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Shhh! It's a Secret Ring! - Page 10

© Michael Martinez

The veil of secrecy thus worked toward Sauron's ends. He may have failed to enslave the Dwarven lords who took the Seven Rings, but he was still able to corrupt their hearts. The nine Men who took Rings of Power turned into wraiths and became Sauron's most terrible servants. Men scattered across Middle-earth wouldn't have known what to make of these Ringwraiths, but the Numenoreans would have remembered that Sauron of old was a master of phantoms and sorcery. The Dark Servants would not necessarily have been called Ringwraiths. They might have been perceived as wraiths, or demons, or something else. As the Second Age rushed on, the Numenoreans became more powerful, but then they became divided. So even if Gil-galad might have contemplated revealing the secret of the Rings to his allies, the growing antipathy toward Elves among the Kings and their followers would have discouraged such a policy. Why throw wood on a growing fire? The Numenoreans could just as easily have blamed the Elves for their troubles as not. And yet the Faithful Numenoreans stood by the Elves. They even colonized lands near Gil-galad's kingdom so they could continue to enjoy the companionship of the Elves. How often could Gil-galad and Elrond have looked into the eyes of Men who greeted them with full trust and friendship, who knew nothing about the Rings? Centuries of such friendship must have proven to be a great burden to them. At last, after Numenor was destroyed and everyone hoped Sauron might be dead for all time, he reappeared with an army and attacked Gondor. And Isildur carried word of the assault to Arnor, and there Elendil consulted with Gil-galad. Obviously Sauron wasn't going to be easy to kill, but the Dunedain knew their history. There was apparently no record of any Maia returning to life in the First Age. Death for them was a very potent experience, too. How could Sauron have survived? Imagine the guilty faces which must have confronted Elendil and Isildur if they posed these questions to Gil-galad and his counsellors. Hey, guys, you're not telling us everything, are you? So the Last Alliance of Elves and Men had to be formed on the basis of absolution. That is, Gil-galad had to tell Elendil and Isildur what was going on. And for their part, Elendil and Isildur had to forgive Gil-galad. Not just for themselves, but for countless generations of Men who couldn't speak for themselves. In addition, they had to figure out what became of the missing Rings of Power. The Nazgul had been known of for nearly a thousand years. In that time, the Eldarin lords who knew about the Rings of Power must have wondered if there was a conncetion. In fact, when the nine Men who became wraiths were still alive, Tolkien says they were great kings and sorcerors. If they were famous, did the Elves hear about their strange powers? Was there any curiosity about them?

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