Middle-Earth Tours

The Prequels Tour

The History of the One Ring

image from Classic XF		 Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky/ Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone/ Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die/ One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne...
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,/ One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them....

[Gandalf] paused, and the said slowly in a deep voice: 'This is the Master-ring, the One Ring to rule them all. This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to the great weakening of his power. He greatly desires it -- but he must not get it.' --Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past"
The One Ring, from the second commercial on the official movie site

Mark Ferguson as Gil-Galad,
from theonering.net

 Why, why wasn't it destroyed?' cried Frodo. 'And how did the Enemy come to lose it, if he was so strong, and it was so precious to him?' He clutched the Ring in his hand, as if he saw already dark fingers stretching out to seize it.
    'It was taken from him,' said Gandalf. 'The strength of the Elves to resist him was greater long ago; and not all Men were estranged from them. The Men of Westernesse came to their aid. That is a chapter of ancient history which it might be good to recall; for there was sorrow then too, and gathering dark, but great valour, and great deeds that were not wholly in vain....It was Gil-Galad, Elven-king and Elendil of Westernesse who overthrew Sauron, though they themselves perished in the deed; and Isildur Elendil's son cut the Ring from Sauron's hand and took it for his own. Then Sauron was vanquished and his spirit fled and was hidden for long years, until his shadow took shape again in Mirkwood.' --Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past"

image courtesy of
Ain't It Cool News
Isildur claims the Ring, image from
a Decipher trading card
Sauron, image from a TV commercial (thanks to theonering.net)
But the Ring was lost. It fell into the Great River, Anduin, and vanished. For Isildur was marching north along the east banks of the River, and near the Gladden Fields he was waylaid by the Orcs of the Mountains, and almost all his folk were slain. He leaped into the waters, but the Ring slipped from his finger as he swam, and then the Orcs saw him and killed him with arrows. --FotR, "The Shadow of the Past"

The Gladden Fields,
by Anke-Katrin Eiszmann


Isildur dead, from Classic XF
image from the 2nd commercial, available at the official movie site
He [Sméagol] had a friend called Déagol, of similar sort, sharper-eyed but not so quick and strong. On a time they took a boat and went down to the Gladden Fields, where there were great beds of iris and flowering reeds. There Sméagol got out and went nosing about the banks but Déagol sat in the boat and fished. Suddenly a great fish took his hook, and before he knew where he was, he was dragged out and down into the water, to the bottom. There he let go of his line, for he thought he saw something shining in the river-bed; and holding hs breath he grabbed at it.
    Then up he came spluttering, with weeds in his hair and a handful of mud; and he swam to the bank. And behold! When he washed the mud away, there in his hand lay a beautiful golden ring; and it shone and glittered in the sun, so that his heart was glad. But Sméagol had been watching him from behind a tree, and as Déagol gloated over the ring, Sméagol came softly up behind. --FotR, "The Shadow of the Past"
Deagol Finds the One Ring,
by Ted Nasmith

Mount Doom, from the second preview on the official movie site		 It has been said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough; nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself.
    'There is only one way: to find the Cracks of Doom in the depths of Orodruin, the Fire-mountain, and cast the Ring in there, if you really wish to destroy it, to put it beyond the grasp of the Enemy forever.' --Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past"
Full-size versions of these pictures are on display at Rolozo Tolkien, the official LotR movie site, and theonering.net.