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Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

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However Sauron's plan failed: the Elves discovered his plot and discarded their Rings until they could be shielded from his influence. Sauron then waged war upon the Elves. He captured all the Rings of Power except three. While many Elves were killed and the kingdom in Eregion destroyed, the Men of Númenor helped the Elves and repelled Sauron. After the war, Sauron distributed seven rings to Dwarves and Nine to Men. Hundreds of years later, the Men of Númenor decided to capture Sauron to demonstrate their might. As it is described in Akallabêth, Sauron was brought to Númenor as a slave; however, he soon corrupted most Númenórians, encouraging them to replace their traditional reverence for Eru Ilúvatar with worship of Melkor, or Morgoth, Sauron's previous master. Under Sauron's influence, the Númenórians decided to challenge the Valar by invading Aman. As a result, Númenor was destroyed and sank beneath the waves.


Years passed, and Sauron, who had renewed his might, decided to attack the new realms while they were still weak. His onslaught failed, however, and Elendil, his sons, and the Elven kings fought back. For many years the great coalition (The Last Alliance of Elves and Men, as it became known) besieged Mordor. At last the host broke through to Sauron's fortress Barad-dûr. The mighty king of the Elves, Gil-galad challenged Sauron to a duel, but he lost. Then Elendil fought him, and died too; however, he managed to defeat Sauron. Isildur, Elendil's son approached Sauron's body and cut off his finger with the One Ring. In vain the Elven kings tried to convince Isildur to destroy the ring in the fire of Mount Doom where it was made: he took it for his own and declared that it was his and his folk's, a consolation after the enormous losses of the war (beside the death of Elendil, his father, another of those who perished was his brother Anárion, who was killed during the siege of Barad-dûr). Thus began the Third Age of Middle-earth.



A thousand years earlier, several Wizards had come to the land: Saruman, Radagast, Gandalf, and Two Blue Wizards named in Middle Earth as Morinehtar and Rómestámo. Although it was unknown to the peoples of Middle-earth, they were emissaries from the West, sent on behalf of the Valar to help them to obtain their freedom. For many centuries they were silent, and little was done by them apart from observation and counsel. However as the times darkened, they decided to take action against a mysterious dark force which seemed to dwell in the middle of a giant forest called Mirkwood. During the attack, the force had fled to Mordor. It was Sauron, who was previously thought to have perished. And in the same year, the One Ring was found.


See also

The Silmarillion