Home

Ringbearers

Ringbearers is a term used in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium to refer to individuals who have borne the One Ring of Power, the artifact central to the narrative in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The One Ring was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the Second Age to dominate the other Rings of Power and to bend their wearers to his will. The act of bearing the Ring confers power and invisibility, but it also corrupts and weighs heavily on the bearer, often drawing him toward domination and ruin.

Notable Ringbearers of the One Ring include Isildur, who claimed the Ring after Sauron's defeat at the

The Ring's history and the fates of its bearers are used to explore themes of power, temptation,

end
of
the
Second
Age
and
was
killed
while
it
remained
in
use;
Gollum,
who
possessed
the
Ring
for
hundreds
of
years
and
was
transformed
by
its
influence;
Bilbo
Baggins,
who
found
the
Ring
in
Gollum's
cave
and
kept
it
for
many
decades;
and
Frodo
Baggins,
who
carried
the
Ring
on
the
Fellowship's
quest
and
ultimately
bore
the
burden
to
Mount
Doom,
where
the
Ring
was
destroyed.
responsibility,
and
the
corrupting
influence
of
desire.
The
term
is
widely
used
in
Tolkien
scholarship
and
fan
discourse
to
describe
the
lineage
of
individuals
who
carry
the
Ring
within
the
overarching
mythos.