Rings of Power in Legend and Literature Quiz

Answer: Gyges

According to the Republic (Glaucon), Gyges “was a [seventh century BCE] shepherd laboring for the then ruler of Lydia [i.e., Candaules, a descendant of Lydia’s first and eponymous King Lydus] and some part of the earth was shattered by a violent thunderstorm developing along with an earthquake and a chasm appeared at the place where he was pasturing. Seeing this and wondering, he went down and the fable says that he saw, among other wonders, a hollow bronze horse having openings, through which, peeping in, he saw that there was a corpse inside, as it seemed, greater than is usual for men, and wearing nothing else but a golden ring at his hand, that he took off before leaving.

When time came for the shepherds to hold their customary assembly in order to prepare their monthly report to the king about the state of the flocks, he came too, wearing this ring.

While he was sitting with the others, it chanced that he moved the collet of the ring around toward himself into the inside of his hand; having done this, he disappeared from the sight of those who were sitting beside him, and they discussed of him as of someone who had left. And he wondered and once again feeling for the ring, he turned the collet outwards and, by turning it, reappeared. Reflecting upon this, he put the ring to the test to see if it indeed had such power, and he came to this conclusion that, by turning the collet inwards, he became invisible, outwards, visible.” (Republic, II, 359b-360b.) Gyges used the power of the ring to get into Candaules’ court, where he seduced Candaules’ queen and slew Candaules himself, taking the kingship and founding the Mermnad dynasty, the strongest dynasty to rule ancient Lydia. Plato argues that even the most just of men would be corrupted by the power of such a ring. (Lydus was an Anatolian king at around the year 1000 BCE; Croesus, Gyges’ great-great-grandson, was the last and most powerful Mermnad king; Alcibiades was a student of Socrates and a ward of Pericles, notable for his overweening ambition.)

Answer: Solomon

According to the Testament of Solomon, the tenth-century BCE King Solomon was overseeing the construction of the temple at Jerusalem when he noticed that the strength of one of his laborers was failing. It turned out that the boy was subject to debilitating visitation by a demon, one Ornias. Solomon prayed for a solution, and was visited by the archangel Michael in a dream. Michael gave Solomon the ring with the “pentalpha” seal, which gave the king the power to command demons. The Testament describes how Solomon used the ring to enslave first Ornias, then Beelzebub, and finally many other demons and elementals, before being corrupted by the power and turning to idolatry. Scholars differ as to the date the Testament was first written, with estimates ranging from the fourth century BCE (or even earlier) to the sixth century CE. (The ring is also attested in the talmudic literature, as well as the gnostic literature, the Greek magical papyri, and the Qu’ran, among other ancient and medieval sources; Longfellow also treats Solomon and his ring in “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” One particularly famous episode is talmudic in origin, and has Solomon sending his chief minister Benaiahu Ben Yehoyada to capture Asmodeus in order to force the demon king to reveal the location of a “shamir” (a worm that could cut stone with its gaze -- clearly an asset for anyone with a big temple to build). Asmodeus was duly captured, but the cunning demon tricked Solomon into lending him the ring, and Asmodeus captured Solomon in turn. Solomon was only able to escape Asmodeus’ torments after regaining the ring.

Answer: Reynard the fox

The ring was purported to have, depending on the version of the story, either three gems (one red, for providing light in the darkness; one white, for curing disease; and one green, for shielding from harm) or three magic Hebrew words (to make the bearer invisible and protect him from enchantment). Reynard claimed to have sent the ring to King Noble the lion, but it was all just (yet another) ruse.

The “Reynard the Fox” tales date from at least the twelfth century, and were part of a broad genre of outlaw tales popular in Europe in that period.

Answer: The Third Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor

Sindbad’s third voyage is the one where he and his comrades are found by a Cyclops much like the one encountered by Odysseus in the Odyssey. Escaping the Cyclops, Sindbad encounters a dreadful serpent, and is then rescued by the ship he had lost in his second voyage. No magic ring is involved in the third or indeed any of Sindbad’s seven voyages.

Answer: the dwarf-king Laurin

Dietrich invaded Laurin’s pleasure gardens, in response to which Laurin appeared in full battle regalia, including, in addition to his magic ring and belt, and his awesome banner, helmet, shield, arms and armor, a magic cloak (or cap) of invisibility (the “Hel Keplein,” a cognate mytheme with the Tarnkappe of the Nibelungenlied). Laurin was winning, until someone advised Dietrich that he could win by cutting off Laurin’s ring finger, breaking the belt, and pulling off the cloak (or cap). Laurin surrendered, and invited Dietrich and his men to a banquet, where he betrayed and imprisoned them.

His queen freed them, and they plundered the dwarf’s mountain kingdom of all its treasures; Laurin thereafter ended his days as a court jester of sorts. (The Dietrich legend is built around the life of Theodoric the Great, an Ostrogoth king who ruled from 493 to 526 CE.)

Answer: Gareth

Gareth of Orkney was the youngest brother of Gawain, Gaheris and Agravain; his elder brothers having been gone from home since Gareth was a small boy, no one could recognize him. Gareth liked it that way, because he wanted to know who he could expect to be his ally before he revealed his identity. On the eve of a tournament, Mallory relates the following: “And then Sir Gareth prayed Dame Lionesse and the Red Knight of the Red Launds, and Sir Persant and his brother, and Sir Gringamore, that in no wise there should none of them tell not his name, and make no more of him than of the least knight that there was, For, he said, I will not be known of neither more nor less, neither at the beginning neither at the ending.

Then Dame Lionesse said unto Sir Gareth: Sir, I will lend you a ring, but I would pray you as you love me heartily let me have it again when the tournament is done, for that ring increaseth my beauty much more than it is of himself. And the virtue of my ring is that, that is green it will turn to red, and that is red it will turn in likeness to green, and that is blue it will turn to likeness of white, and that is white it will turn in likeness to blue, and so it will do of all manner of colours. Also who that beareth my ring shall lose no blood, and for great love I will give you this ring. Gramercy, said Sir Gareth, mine own lady, for this ring is passing meet for me, for it will turn all manner of likeness that I am in, and that shall cause me that I shall not be known.” Gareth went on to defeat all who contended against him in the tournament (Launcelot, the only one of the opposing camp to know his identity, refrained from engaging him).

However, his dwarf manservant lifted his ring during an intermission, so that his identity was revealed. Gareth went on to marry Dame Lionesse.

Answer: Owein (Yvain)

Owein heard the tale of the Black Knight who could defeat any contender, and set out to challenge him. Locating the Knight with surprisingly little difficulty, he inflicts a mortal wound, and pursues the wounded Knight back to his castle. At the castle, Owein is trapped and his horse slain when an outer portcullis drops, stranding Owein between the castle’s inner and outer walls. Luned, handmaiden of Laudine (the “Lady of the Fountain” and mistress of the castle), sees Owein and becomes enamored of his dashing good looks.

She therefore gives him a ring to save him from the approaching castle guards: “‘Take this ring, and put it on thy finger, with the stone inside thy hand, and close thy hand upon it. As long as thou concealest the stone, the stone will conceal thee.’” Owein survives to replace the Black Knight as lord of the castle and as unstoppable-foe-for-chivalrous-knights-to-test-themselves-upon. Later, he throws it all up and returns to Arthur’s court, only to be followed by Luned, who takes back the ring and insults him publicly, whereupon Owein goes spectacularly, if temporarily, mad.

Answer: the ring renders its wearer proof against enchantment

Bradamante, “the knight of the white plume and shield,” sought a means to rescue Rogero from Durance Not-Overly-Vile, but was tricked into falling down a pit into a cave. Luckily for her, the cave was that of Merlin, and the spirit of the old enchanter approved of her mission.

Therefore the priestess who maintained the tomb told Bradamante how to steal the ring from the Saracen Brunello, who had it from his master Agramant, the Moorish prince (also for the purpose of using it to rescue Rogero), who in turn had stolen it from Angelica, Queen of India. Bradamante duly stole the ring, then used it to overcome the wizard who had trapped Rogero (for his own good).

However, Rogero ended up flying away on a hippogriff that he didn’t know how to control, so Bradamante lost him after all. Rogero then ended up saving Angelica from a sea monster (the Orc), in the course of which she got the ring back, popping it in her mouth to turn invisible and escape Rogero.

Answer: it can talk and answer simple questions

There are numerous versions of the story relating how Finn Mac Cumhail achieved magical wisdom. According to the well-known version reported in Curtain’s classic 1890 collection “Myths and Folklore of Ireland,” Finn met a giant who had tracked a marvelous salmon for three days and nights; the giant set Finn to roasting the salmon while the giant slept.

When Finn burned himself on the salmon, he put his thumb in his mouth and chewed through his own skin, flesh and bone to the marrow; thereafter, when Finn was in need of special knowledge he would bite through to the marrow and would receive magical wisdom.

As soon as he did this, he knew that the giant would try to kill him when it awoke, so Finn blinded the giant during its slumber.

But even blind the giant was a cunning adversary; it tossed out its ring, which Finn foolishly retrieved and slipped onto his finger. The ring clamped down hard, and Finn could not remove it. Then the giant called out, “Where are you, ring?” and the ring replied, “Over here, boss, on Finn’s finger!” The giant could therefore hear where Finn was hiding, and attempted to squash him flat.

After three rounds of this, Finn started getting tired, so he bit his thumb to the marrow, and came up with a cunning plan: he cut off his finger and tossed it into a bog (or over a cliff). When the giant asked again where the ring was, and it reported that it was still on Finn’s finger, the giant jumped after it and drowned in the bog (or fell over the cliff to its death).

Answer: Andvari's ring of gold

As related in the Volsunga Saga and other sources, the “Andvaranaut” was forged by the marvelous dwarven smith Andvari son of Oinn. For reasons of his own, Andvari liked to swim in a particular mountain stream in the form of a pike; one day, when the god Loki had pressing need of gold (to ransom his fellow gods for Loki’s slaying of a man in otter shape), he netted the pike Andvari and forced him to give up his hoard. Andvari gave up most of his gold willingly enough, but tried to hold back the ring, which had the power to seek out and discover more gold.

When Loki took the ring, Andvari flew into a rage, and cursed the ring, so that “that gold-ring, yea and all the gold withal, should be the bane of every man who should own it thereafter.” (Chapter XIV.) Loki gave the ring to Odin, who was forced by Hreidmar (father of Otter) to add it to the ransom. True to the curse, Hreidmar was slain by his eldest son Fafnir, whose greed and evil transformed him into a dragon. Fafnir was in turn slain for his gold-hoard and the ring, and so on...

Answer: Produced eight copies of itself every nine nights

Snorri relates that Loki once stole away Sif’s golden hair, enraging her husband, Thor. Thor threatened to kill Loki unless he replaced it; for this task, Loki commissioned the dwarven sons of Ivaldi. The dwarves forged hair of gold, and also the marvelous spear Gungnir and the wonderful boat Skidbladnir.

The dwarven smiths Brokk and Eiti heard about these treasures, and wagered that they could produce still better. Loki, always eager to reduce his costs by hedging his responsibilities, accepted the wager. First the dwarves forged Draupnir, with Loki trying all the while to distract Brokk at the bellows in the form of a gadfly.

Then they forged Gullinbursti, the battle-boar, with Loki trying even harder to distract Brokk. Finally they forged the hammer Mjollnir, and Loki bit Brokk so that the blood ran into his eyes, causing him briefly to falter. That moment’s laps cause Mjollnir’s handle to come out too short, but even with that flaw, the gods judged Brokk and Eiti’s treasures to be the best, and Loki lost his bet.

The victorious dwarves sewed Loki’s lips shut as their prize.

Answer: The Bremen Town Musicians -- ring conferring comprehension of animal speech

The Bremen Town Musicians (Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten) involved a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster who set out to become minstrels, but their music and appearance terrify a band of robbers into abandoning a house, so that the animals are able to retire there peaceably. No magical ring is involved at all.

Answer: Narya, the Red Ring or Ring of Fire

Narya, Nenya and Vilya were the Three Great Rings. (Isildur’s Bane was the One Ring forged to bind and rule the Great Rings by Sauron.) The Three were forged by the elves, without any input from Sauron. Narya was set with a ruby; Nenya, of mithril, was set with a diamond; Vilya was set with a sapphire. Elrond was the bearer of Vilya, which he used to cause the flood of the river Bruinen when the Ring-Wraiths tried to capture Frodo Baggins there; Galadriel was the bearer of Nenya, which she used to ward Lothlorien so that none could enter without her leave; Gandalf was given Narya by Cirdan the Shipwright when he first came to Middle-Earth, and he used it to strengthen the spirits of Sauron’s foes.

It may be that Narya’s fiery nature is the reason Gandalf’s magic partakes so much of fire.

In any event, the Three were forged with the purpose of slowing down time and preserving beauty, and were not subject to Sauron’s control; however, the destruction of the One Ring nevertheless caused the Three to lose their power.

Answer: Celebrimbor of the Elves of Eregion

Celebrimbor, grandson of the smith who forged the Silmarils, was already an accomplished ringmaker when the elves were approached by Annatar (who turned out to be none other than Sauron himself) who helped them to forge the Seven and the Nine. The Seven were given to dwarves, for the purpose of enslaving them, but the dwarves “ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows.

They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overmastering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts.” (Silmarillion.) The Nine were given to men, who failed to resist Sauron’s will: “those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old.

They obtained glory and great wealth... They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men.” (Silmarillion.) The Nine turned their bearers into the Ring-Wraiths, the Nazgul, under Sauron’s absolute control. Both the Seven and the Nine conferred both the power of invisibility and infinitely prolonged lifespan on their bearers.

Answer: Green Lantern

The idea behind the Green Lantern is essentially “Aladdin meets Doc Smith’s Lensmen”: man with magic ring and magic lantern (lamp) becomes international space cop. Indeed, when Martin Nodell (same guy as created the Pillsbury Doughboy) first conceived of the Lantern in 1940, his “secret identity” was to be Alan Ladd, to make explicit the connection with Aladdin; the name was ultimately changed to Alan Ladd Scott. (First appearance of the Green Lantern was in DC-All American comics, issue 16, July 1940, by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger.) Scott ultimately stopped being a Lantern, but I believe he is “still alive” (as of August 2002) in the DC universe, his youth rejuvenated, the green lantern power now resident within him, kicking around under the new sobriquet “The Sentinel.” The Green Lantern saga bears other points of contact with the many stories of rings of power alluded to herein; it will not have escaped the reader’s notice that magic rings, from Gyges’ and Solomon’s through Andvari’s to Sauron’s, tend to come with either an explicit curse or an inherent tendency to corrupt. Arguably the best known of the Lanterns was Hal Jordan -- after literally decades of dogoodery, Hal ultimately went mad with power, slew the “Guardians of Oa” who governed the Lantern Corps, stole the master power battery, and made himself a god.

The combined might of all earth’s superheroes was insufficient to stop him, but in a moment of regret he permitted himself to be destroyed. (Jordan was resurrected, of course, since the fools who run DC Comics can’t let a popular character stay dead, and Hal Jordan now serves the Christian god as “The Spectre,” a sort of superheroic version of Metron.)