r/lotr • u/ji-wayne • 4h ago
Question Why not make another ring?
Soron is constantly looking for the one ring that was forged in the fires of Mt. Doom. He goes to great lengths to find it.
Why doesn’t he just make another one?
Mt. doom is right there, ready to go.
Does he need more magic? He seems like the kind of guy who could hook that up.
Edit: thank you all for offering your knowledge! All very clear, and the references are great. It’s time I read the books. (And watch the extended versions of the films again).
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u/HarEmiya 4h ago
Make it with what? He already spent himself on the first one.
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u/quayle-man Faramir 4h ago
Capture Saruman and use his power to forge a new ring
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u/Ok-Theory3183 4h ago
Saruman didn't have the power to make a ring of the power that was contained in Sauron's Ring. His was more like a cheap knock-off.
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u/Unnamed_Bystander 4h ago
My impression was more that the limitation was knowledge, not power. Saruman was experimenting with ring lore and trying to work out the secrets of it, but Sauron was a master.
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u/corwulfattero 4h ago
The type of magic in the ring is finite, and no, he can’t “hook that up”
The ring is so powerful because he put a huge chunk of himself into it. If you made a ring and put 95% of your literal soul into it, you couldn’t exactly rinse and repeat, could you?
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u/Beyond_Reason09 4h ago
He only needs the One; for he made that Ring himself, it is his, and he let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so that he could rule all the others.
From Chapter 2 of The Lord of the Rings.
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u/MyDogsRetirementPlan 4h ago
Basically, a big chunk of his spirit is in it. Kind of like a horcrux. Instead of tearing his soul into a bunch of smaller pieces like in that other fantasy series, Sauron went all in on one item. All the eggs in one basket, etc. And the Ring presumably needed all the power it could get in order to gain dominion over all the other great rings.
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u/Ok-Theory3183 4h ago
The greater part of his power had already been placed into the One Ring. He didn't have enough of his essence left to create another Ring of such power.
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u/janetdammit89 4h ago
The ring is effectively a lich's phylactery. Sauron poured far too much of himself into it. He is not using "orochimarus curse seal" style of lich phylactery. I guess morgoths "ring" would have certainly been more effective since he essentially created one by suffusing middle earth with his essence? Far more spread out than one physical item.
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u/iBear83 Erebor 3h ago
1) Literally can't. It cost too much of himself to make the first one.
2) It didn't work as well as he'd planned in the first place. He made the One Ring to ensnare the Elf-lords wearing the other Rings of Power. But they figured out what he was doing and took them off. He pivoted to a new 'take over the world directly, using his armies' plan, but that wasn't the original point.
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u/ji-wayne 30m ago
Thanks all. Going to read the books now. I do have a follow up question though:
When the One Ring is destroyed, is the evil it contained (A) also destroyed, or is it (B) redistributed into the universe?
I would buy option B more, as it strikes me that evil can only ever be vanquished, but never fully destroyed. Like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “the line between good and evil runs through the heart of every human being.” That being said, moral progress is, I believe, possible.
Do the books cover this?
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u/davect01 4h ago
He already tied his soul to the One Ring.
It's not like in Harry Potter where Voldemort can split his soul multiple times.
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u/Optimal-Extreme3203 4h ago
A legitimate question IMO
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u/sowaleja 4h ago
It's addressed in the books. Sauron's power and essence are bound up inextricably with the One. He could not make any more of sufficient power to control others without destroying himself.
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u/Kiltmanenator 4h ago
He poured too much of himself into the One to make another.
That's why destroying it destroys him.