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Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 7.
The Nine are here. While the fire of war rains over Eregion in this week’s episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, “Doomed to Die,” Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) finally concludes the forging of the Nine Rings for Men. Burned out and gaslit by Sauron (Charlie Vickers), Celebrimbor is tricked into using the Dark Lord’s own blood to forge these rings, thinking it was actually mithril. This is an interesting and original idea from the Prime Video series, and it may explain why the Nine work the way they do.
The Nine Are Forged Under Completely Different Circumstances in the Books
The great event of “Doomed to Die” is the siege of Eregion by Adar (Sam Hazeldine) and his Uruk children. The lord of Mordor knows Sauron is there, and will stop at nothing to find him and kill him again. It’s during this battle that Celebrimbor is peacefully working on the Nine, surrounded by an illusion crafted by Sauron to make him think everything is well. The Nine are the last batch of Rings of Power, and it takes a lot of convincing from Sauron, disguised as Annatar, to get Celebrimbor to do it.
In the books, however, the context in which the Nine are forged is completely different. They are actually forged in the first batch, together with the Seven Dwarven Rings. Disguised as Annatar, an emissary of the Valar, Sauron fails to infiltrate Lindon, but succeeds in entering Eregion. There, he and Celebrimbor work together to craft these sixteen Rings of Power, a few years before the forging of the last batch, the Three Elven Rings, which didn’t feature Sauron at all.
Also different is the political context. There is no Adar, and the Siege of Eregion only happens when Sauron, already in Mordor and having already forged the One Ring in secret, finds out about the Three. So, the Nine are forged around a century before the battle, which is when Sauron seizes the Rings of Power.
Sauron’s Blood May Be Why the Nine Work Exactly According to His Design
The Rings of Power may have been forged by Celebrimbor and Sauron together, but the Dark Lord’s malice corrupts all of them in its own way. The Three, for example, have their powers tied to the One Ring. The Seven make the Dwarves greedier, but don’t exactly corrupt them. The Nine, however, actually turn their bearers into the Ring-wraiths known as Nazgûl. While there is a canon explanation for this in the books, The Rings of Power creates another interesting explanation for why that may be, too.
In the series, all Rings of Power have a small portion of mithril in their alloy, but, by the time of the Nine’s forging, the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm has stopped providing mithril to Eregion. Without the ore, Celebrimbor was unable to do it, but Sauron, racing against time, uses his own blood to provide Celebrimbor with what he says is mithril. Now, in “Doomed to Die,” it’s revealed that the Deceiver’s blood is what constitutes the alloy for the Nine, not mithril.
Initially, Sauron’s intention with the Rings of Power is to use them to directly control the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. The Three are not directly corrupted by him, since they are forged without his knowing. The Seven are more effective, but the Dwarves prove resistant to the Rings’ corruption. Instead, they become greedier, but never open to Sauron’s direct influence. This is because, although Sauron is present and active in the process of forging, there is no actual part of him in their composition. The Nine, however, work exactly as the Dark Lord wants, possibly a consequence of his blood making part of their alloy.
Sauron’s Blood Also Makes the Nine More Attuned to the Unseen World
In Episode 5, “Halls of Stone,” an eerie moment sees Mirdania (Amelia Kenworthy) transported into the Unseen World upon wearing one of the Nine before they are finished. She is still present in both worlds, but her physical form vanishes, and her perception in the Unseen World catches a glimpse of Sauron’s true form, which he later implies is actually Celebrimbor in his distress. This scene is testament to the power of the Nine over their bearers, but, now, the reveal that they are made with Sauron’s blood may expand on their connection to the Unseen World.
Sauron himself is a Maiar, a powerful being in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Legendarium. The Maiar aren’t as powerful as the Valar, for example, but Sauron is among the strongest of his kind. As such, his presence can be perceived in both the Seen and the Unseen Worlds, which is why his own One Ring transports whoever puts it on to the latter. The Nine have similar powers. The nine Mortal Men who became their bearers are the only ones among all those who have Rings of Power who are also transported into the Unseen World. In the context of the series, Sauron probably intended this for the Dwarves, too, but they proved resistant, so he doubled his efforts by adding his own blood to the alloy. (Of course, he was also running out of time and had no available mithril.)
The power of Sauron’s blood certainly makes for a stronger pull into the Unseen World. While Men aren’t as naturally powerful as Dwarves, for example, they do feel the effects of the Nine more strongly. For example, the Nine also drain their wearers’ physical forms. The Nazgûl have no physical bodies at all after wearing their rings for such a long time, and have physical presences only in the Unseen World. This might be a direct effect of Sauron’s blood, explaining why the Nazgûl are the way they are – creepy, formless beings of pure evil.
Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is streaming on Prime Video. The season finale airs next Thursday.
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