Did the Ring Need a Label?

[Inziladun]

We all know of the inscription on the One Ring, written in Elvish letters, in the Black Speech:

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Gandalf tells Frodo that that particular line was part of a verse "long known in Elven-lore".

Now, that verse was written by Elves, presumably in response to their awareness of Sauron's motives behind the fashioning on the Rings of Power. And Gandalf later says during the Council of Elrond that:

'Out of the Black Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew that they had been betrayed:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.'

So, the wearers of the Three seem to have either physically or psychically "heard" Sauron himself speaking those words, at which time his plot was revealed.

Maybe Sauron was obliged to speak that incantation, for some reason, to "activate" the One. Question is, why was it necessary to make any inscription on it, and those words in particular? Was Sauron afraid he might not be able to recognize it if he took it off before he got into the bathtub?
He seems to have not considered the possibility that he could one day lose the One, and at any rate he should easily have been able to tell by his own connection with it whether he held it or not. What was the purpose of labeling the One like that?

[Galadriel55]

I suppose that the label isn't meant to be a special symbol that marks the Ring itself, but rather a symbol that marks the power the Ring possesses. Sauron has no need to tag the Ring, but he put a significant amount of power in such a small thing. How do you transfer your power to an object? I don't think there's a yes or no answer to this question; however, I highly doubt that Sauron just said, "Let it be done!", and it was done. In my opinion, he didn't just dump all his power at once into it, but rather etched that verse into the Ring's being. Not into the gold itself, but into its essence. And it was so potent that you could see it come through when you brought the Ring closer to fire. Hence, you do not only see some random inscription, but it tells you something about the nature of the Ring in ways other than words. The fire aspect simply reflects its "place of birth", so to speak. The Elven characters denote the contributors of the art that allowed such a Ring to be made. And lastly, the Black Speech - well, this one's pretty obviously pointing to Sauron and the Ring's will and purpose.

This is what my metaphysical side suggests. This is not based on anything other than my own imagination. I enjoy thinking that one's power could be transferred into objects through art when one puts his heart into it, and that's all there is to this explanation.

It's a curious question, though. I recall from UT the story of Aghan the Druedan who made a living statue of himself. That's also art. And he put so much of himself into the magic replica that when its feet were burned in a fire, Aghan's feet were burned too. If this thought merits a tangent, I will create a separate thread for it as to not kick this one out of its orbit.

[Aganzir]

Words have power in Middle-earth. Gandalf had to say Naur an edraith ammen in order to light the fire at Caradhras - he couldn't just snap his fingers.

I like G55's point about Sauron having to etch the verse into the Ring's being. There are also other instances of using writing/runes for magical purposes. I don't think the doors of Moria would function without the inscription, and I also seem to remember the dwarves put some runes on the troll hoard in the Hobbit. Perhaps they are needed to make an item remember the purpose for which it has been crafted.

Or then Sauron was just showy.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Words have power in Middle-earth.

Notice both the effect of, and the reaction to, Gandalf's uttering the ring-verse (in Black Speech) at the Council. One also gets the impression from the Moria episode that a Word of Command (whatever that is, but certainly a word) is about the most potent thing a Wizard can cast.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Sauron has no need to tag the Ring, but he put a significant amount of power in such a small thing. How do you transfer your power to an object? I don't think there's a yes or no answer to this question; however, I highly doubt that Sauron just said, "Let it be done!", and it was done. In my opinion, he didn't just dump all his power at once into it, but rather etched that verse into the Ring's being. Not into the gold itself, but into its essence.

The Ring itself was only a container though, a vessel to house a piece of Sauron's essence. The writing was a physical part of the Ring, I think, though it could only be seen under certain conditions.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

And it was so potent that you could see it come through when you brought the Ring closer to fire. Hence, you do not only see some random inscription, but it tells you something about the nature of the Ring in ways other than words. The fire aspect simply reflects its "place of birth", so to speak. The Elven characters denote the contributors of the art that allowed such a Ring to be made. And lastly, the Black Speech - well, this one's pretty obviously pointing to Sauron and the Ring's will and purpose.

I don't see the purpose behind the writing, though. That the inscription was a conscious act of Sauron's seems clear.
Again, he would not have considered though the possibility that any hand other than his own would ever touch the Ring, so to whom would the "message" from the Ring be addressed?

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Words have power in Middle-earth. Gandalf had to say Naur an edraith ammen in order to light the fire at Caradhras - he couldn't just snap his fingers.

I do see a possibility that an incantation was necessary to enable the One to take control of the other Rings of Power, hence Sauron's words when he put it on, as perceived by the wearers of the Three. Why else would he have spoken them?

Originally Posted by Aganzir

There are also other instances of using writing/runes for magical purposes. I don't think the doors of Moria would function without the inscription, and I also seem to remember the dwarves put some runes on the troll hoard in the Hobbit. Perhaps they are needed to make an item remember the purpose for which it has been crafted.

I think the Doors of Durin's markings were both a nod to their maker, and a sly way to have the password plainly visible. Necessary to open? Hm. I don't know.

As for the runes marking the place of the troll-treasure, I'd always thought them merely a means for recognizing the spot where it was buried, though it does say in TH that "spells" were placed over it.

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Or then Sauron was just showy.

Maybe it's as simple as that: sheer arrogance, with open disdain for the lesser beings he was going to enslave with his Ring.

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Words have power in Middle-earth.

Notice both the effect of, and the reaction to, Gandalf's uttering the ring-verse (in Black Speech) at the Council. One also gets the impression from the Moria episode that a Word of Command (whatever that is, but certainly a word) is about the most potent thing a Wizard can cast.

Indeed. Gandalf speaking the inscription in the Black Speech is always a striking moment when I read that passage.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The Ring itself was only a container though, a vessel to house a piece of Sauron's essence. The writing was a physical part of the Ring, I think, though it could only be seen under certain conditions.

It's true that the writing is a physical aspect of the Ring, but, like in many other instances in the legendarium, the physical is but a reflection of the inner essence. I do not think the writing was there just for decoration (oooh, shiny letters!), so in my eyes it does decode its power and personality. And though its power is, as you say, Sauron's power, the verse does not read "One Lord to rule them all", it reads "One Ring to rule them all". The Ring, while still being part of Sauron, gets a sort of independent status.

Originally Posted by Inzil

I don't see the purpose behind the writing, though. That the inscription was a conscious act of Sauron's seems clear.
Again, he would not have considered though the possibility that any hand other than his own would ever touch the Ring, so to whom would the "message" from the Ring be addressed?

In my opinion he didn't just carve letters, but he defined the Ring's essence. And, when I imagine it, I don't see him carving at all - I see him saying, and I see him, for lack of better word, breathing in his power. The writing is a conscious act as much as the transfer of power is, but it's not a message to anybody. It's more of a statement of being.

[Troelsfo]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Words have power in Middle-earth.

I would add that also the written words have power in Middle-earth.

This is, I think, particularly relevant with respect to physical items. Some kind of markings seems to have been a part of many of the more powerful items in Middle-earth (one notable exception being jewels and gems). See for instance both Andúril itself and the sheath Galadriel gives Aragorn for the sword. About Andúril we're told that

Originally Posted by LotR, II,3

on its blade was traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes; for Aragorn son of Arathorn was going to war upon the marches of Mordor.

The runes are there because Aragorn is going to fight Mordor — the runes, mind ... the magical secrets for which Odin hung in the holy ash tree as a sacrifice to himself for nine days and nine nights.

This does, of course, not invalidate Galadriel55's excellent points about the symbolic meaning of the fiery letters on the Master Ring: it is just that the symbolism exists at the level of The Lord of the Rings seen as literature, while the letters as a part of the magic of the Master Ring exist at the level of Middle-earth as a real place, within the sub-creation, so to speak.

[jallanite]

Think of the Jewish legends of the Golem. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem which provides an excellent summary if you aren′t otherwise very familiar with them. My point is that a Golem, an image of some kind, is brought to life by attaching a piece of paper on which is written one of the names of God to the Golem′s mouth or forehead.

Here the idea is that a name of God is sufficiently powerful in itself that even writing it on a piece of paper is sufficient to animate something that is inanimate.

In a common variant the living Golem has the Hebrew word אמת (’emeθ, ‘truth’) engraved on its forehead and can be returned to non-living form by merely scraping off the letter א leaving the Hebrew word מת (mēθ, ‘dead’) now engraved on its forehead.

In such tales merely the writing of a word creates the magic (although one may well imagine other conjurations that must be performed). In the case of Sauron’s ring it also appears that simply engraving the couplet may not be the whole magic, but that it is part of it. Possibly merely removing the inscription from the Ring would have been sufficient to break its power, but Gandalf does not indicate that he knows any way to accomplish this. Only the fires of Mount Doom are powerful enough to alter the Ring and finally destroy it.