Rings accounted for?

[tanksoldier]

My understanding is that there were 3 Elven Rings of Power, made without the help of Sauron and thus untainted, worn at the time of the War by Gandalf, Gladriel, and Elrond.

The Nine Rings of Men were worn by the Ringwraiths, and were destroyed with the destruction of the One Ring.

What happened to the Seven Rings of the Dwarf Lords? Were these tainted by Sauron? Were they perhaps made with his assistance, but not as completely as the Rings of Men, and thus might they retain some power after his destruction?

[Ineti]

Once the One Ring was destroyed, the Elven rings lost their powers, so it makes sense that the Dwarven rings would too.

I think most of the Dwarf rings were consumed by dragons or otherwise lost over the ages, but hey, do what you want in your game. Maybe there's a forgotten Dwarf ring out there somewhere, waiting to be picked up and the forces of Darkness hear about it the same time the forces of Good do, and there's a race to get it, but it's protected by some First Age monstrosity.

[GandalfOfBorg]

Some of the Dwarf rings are believe to be consumed by dragons who took over the bearer's kingdom and hoard while the others (3 I believe) were recovered by Sauron, one of which belonged to the House of Durin taken from Thrain II I believe.

[Lord_Atredies]

GandalfOfBorg is correct, Sauron obtained 3 of the Dwarf rings, and the others were believed to be consumed by Dragons or taken by Goblins. However, Sauron was never able to "inslave" the Dwarves as he did with the Nazgul, because of their stubborn attitudes, and is one of the main reasons he hates them so much.

[Tas II]

"The Three, fairest of all, the Elf-Lords hid from him, and his hand never touched or sullied them. Seven the Dwarf-Kings possessed, but three he has recovered, and the others dragons have consumed. Nine he gave to Mortal Men, proud and great, and so ensnred them."

As quoted directly from Gandalf talking to Frodo (LOTR, The Fellowship Of The Ring, ch. 11)

Cheers

Tas

[tanksoldier]

Hmmm... so it's POSSIBLE that a Dwarf-ring or two is around in the Fourth Age to stir up trouble...

Hmmm....

[Lord_Atredies]

Well, that would depend on the trouble you intend to create. The quote above strongly hints that all of the Seven are destroyed, and even if one was around, It would not be so overwhelmingly powerful. The Dwarf Rings' primary power was accumulating riches, as long as one had riches to begin with, but not much in ways of commanding armies, ect. This was simply to exploit the greed and grasping of the Dwarves.

[Daveyspawn]

I plan to use one of the Dwarf rings as an object of a chronicle I am just about to start. One of the rings was taken to Dol Guldur when Thrain was taken by the forces of Sauron. I have read that Gandalf entered Dol Guldur and found Thrain but not his ring, which was then probably in Mordor. But my players don't know that and neither does the person who asks them to aid him in his journey to Dol Guldur to recover the ring. I am planning the journey to begin in Bree and take them through the Trollshaws, the Misty Mountains (through another Dwarf city not Moria) into Mirkwood and then to Dol Guldur. When they get there they discover the ring his just been taken from there into Mordor and they will have to try to intercept it before it gets to Barad-Dur. Any suggestions, or comments would be appreciated.

[Chris Landmark]

Well, Daveyspawn, A couple notes that might be of interest.

First off, Dol Guldur isn't just some spooky wizard's tower to raid. It is a minor fortress of Sauron. Even after Sauron withdraws to Mordor (after The Hobbit) there will be armies of orcs around the place. Plus Big S left a Nazgûl in charge in his absence.

Just so you know what the player characters will be up against. Not that they will know anything about this, mind you. Mysterious persons hiring people to recover rings of power might very well neglect to explain the magnitude of the task.

Secondly, there really aren't many ancient Dwarven cities in the Misty Mountains. Other than Moria, there is only Gundbad, at the northern end of the range, and that is both infested with orcs (of course, so is pretty much everything else in the Misty Mountains) and much farther out of the way than Moria or any of the regular passes. If you don't already have it, check out the Moria boxed set from Decipher for good Dwarf and ruined Dwarf city info, regardless.

Good luck!
-Chris Landmark

[Brandir]

The ring of the House of Durin was made by Celebrimbor himself and was never tainted by Sauron (well, until he got his hands on it after he captured Thrain!).

The three Dwarf Rings he did get were probably destroyed at the end of the Third Age. But that leave four more that may not have been destroyed by Dragons (artistic licence!).

However, it wqas suggested that the Rings of Power would fade when the One Ring was destroyed - that was the belief of Master Elrond. So, one may find a Dwarf Ring in the Fourth Age but it would have no power.

Alternatively one could have a Third Age chronicle in which the players are racing against agents of Darkness and Saruman to try and recover a Dwarf Ring in, sat, Gundaband.

[calguard66]

I was also just reading in "Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic" that there were many lesser rings created before the Nine, Seven, Three and One... some tainted by Sauron and some not.

I'll use one of these, just to give myself more leeway.

[finarvyn]

I had this idea and may flesh it out into some sort of 4th Age campaign. I will admit that it's not canon, but it seems like a possible extension or at least a lot of fun.

Our assumption that the 3 elven rings lost their powers with the destruction of the One is based mostly on the opinions of the wise who were certain that this would happen. What if they were wrong?

What if the essence of Sauron wasn't dispelled with the destruction of the One, but instead it got dispersed and (as before) time would be required for him to collect himself together. Perhaps Sauron is trying to gain control of the 3 with the hope that if he can bring all three together then it would be like restoring the power of the One.

Who owns the Three now? Did Galadriel, Elrond, and/or Gandalf keep them or give them away? After all, their power was gone, right? Galadriel, Elrond, and/or Gandalf could become uberNazgul, slowly and unknowingly falling under the subtle spell of Sauron. Perhaps they fall one at a time, and PCs might encounter some of these characters before and after they are “turned”. There could be a maximum of seven Dwarven ringwraiths, depending upon how many of the Seven rings could be recovered from dragon horde.

Sauron’s power might be weak initially as he slowly tries to regain power, but slowly build. If the players figure out what he is up to early on perhaps they can stop him more easily, but if they wait too long his power would build to the point where it would get harder and harder to stop him.

Just my thought.

[Tomcat]

This is a neat idea but you will definitely have to revise canon... Gandalf, Galadriel, and Elrond all wore their rings back to Valinor at the end of the book. But these are our stories so anything can happen!

However, it wqas suggested that the Rings of Power would fade when the One Ring was destroyed - that was the belief of Master Elrond. So, one may find a Dwarf Ring in the Fourth Age but it would have no power.

But ohh what a family heirloom it would be. The ring of Barahir was powerless (except maybe for a bonus to Renown and the +1 social skill bonus) but it was cherished by the Dúnedain. I think a dwarf king (or artifact collector) would spend a good deal of moeny to retrieve one of the potentially remaing 4 Dwarf rings.

But YMMV...

This could be a fun thing too, adding to the adventure, by trying to determine if a ring is counterfeit or if it was truly made by the hand of Sauron.

[Cpt. Lundgren]

The one ring was built to control the others, and Sauron bound a lot of his powers in the ring. It could be possible that the destruction of the ring released to bound power and is very slowly flowing back to Sauron.

As the ring that could control the other rings was destroyed, and Sauron is believed to be destroyed as well, the rings might be considered as harmless. But the ring can very well have kept their original powers (and while the three was not made by Sauron, his ring might have slowly poisoned them).

In your case, I would give one of the rings to Arwen, the queen of Gondor and Arnor. As her blood is 1/4th human, she could be receptive of the corruptive influence. As taken from The encyclopedia of Arda, "She remained Aragorn's Queen for more than a hundred years, but when at last he died, Arwen passed into the empty land of Lórien, and was never seen again."

As Legolas might have stayed in Ithilien until the death of Aragorn, he or one of the other elves in his company might have been taking care of one of the other rings. When he left for the undying lands, you could have the ring being handed over to the son of Aragorn and Arwen. As 3/4th human, he would be even more receptive for the corruption of the ring.

[Cut]

Couldn't the rings 'consumed by dragons' alone make for an interesting chronicle? What about sending some dwraven parties out for some dragons who are believed to have eaten or even better put into their hoards the Dwarven Rings. Then the Ringbearer could unite some Dwarven clans in order to set up astrong enough army to undertake the adventure of freeing Moria. (That's my mind. It always revolves around Moria when it comes to the 4th age and the Dwarves...)

Just random thoughts...