What was Sauron's One Ring made of? Is it gold or not?
@modeofevasion (86)
Philippines
September 16, 2011 10:50am CST
Have you ever wondered what was the composition o Sauron's One Ring? In the movie it is goldish in color. In most jewelry shop, specially those who sell LOTR memorabilia, they are sold in 10k, 1k and 14k gold. However, I do not think it is pure gold.
1) From the Fellowship of the Ring, during Elrond's Council, Gimli tried to destroy the ring, but it did not even suffer a scratch. In fact, his axe even shattered to pieces.
It is not brittle as it did not crack, so it not made of pure metal. If it is made metal alloy, it's hardness would have to be so high to break Gimli's axe, which is assumed to be very hard already. (He's a dwarf-lord)
2) When cast into fire to test authenticity, it does not burn, melt nor change color (indicating high temperature). It could only be unmade in Mt Doom (and was actually created there).
This suggests that the Ring is of high melting point temperature, beyond that of fire, since Mt. Doom is an active volcano. Low-melting metals can be ruled out, however, a lot of metal increase melting point when alloyed. Not much luck here.
3) It does not wear or rust with time (forged in the Second Age) and environment (it suffered cold weather). It has suffered cold weather and heat, but did not wear, for short, it is a non-reactive metal.
So far, this is what I think. The One Ring is a metal alloy that has high hardness, melting point, and stability, and low brittleness. What do you think?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@katie0 (5203)
• Japan
24 Oct 11
Hi Lotr's fan, I'm always glad to meet people who love the story.
There are many metals, like mithril of the Dwarves. In the movies and so far I'm in The Fellowship of the Ring's book I couldn't find yet the answer for that, but Gandalf mentioned the making of the One Ring throughly and didn't mention the metal yet.
@modeofevasion (86)
• Philippines
25 Oct 11
hi katie0. glad to meet you too. Unfortunately, it wasn't really specified on the book nor the movie series. That's why I made this discussion. And sadly, so far, majority of the responses were all like 'you can't mix reality and fantasy'.
Once you've finished reading, tell me what you think :) Happy reading and happy mylotting
@uath13 (8192)
• United States
16 Sep 11
It's the magical properties of the ring that make it so tough not the metal it's made of. In fact the ring's very size is variable. On Sauron it had to be huge to fit him, it then shrunk down to human size once for Isildur & then shrunk even further to fit Golem , Bilbo & Frodo.
@leeloo (1492)
• Portugal
18 Sep 11
The actual composition is not really discussed in the books either, we know they are forged by the Elves and the 20 rings all have their own characteristics and powers the one ring to rule them all is of course Sauron's, which does not have a jewel (unlike the Three) to adorn it but contains an inscription (one ring ...) a more detailed description can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Ring
unlike Mithril which has a description by colour and a strength (looks like silver but very strong like titanium). The thing is these books are based in the realm of fantasy so there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief we have to accept that our physical rules do not always apply. The fact that the ring makes it's bearer invisible and extends their lifespan, shows that it follows different laws. They live in a world with elves and dwarfs, dragons and ents. It can be assumed they have an alloy not known or made on earth, and at the most extreme, have elements not on our periodic table.
The fact that no matter how old or dirty gold is it can be recovered and when cleaned and polished returns to it's original beauty (ancient relics in museums) suggest gold, but gold is soft, so probably an alloy.
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
17 Sep 11
It was a Magic ring..It could take heat,hide inscribed writing and change size to fit the wearer.
Metallurgical analysis need not apply...
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
16 Sep 11
I think the ring is magic, and that you're trying to apply real-world physics to a fantasy and that doesn't work out. It's not supposed to be a real metal with real metal properties. The ring was forged in Mount Doom and laced with magical properties so that it could not be destroyed by physical means, and so that it was bound to Sauron, made the wearer invisible, it changed size to fit the wearer, etc.
