The effect of the Great Rings upon Men

[Faramir Jones]

Morthoron and Findegil, you made some good contributions about the Seven Rings given to the Dwarf lords.

The only dwarf lord family we know of, who had one of those rings and its disposal being talked about, was the House of Durin. It was made clear that its head, Thror, before he went to Moria and was killed by Azog, gave his ring to his son and heir Thrain II; but Thrain did not in his turn give it to his son Thorin II, it being taken off him by Sauron after he had imprisoned and tortured him.

It is reasonable to assume that such rings were passed on by the head to his heir, usually his son, as a matter of course. Perhaps the heir had to take it from the body of the deceased lord, or perhaps it was passed on by the lord on his deathbed. What evidence we have suggests that, on at least one occasion, this passing on happened earlier, if the head felt that he would be killed and his body plundered by enemies.

The point about the Seven is that, unlike the Nine, Sauron was unable to control the Dwarf lords as he had the nine Men, eventually turning them into wraiths. As those rings, from his point of view, didn't 'work', he appeared to have decided either to destroy them, which happened with four, or to take them, which happened with three, the one he took off Thrain being the last.