Lore archive
Artifacts
Rings of power, blades of the Elder Days, jewels and heirlooms. Each entry distinguishes what the texts record from what later writers or adaptations have added.
14 entries
ArtifactThe One Ring
Sauron's master-ring, forged in secret to dominate the other Rings of Power and their bearers. Its passage through Middle-earth drives the central drama of The Lord of the Rings.
ArtifactThe Three Elven Rings
The three Rings of Power made by Celebrimbor alone, never touched by Sauron, and kept hidden while the One endured. Their preservation of all that Elves loved ended when the One was destroyed.
ArtifactThe Seven Dwarf Rings
Seven Rings given to the seven houses of the Dwarves. They bred wealth and gold-lust rather than the wraithdom Sauron intended, and most were consumed by dragons or reclaimed by their maker.
ArtifactThe Nine Rings of Men
The nine Rings given to mortal lords, whose wearers were stretched into unending life and became the Ringwraiths, the Nazgul, Sauron most terrible servants.
ArtifactThe Silmarils
Three unearthly jewels made by Feanor to hold the blended light of the Two Trees. Their theft by Morgoth and the oath sworn to recover them set the whole tragedy of the First Age in motion.
ArtifactThe Palantiri
Seven great seeing-stones made in the Elder Days, brought to Middle-earth by the Numenoreans. Powerful, difficult and easily turned to evil, they play a decisive part in the War of the Ring.
ArtifactNarsil and Anduril
The sword of Elendil, broken when he fell before Sauron and reforged in Rivendell as Anduril, the Flame of the West, the blade that passes to the heir of Isildur.
ArtifactGlamdring, Orcrist and Sting
Three blades forged in Gondolin in the First Age and rediscovered in a troll-hoard in the Third, feared by orcs and divided among Gandalf, Thorin and Bilbo.
ArtifactThe Arkenstone
A great jewel of Erebor, prized above all treasure by the Dwarves and used by Bilbo in a desperate attempt to prevent war. Its beauty brings out the dragon-sickness in Thorin.
ArtifactThe Phial of Galadriel
A small crystal phial that holds the light of Earendil star, drawn from Galadriel mirror. In the darkest places of Mordor it becomes a light of hope and a defense against Shelob.
The Morgul-blade
A cursed knife of Minas Morgul whose broken fragment works its way toward a victim heart, turning a wound into a slow fading toward the wraith-world.
Aeglos
The spear of Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor, named Snow-thorn and dreaded by the enemies of the Last Alliance.