Was there anything stopping Sauron from making another "one ring"? Was he too weak since his separation from the ring to craft another? Or would it have taken a long time?
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3That sounds like an excellent mum solution to the War of the Ring.– Paul D. WaiteCommented Jun 26, 2014 at 19:12
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1@PaulD.Waite - Either that or putting Sauron on the naughty step...– ValorumCommented Jun 26, 2014 at 19:32
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2The problem is, how would he have had to call it? The Two Ring?– Mr ListerCommented Jun 27, 2014 at 8:03
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1"For the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest. It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain; first of all the Eldar in Aman." -- applies to Sauron just as much as Feanor and Yawanna.– b_jonasCommented Dec 16, 2015 at 9:42
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2 Answers
The quick answer is, "Yes, he was too weak." In Gandalf's words:
This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago, to the great weakening of his power.
Now how, exactly, you want to interpret that might vary. After all, Sauron was certainly powerful enough to "reconstitute" himself, reorganize his armies, and sweep back into Mordor relatively early in the Third Age. But the Ring contained him, in a sense:
... 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. (Gandalf)
(both quotes from The Fellowship Of The Ring, Chapter 2, "The Shadow Of The Past")
Even without the Ring, he still had the ability to control the others: in particular the rings of the Nazgûl. But it's at best highly questionable, as I read the material, whether he had enough power to create another Ring of the same power as the first.
answered Jun 26, 2014 at 18:31
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1Good answer. He probably could have made a lesser ring but there was no point. He would have diffused his already greatly reduced personal power even further and would have only had a lesser ring to show for it.– MorganCommented Jun 27, 2014 at 1:18
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He didn't really reconstitute. One could say he was but a shadow of his former self... pun intended :-) Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 9:22
Sauron placed an enormous amount of his own "strength and will" into the One Ring in order to make it powerful enough to dominate the 3, 7 and 9 rings. Although it's not explicitly stated, the fact that he expended vast resources on a search for the Ring over hundreds of years would strongly suggest that making another ring simply isn't an option.
More importantly, the One Ring was invested with sufficient power to rule all the other magic rings in Middle Earth. Since Sauron knows that the One Ring (described in the Silmarillion as a device of "surpassing potency") is still knocking about, if he made another less powerful ring to wear then he could find himself subject to the will of whoever wields the One Ring. That was something he absolutely couldn't risk.
Now the Elves made many rings; but secretly Sauron made One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last. And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring; for the power of the Elven-rings was very great, and that which should govern them must be a thing of surpassing potency; and Sauron forged it in the Mountain of Fire in the Land of Shadow. And while he wore the One Ring he could perceive all the things that were done by means of the lesser rings, and he could see and govern the very thoughts of those that wore them.
(The Silmarillion)
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2That's a bit speculative. We know the One Ring was made to rule over the existing rings, but there's nothing that really implies that any future rings, created by someone aware of the One and its powers, will be subservient to it. I always thought it was a form of back-door he planted into the rings the Elves made. Commented Jun 26, 2014 at 20:10
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@AvnerShahar-Kashtan - The three Elven rings were "free of Sauron's influence" but still subject to the One Ring because they were made using the same techniques; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Rings. It follows that any future rings would also be subject to the One Ring.– ValorumCommented Jun 26, 2014 at 20:16
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1@Richard It follows that new rings made using the same techniques would be under the control of the One, but perhaps there are other ways to make rings. And if anyone could figure out how to do so, it would be Sauron; he was the one who taught Celebrimbor how to make rings in the first place so clearly he is an expert in ring-crafting.– David ZCommented Jun 26, 2014 at 20:23
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1@Richard I only argue that one cannot necessarily conclude that any new ring Sauron might make would be subject to the influence of the One Ring. It does stand to reason that a new ring would have been weaker.– David ZCommented Jun 26, 2014 at 20:31
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1Technically "if Sauron makes a lesser ring by the same process, it seems likely that that ring would be subject to the One Ring." I think that @DavidZ is making the point that if Sauron used a different process, the result might not be subject to it. WRT my comment: I was just pointing that out because it's a confusion I'm often subject to, and I thought it might arise in others. Commented Jun 26, 2014 at 20:37