If I may borrow from one of the comparisons Tolkien so detested, it's almost equivalent to every gas station attendant along Route 66 asking J. Robert Oppenheimer if they can have a look at Fat Man and Little Boy as he is driving to Los Alamos. Sauron's Ring was supposed to be a big secret, yet so many people whom Frodo encountered seemed to know about it. Gildor Inglorion figured out what was going on (and how he knew Frodo was "bearing a great burden without guidance", as Glorfindel put it, is never explained anywhere).

How would it come about that so many people should know something about the One Ring at the end of the Third Age, especially considering that it had been lost to the knowledge of those who were most concerned with it for three thousand years?

The answer must lie in the days of Elendil and Gil-galad, when they first put together their great alliance. Tolkien wrote very little about what actually happened, but we know that Sauron attacked Gondor and took Minas Ithil. Isildur escaped with his wife and sons. Anarion fortified Anduin and held off Sauron's forces while Isildur sailed to Arnor. There Isildur consulted with Elendil and Elendil in turn consulted with Gil-galad.

Up until this time, we can be sure, the fullest knowledge of the Rings of Power was limited to only the Elves. But how much did they know in general? Did just any old Elf know there were Rings of Power, or was the knowledge confined only to a select group? Well, there are no facts to answer these questions. That is, no Tolkien essay or note has yet been published which explains how the knowledge of the Rings spread. Elrond told the people at his council the full history of the Rings. "A part of his tale was known to some there, but the full tale to none," Tolkien writes in "The Council of Elrond".

That seems remarkable. Didn't even Gandalf know the full history of the Rings? Well, Gandalf didn't go in for Ring lore until Bilbo came along, so maybe he was still playing catch-up. But one gets the impression that Elrond's story was labelled "Top Secret, Need To Know, and YOU don't need to know!" except for him, Galadriel, and Cirdan (and maybe Celeborn, but everyone knows he was an outsider).

When Sauron first approached the Elves in the Second Age many of them were suspicious of him, according to the discarded history of Celeborn and Galadriel published in Unfinished Tales. Galadriel didn't recognize Sauron (who called himself Aulendil in this account, although elsewhere he is said to have taken the name of Annatar). She mistrusted a Maia who suddenly appeared and claimed to be acting in the interests of the Valar. It's interesting that no attempt was made to confirm his story with Valinor. The Numenoreans returned to Middle-earth in SA 600 and Sauron began looking for a few good suckers centuries later. Heck, for that matter, the Eldar should have been able to pray to the Valar for some sort of guidance.

So it seems strange to begin with that Aulendil/Annatar's credentials were never checked. Perhaps someone did try to poke around his resume, but maybe there were just so many Maiar that the older Noldor scratched their heads and said, "Well, maybe...." I can't help but think of the mayor in "The Music Man" sending the four town councilmen to find out what the Professor's credentials are, and he turns them into a barbershop quartet. Maybe Sauron was a lot like Robert Preston, especially given the Elves' propensity for song. Maybe Maglor was sent to get the credentials and Sauron asked him why he seemed so depressed and ....

The point is, Sauron wiggled his way into Eregion at a time when there were a lot of Elves running around Middle-earth. Gil-galad's kingdom extended from the seashores of Lindon to the Baranduin river. Nandor, Sindar, and Noldor were apparently wandering around the rest of Eriador. Plenty of Noldor and Sindar were living happily in Eregion, trading with the Dwarves, building cities, and doing whatever it is that Elves do. Across the Misty Mountains the Sindar had established two or more kingdoms among the Silvan Elves. And Edhellond was a quiet little corner hideaway south of the Ered Nimrais. It was, all in all, a very Elvish world. Men just happened to be hanging around, but aside from the Numenoreans, Men weren't really doing much.

Sauron supposedly visited more than one Elvish land in his quest for susceptible Elvish minds. Presumably the Silvan Elves would have had little interest in preserving Middle-earth. And fading? What is fading? Maybe Eonwe had mentioned the prospect of the Elves' fading to them when he travelled around summoning them all to Valinor for a second time, maybe not.

In Lindon Elrond and Gil-galad refused to treat with Sauron. They wouldn't even admit him to the realm. Sauron must have sent a letter or messenger offering to tutor the Eldar in high and lofty matters. Perhaps it was a bit arrogant of Sauron to make such an offer, but Gil-galad's reaction may have seemed surprising. He was just a young fellow when Beleriand was trampled into the sea by the Valar. What did he know of Valinor and its bliss?

So it may be that Gil-galad's people were indeed mostly younger Elves. Few of the original Exiles actually survived the Wars of Beleriand. Of those, many apparently returned to the West after the Ban of the Valar was lifted. So only a handful of the truly ancient Elves must have remained in Middle-earth. Of these, the highest and most well-known was Galadriel, and for some reason, she didn't hang around Lindon for too long. So Galadriel may have been in Eregion when Sauron came sniffing around. Actually, that's what the discarded history says, since she and Celeborn were (according to this account) the original rulers of Eregion.

Sauron devoted his attention to "Celebrimbor and his fellow-smiths, who had formed a society or brotherhood, very powerful in Eregion, the Gwaith-i-Mirdain; but he worked in secret, unknown to Galadriel and Celeborn". In this account, Christopher Tolkien's summary of an outline which was itself never fully published, Celebrimbor and the Gwaith-i-Mirdain had many professional secrets. They didn't share their knowledge freely with other Noldor.

The Noldor, the Feanorians in particular, were very secretive even in Valinor. They were a factious lot who couldn't seem to get along with each other. Even their Avari cousins, the Tatyar, seem to have been more divided than the Nelyarin Avari (who were related to the Teleri, the Eldar from whom came the Sindar). Feanor never revealed many of his secrets to other Elves. So when he died a lot of his lore died with him. Of course, a lot of the ancient lore was lost in the Wars of Beleriand anyway. Celebrimbor and the boys may have been the last heirs of the great secrets of the First Age. Or they may have been a group of revivalists, borrowing as much as they could from the Dwarves and figuring out things on their own.

The end result was that the Rings of Power were originally a secret project. Most Elves didn't know anything about them. Sauron's early overtures must have seemed rather vague, playing on doubts and concerns of a very general nature. It would not be until he could have a long heart-to-heart talk with Celebrimbor about the Elves' future, that Sauron would be able to spring the Big Plan on the Elven lord. And it's not like Celebrimbor should have been stupid. In fact, he was probably one of the most intelligent Elves of the early Second Age. His keen knowledge and insight, coupled with his brilliance, would have made him a crucial target for Sauron's deception.

And that deception seems to have required centuries to work. Sauron must have very patiently taught the Gwaith-i-Mirdain many secrets about the making of things before he won their full trust. Tolkien offers us only a glimpse of the kind of artifacts the Elves were capable of making: the boats of Lorien, the ropes and cloaks of the Silvan Elves, Galadriel's basin. These were most likely humble, everyday enchantments, things of little interest to the master smiths. The Palantiri, created in Valinor, might have been the sort of artifacts the Gwaith-i-Mirdain would have pursued. Or perhaps they endeavored to recreate the Silmarils, even though the Light of the Two Trees was preserved only in the light of the Sun, Moon, and the Star of Earendil.

Elrond's explanation of the motives of the Ring-makers implies they were very noble in their goals: "those who made [the rings] did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained." We understand the desire "to preserve all things unstained". The Elves wanted to create a little bit of Valinor in Middle-earth by holding back the effects of Time. But "understanding, making, and healing" seem a bit out of place. What needed to be understood, what needed healing, that all the natural talents of the Elves weren't sufficient to understand or heal?

Tolkien implies in one essay that it was Middle-earth itself which required healing. It was tainted, stained by Melkor, and damaged by the War of Wrath. Perhaps the Gwaith-i-Mirdain hoped to devise something which would cleanse the Melkor-element from Middle-earth. How tragically ironic it was that they relied upon that very element to create the Rings.

There is another story concerning Galadriel and Celebrimbor. This is the tale of the Elessar, the green stone which Galadriel gave to Aragorn on behalf of Arwen. The story is, of course, unfinished, and Tolkien changed his mind about many details. Ultimately, Celebrimbor was to become a smith of Gondolin (but the story was composed before Celebrimbor was incorporated into the family of Feanor) and made two Elessars. One was borne into the West by Earendil and the second one replaced the first and came to Aragorn.

The Elessars' power was concerned with healing and preservation, and the second Elessar is said to be Celebrimbor's greatest creation after the Rings of Power. It must have been a very potent device, and Aragorn's ability to heal many people in Gondor must therefore be attributed in some measure to his possession of the Elessar.

Thus it seems that the Gwaith-i-Mirdain spent a lot of their time constructing magical items which the Elves used to heal or preserve small parts of Middle-earth, or otherwise to enhance their native talents. Sauron's help would have enhanced the effectiveness of their devices. For a while they may have turned out the lesser rings, mere "essays in the craft before it was full-grown", as Gandalf put it. He describes them as being "of various kinds, some more potent and some less". The "various kinds" phrase is curious. Perhaps it implies that the lesser rings only had very specific powers or properties, whereas the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, possessed many properties.

A preoccupation with preservation and healing would have given Sauron an inside line with the Elves. He could introduce them to more and more ideas, help them advance their goals in frustrating little leaps. And then, one day, he would be able to implant the idea of creating massively powerful artifacts. I don't think Sauron would have proposed the idea directly. The Elves seem to have been enthusiastic about the project, and therefore they may have believed it was their own idea. The deception would be more clever that way. But it would also seem less manipulative, on the surface, if Sauron were merely to support the Elves in their own endeavors, rather than give them explicit instruction in what should be done.

And so there must have been a fair amount of talking and planning. Scoping out the goals of the project alone could have taken months or years. Why? Because the Gwaith-i-Mirdain probably didn't want anyone to know what they were doing. The moral implications of what they hoped to attempt, to delay the effects of Time itself, would not have been wholly understood. The Rings of Power represented a new technology, whose impact upon society had not yet been measured -- a society which, at the time, was dominated by the Elves themselves.

Furthermore, the secret nature of the project must have demanded that as few people as possible be privy to it. It may be that no more than seventeen Elves knew about the Rings: Celebrimbor and sixteen other Gwaith-i-Mirdain, perhaps comprising the entire membership of the society. Many people say it's better to seek forgiveness than to ask. The Noldor in particular seemed to favor that philosophy. When the time came to decide whether to make the attempt, Celebrimbor and his companions may have had long discussions about the moral consequences of doing anything. Perhaps in the end they justified their final decision by weighing all the good they hoped to achieve against the possible harm they were risking. After all, no one even suspected that Sauron might betray them.

So, until the Rings were made, the Gwaith-i-Mirdain may have had good reason not to reveal what was going on to anyone outside their brotherhood. The Rings, as they were produced, would have seemed just like "normal" rings to other Elves, if they could be perceived at all. The veil of secrecy would have been burdened with shame and guilt once the Elves realized Sauron had betrayed them. Imagine how Celebrimbor must have felt, knowing he had forged the Rings in secret, upon learning that Sauron was Melkor's old servant, now arrayed with his own Master Ring. Whether Tolkien would have retained Celebrimbor's rebellion (which is recorded in the discarded history of Galadriel and Celeborn) or would have changed the story, Celebrimbor would have had to confront Galadriel with the truth. Something terrible had happened, but something much worse was about to befall the Elves.

So, once Galadriel knew about the Rings, she counselled Celebrimbor to hide them. The Elves couldn't find it in their hearts to destroy their own works. Two Rings were given to Gil-galad, who must have been told everything. Whatever his feelings might have been about Celebrimbor's foolishness, he, too, elected not to destroy the Rings. The fear of fading must have been pervasive in Noldorin society. So one must ask if Elrond was told at first, or Cirdan? On the one hand, Celebrimbor, Galadriel, and Gil-galad must have known there would be a war. Sauron had just attempted to enslave the greatest and most powerful of the Noldor. He had failed, his cover was blown, and the Elves knew that Middle-earth had a Dark Lord once again. It wasn't the sort of situation which required Sauron to lie low until the storm blew over.

For his part, Gil-galad asked Numenoreans for help. But he didn't tell them about the Rings. Tolkien mentions this omission in Elf-Dunadan relations in Letter 211: "I do not think Ar-Pharazon knew anything about the One Ring. The Elves kept the matter of the Rings very secret, as long as they could...." So Gil-galad's plea to Numenor must have been very carefully worded. He had previously called upon Numenor for help while Sauron was fumbling around Middle-earth, stirring up evil creatures. Before Sauron decided to settle in Mordor, Gil-galad was only aware that some evil power was organizing men and Morgoth's old servants. But he couldn't find a source for his concerns. Sauron's revelation as the maker of the One Ring confirmed Gil-galad's worst fears. At the very least, he had justification for starting a war with Sauron.

Numenor sent men and supplies to Middle-earth, and over the course of 100 years, the Numenoreans built up forts and stockpiles along the Lhun and Gwathlo rivers. The overall strategy appears to have been a defensive one. The Elves knew a war was coming but they didn't know when. Sauron was powerful but he didn't control Middle-earth the way Morgoth had. And Numenor didn't yet command the huge armies and navies it would one day muster. A pre-emptive strike was apparently not considered. Perhaps Gil-galad didn't yet know where Sauron's domain lay. Mordor doesn't seem so far from Eriador when one looks at the map, but there was a great distance of 1000 miles between Barad-dur and Lindon. And Gil-galad may not yet have known in which direction even to start looking.

So the Elves said nothing to their allies about the Rings of Power, or what the war was really about. It may have suited their policy of secrecy to let Sauron strike first. They would then be justified in calling upon Numenor for even more help. The Elves would be the aggrieved party. They already were, considering that Sauron had tried to enslave the Gwaith-i-Mirdain. But the grievance was morally weak. What business did the Noldor have fooling around with Time anyway? But more importantly, Gil-galad seems not to have shared the truth with his people. I doubt very many of his advisors would have known about the Rings. Some of the Noldor might just have decided to just throw Celebrimbor and the Gwaith-i-Mirdain to the Wargs, rather than spend their blood in another insane war.

Of course, the more people who know a secret, the less of a secret it is. Gil-galad had several potential captains to send east to reinforce Eregion. Why did he choose Elrond? Cirdan was an ancient lord of the Eldar, experienced in the Wars of Beleriand (in fact, he was the only field commander to survive the wars). Glorfindel had returned to Middle-earth to help in the war, according to a brief essay Tolkien wrote late in his life. He would also have been a good choice to send to Eregion. But it was Elrond whom Gil-galad sent. I would guess that Elrond must have been present when Celebrimbor told Gil-galad about the Rings. He was close to Gil-galad, and therefore would be the only captain Gil-galad could trust with the knowledge of the Rings. Not that Gil-galad's nobles would have been rebellious, but why burden them with guilt that wasn't theirs?

But if Gil-galad's silence was damning, what could or should Celebrimbor have told the Elves of Eregion? Many of them seem to have escaped, either through Moria or by fleeing overland. Yet, did they know what the war was all about? Did Celebrimbor ever tell his people what had happened? I don't think so. The tragedy of Celebrimbor's folly would be heightened if his shame forbade him to confess what he and the Gwaith-i-Mirdain had done. If they weren't telling the Dunedain anything for secrecy's sake, then it would be best not to tell the people of Eregion anything, either. And so that means the Dwarves of Moria couldn't have known what the war was about. All anyone would be told was that the big bad Dark Lord was coming.

And come he did. Sauron swept north and attacked everything in sight. He didn't just invade Eregion, he also moved up into the Vales of Anduin and the lands east of Greenwood the Great. The Northmen were driven into the woods and mountains. Their culture was virtually wiped out. Many Elves must have perished as well. Eregion fell quickly and Sauron laid it waste. As many Elves as escaped, many more must have suffered horrible deaths as Sauron searched desperately for the Rings of Power. If he couldn't have the Elves he certainly wouldn't want them to have their Valinor-in-Middle-earth!

The defense of Ost-en-Edhil would have been particularly bitter. In the discarded history of Galadriel and Celeborn, we are told that Celeborn led out a sortie. The purpose of the sortie isn't really stated, but it might imply that Celebrimbor recognized the hopelessness of the situation. Celeborn could have been given command of the most innocent Elves, whereas the Gwaith-i-Mirdain and their followers would have stayed behind and held the city. Celebrimbor's last stand might have been an attempt to atone for what he had done. But instead of dying in battle and taking the secrets of the Rings with him he was driven back to the steps of the House of the Mirdain. Sauron must have given orders that he be taken alive at all costs. Imagine the Orcs sacrificing themselves, much as their ancestors did in taking Hurin after the Nirnaeth.

The loss of Eregion most likely meant that all of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain perished, and their secret shame was preserved only by the few Eldarin lords who knew the full score. The Gwaith are never mentioned again, in any writing. It is interesting to note that another society, or "school", the Lambengolmor (Masters of Languages), survived the war. Their last member was Pengolod, who lived in Eregion. He escaped, and after the war he took ship and left Middle-earth. The destruction of Eregion seems to imply that many other ancient and scholarly groups also perished, or suffered so terribly that their survivors left when they could. In a note found in the appendix to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien says that the Eldar attempted nothing new in the Third Age. It may simply be there was no one left who was accomplished enough in the ancient sub-creative arts to create new artifacts.

In the wake of the war, Gil-galad had to rebuild his realm. Lindon survived but undoubtedly suffered much loss. Elrond had also survived. He never succeeded in reinforcing Celebrimbor, but was instead driven north (perhaps with Celeborn). Elrond had rounded up as many Men and Elves as he could, and held out in Imladris. In that time many grieving people would have asked, "Why? Why did this war happen?" And Elrond would not have been able to answer them. Yet he had to know the truth. His defense was stalwart and brave, but it was perhaps strengthened by a resolution born of guilt and a desire to atone for the terrible decisions Celebrimbor -- his kinsman -- had made. In a way, the War of the Elves and Sauron marks a final loss of innocence for the Noldor. In the First Age, those Noldor who were born in Beleriand knew their history and heritage. In the Second Age, no one really knew the score. It was too dangerous to tell anyone. The Rings seem to have all had a very debilitating effect on the judgement of the people who knew of them. Neither Galadriel nor Gil-galad, who had nothing to do with the Rings' making, could find the strength to destroy the Three.

After the war Gil-galad convened a council at Imladris. Perhaps there he finally revealed to other Elven lords what had actually happened. Tolkien doesn't tell us who attended, but it's possible that even the Numenoreans were excluded from the council. Numenor wasn't yet really concerned with Middle-earth. Gil-galad would have thanked and rewarded the Numenoreans profusely, to be sure, but he didn't tell them about the Rings of Power. It would have been assumed that Sauron had found the Nine and Seven, since none of the surviving Elves possessed them. It doesn't seem likely that the Elves could foresee what Sauron intended to do with the Rings. Why would they remain silent if they knew Men and Dwarves might be ensnared? And yet, Gil-galad and his advisors must have realized that Sauron could achieve terrible things with such potent devices. So they must have taken a "wait and see" posture.

But the Eldar's decision to tell no one about the Ring only compounded the errors of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain. For now Sauron was able to prey upon Dwarves and Men with impunity. Of course, many people ask how Sauron could still move around without being labelled public enemy number one. He must have assumed a new guise. Tolkien wrote that his fair form was one of splendor, man-like, yet larger than that of a man. He seemed gigantic. Still, he could have taken the form of a dwarf or a humble Druadan. He could have approached virtually anyone in the perfect disguise, won their trust, and finally bestowed a Ring upon them. Or, worse, he might have enticed people into seeking lost Elven treasures. Both Men and Dwarves were willing to seek treasure. They had proven that before. So the sixteen captured Rings of Power could have been very cleverly left in secret places for a chosen handful of lords of Men and Dwarves to find. And they would not have told anyone of their discoveries.

The veil of secrecy thus worked toward Sauron's ends. He may have failed to enslave the Dwarven lords who took the Seven Rings, but he was still able to corrupt their hearts. The nine Men who took Rings of Power turned into wraiths and became Sauron's most terrible servants. Men scattered across Middle-earth wouldn't have known what to make of these Ringwraiths, but the Numenoreans would have remembered that Sauron of old was a master of phantoms and sorcery. The Dark Servants would not necessarily have been called Ringwraiths. They might have been perceived as wraiths, or demons, or something else.

As the Second Age rushed on, the Numenoreans became more powerful, but then they became divided. So even if Gil-galad might have contemplated revealing the secret of the Rings to his allies, the growing antipathy toward Elves among the Kings and their followers would have discouraged such a policy. Why throw wood on a growing fire? The Numenoreans could just as easily have blamed the Elves for their troubles as not.

And yet the Faithful Numenoreans stood by the Elves. They even colonized lands near Gil-galad's kingdom so they could continue to enjoy the companionship of the Elves. How often could Gil-galad and Elrond have looked into the eyes of Men who greeted them with full trust and friendship, who knew nothing about the Rings? Centuries of such friendship must have proven to be a great burden to them.

At last, after Numenor was destroyed and everyone hoped Sauron might be dead for all time, he reappeared with an army and attacked Gondor. And Isildur carried word of the assault to Arnor, and there Elendil consulted with Gil-galad. Obviously Sauron wasn't going to be easy to kill, but the Dunedain knew their history. There was apparently no record of any Maia returning to life in the First Age. Death for them was a very potent experience, too. How could Sauron have survived? Imagine the guilty faces which must have confronted Elendil and Isildur if they posed these questions to Gil-galad and his counsellors. Hey, guys, you're not telling us everything, are you?

So the Last Alliance of Elves and Men had to be formed on the basis of absolution. That is, Gil-galad had to tell Elendil and Isildur what was going on. And for their part, Elendil and Isildur had to forgive Gil-galad. Not just for themselves, but for countless generations of Men who couldn't speak for themselves. In addition, they had to figure out what became of the missing Rings of Power. The Nazgul had been known of for nearly a thousand years. In that time, the Eldarin lords who knew about the Rings of Power must have wondered if there was a conncetion. In fact, when the nine Men who became wraiths were still alive, Tolkien says they were great kings and sorcerors. If they were famous, did the Elves hear about their strange powers? Was there any curiosity about them?

It would have been difficult for Gil-galad to learn much about the Rings of Power. If he and Galadriel couldn't find the knowledge they required through some sort of scrying (as she did with her mirror in Lorien in the Third Age), they would either have to tell their spies and scouts what to look for, or they'd have to just wait and piece together bits and pieces of information through the centuries.

Some readers are of the opinion that the Ring-rhyme in The Lord of the Rings must have been composed soon after the War of the Elves and Sauron. But whomever composed the rhyme would have to know what the fates of the Seven and the Nine were. So far, there is no way to show that the Elves knew anything about the Seven before they were free to talk to the Dwarves. The Dwarves certainly weren't running around telling people they had magic Rings. So the nine sorceror-kings who arose among Men would have been conspicuous only in their longevity and their approximate contemporary lifetimes. And yet, if the Elves were looking for signs of Rings of Power, they would have been looking for sixteen, not nine, or seven, Rings. The fact that Sauron perverted the Rings before he gave them out would further complicate matters for the Elves. Gil-galad may not have really understood what was going on until Durin IV was invited into the alliance.

We don't know for sure that Durin IV was the King of the Longbeards at the end of the Second Age, but there is a little evidence pointing to that being his name. And the manner of his entering the alliance isn't provided. It seems that Gil-galad and Elendil formed their alliance and then marched to Imladris. From there, they seem to have sent out messengers to Greenwood, Lorien, Khazad-dum, and perhaps a few other regions. I would say it's most likely that Gil-galad had a second "white council" at Imladris. It would have been as momentous as the Council of Elrond three thousand years later, perhaps more so. For there would have been kings in attendance, and many lords and princes. And it would have to be the first time ever that the Elves spoke openly about the Rings of Power to all their allies.

It would be natural for the attendees to want to know why they should join the alliance. Sauron had been terrorizing Middle-earth for a long time. But his death in Numenor and reappearance 100 years later implied that he wasn't just going to go away. And because the problem with the Rings originated in Middle-earth, it may be that any appeals to Valinor would have fallen on deaf ears. The Elves created the problem and they needed to resolve it. But they couldn't do that alone. And it would serve no purpose for the various non-Eldarin kings to deliver recrimination after recrimination. Especially since Celebrimbor and the Ringmakers were all dead. The people truly responsible for the problem had already paid with their lives, and their legacy was becoming an equal burden on everyone.

But if the Elves could stand forth and admit what they had done, perhaps the Dwarves were moved to confess that their ancestors had been given Rings. It may be that Gil-galad was able, with Durin's help, to bring all seven Dwarf lords to Imladris. And hearing that the Elves had betrayed everyone not once, but twice, most of the Dwarves may have elected to stand aside. They would keep their Rings, which obviously didn't prolong their lives, or turn them into wraiths. And they would let the world decide its own affairs. That seems a very Dwarvish attitude. Only the Longbeards developed any real affinity for the Eldar. Durin's folk had been joined by the Belegostians, who had also been friendly with the Eldar, but the Nogrodians had an ancient grudge against the Eldar. The four eastern groups may have been in the minority, but they certainly had little if any connection to the Elves and Dunedain.

So, it must be that the Ring-rhyme was devised during the early years of the Last Alliance. Most likely it was composed at Imladris, soon after (if not during) whatever council Gil-galad held with the other rulers of Middle-earth. The Nazgul's nature and possession of the missing Nine Rings would have to be inferred, but it was by this time certain who had the Rings. And Middle-earth's best-kept secret was no longer really a secret. Yet Gil-galad would not have divulged who possessed the Three Rings. For safe-keeping he gave his two Rings to Elrond and Cirdan. Yet the Ring-rhyme says that the Three were bestowed upon Elven-kings. The rhyme-composer therefore could not have known where the Three were. He (or she) must have believed that Gil-galad, Oropher, and Amdir had the Three. Conveniently, all three died in the war, and no one claimed the Three from their bodies. So the Elves and their allies must have been thrown into doubt about who had the Three soon after Gil-galad's death. And that doubt would have been reflected in the Ring-rhyme if it had been composed after Gil-galad's death.

And this brings us to the Third Age. The Last Alliance was victorious, and the victors always write the histories of wars. Scholars in Arnor, Gondor, Khazad-dum, and other lands must have recorded many things about the war. Arnor's libraries were eventually lost or destroyed. Gondor's wisdom declined, and most of its people forgot the greater part of their history. Khazad-dum was taken over by a Balrog, and most of Durin's Folk were scattered or slain. Yet a few people preserved a knowledge of ancient events here and there. If most of the Men of Arnor and Gondor at one time understood what the War of the Last Alliance was about, they would have passed on the knowledge. For there were still Rings of Power out there, and they were perilous things.

At the end of the Third Age, Gandalf had few resources to consult on matters of Ring-lore, but Saruman had been the specialist. He could have found many archives to which Gandalf didn't have access during the two thousand years he was in Middle-earth which Gandalf didn't have access to. And Elrond must have had many conversations with Saruman about the Rings and those who made them. He undoubtedly knew Celebrimbor personally, and may have known some of the other Ring-smiths. Other members of Elrond's household, or perhaps nearby Elven lords, such as Gildor Inglorion, may have been able to tell Saruman things about Sauron's sojourn in Eregion. Something Tolkien doesn't tell us is whether Saruman accumulated his own library in Orthanc, after he settled there, with copies of books and scrolls preserving Ring-lore.

It would have been useful to study Ring-lore to be able to figure out who the next bad guys might be. Saruman (and the Eldar) couldn't have known whether Sauron had taken back the Rings of Power from the Nazgul, not until Gandalf discovered that Sauron was gathering all the Rings, in 2851. But the Dwarven Rings were vanishing. Were they being consumed by dragons, or falling into the hands of adventurers? And what were the full capabilities of the Rings? Saruman's knowledge would have been very useful to the Eldar and the Istari, for they needed to understand what Sauron had done to the Rings. And they needed to know who could wield them, as well.

Ultimately, knowledge of the Rings would have receded into the musty corners of the elite. Middle-earth's scholars tended to come from the wealthier families. And matters of ancient lore, which might one day affect the welfare of nations, would be carefully hoarded and cultivated by the lords of those nations. Denethor was master of many secrets, and he seemed to be fully aware of what the Ring was. The exchange Gandalf reports at Elrond's council gives one the impression that Denethor didn't know about the scroll of Isildur, but I'm not convinced. Gandalf wasn't exactly sharing his concerns with Denethor, so why should Denethor have shared what he knew about the Rings? Denethor had no reason to volunteer information which he didn't know Gandalf was seeking.

Faramir, of course, was devoted to Gandalf, and may very well have been with Gandalf as the wizard was scrambling through the ancient records. If Gandalf trusted Faramir to be discreet, then the prince may very well have seen the scroll Gandalf was most interested in, and therefore he may have studied it. So, when Faramir met Frodo and Sam, he was able to talk knowledgeably about the One Ring. He didn't necessarily divulge all he knew at first, but Faramir seems to have very readily agreed to Gandalf's plan. Why so? Unless he had been taught the full history of the War of the Last Alliance, Faramir should have been pretty clueless. Boromir reveals he knew about the Ring at Elrond's council, but he is surprised to learn that Isildur took it. It is his statement that "if ever such a tale was told in the South, it has long been forgotten" which leads us to believe that no one in Gondor remembers the One Ring.

The answer must be that Boromir only paid attention to the facts of the case. That is, he was probably only interested in the neato gizmos of power, and not the motivations which led to their creation, nor the events which surrounded them. Boromir was a warrior at heart and not really much of a scholar. So Boromir makes a poor first impression on the reader insofar as the scholarship of Gondor is concerned. Faramir tells Frodo and Sam that he and his brother were taught the story of their city and sires, and that the Stewards preserved much ancient lore which only a few people ever accessed.

The fact of the One Ring's existence, (and of the existence of a general group of magic "Rings of Power") was thus, if not common knowledge, then still well-known to the rulers and elite classes of Middle-earth at one time. Even Gloin seems to know something of the Rings when he speaks at Elrond's council, though he knows less about the Elven Rings than he implies. It may be that Dain opened up Erebor's library and gave Gloin a briefing, but Gloin was Dain's cousin, a member of the royal family. It seems unlikely that he would have been completely excluded from the family's records. He probably knew as much about the general history of the Rings of Power as most scholarly nobles of his day.

Knowledge of the Rings of Power would not have been available among the "younger" peoples and nations. The Northmen were ancient, but their cultures had evolved and diverged through the long years of the Third Age. The Rohirrim didn't keep written records, and they weren't interested in ancient matters except where their ancestors figured as the heroes of songs. The Men of Dale and the Woodmen of Mirkwood, even if they did keep a few records, didn't really have the ancient history to sustain a full account of the Rings of Power. Arnor and its successor realms, Arthedain, Rhudaur, and Cardolan, had fallen. All that remained were the Breelanders, the Hobbits of the Shire, and Aragorn's people. And the Hobbits weren't very concerned with history at all, let alone ancient history.

And as the centuries passed, the Rings became less and less important to the peoples of Middle-earth. Sauron wanted them, and the White Council knew they still posed a threat to the Free Peoples. But there were no new quests to find them, as the people who knew of the Rings knew they were perilous. Or at least they should have known that great and terrible wars had been fought over the Rings in the past. The full history was probably known only to Elrond, Galadriel, and Cirdan, and most likely to Saruman and Gandalf. Maybe a few other members of the White Council knew the full account as well. For everyone else, there were bits and pieces of lore handed on generation after generation.

Hence, when Mordor's first assault had been defeated, and Aragorn and Gandalf met with Eomer and the lords of Gondor and Rohan, they were able to speak freely about the One Ring. Gandalf even seems to have confided to Theoden a little something about the Ringbearer's quest when he took the aged king aside and spoke to him. It was enough to mention the One Ring. The lords knew what Gandalf was speaking of. They understood that a great and powerful talisman was being risked. They understood, essentially, that the entire war was really being fought over the Ring.

One could say that generations of nobles must have passed on the barest knowledge of the Rings of Power in an almost religious devotion. When all other lore of ancient days was lost or forgotten amid unreadable scrolls, men remembered to tell their sons that, at one time, there was a Dark Lord who had a very terrible Ring. And that Ring was unlike all other magical things in Middle-earth. The knowledge persisted where it was needed most, so that when the time came, it served to strengthen the resolve of the men who had to stand up to the Dark Lord and laugh in his face, while a couple of Hobbits scampered up the side of Orodruin. No one really needed to understand the history of the Rings to remember that they existed. People were aware of them in a vague, general way. But the long years and the devastations wreaked upon Men, Elves, and Dwarves had served to make secret again the ancient shame of the Eldar.

Michael Martinez is the author of Visualizing Middle-earth, which may be purchased directly from Xlibris Corp. or through any online bookstore. You may also special order it from your local bookstore. The ISBN is 0-7388-3408-4.