for story sake the worse it became.
Initially, Gandalf was fairly ignorant of Ringlore. Then as Gandalf was elevated in knowledge in later drafts many of his statements became complete nonsense.
Most amusing is the author's fumble with Gandalf in the Council of Elrond where he talks about Saruman's words in an earlier council concerning the unadornment of the One Ring.
Gandalf's excuse? Oh, I heard what he said but I wasn't really paying attention. So what if all the other Rings of Power had their own gem. Obviously Bilbo found a Ring of Power and I knew it immediately, but simply had a brain fart. Let's not talk about the other room-filling flatulances I let loose when talking to Frodo in Shadow of the Past.
Probably not a coincience that Shadow of the Past was the most re-written chapter in the entire book.
Going into this particular topic further would be for another thread.
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