Lord of The Rings

Few things over the ages have captured our imagination and sparked our greed quite like jewelry. Jewels are items or trinkets made from the most expensive and rare minerals on earth which allow economies to function smoothly.

Jewelry also has a record of squeezing out the most creative juices in a person. One example of this is the best selling novel, trilogy and movie set, 'the lord of the rings' by J.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings is a fantastic story of elves, goblins and wars to save all that is good and sacred, but the whole story revolves around, and is based upon, a piece of jewelry; a ring to be exact. 'The Lord of the Rings' tale is centered on a magnificent and magical ring that is possessed by the soul of the evil, dead warlord Souron. Besides an ongoing war between good and evil, The Lord of the Rings novel also expresses many graphic representations of how people view jewelry, as well as showing how valuable the jewelry can be.

The novel begins with a hobbit (proportionally short people), inheriting what appears to be a 24ct yellow gold ring from his uncle. From the begging of the novel we are shown that gold rings are too valuable and treasured to be thrown away, and so are often passed down through generations to be treasured by many. Almost instantly after the hobbit obtains the ring he is set upon by fiends wishing to steal the ring from him. The hobbit protects the ring with his life, just as we would protect and care for our own possessions when we are beset upon by thieves.

As the novel progresses, and later the trilogy, we witness how conflicts begin and end because of the ring and even the hobbits closest and most trusted associates experience and act upon feelings of greed and envy related to the jewel.

Many happy pages of reading later the hobbit is forced to destroy the ring which has become an integral factor in his life.  Naturally the hobbit is reluctant to do so and happens to destroy the ring by accident, thus superbly relating the physical, emotional and spiritual bond that people can develop for their selected jewels.

'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy is an imaginative way of showing how rare and valuable jewels are or can be, as well as showing how mans worst and most fearsome characteristics will appear when expensive items are involved. The trilogy also gives a general over view into how such jewels are mined and then forged by experienced smiths (elves), thus giving the item a personal touch and added worth.

J.R. Tolkien’s creativity was not only limited to rings however. He also mentioned other priceless items such as a ‘pendant of immortality’, which can be related to a white gold pendant with fresh water pearl inlays. This may be his way of representing different peoples taste in jewelry and how jewels therefore take on extra sentimental value, and that no one item is better than another.

And so we have seen that jewels and the raw minerals that they are made of are coveted and loved by all begins, be they male, female, good, evil or…even elfish.