After what’s felt like ages of waiting, Amazon revealed a little more about its plans for its Lord of the Rings prequel streaming series today, namely, its name: The Rings of Power. Sauron’s plans to ensorcell the Elves, Dwarves, and realms of Men with his magical trinkets has been at the heart of Tolkien’s universe forever, but before we get to what the new show will tell us... what do we know about the rings already?
As echoed in the voiceover for the title reveal today, based off Tolkien’s own verse, there were 19 rings that Sauron, under the guise of the benevolent entity Annatar, convinced Celebrimbor and the smiths of Eregion to forge for him. Three were given to the leaders of the Elves, seven to the Dwarf-lords, and nine to the rulers of Men. The 20th ring of power, the One Ring, was forged by Sauron himself, a greater ring of power to dominate the other 19—but you knew that, of course. So what could these magical rings actually do? Read on!