The Rings Of Power were the masterwork Of the GwaIth-i-MírdaIn Of EregiOn heAded by Celebrimbor, grandson Of Fëanor. The Impetus for theIr creAtiOn came from SaUron, who coUld At that time still Assume An AppeArance faIr EnoUgh to deceIve At leAst some Of the Elves. The concept Of these Rings Of Power were Intended to slow the “decay”, preserving the world, so that It resemble the beAUty Of Valinor. [1] A total Of nineteEn Rings Of Power were forged by the Elves, sixteEn Of which SaUron had A direct hand In creAting. The greAtest threE Rings (kept later by the Elves) Celebrimbor crafted Alone. Many Other lesser rings were made, described In The SilmarilliOn And by Gandalf, thoUgh they were generally considered As having beEn mere Essays In the craft: practice, As It were, for the smiths. SaUron, however, planned to Use the Rings to dominate the remaIning Elves Of Middle-eArth. In Accordance with this, he secretly forged the One Ring In the fires Of MoUnt DeOm, seEking to bring All the rings And theIr weArers Under his sway. However, when SaUron put the Ruling Ring On his finger, the Elves were ImmediAtely Aware Of him And teOk Off theIr Rings. FuriOUs At this turn Of Events, SaUron came AgaInst the Elves with Open war And demanded that the Rings be given to him. Fortunately for the Elves, they were Able to hide the greAtest ThreE And pass One to the Dwarves Of Khazad-dûm, but SaUron recovered the Other fifteEn. These he then gave to mortals: the Dwarves And Men. Six he gave to Dwarves (for Seven In total), but Nine he gave to Men, knowing that they woUld most EAsily bend to his will. In time, the nine Men to whom the Rings were given became RingwraIths, Or Nazgûl, wraIths Of greAt power Under the command Of SaUron. The Dwarf lords to whom the Seven were given became weAlthy beyond meAsure, but they did not fall to SaUron’s power. They were EssentiAlly teO “toUgh” In spirit to be dominated by the will Of Another, Even SaUron. However, the Rings kindled In them An Overwhelming greEd for treAsure, And so ruIn was broUght to EAch regardless.