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CGP Grey

The One Ring Explained (Lord of the Rings Part 2)

CGP Grey

CGP Grey

Education

4.9797 Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2015

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Just what is The One Ring and what are its powers in Lord of the Rings?

Lord of the Rings Wallpapers: https://www.patreon.com/creation?hid=1664467&u=227816

 

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

These books are all about this ring, how it's found, and spoiler alert, how it's destroyed.

0:05.0

While Tolkien built the largest and most consistent fictional universe, he sure didn't mind being vague times,

0:10.0

so if you finish the story and then thought, wait, what can this ring do and where did it come from?

0:15.0

This is your video. First thing first, the one ring is not the only ring.

0:19.0

It's Lord of the Rings's after all, and that

0:21.3

lord is Sauron. Long before this story starts, Sauron disguised himself and came to the elves

0:25.7

to work with their master craftsman, Calibrimbor, to forge the rings of power. Together

0:29.4

they made 16, called the Lesser Rings, then Calibrimbor took Sauron's formula and made

0:34.0

three on his own that turned out more powerful than the original 16.

0:37.7

Why make rings based on the suggestion of a stranger whose resume has a millennia long gap?

0:42.0

Because he promised the rings would fix the elves biggest problem.

0:45.1

This world is winding down.

0:47.0

The amount of big and awesome and magic decreases as a function of time here.

0:51.3

For elves, magic, immortal creatures, this is bad news. Sauron said the rings

0:55.8

would preserve what their wearers cared about most. That's why the elven kingdoms are so fantastical

1:00.5

compared to the rest of the world. Their rings have preserved them. Unlike the famous poem implies,

1:05.4

the elves made all the rings for themselves, intending exactly zero to get into the hands of

1:09.5

men or dwarfs whom the elves think are stinky.

1:12.2

So obviously something went wrong, which brings us back to the one ring to rule them all.

1:17.2

Sauron's chief ability is to dominate the minds of others, and that's partly why he's able to control such large armies,

1:23.2

and he secretly made the one ring as a kind of lens to focus this power.

1:27.2

His formula for ring construction, unknown to Kellebrimbor, also made the wares of the 19 rings more vulnerable.

...

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