Magic ring
Encyclopedia
A magic ring is a ring, usually a finger ring
, that has magical properties. It appears frequently in fantasy
and fairy tale
s. Magic rings are found in the folklore of every country where rings are worn, and they endow the wearer with a variety of abilities, including invisibility, the granting of wishes and immortality. Sometimes, they can be cursed, as in the fictional ring that was recovered by Sigurd from the hoard of the dragon Fafnir in Norse mythology or the fictional ring that features in J R R Tolkien's modern saga The Lord of the Rings
. More often, however, they are featured as forces for good, or as a neutral tool whose value is dependent upon the wearer.
A finger ring is a convenient choice for a (fictional) magic item
: it is ornamental, distinctive and often unique, natural to wear, of a shape that is often endowed with mystical properties (circular), it can carry an enchanted stone and is usually worn on a finger that can be easily pointed at a target.
have been found wearing a torc
or a neck ring, and torcs are on rare occasions mentioned as decoration in early Irish
and medieval Welsh
literature, but none are described as magical
. Seventy-five complete neck torcs and fragments of many more, in twelve or fourteen separate hoards dating to the first century BC, were found at Snettisham, in Norfolk
, England, in the twentieth century and had been buried deliberately; it is not known why.
J G Frazer, in his study of magic and superstition in The Golden Bough
, has pointed to evidence that rings can serve, in the primitive mind, as devices to prevent the soul from leaving the body and to prevent demons from gaining entry. A magic ring, therefore, might confer immortality by preventing the soul's departure and thwart the penetration of any harmful magic that might be directed against the wearer. These magical properties inhibiting access to the soul may explain "an ancient Greek maxim, attributed to [the ancient philosopher and mystic] Pythagoras, which forbade people to wear rings" in ancient Greece. Muslim pilgrims in Mecca may not wear rings.
Ancient drawings of Mesopotamian gods sometimes include one or several rings attached to staffs or poles, but no reference has been found in writings
recovered from that time to show whether they were magical or merely decorative. Generally, however, the two most common types of magical rings in mythology and fiction are arm ring
s and finger rings.
Magical rings can be magical for a variety of reasons and their magical properties may be either very specific or of a more general nature. A folk tale
or story may give no reason for a ring being magical, or it may have become magical through being enchanted by a magician or touched by a god. A ring may also be magical because of the material of which it is made; often a ring is a mere carrier for a special jewel
, which itself is the source of the magic. Other rings are magical because they are inhabited by a spirit
.
worn by the Norse god Odin
. Because its only reported function was to create more gold arm bands every nine days, Draupnir may have been a religious symbol which represented the increasing of wealth. The ring was placed onto Baldr's funeral pyre, but Baldr gave Draupnir back to Hermod when he came looking for him in Hel and so the ring was returned to Odin from the land of death, with its new-found ability to replicate. Another Norse ring was called Andvarinaut
. Andvarinaut is the famous Ring of the Niebelungen
s from The Volsunga Saga and The Nibelungenlied
, which eventually becomes the property of the hero Siegfried or Sigurd
. How it came to be cursed is explained in detail in The Volsunga Saga, Andvarinaut's use is never specifically given in the story: its curse is simply a source of disaster for every person who owns it, its principal characteristic is that nearly everyone wants to get it, except Sigurd, who has got it, but doesn't know what it is.
Magic rings are certainly known in Jewish
lore; they are mentioned in the Talmud
and Midrash
. Solomon's magical ring had many properties in legend: making him all-knowing, conferring him with the ability to speak with animals and bearing the special sigil that sealed genie
s into bottles. A story about King Solomon and a ring is found in the Babylonian Talmud, but rings are more fully discussed in Jewish mystical literature. The power of a ring is in the divine name with which it is inscribed; such rings are used to invoke and command various guardians of heavenly palaces and to gain entrance to those heavens. In the Zohar
, God is thought to own and use a signet ring, or, at least, a signet.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato
, in the second book of The Republic, tells a story about the Ring of Gyges
, which conferred invisibility
on its wearer. The shepherd Gydes
, who found it in a cave, used its power to seduce the queen, kill the king and take his place. Earlier accounts of Gyges
, however, who was king of Lydia
, make no mention of a magic ring. Rings are not generally attributed with magic powers in ancient Greek legend, although many other magical objects are listed, particularly in the Perseus myth.
A small number of Viking Age
finger rings bearing runic
inscriptions of apparently magical significance are known, among them the Kingmoor Ring
and the Bramham Moor Ring.
twelfth century Arthurian romance The Knight of the Lion
. This finger ring can be worn with the stone on the inside, facing the palm, and then it will make the wearer invisible. The Scottish ballads Hind Horn
and Bonny Bee Hom
both include a magic ring that turns pale when the person who received it has lost the person who gave it.
The fourteenth century Middle English Arthurian romance Sir Perceval of Galles
has the hero, Perceval, take a ring from the finger of a sleeping maiden in exchange for his own, and he then goes off on a series of adventures that includes defeating an entire Saracen army single-handedly, in a Land of Maidens. Only near the end of this romance does he learn that the ring he was wearing is a magic ring and that its wearer cannot be killed. Similar rings feature in the fourteenth century medieval romance Sir Eglamour of Artois
and the twelfth century Floris and Blancheflour
, and in Sir Thomas Malory's tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney, in his fifteenth century epic Le Morte d'Arthur
, in which Sir Gareth is given a ring by a damsel who lives in Avalon that will render him invulnerable to losing any blood at a tournament.
s in stories, magic rings can act as a plot device
, but in two distinct ways. They may give magical
abilities to a person who is otherwise lacking in them, or enhance the power of a wizard. Or alternatively, they may function as nothing more than MacGuffin
s, that is, objects for which it is the characters' desire to obtain them, rather than any innate power that they possess, that moves the story along.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
, for example, involves a magical ring which allows Bilbo Baggins
to be instrumental in a quest, matching the abilities of the dwarves. In the Volsunga Saga, on the other hand, the magic ring that Sigurd
takes from the dragon Fafnir is a symbolic item, cursed by the dwarf Andvari
from whom it was stolen by Loki
; the ring is a plot device that creates a sense of inevitable disaster as the story unfolds.
's satirical novel The Rose and the Ring
features a ring that has the power to make whoever owns it beautiful; its passage from person to person in the novel is an important element of the story.
: not only is there a genie, or djinn, summoned by a magic lamp, there is also a less powerful djinn summoned from a finger ring. Aladdin rubs the ring and its genie helps him to escape from the cave that his uncle the sorcerer has shut him into. Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale included in the book of One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of ancient and medieval stories from this region, first published in full English translation in the 1880s. Its plot is used in a popular British pantomime
put on for children during the Christmas period.
The composer Richard Wagner
wrote a series of four opera
s titled Der Ring des Nibelungen
which present his version of the story told in The Nibelungenlied
and in Volsunga Saga
, as well as the Prose Edda
. The operas are more often called The Wagner Ring Cycle
in English. In this cycle, the ring of the Nibelungen ultimately brings about the downfall of the old gods as Wotan relinquishes the ring, which confers power, back to the Rhinemaidens from whom its gold was stolen in the first place,
's novel The Zero Stone, the title comes from a ring that has advanced properties. H. Warner Munn
has written an award winning fantasy novel titled Merlin's Ring. Stephen R. Donaldson
has written a long series of fantasy novels about a magic ring of white gold owned by a fictional Thomas Covenant
. Poul Anderson
, in his novel A Midsummer Tempest
, has Oberon and Titania give two characters magical rings that will aid them as long as they are true to each other. The author Piers Anthony
has written Castle Roogna which includes, as an important part of its plot, a ring which claims – convincingly as it turns out – to be able to grant wishes. The ring of Solomon appears in Charles Williams's novel Many Dimensions.
: The Magician's Nephew
, two magic rings, which take people to the Wood between the Worlds
, a linking room between parallel universe
s, are central to the story; a yellow ring, when touched, sends a person to the "Other World", while a green ring is used to bring that person back. These rings were created by the magician "Uncle Andrew" by the use of magical dust, from the lost continent and complex of Atlantis.
The Harry Potter
series, by author J. K. Rowling
, features a magic ring bearing a coat of arms linked to the Peverell brothers, Harry Potter
and Lord Voldemort
's ancestors. It becomes one of the most important objects in Harry Potter's world because it contains a fragment of Voldemort's soul and formerly held one of the three Deathly Hallows: the resurrection stone
which can summon the deceased.
In the Tanya Grotter book series, a Russian parody of Harry Potter, the heroine uses a magic ring that bears the voice of her great-grandfather in order to perform spells. Additionally, the other magicians in the series also use rings to perform magic.
E. Nesbit
's The Enchanted Castle
, published in 1907, features a magic ring which has the property that whatever magical powers its owner says that it has, it has.
J. R. R. Tolkien
's fantasy novel The Hobbit was written as children's fiction, but as the story grew into The Lord of the Rings
the matter expanded, borrowing from Germanic and Norse mythology for many of its themes, creatures, and names. Of twenty magical finger rings
, four are described in some detail: the "One Ring
" around which the plot revolves, and three "elven" rings worn by Gandalf
the wizard and the elves Elrond
and Galadriel
. Seven are given to the dwarves in a partially-successful attempt to corrupt them. Humans prove to be more susceptible; each of the nine "Ringwraiths" possesses a ring.
There is a Tom and Jerry
cartoon, The Magic Ring, in which, whenever a magic ring is tapped, it casts a magical spell. Because the ring is sized for human fingers, Jerry the mouse wears it on his head like a tiara.
In the episode "Good God, Y'all!" of the television series Supernatural
, the horseman
War uses a ring to manifest his powers, namely, making people hallucinate into thinking they are fighting demons, when in fact they are merely killing each other. When the ring is cut off his finger, both he and his car disappear, but the ring, which is based, at least in concept, on "the One Ring" from The Lord of the Rings
, remains. In later episodes of the series, the other three horsemen (Famine, Pestilence, and Death) also appear, each with their own rings. When connected together, the four rings open a door to Lucifer's cage in hell.
In Czech TV series "Arabela" (1979) and "Arabela Returns" (1993) is a magic ring that make any wish to come true when the wearer twist it on his finger and says his desire speaking or thinking at it. There were three ring and each has the same power. The serial was a good mixed up story of our world and fairy tale world. In one episode in our world the ring is used to build some sky scrapers in matter of seconds after some architecture plans. The ring power is limitless it not need to recharge. The only limitation is the wearer imagination.
.
In the DC Universe
, the original Green Lantern
, Alan Scott
fashions a power ring
from an ancient lamp that is a concentration of magic energy that the Guardians of the Universe
created to attempt to remove magic from the universe. As a result of this discovery, Scott's ring functions much like the standard rings of the Green Lantern Corps
, except that it cannot directly affect wood
.
role-playing game, and thus part of many other fantasy role-playing games and video games that followed it.
The Breath of Fire
series often incorporates a magic ring into its storyline. In the first game it is a source of power for the Forest Clan and in the second it serves as a key to open a sealed door leading to a mythical weapon in SimaFort. Curse of Enchantia
features a magic ring that is used at the very end to destroy the evil witch and complete the game. Eternal Ring
has several magic rings that can be made by placing a "dead" ring on a pedestal. Final Fantasy VI
involves many Relic class items, a sort of ring, some of which protect against status effects, or cast a protection spell when the wearer is near death. Rings are a pivotal part of Gaia Online
, providing most if not all of the abilities a character can use. In RuneScape
, magic rings have many uses from teleportation to helping attack, and in Time Stalkers
, a character can wield a total of ten rings, most of which have magical properties.
Ring (jewellery)
A finger ring is a circular band worn as a type of ornamental jewelry around a finger; it is the most common current meaning of the word ring. Other types of metal bands worn as ornaments are also called rings, such as arm rings and neck rings....
, that has magical properties. It appears frequently in fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
and fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s. Magic rings are found in the folklore of every country where rings are worn, and they endow the wearer with a variety of abilities, including invisibility, the granting of wishes and immortality. Sometimes, they can be cursed, as in the fictional ring that was recovered by Sigurd from the hoard of the dragon Fafnir in Norse mythology or the fictional ring that features in J R R Tolkien's modern saga The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. More often, however, they are featured as forces for good, or as a neutral tool whose value is dependent upon the wearer.
A finger ring is a convenient choice for a (fictional) magic item
Magic item
A magic item is any object that has magical powers inherent in it. These may act on their own or be the tools of the person or being whose hands they fall into. Magic items are commonly found in both folklore and modern fantasy...
: it is ornamental, distinctive and often unique, natural to wear, of a shape that is often endowed with mystical properties (circular), it can carry an enchanted stone and is usually worn on a finger that can be easily pointed at a target.
History and function
Images of Celtic godsCeltic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
have been found wearing a torc
Torc
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large, usually rigid, neck ring typically made from strands of metal twisted together. The great majority are open-ended at the front, although many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Smaller torcs worn around...
or a neck ring, and torcs are on rare occasions mentioned as decoration in early Irish
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
and medieval Welsh
Medieval Welsh literature
Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material from the fifth century, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from the British language, to the works of the 16th century....
literature, but none are described as magical
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
. Seventy-five complete neck torcs and fragments of many more, in twelve or fourteen separate hoards dating to the first century BC, were found at Snettisham, in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England, in the twentieth century and had been buried deliberately; it is not known why.
J G Frazer, in his study of magic and superstition in The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
, has pointed to evidence that rings can serve, in the primitive mind, as devices to prevent the soul from leaving the body and to prevent demons from gaining entry. A magic ring, therefore, might confer immortality by preventing the soul's departure and thwart the penetration of any harmful magic that might be directed against the wearer. These magical properties inhibiting access to the soul may explain "an ancient Greek maxim, attributed to [the ancient philosopher and mystic] Pythagoras, which forbade people to wear rings" in ancient Greece. Muslim pilgrims in Mecca may not wear rings.
Ancient drawings of Mesopotamian gods sometimes include one or several rings attached to staffs or poles, but no reference has been found in writings
Cuneiform script
Cuneiform script )) is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs...
recovered from that time to show whether they were magical or merely decorative. Generally, however, the two most common types of magical rings in mythology and fiction are arm ring
Arm ring
An arm ring, also known as an armlet or an armband, is a band of metal, usually a precious metal, worn as an ornament around the biceps of the upper arm...
s and finger rings.
Magical rings can be magical for a variety of reasons and their magical properties may be either very specific or of a more general nature. A folk tale
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
or story may give no reason for a ring being magical, or it may have become magical through being enchanted by a magician or touched by a god. A ring may also be magical because of the material of which it is made; often a ring is a mere carrier for a special jewel
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
, which itself is the source of the magic. Other rings are magical because they are inhabited by a spirit
Daemon (mythology)
The words dæmon and daimôn are Latinized spellings of the Greek "δαίμων", a reference to the daemons of Ancient Greek religion and mythology, as well as later Hellenistic religion and philosophy...
.
Mythology and folklore
An early magical ring in European mythology is the arm ring named DraupnirDraupnir
In Norse mythology, Draupnir is a gold ring possessed by the god Odin with the ability to multiply itself: Every ninth night eight new rings 'drip' from Draupnir, each one of the same size and weight as the original....
worn by the Norse god Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
. Because its only reported function was to create more gold arm bands every nine days, Draupnir may have been a religious symbol which represented the increasing of wealth. The ring was placed onto Baldr's funeral pyre, but Baldr gave Draupnir back to Hermod when he came looking for him in Hel and so the ring was returned to Odin from the land of death, with its new-found ability to replicate. Another Norse ring was called Andvarinaut
Andvarinaut
In Norse mythology, Andvaranaut is a magical ring capable of producing gold, first owned by Andvari.The mischievous god Loki tricked Andvari into giving Andvaranaut to him...
. Andvarinaut is the famous Ring of the Niebelungen
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
s from The Volsunga Saga and The Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
, which eventually becomes the property of the hero Siegfried or Sigurd
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
. How it came to be cursed is explained in detail in The Volsunga Saga, Andvarinaut's use is never specifically given in the story: its curse is simply a source of disaster for every person who owns it, its principal characteristic is that nearly everyone wants to get it, except Sigurd, who has got it, but doesn't know what it is.
Magic rings are certainly known in Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
lore; they are mentioned in the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
and Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
. Solomon's magical ring had many properties in legend: making him all-knowing, conferring him with the ability to speak with animals and bearing the special sigil that sealed genie
Genie
Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
s into bottles. A story about King Solomon and a ring is found in the Babylonian Talmud, but rings are more fully discussed in Jewish mystical literature. The power of a ring is in the divine name with which it is inscribed; such rings are used to invoke and command various guardians of heavenly palaces and to gain entrance to those heavens. In the Zohar
Zohar
The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
, God is thought to own and use a signet ring, or, at least, a signet.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, in the second book of The Republic, tells a story about the Ring of Gyges
Ring of Gyges
The Ring of Gyges is a mythical magical artifact mentioned by the philosopher Plato in book 2 of his Republic . It granted its owner the power to become invisible at will...
, which conferred invisibility
Invisibility
Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible . The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means; however, its effects can also be seen in the real...
on its wearer. The shepherd Gydes
Gyges of Lydia
Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II.-Allegorical accounts of Gyges' rise to power:...
, who found it in a cave, used its power to seduce the queen, kill the king and take his place. Earlier accounts of Gyges
Gyges of Lydia
Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II.-Allegorical accounts of Gyges' rise to power:...
, however, who was king of Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
, make no mention of a magic ring. Rings are not generally attributed with magic powers in ancient Greek legend, although many other magical objects are listed, particularly in the Perseus myth.
A small number of Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
finger rings bearing runic
Runic alphabet
The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
inscriptions of apparently magical significance are known, among them the Kingmoor Ring
Kingmoor Ring
There are seven known rings of the Anglo-Saxon period bearing runic inscriptions.The most notable of these are the Bramham Moor Ring, found in the 18th century, and the Kingmoor Ring, found 1817, inscribed with a nearly identical magical formula read asA third ring, found before 1824 There are...
and the Bramham Moor Ring.
Medieval romance
Medieval storytellers have utilized a number of magical rings in their tales. Merlin, for example, was the victim of a magical finger ring given to him by a young enchantress named Nimue. The magic in the ring caused him to fall in love with her. Merlin then allowed Nimue to imprison him; some versions of the story say in the trunk of a tree, others in a cave or in a stone coffin. Sir Yvain is given a magic ring by a maiden in Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
twelfth century Arthurian romance The Knight of the Lion
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a romance by Chrétien de Troyes. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, and includes several references to the action in that poem...
. This finger ring can be worn with the stone on the inside, facing the palm, and then it will make the wearer invisible. The Scottish ballads Hind Horn
Hind Horn
"Hind Horn" is traditional folk ballad.-Synopsis:Hind Horn and the king's daughter Jean fall in love. He gives her a silver wand, and she gives him a diamond ring and tells him when the stones grow pale, he has lost her love. One day, on his travels, he sees it growing pale and sets out for her...
and Bonny Bee Hom
Bonny Bee Hom
-Synopsis:A lady laments that her love had left her. He, still there, comes to comfort her but tells her that he is sworn to leave. She gives him a ring: while he wears it, he will shed no blood, but if he sees the stone fade, he will know she is dead. He has not been gone more than months when...
both include a magic ring that turns pale when the person who received it has lost the person who gave it.
The fourteenth century Middle English Arthurian romance Sir Perceval of Galles
Sir Perceval of Galles
Sir Perceval of Galles is a Middle English Arthurian verse romance whose protagonist, Sir Perceval, made his debut in medieval literature well over a hundred years before the composition of this work; in Chrétien de Troyes' final poem, the twelfth-century Old French Conte del Graal...
has the hero, Perceval, take a ring from the finger of a sleeping maiden in exchange for his own, and he then goes off on a series of adventures that includes defeating an entire Saracen army single-handedly, in a Land of Maidens. Only near the end of this romance does he learn that the ring he was wearing is a magic ring and that its wearer cannot be killed. Similar rings feature in the fourteenth century medieval romance Sir Eglamour of Artois
Sir Eglamour of Artois
Sir Eglamour of Artois is a Middle English verse romance that was written sometime around 1350. It is a narrative poem of about 1300 lines, a tail-rhyme romance that was quite popular in its day, judging from the number of copies that have survived – four manuscripts from the 15th century or...
and the twelfth century Floris and Blancheflour
Floris and Blancheflour
Floris and Blancheflour is the name of a popular romantic story that was told in the Middle Ages in many different vernacular languages and versions. It first appears in Europe around 1160 in "aristocratic" French...
, and in Sir Thomas Malory's tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney, in his fifteenth century epic Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table...
, in which Sir Gareth is given a ring by a damsel who lives in Avalon that will render him invulnerable to losing any blood at a tournament.
Fiction
Like other magical objectMagic item
A magic item is any object that has magical powers inherent in it. These may act on their own or be the tools of the person or being whose hands they fall into. Magic items are commonly found in both folklore and modern fantasy...
s in stories, magic rings can act as a plot device
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
, but in two distinct ways. They may give magical
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
abilities to a person who is otherwise lacking in them, or enhance the power of a wizard. Or alternatively, they may function as nothing more than MacGuffin
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
s, that is, objects for which it is the characters' desire to obtain them, rather than any innate power that they possess, that moves the story along.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, for example, involves a magical ring which allows Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist and titular character of The Hobbit and a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J. R. R...
to be instrumental in a quest, matching the abilities of the dwarves. In the Volsunga Saga, on the other hand, the magic ring that Sigurd
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
takes from the dragon Fafnir is a symbolic item, cursed by the dwarf Andvari
Andvari
In Norse mythology, Andvari is a dwarf who lives underneath a waterfall and has the power to change himself into a fish at will. Andvari had a magical ring Andvarinaut, which helped him become wealthy....
from whom it was stolen by Loki
Loki
In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...
; the ring is a plot device that creates a sense of inevitable disaster as the story unfolds.
Satire
William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
's satirical novel The Rose and the Ring
The Rose and the Ring
The Rose and The Ring is a satirical work of fiction written by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published at Christmas 1854...
features a ring that has the power to make whoever owns it beautiful; its passage from person to person in the novel is an important element of the story.
Folk tale and opera
A well-known folk tale to make use of a magic ring in its plot is the story of AladdinAladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
: not only is there a genie, or djinn, summoned by a magic lamp, there is also a less powerful djinn summoned from a finger ring. Aladdin rubs the ring and its genie helps him to escape from the cave that his uncle the sorcerer has shut him into. Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale included in the book of One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of ancient and medieval stories from this region, first published in full English translation in the 1880s. Its plot is used in a popular British pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
put on for children during the Christmas period.
The composer Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
wrote a series of four opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s titled Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
which present his version of the story told in The Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
and in Volsunga Saga
Volsunga saga
The Völsungasaga is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan . It is largely based on epic poetry...
, as well as the Prose Edda
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...
. The operas are more often called The Wagner Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
in English. In this cycle, the ring of the Nibelungen ultimately brings about the downfall of the old gods as Wotan relinquishes the ring, which confers power, back to the Rhinemaidens from whom its gold was stolen in the first place,
Science fiction and fantasy
Magic rings occur in a myriad of modern fantasy stories as incidental objects, but many novels feature a ring as a central part of the plot. In Andre NortonAndre Norton
Andre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton was an American science fiction and fantasy author under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston...
's novel The Zero Stone, the title comes from a ring that has advanced properties. H. Warner Munn
H. Warner Munn
Harold Warner Munn was an American writer of fantasy, horror and poetry. He was an early friend and associate of authors H. P. Lovecraft and Seabury Quinn...
has written an award winning fantasy novel titled Merlin's Ring. Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for his Thomas Covenant series...
has written a long series of fantasy novels about a magic ring of white gold owned by a fictional Thomas Covenant
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Stephen R. Donaldson. It was followed by The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, also a trilogy, and The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a planned tetralogy....
. Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
, in his novel A Midsummer Tempest
A Midsummer Tempest
A Midsummer Tempest is an 1974 alternate history fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. In 1975, it was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and Nebula Award for Best Novel and won the Mythopoeic Award.- Plot introduction :...
, has Oberon and Titania give two characters magical rings that will aid them as long as they are true to each other. The author Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best...
has written Castle Roogna which includes, as an important part of its plot, a ring which claims – convincingly as it turns out – to be able to grant wishes. The ring of Solomon appears in Charles Williams's novel Many Dimensions.
Children's fiction
In C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...
: The Magician's Nephew
The Magician's Nephew
The Magician's Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C. S. Lewis. It was the sixth book published in his The Chronicles of Narnia series, but is the first in the chronology of the Narnia novels' fictional universe. Thus it is an early example of a prequel.The novel is initially set in...
, two magic rings, which take people to the Wood between the Worlds
Wood between the Worlds
The Wood between the Worlds is a linking room location in The Magician's Nephew, part of The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.-The Magician's Nephew:...
, a linking room between parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
s, are central to the story; a yellow ring, when touched, sends a person to the "Other World", while a green ring is used to bring that person back. These rings were created by the magician "Uncle Andrew" by the use of magical dust, from the lost continent and complex of Atlantis.
The Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
series, by author J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
, features a magic ring bearing a coat of arms linked to the Peverell brothers, Harry Potter
Harry Potter (character)
Harry James Potter is the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard...
and Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort is the main antagonist of the Harry Potter series written by British author J. K. Rowling. Voldemort first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was released in 1997...
's ancestors. It becomes one of the most important objects in Harry Potter's world because it contains a fragment of Voldemort's soul and formerly held one of the three Deathly Hallows: the resurrection stone
Resurrection Stone
A Resurrection Stone is a stone of immense weight which was hired out to prevent newly buried corpses from being stolen.-List of Resurrection Stones in the United Kingdom:* St Laurence Church, Lurgashall* Llantrisant * Dean Row Chapel, Wilmslow...
which can summon the deceased.
In the Tanya Grotter book series, a Russian parody of Harry Potter, the heroine uses a magic ring that bears the voice of her great-grandfather in order to perform spells. Additionally, the other magicians in the series also use rings to perform magic.
E. Nesbit
E. Nesbit
Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television...
's The Enchanted Castle
The Enchanted Castle
The Enchanted Castle is a children's fantasy novel by Edith Nesbit first published in 1907.-Plot summary:The enchanted castle of the title is a country estate in the West Country seen through the eyes of three children, Gerald, James and Kathleen, who discover it while exploring during the school...
, published in 1907, features a magic ring which has the property that whatever magical powers its owner says that it has, it has.
J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's fantasy novel The Hobbit was written as children's fiction, but as the story grew into The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
the matter expanded, borrowing from Germanic and Norse mythology for many of its themes, creatures, and names. Of twenty magical finger rings
Rings of Power
The Rings of Power in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium are magical rings created by Sauron or by the Elves of Eregion under Sauron's tutelage...
, four are described in some detail: the "One Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
" around which the plot revolves, and three "elven" rings worn by Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
the wizard and the elves Elrond
Elrond
Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Hobbit, and plays a supporting role in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.-Character overview:...
and Galadriel
Galadriel
Galadriel is a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien, appearing in his Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales....
. Seven are given to the dwarves in a partially-successful attempt to corrupt them. Humans prove to be more susceptible; each of the nine "Ringwraiths" possesses a ring.
Television
The Vampire Diaries feature magic rings that allow vampires to walk in the sunlight. In the same series, a non-vampire is given a magic ring to protect him from harm.There is a Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
cartoon, The Magic Ring, in which, whenever a magic ring is tapped, it casts a magical spell. Because the ring is sized for human fingers, Jerry the mouse wears it on his head like a tiara.
In the episode "Good God, Y'all!" of the television series Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
, the horseman
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a "'book'/'scroll' in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals"...
War uses a ring to manifest his powers, namely, making people hallucinate into thinking they are fighting demons, when in fact they are merely killing each other. When the ring is cut off his finger, both he and his car disappear, but the ring, which is based, at least in concept, on "the One Ring" from The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, remains. In later episodes of the series, the other three horsemen (Famine, Pestilence, and Death) also appear, each with their own rings. When connected together, the four rings open a door to Lucifer's cage in hell.
In Czech TV series "Arabela" (1979) and "Arabela Returns" (1993) is a magic ring that make any wish to come true when the wearer twist it on his finger and says his desire speaking or thinking at it. There were three ring and each has the same power. The serial was a good mixed up story of our world and fairy tale world. In one episode in our world the ring is used to build some sky scrapers in matter of seconds after some architecture plans. The ring power is limitless it not need to recharge. The only limitation is the wearer imagination.
Comics
Solomon's ring appears in the stories featuring the comic book character SeraphSeraph (comics)
Seraph is a DC Comics superhero from Israel. He first appeared in Super Friends #7 , and was created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon, art by Bob Oksner and some lettered by Milt Snapinn.-Fictional character biography:...
.
In the DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, the original Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
, Alan Scott
Alan Scott
Alan Scott is a fictional character, a superhero in the and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern.-Publication history:The original Green Lantern was created by young struggling artist Martin Nodell, who was inspired by the sight of a New York Subway employee waving a red lantern to...
fashions a power ring
Power ring (weapon)
A power ring is a fictional object featured in comic book titles published by DC Comics. It first appeared in All-American Comics #16 .-Origin:...
from an ancient lamp that is a concentration of magic energy that the Guardians of the Universe
Guardians of the Universe
The Guardians of the Universe, alternatively known as the Guardians or Oans are a fictional extraterrestrial race in the DC Comics universe. They first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #1 , and were created by John Broome and Gil Kane. Here they do not reveal their existence to Hal, bringing his...
created to attempt to remove magic from the universe. As a result of this discovery, Scott's ring functions much like the standard rings of the Green Lantern Corps
Green Lantern Corps
The Green Lantern Corps is the name of a fictional intergalactic military/police force appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing on the planet Oa...
, except that it cannot directly affect wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
.
Video and role-playing games
Magic rings with a wide variety of effects became a common part of the "treasure" found in the Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing game, and thus part of many other fantasy role-playing games and video games that followed it.
The Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire
-Mobile games:Beginning in November 2003, Capcom began releasing Breath of Fire titles specifically for mobile phone devices in Japan. Each game was developed for use on NTT DoCoMo, au, and SoftBank brand cellphones that use the i-mode, EZWEB, or BREW services...
series often incorporates a magic ring into its storyline. In the first game it is a source of power for the Forest Clan and in the second it serves as a key to open a sealed door leading to a mythical weapon in SimaFort. Curse of Enchantia
Curse of Enchantia
Curse of Enchantia is a fantasy adventure computer game created by Core Design and released by Virgin Games for the PC DOS and Amiga in 1992.- Story :...
features a magic ring that is used at the very end to destroy the evil witch and complete the game. Eternal Ring
Eternal Ring
is a first-person action role-playing game released in 2000, a launch title for the PlayStation 2. It was developed by From Software and published in the US by Agetec.-Gameplay:...
has several magic rings that can be made by placing a "dead" ring on a pedestal. Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square , released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Final Fantasy series. Set in a fantasy world with a technology level equivalent to that of the Second Industrial Revolution, the game's story focuses on a...
involves many Relic class items, a sort of ring, some of which protect against status effects, or cast a protection spell when the wearer is near death. Rings are a pivotal part of Gaia Online
Gaia Online
Gaia Online is an English-language, anime-themed social networking and forums-based website. Gaiaonline was founded in 2003. but the name was changed to GaiaOnline.com in 2003 from go-gaia by its owner, Gaia Interactive...
, providing most if not all of the abilities a character can use. In RuneScape
RuneScape
RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...
, magic rings have many uses from teleportation to helping attack, and in Time Stalkers
Time Stalkers
Time Stalkers is a Dreamcast console role-playing game featuring appearances of worlds from several of Climax Entertainment's earlier games in crossover fashion. The player initially takes the role of Sword, a character caught in a world made of many worlds...
, a character can wield a total of ten rings, most of which have magical properties.