Middle-earth Connections: Lore of the Rings

who would be his slaves. The Nine worked perfectly, and the nine men who accepted the Rings used them to become great lords, but eventually they lost their free will and their bodies. They became wraiths, forever invisible and unable to interact directly with the world except through some sort of procedure whereby they could take shape when given clothing. Was it natural clothing or magical? We don't know. But as the Nine and the Seven were imbued with the abilities to render the wearers invisible or to allow them to see normally invisible things (presumably, wraiths, the spirits of other beings), it follows that Sauron used these abilities to grant powers of necromancy (the practice of communing with or controlling the dead) to the keepers of the Rings. Tolkien doesn't say that any Dwarf ever practiced necromancy. In fact, the Rings could not render the Dwarves invisible. It would seem therefore that the Rings offered nothing of value to the Dwarves in terms of dealing with the dead. Their spirits must not have lingered Middle-earth when they died. The Elves, on the other hand, didn't always go immediately to Mandos in Aman when they died (or faded). They could refuse the summons, forsaking any hope of regaining a physical body. It thus makes sense that Sauron would induce the Elves of Eregion to include Necromantic powers in their Rings. In Aman, the Elves were accustomed to living alongside the Valar and Maiar, who might appear to them in a physical form or in "spirit" form (and the Valar and Maiar could control whether they were perceived by the Elves when in spirit form). Elvish spirits might not be equivalent to the Valar and Maiar, but presumably the Elves hoped to talk to Mom and Dad on occasion, provided they had not gone swiftly to Aman upon the deaths of their bodies. Or it may be that the process of fading had already set in, or that the Elves were anticipating a quick transition to the Fading Years. Who would be most likely to fade? An ancient Elf, presumably. And the more ancient the Elf, the more likely he or she was to have lived in Valinor (if among the Noldor) or to have lived at Cuivienen. He or she might also be the head of a family. So the Rings of Power were probably created for various Elven lords, princes and kings. The younger Elves,

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