One Ring to Rule Them All

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them…

I started reading Tolkien when I was seven or eight, and since have read everything in his Middle-Earth saga. Since then I have always wanted to see, and maybe even have the One Ring*. Last night was my first exposure to Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle operas. I was struck by the many similarities between Tolkien's and Wagner’s work. Before talking about them, I want to note that Tolkien would not appreciate the comparison. He hated being compared to Wagner, and didn’t like the man much either. When the Sweedish translator for The Lord of the Rings compared the rings in Tolkien and Wagner’s works, Tolkien responded “Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases”. However, the similarities between the two, on the surface at least, are obvious. Both storylines include: rings that bring untold powers to their possessors, moral and physical stretching, pain, and change for those who bear the rings, broken swords are remade; grey deities wander the earth, dragons with vulnerable spots guarding treasures, etc.

The idea of a ring of power is not original to either of them, we can trace it back through the corridors of time for quite a distance. Both Tolkien and Wagner cite Norse and other mythologies as sources of inspiration. Indeed the Norse Volsunga Saga (13th century I think) contains the story of the Andvaranaut ring that was stolen from its owner, brought riches and power to its bearer, and was cursed to bring tragedy to any who wore it. The Austrian Nibelungenlied and the similar Icelandic Poetic Edda and Völuspà (6-7th century) also contain stories of rings, dragons, treasures, etc that both Wagner and Tolkien draw from. Greek Mythology also has a story about a ring of power. The story of Gyges’ Ring is cited by Plato, Herodotus, Plutarch, and Cicero. Gyges was a sheepherder until he stole a solid gold magical ring that made him invisible when he put it on, it also enabled him to seize control of Lydia and become the first tyrant of the ancient world. Historical records show that Gyges really was king of Lydia in the 8th century BCE, so I might have to go back a long ways to find the original one ring.

Finding the ring is less interesting than tracing the idea through history. I certainly don’t know and haven’t touched on all of the legends that contain this idea, and it may be that many of the myths and stories mentioned evolved independently of each other. Indeed literature often manifests this repetition of themes; there is even a school of literary criticism that studies how various archetypes are woven in stories throughout the ages. Tolkien himself was one who believed that stories, legends, and myths were reflections of archetypes. Unlike some in the school of thought, Tolkien believed that literary types are reflections of true eternal archetypes. Tolkien said “History and Legend taken together lead us to the true myth: the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.” Indeed Tolkien’s conversion of the then atheist C.S. Lewis came about largely along these lines of reasoning. Lewis saw that many, even almost all cultures have creation, flood, and other common myths. He concluded that everyone made them up to explain questions that they couldn’t or didn’t want to answer rationally. Tolkien took the opposite position, and eventually convinced Lewis that each of these legends and explanations is really only a reflection, of one True Myth. I tend to agree with Tolkien that the great themes of myth, legend, and literature have their birth in real human experience. Thus I believe that so many cultures have myths about a flood because at some point there was a huge flood. This belief leads me back to the original question of this post … where is the original Ring of Power? Has there ever been a ring that gave its bearer great power and wealth?

Well the only answer I can find to that isn’t very romantic, but indeed, ancient ruler’s rings, especially solid gold rings, came to symbolize their power. In many instances, the King’s signet was used as a stamp to mint coinage, thus whoever had the King’s ring could create wealth and buy power. In ancient Greece and Persia, rings were sometimes used as money prior to coins. I conclude this post with a fitting poem about the search for the ring from Bilbo Baggins himself:

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

--Bilbo Baggins

*While I don’t think I ever really believed in a ring of power’s concrete existence, a comical family anecdote may have fueled this search: My mother was never much of a Tolkien fan until she met my father, who is a Tolkien fanatic. He converted her thorougly enough during their courtship that she had the words “My Precious” inscribed on the inside of his golden wedding band that he wears to this day.