Where did the ring come from in Lord of the Rings?

Answer 1

The One Ring was made by the Dark Lord Sauron. He made it to control the other Great Rings of Power, which he had helped the Elves create. He put a good portion of his own soul into the Ring; this power would give his Ring dominion over the others. This Ring was seductive, powerful, and possessed, and it could possess its wearer. The only Great Rings it did not have power over were the Elf Rings, because they had never been touched by Sauron.

The One Ring could only be destroyed in the fires of the Cracks of Doom in Mount Orodruin (Mount Doom) in Mordor, for that was where Sauron had made it.

The other Great Rings were made in the Elven realm of Eregion.

Answer 2

This is a long story, so be prepared.

It all begun in the Second Age, when Sauron, the Enemy, pretending to befriend the Elves of Eregion, taught them some skills of forging that they did not know before. This gave their lord and leader, Celebrimbor, the prowess to make the Rings of Power. He made many of them, some more powerful, some less. Sauron helped him in the making of 16 of them, and they were darkened by his hand, although he alone knew of that. In secret, Celebrimbor forged 3 more Rings, of which Sauron found out only later. They were pure.

Meanwhile, Sauron, taking the idea of Rings of Power from Celebrimbor, returned to Mordor, and in the fires of Orodruin he forged the One Ring, which was made to rule over all others. But Celebrimbor saw his thoughts, and realised that he was betrayed, and hid the Three Rings in time. Sauron demanded from him that he give all the Rings to him, since without the skills that he taught the Elves Celebrimbor would never have had the ability to make them. Celebrimbor refused. War broke out, and he was killed. Sauron captured the 16 Rings in whose making he partook, but the Three remained hidden.

Sauron gave 7 of the 16 to powerful Dwarves in order to corrupt them and bend them to his will. But this proved a waste, as they did not react to the Rings' power as he expected. The other 9 he gave to Men. This was more effective. These men were corrupted and bent into serving him, and by the Third Age they became the Nazgul. All this time, he kept the One with him.

The Second Age ended when the army of the Last Alliance defeated Sauron's orcs on the plain of Dagorlad, near Mordor. In that battle Sauron killed Elendil and broke his sword, but Elendil's son Isildur took the shard and with it in a desperate effort cut off Sauron's finger on which the Ring was.

Isildur was advised by wise Elves to throw it into Orodruin and demolish Sauron's power forever (and a good part of his power was in that little piece of jewelry!). But Isildur did not listen, as the Ring already started working it's way to his heart. He returned to Gondor, where he wrote a document describing the Ring, and then traveled by the Eastern shore of Anduin River up North to get to the Kingdom of Arnor, but he never made it. Near the Gladden Fields he and his small guard were waylaid by orcs. Isildur tried to escape by putting on the Ring and becoming invisible. He swam like that across the river. But the Ring betrayed Isildur and slipped off his finger. He was seen by the orcs and shot. Isildur's esquire Ohtar survived, and he bought the tidings, as well as the Broken Sword to Arnor. But the Ring remained in Anduin, until....

...Many years later, it was found by Deagol, when he and his friend Smeagol were out fishing. They were quickly corrupted by the Ring's power - especially Smeagol - and fought over it. Smeagol killed his friend and hid his body to avoid being punished. The Ring gave Smeagol power in proportion to his stature. He learned how to steal, he started eavesdropping, he did many nasty things, and on top of all developed a bad habit of mumbling "Gollum" under his breath. That became his nickname. His grandmother - the head of the family - was fed up, and banished him from the house.

Gollum hated all. The Ring was eating away at his soul. He hated it, but could not part with it. And he loved it, calling it "my precious". But most of all he hated light. He found his way into the caves of the Misty Mountains, and stayed there for many a year feeding on fish and occasional orc or man.

The Ring used Gollum to get out from the river bed, but he was spent. He was worthless to it now. He led a miserable existence, with no chance of major things happening. And the Ring most of all "wanted" to get back to Sauron. So it betrayed Gollum.

But this time, fate was stronger. Instead of being found by the likely candidates - orcs - it was found by non other than Bilbo Baggins. He took it with him to his adventures at the Lonely Mountain, where it saved his life numerous times, and then brought it home to the Shire.

There it lay, hardly used, until Bilbo's goodbye party. This was the day that Gandalf's suspicions about the Ring rose again, and he persuaded Bilbo to leave it with Frodo, his heir.

We know the rest of the story - Gandalf discovers the true identity of the Ring, Frodo volunteers to take it to Mount Doom and destroy it, the Fellowship is formed, and the story of The Lord of the Rings happens.

For more detail, see chapters "The Shadow of the Past" and "The Council of Elrond" in The Lord of the Rings, and "The Rings of Power and the Third Age" in The Silmarillion.

Answer 3

JRR Tolkien's imagination. He was greatly influenced by the Scandinavian legends that he studied, as well as other works, such as Wagner's Ring series of Opera fame.

Answer 4

The rings were divided into the different parts of middle earth. But then the all power ring was created and was passed down and finally ended up with Frodo who then destroyed it.