If you’ve spent any time in Middle-earth lately, you’ve probably realized that everything eventually comes back to the jewelry. It’s always about the rings. But when you start asking who forged the Rings of Power, the answer gets a little messy depending on whether you’re reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, or watching the various screen adaptations.
It wasn't just one guy in a dark room.
Basically, the "Nine for Mortal Men," the "Seven for the Dwarf-lords," and the "Three for the Elven-kings" were the result of a disastrous collaboration between a deceptive fallen angel and a group of Elven smiths who were just a bit too ambitious for their own good. They wanted to make the world better. Instead, they almost handed it over to a tyrant on a silver platter.
The Gwaith-i-Mírdain: The Elves Who Built the World
The story starts in Eregion. This was an Elven realm established during the Second Age, located near the West-gate of Moria. The Elves living there weren't your typical forest-dwelling archers. They were the Gwaith-i-Mírdain—the "People of the Jewel-smiths." These were Noldorin Elves, descendants of Fëanor, the legendary craftsman who made the Silmarils. They had a bit of a complex. They wanted to create things that rivaled the beauty of the Undying Lands right there in Middle-earth.
Enter Celebrimbor.
He was the leader of these smiths. He was also the grandson of Fëanor, which meant he had some serious genetic pressure to be the greatest craftsman in history. Honestly, Celebrimbor is the primary answer to who forged the Rings of Power, at least in terms of the actual physical labor and technical design of the Great Rings. He was the CEO of the project. But every CEO has a consultant they probably shouldn't have hired.
Annatar: The Consultant From Hell
Around the year 1200 of the Second Age, a stranger showed up in Eregion. He called himself Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts." He looked beautiful, sounded wise, and claimed to be an emissary from the Vala Aulë, the god of craftsmanship.
It was actually Sauron.
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He was in his "fair form" phase. Galadriel didn't trust him. Elrond didn't trust him. Gil-galad, the High King of the Elves, wouldn't even let him into Lindon. But Celebrimbor and his smiths were suckers for new technology. Annatar promised them that with his "special techniques," they could preserve the beauty of the world and stop the passage of time. He basically offered them a "pause button" for the natural decay of Middle-earth.
The collaboration lasted for about 300 years. During this time, the Elven-smiths and Sauron worked together in the forges of Ost-in-Edhil. Sauron didn't just stand there watching; he taught them the fundamental lore required to bind magic into physical objects. He was the architect. Celebrimbor was the lead engineer.
The Lesser Rings and the Seven and Nine
Before the "Great Rings" were ever made, the Gwaith-i-Mírdain practiced. They made many "lesser rings." These were mere essays in the craft, as Gandalf later explains to Frodo, and were mostly unadorned. They were dangerous but lacked the potency of what came next.
When it came to the Sixteen—the rings that would eventually become the Seven for the Dwarves and the Nine for Men—the work was shared. Sauron and Celebrimbor forged these together. Sauron's hand was literally on the tools for these rings. This is a crucial distinction. Because Sauron helped make them, he was able to infuse them with a "backdoor" for his own influence.
The Seven and the Nine were never intended for Dwarves and Men by the Elves. They were made for Elves. Sauron only distributed them to other races later after he sacked Eregion and stole them. He realized the Elves were too hard to control, so he pivoted to more susceptible targets.
The Three: Celebrimbor’s Solo Project
While Sauron was away (presumably checking on his construction project at Barad-dûr), Celebrimbor decided to make something on his own. He used the techniques Sauron had taught him, but he worked in secret. He created the Three:
- Narya, the Ring of Fire (later carried by Círdan and then Gandalf).
- Nenya, the Ring of Adamant (carried by Galadriel).
- Vilya, the Ring of Air (carried by Gil-galad and then Elrond).
Because Sauron never touched these, they were "cleaner." They weren't designed for war or invisibility. They were designed for healing, preservation, and making sure the flowers didn't wilt. However—and this is the big catch—because they were made using Sauron’s fundamental "software," they were still tied to the Master Ring. If the One Ring was on Sauron's finger, he could perceive the thoughts of anyone wearing the Three.
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The One Ring: The Masterwork of Malice
Now we get to the part everyone knows. Sauron left Eregion and headed back to the Land of Shadow. In the fires of Mount Doom (Orodruin), he forged the One Ring.
He did this alone.
No Elves were involved. He poured his own soul, his cruelty, and his malice into the gold. He needed this ring to be a master control for all the others. When he put it on and spoke the famous "One Ring to rule them all" incantation, the Elves in Eregion finally realized they’d been played. They felt his presence immediately.
Celebrimbor, realizing his massive mistake, hurried to hide the Three. He sent them away to Galadriel and Gil-galad. This infuriated Sauron. He marched on Eregion, destroyed the city, and captured Celebrimbor.
The Fate of the Forge-Master
The end of the story is pretty grim. Sauron tortured Celebrimbor to find out where the rings were. Under extreme duress, Celebrimbor revealed the location of the Seven and the Nine, but he refused to give up the location of the Three.
Sauron killed him.
In a particularly brutal move, Sauron used Celebrimbor’s body as a banner, hanging it from a pole as he marched his armies against the remaining Elven forces. It was a total collapse of the Eregion dream. The rings that were meant to save Middle-earth from the "weariness of the world" ended up becoming the tools of its enslavement.
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A Summary of the Makers
If you need a quick mental map of who made what, think of it like this:
- The Nine (Men) and The Seven (Dwarves): Forged by the Elven-smiths of Eregion, led by Celebrimbor, with direct instruction and physical help from Sauron (as Annatar).
- The Three (Elves): Forged by Celebrimbor alone, using Sauron's methods but without his physical presence.
- The One: Forged by Sauron alone in the fires of Mount Doom.
Why Does This Distinction Matter?
It matters because it explains why the rings behave differently. The Three are why Rivendell and Lothlórien feel like magical, timeless paradises; they were being "preserved" by the power of the rings. The Nine are why the Nazgûl exist; those rings were tainted from the start by Sauron's direct involvement.
The story of who forged the Rings of Power is really a cautionary tale about the "technological trap." The Elves wanted the benefits of magic without the natural consequences of time. They took a shortcut offered by a "subject matter expert" who didn't have their best interests at heart.
When you’re tracking the history of these artifacts, remember that Tolkien wasn't just writing a shopping list of magic items. He was writing about the "Desire for Power." Celebrimbor wasn't evil; he was just proud. He wanted to be as great as his grandfather. Sauron knew exactly how to use that pride.
What to Do Next
If you want to understand the deeper lore behind the forging, you should look into the specific descriptions of Eregion in The Silmarillion (specifically the section "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age").
For a more nuanced look at how these characters are portrayed on screen, compare the version of Celebrimbor in the Shadow of Mordor video games—where he is a vengeful wraith—with the more classical depiction in the Tolkien texts. You'll find that the games take massive liberties with the timeline and the character's motivations.
The most important takeaway? The rings weren't "evil" in their design. They were tools. But because they were built on a foundation of Sauron's knowledge, they could never be truly free of his reach. Understanding the "who" behind the forge helps explain why the "One" had so much power over the rest.
Check the Appendices of The Return of the King for the most accurate timeline of these events. It provides the exact years of the Second Age when the forging began and ended, giving you a sense of just how long Sauron's "long game" actually was. It wasn't a weekend project; it was a three-century-long deception.