The Lord of the Rings trilogy is reflective of many of the terrible traumas that Tolkien experienced in his own life. Tolkien lived at a time when the world was in its very own struggle for power and dominion during WW1, and thousands of people were losing their lives every day, both in the battles and the civilian attacks.
Countries across the globe were holding their breath to see who would seize power, and how it would change the world forever. Tolkien himself, who fought in the trenches and lost several close friends along the way, felt himself to be one tiny piece of resistance against an impossible and insurmountable evil, which is reflected in his protagonists Frodo and Sam, and their epic journey across Middle Earth to destroy the ring, so that the terrible dark lord Sauron can’t use it to corrupt their home and rid them of everything they hold dear.
Sauron is Tolkien’s physical embodiment of the torture and restlessness that he saw in the world all around him, and is a character so evil that he is devoid of any moral reasoning. There is no way to bargain with him, there is no redemption for him, he wants nothing other than to wreak destruction on those he considers weaker than himself and unworthy of the world that they have been given by Eru, the creator of all things.
The key to Sauron’s power, and his triumph or defeat are the 20 rings of power that he tricked the elven craftsman Celebrimbor into forging. 9 lie with the ancient kings of men who have been corrupted into Ring-wraiths to serve Sauron eternally. 7 lie with the dwarf lords who have either lost them to terrible dragons or back to Sauron. 3 lie in hiding, safe and protected by the elves that bear them. And the final 1 lies in the hands of two hobbits, the most unlikely of heroes to protect the fate of all of Middle Earth. These rings of power are all governed by their terrible master, their ruler, but it may surprise some fans to know that this ‘Lord’ of the rings is not actually Sauron.
When Gandalf first realizes the danger that his friends are in on the eve of Bilbo’s 111th birthday, after the usually polite hobbit uses it to abandon his guests and vanish from the party, the Grey Wizard is sent on a terrifying journey to the ancient libraries of Gondor. His suspicion that the ring, now lying with Frodo in The Shire, may be a dark object and no mere trinket, is only strengthened when he comes across the scriptures of Isildur describing the ring and its strange markings, which are only revealed by firelight.
Gandalf races back to find Frodo and make sure that the ring is safe, and his worst fears are confirmed when they drop the ring into the hobbit’s fireplace, and the dark Mordorian inscription around its edges are finally revealed: ‘one ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.’ Here is the answer to all of Sauron’s power, and the key to the fate of the world. The One Ring is the master of all of the others, it is the ‘Lord’ that can call them all to the terrible service of its creator. He who can wield the one ring can wield them all, because they are all bound to it and unable to escape its call.
This can be seen in the way that the three elven rings diminish and lose their power once the One Ring is destroyed. Sauron never managed to infect the three with his spite and malice, because Celebrimbor discovered his treachery and managed to save the three, hiding them among the trusted elves before they could be corrupted. So although the three elven rings of power aren’t linked to Sauron, they are still linked to the One Ring, because it is the most powerful magic ring in Middle Earth, and is therefore able to control the others. The ring has a mind of its own, it is a being within itself and is capable of betraying those who carry it in favor of a better or more powerful bearer. The Peter Jackson movie adaptations display this perfectly, with the ring having its own sound-mixing, its own heartbeat that thumps in time with fell-beast wings, that echoes the torturous scream of the Nazgul.
The ring has a way of clawing into people’s minds and souls, infecting them from the inside out, and it is the true villain of the story, because it calls to all things, from the noblest of men to the most kind-hearted of creatures. No one and nothing is immune to its draw, even if they are able to resist it takes great strength because the One Ring is the single greatest source of power and is able to rule the emotions and the hearts of all who draw near it.