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Claim: The once existed a ring which could turn people invisible
Status: False
Examples:
[Collected from memo detailing items pludered during war in 2nd age, late 2nd age
" Item: 1 magical ring, Notes: Allows user to [...], turn invisible, [...] use with caution.
[Collected from "The Diary of Frodo", late 3rd age]
"I knew all along that my uncle Bilbo was in possesion of a ring of most peculiar properties, I didn't know quite what until he handed it to me when he planned to leave for Rivendell all those years ago. Among its unusual properties included [...] the fact that it could turn people completely invisible to the naked eye [...]. [This] was a fact that I later used to both great advantage and folly.
Origins: This particularly insidious meme first appeared sometime at the start of the second age from a rumour that the Dark Lord Sauron had apparently create a ring that could rule all other rings. This rumour was spread via word of mouth, apparently encouraged by Sauron himself to project an image of power. Its quite obvious that a clerk during the war of the 2nd age decided to have some fun with the rumour and put down the said magican ring as an object of plunder for some laughs. A tell talesign of this is that he list many effects of the ring that Sauron did not have himself. It is quite clear from several documents during the said age that Sauron was NOT invisible when he appeared in public, something which clearly contradicts the report.
This rumour seemed to have died down after the death of Isildur and, except for a couple of noted conspiracy theorists, nobody paid much attention to it for over 1000 years.
The rumour resurfaced again, however, during the battle at the end of the 3rd age. It is quite obvious that the appearance of the ring was used as a convenient political device to explain away the fact that Sauron so mysteriously disappeared just when the battle was going so well. Additional powers like invisibility neatly sidestepped tricky issues such as how "Frodo" managed to get into Minas Morgul. Unfortunately, this story has turned from allegory into fact these last couple of years and it is now widely believed to be fact.
Several inconsistencies in the story, however, clearly destroy it. For example, in "the diary of Frodo", Frodo notes cleary how
The Balrog was a most fearsome creature [...] its wings extended like flaming umbrellas"
Since it has been proven that Balrogs don't have wings, this conclusively proves that Frodo's story was made up.
It would be tempting to think that such a story was true, a story of a tiny hobbit prevailing against impossible odds. Also contained, is a tiny bit of magic which we imagine would make life just a bit more bearable.
Last Updated: 24th December 2002