‘The Rings of Power’: Who Were the Original Ring-Bearers in the Tolkien Books?

More rings are being made in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 — a lot of them, it seems.

Prime Video debuted 19 rings during an activation at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, three of them being the Elven rings made in the Season 1 finale and another seemingly made for the Dwarves in Season 2. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, 19 rings of power were made for the leaders of Elves, Dwarves, and Men, and then of course there was the One Ring to rule them all. It’s possible that the series could create those 19 rings and the One Ring in the new episodes, premiering August 29 on Prime Video.

The power of the rings was on display in The Rings of Power Season 2 trailer debuted at Comic-Con, and there are already parallels to The Lord of the Rings movies. In the trailer, Durin IV (Owain Arthur) urges his father, King Durin III (Peter Mullan) to take off his ring. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is entranced by hers, and her voiceover narration warns that Sauron (Charlie Vickers) doesn’t need armies to wreak havoc on Middle-earth — the rings are enough.

Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) will help make them all, just as he did in the books. But who exactly wears the rings of power in the source material? If you’re not familiar with the lore of the rings, here’s a breakdown of the book ring-bearers and who among them are characters in The Rings of Power.

Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky

With the creation of the three Elven rings at the end of Season 1 came a Fiona Apple musical rendition of Tolkien’s “One Ring to Rule Them All” poem in a song called “Where the Shadows Lie.” The poem and song break down how many rings were given to the Elves (three), Dwarves (seven), and Men (nine).

The Rings of Power has already confirmed that Galadriel will wear her ring from the book, Nenya, in Season 2. The second Elven ring-bearer was revealed in Ben Daniels’ casting announcement in July. Daniels will play Círdan the Shipwright in Season 2, Master of the Grey Havens and a font of wisdom even among the High Elves. He is the original bearer of the ring Narya and will be a mentor to Elrond (Robert Aramayo). Círdan wearing one of the three Elven rings aligns with the books.

The third original Elven ring-bearer is High King Gil-galad, played by Benjamin Walker in the series. Galadriel, Gil-galad, and Círdan were called the Keepers of the Three Rings, or the Three Keepers, and wore the rings for over 4,000 years. Galadriel always wore Nenya (the Ring of Adamant/water), Gil-galad had Vilya (the Ring of Air), and Círdan had Narya (the Ring of Fire). Eons later, Gil-galad gave Vilya to Elrond, and Círdan gave Narya to Gandalf. The Season 2 trailer shows Walker wearing Vilya (the ring with the blue stone). Though his face isn’t shown, it’s safe to assume that the hand bearing Narya (with the red stone) is Daniels’. Galadriel’s Nenya is silver with a clear stone.

In Tolkien’s works, Sauron appears to Celebrimbor disguised as Annatar. He convinced Celebrimbor to help him make the rings, and the Elven rings were made last. Sauron never touched them, which meant he couldn’t manipulate whomever was wearing them once he made the One Ring. In The Rings of Power Season 1 finale, Vickers’ Sauron is disguised as Halbrand, who encourages Celebrimbor to make the rings. The Elven rings are made first as a way to keep the Elves in Middle-earth and create a line of defense against Sauron once Halbrand’s true nature is revealed. Sauron doesn’t touch the the Elven rings in the finale, and he will appear as Annatar in Season 2.

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone

The seven Dwarf rings were given to the Kings of the Seven Houses (all Dwarves in Lord of the Rings are descendants of the original seven Dwarves, called the Fathers of the Dwarves). The seven houses are Longbeards (Durin’s folk who eventually settled Khazad-dûm), Firebeards and Broadbeams (from the Blue Mountains), Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots (all from the East).

The most famous Dwarf ring is the Ring of Thrór. It was given to King Durin III (played by Mullan in The Rings of Power) by Celebrimbor (Edwards). The six other rings were given to the leaders of the families listed above, none of whom we’ve met in The Rings of Power series. In Tolkien’s works, it’s said that Thrór is passed down from father to son for thousands of years. The names of Durin and his descendants who were the keepers of Thrór are named in the books, but the first names of the six other ring-bearers are not.

Like the Elves, the Dwarves weren’t easily manipulated by the rings. But they were made more wealthy through the rings’ powers, which heightened their greed. The wealth accumulated by the Dwarf ring-bearers resulted in hoards of treasure that attracted dragons, as discussed in Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies. Eventually, four rings were destroyed by dragon fire and three were recovered by Sauron, the last of which being Thrór.

Mullan appears to be wearing Thrór at two points in the Season 2 trailer (see above). In the second clip, son Durin urges him to “take off the ring,” which enrages the king. The ring features a gold band and a large blue stone in a four-prong setting. It was among the 19 rings on display at Comic-Con. Composer Bear McCreary shared a photo of the ring display on Twitter/X. Mullan is wearing the ring on his right middle finger, as are Walker and Daniels. Clark wears hers on her left middle finger.

#SDCC2024 night one! So far so good. Just got to see… something cool… now I’m off to hear… something cool…. then a few hours sleep…. then… something cool…. @TheRingsofPower #TheSingularity pic.twitter.com/9oHZQeF8jw

— Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary) July 26, 2024

Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die

Like the Dwarves, Tolkien didn’t list the names of the nine Men who accepted rings of power. Tolkien’s works also don’t outright say that these Men were all kings. Most of what is known about them is what happened to their lives after they received the rings. They became wealthy and powerful Sorcerers with abnormally long lives.

All nine of these ring-bearers were completely corrupted by the powers of their rings and were transformed into the Ringwraiths of the Nazgûl (seen in Jackson movies). Three of these Men were Númenorean, the third of which eventually became the Witch-king of Angmar. Second in command behind the Witch-king was Khamûl, who was formerly an Easterling that ruled in the desert land of Rhûn. The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and Nori (Markella Kavenagh) are venturing into Rhûn in Season 2.

Sauron (as Annatar) says, “You will give me the nine” in the trailer above. Right before that, Celebrimbor is seen holding a silver ring with a dark stone in it (see the photo above). Could that be one of the nine?

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, August 29, Prime Video