Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
the fifth Book; the ending of the published Silmarillion
Nature
Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age — the last of the “Books” in the published Silmarillion — is the closing chronicle that spans the end of the Second Age into the Third: the making of the Rings (the elven-rings, the seven and the nine, the One), the war of the Elves, the corruption of Númenor’s remnants, the rise of Mordor, and the Last Alliance — ending with the fall of Sauron, the taking of the One Ring by Isildur, and the quiet dawn of the Third Age. It is the “appendix” through which the mythology (as published) links to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Contents
The secret of the elven-smiths; the Three, Seven and Nine; the forging of the One Ring in Mordor. The war with Eregion; the three incidents of the Rings’ history (Gil-galad’s and Círdan’s portion; the gift of the Red ring); the fall of Númenor and the rise of Gondor and Arnor. The Last Alliance (Elendil and Gil-galad vs. Sauron), the death of Sauron, the taking of the Ring by Isildur, and the note of the Third Age’s passing of the Elves.
Composition
Written late (as a bridge chronicle; the “rings” texts exist in Tolkien’s papers from the 1950s) and edited by Christopher Tolkien to close the 1977 book
— its inclusions and seams are discussed in The Peoples of Middle-earth and The Fall of Númenor; Tolkien’s fullest “Rings” history is the Unfinished Tales essay “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn”.