Could the Three be made again?

[Gwaihir the Windlord]

Hmmm. Wait a minute. I'm a little lost. Can anyone explain to me what exactly WAS the power of the 3 Elven Rings?

The Three were meant to resist the effects of time. Rivendell and Lothlorien were preserved in a kind of 'time bubble'; the land aged slowly and was more or less untouched by the blemishes of ageing. In fact they existed almost as seperate universes, explaining why Sam couldn't figure out what day of the month it was after he had left. Lothlorien and Rivendell probably defended themselves as such -- bending time in favour of their own warriors.
I believe the Three could also play mind tricks on people -- we saw this on Frodo. Cirdan gave his ring to Gandalf because with it, Gandalf could 'broadcast' emotions to people and therefore do his work more efficiently.

How exactly that connection was made I don't know because, as Mankáno said, Sauron never touched the Three.

Was it something to do with Sauron's knowledge of the Rings and how they worked? Sauron helped make the Sevn and the Nine, so he knew their secrets and could key his ring into sync with them. Then, knowing how these rings worked, perhaps he could guess the workings of the Three -- he had worked with Celembrimbor, he knew his style -- and bind his ring with them like that.

Or perhaps it was more simple. The Rings of Power must all have had some common attributes (they were all rings for a start -- there was probably more).

[ May 13, 2002: Message edited by: Gwaihir the Windlord ]