My Precioussss….my love……the One Ring, the Ring of Power, “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” The One Ring has been in my possession since my true precious, Mary, presented it to me as a Christmas gift in 2003. With it I’ve ruled over many…or at the very least been subject to their jeers and at the same time found comfort in the number of people I’ve run across who recognize, appreciate, and even possess a One Ring of their own.
My reign nearly came to a tragic end when I removed the One Ring to wash my hands after a session on the throne in the company washroom. Oblivious to the loss of my precious I went about my daily routine. Thankfully a fairy-god-coworker, Jamie, heard the call of the precious and ran to its rescue. Being of chaste and upright character she returned the One Ring to me and was somewhat merciful in her jesting. Ironically Jamie recently misplaced her own precious and I believe my words of comfort during the brief period of loss before she discovered it in the lining of her purse tempered her desire to laugh at my expense…I guess we’ll see if that is still true on the morrow.
This is one of my most cherised gifts from Mary. I’m truly thankful it wasn’t lost. Thank you so much Jamie, I owe you!
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Thats really cool. Where did she get it for u?
Hey Eagle, I put the link in the post above but here it is again. Noble Collection has some truly awesome items and they are all very high quality.
Ah, there’s nothing quite like the panic that sets in when you realize you’ve lost something like that and may have to explain to the person who gifted it. I’m glad it found its way back.
I lost a (fake) diamond earring my mom gave me as a graduation gift (the back came off) and I had to finally tell her.
That ring is awesome. I’m glad you it made it’s way back to you.
Mary, you are so cool Carl is a lucky man! 🙂
I just checked out the site. they have some really cool stuff on there.
Yes Eagle, they do! Much to spend money on! I’ve purchased a few of the letter openers for people as gifts. They are relatively inexpensive and come in great cases and look awesome!
Nick, thankfully I didn’t have to deal with that panic feeling since I didn’t even realize I had left it sittiing on the sink. Now had I got home and realized it I would’ve panicked in a BIG way!
I am indeed blessed!
Doing this post started me thinking about LOTR, of course, so I pulled out Two Towers extended edition after everyone went to bed and watched the last half of it. Love these movies!
If it wasn’t almost 1 am right now I would do the same. Two Towers is my favorite of the three movies.
That is shiny!
Both that you are in fact, the Lord of The Ring (only singular) and the fact that you regained it without the “crap, I had it here a moment ago” sinking feeling.
And if I wasn’t at work I’d go stick on one of films. Maybe the third, because I haven’t seen that as often as I have the others.
I had no idea what you were even talking about. How does that keep happening with you?
Okay, I’m confused Jay…are you insinuating that you knew nothing about Tolkien, the One Ring or Lord of the Rings? If that is indeed so I will be so flabbergasted that I may have to call in sick to work today!
And have I confused you before?
I was too creeped out by the ring replicas to even think about owning one.
But if you just let me borrow it, I know I can do good things with it…
hehe 🙂
That is exactly what I am saying – this whole thing is completely unknown to me.
And yes, you have confused me before. You have a predilection for the one genre that is alien to me.
lol @ courtney!
When I think of that ring I think of how you are always spinning it with your fingers while you talk.
Okay, I am completely beside myself Jay. Are you saying that you completely missed 3 years of movies based on the most well known fantasy book of all time!? You missed the Oscars in which LOTR won all 11 categories it was nominated in? You’ve never heard of the One Ring?
I admit that I hadn’t read any Tolkien before the films came out but I still had some basic ideas about the story just from picking up tidbits here and there throughout life.
Now I realize you live in Canada and American movie-making probably isn’t as important to Canadians, but this is a world famous British author whose works were just made into beautiful, stunning, multi-million dollar films by a New Zealand director!
Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not faulting you at all Jay….I’m just utterly and completely and hopelessly flabbergasted! Wow….I’m gonna have to lie down!
The biggest problem with not noticing the ring is that I’ve been alternating between wearing the ring and my Neil Gaiman quote bracelet thing….not being a big jewelry person I don’t feel quite right wearing both at the same time. So since I hadn’t worn it in a few days I didn’t automatically realize it was gone.
I have heard of it before. The books, of course, because it would break my heart to refer first and foremost to the movies….but i have resisted them completely. I have not one iota of interest about them. I really don’t like the “fantasy” genre as a whole so I have kept myself blissfully unaware. Of course, I have also seen not one bit of any of the Star Wars movies. That’s the way I shake.
Okay, at least I can rest in the knowledge that you don’t have some media free zone that you live in! The Star Wars thing isn’t quite the shock…I used to work with a girl who hadn’t seen any of the movies until she finally got married to a guy who likes them and she was “forced” to watch them.
As far as the books go, although Tolkien is credited as a master of fantasy his books can be a bit different if you haven’t read fantasy much. The movies however are so wonderful. It isn’t dragons and magic spells and damsels in distress. It is a truly beautiful movie on so many levels. The scenery in New Zealand where they filmed it is breathtaking. The films’ score is overwhelmingly beautiful. The actors are phenomenal, the special effects are top notch. Mostly, however, the themes in this movie are so universal that it really transcends any genre. If you like movies at all you should really sit down and watch these…they are so far beyond many other films in terms of entertainment value and you’re cheating yourself out of a wonderful experience by not seeing them.
Carl, I love the way you explained it to Jay. I don’t care much for fantasy as a genre, either, but LOTR is … really unclassifiable!
Anyway, I got my ring here: http://www.white-dove.co.uk/ELVISHLOVERINGS/elvish_love_rings_and_jewelery.htm, and the inscription, in Elvish, reads: “One ring to show our love, one ring to bind, one ring to seal our love, and forever to entwine us”; which, of course, would make the perfect wedding band, but I bought it for myself regardless 😉
Cool ring Janet!
I classify both Star Wars trilogies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy by themselves. Due to the overwhelming amount of nostalgia associated with each one and the universal messages throughout coupled with the groundbreaking technology that each represents I really feel like they set apart by themselves and shouldn’t be judged against other films.
I can’t recommend LOTR enough…it is undefinably good. Watching all the behind the scenes stuff on the DVD’s makes you realize the love and affection that was poured into crafting these epic films which gives them even more depth and dimension than they already have.
I suddenly had this image of Carl rocking back and forth, squatting down in the hallway at work moaning:
“I’ve lost the Precious!”
Are you now completely confused, Jay? By-the-way, I am very select with fantasy films/books and Lord of the Rings was wonderful. Tolkein, of course, was a genius…and Jackson does a superb job of brining his writing to life.
Thanks for the compliment, Jeff.
C-
If your ring hadn’t been found, wouldn’t you & Mary be even now (kind of anyway)??
Also, I agree with Jeff. Two Towers was the best of the three. I can’t explain why I didn’t like Return of the King. Maybe b/c I knew the story was done.
I really like them all relatively equally. At one time Two Towers was my least favorite but I love the way it was fleshed out in the extended edition and now is probably slightly higher up in my affections than the other two. I think Return of the King is great but it does really end in a melancholy way which at times makes it difficult to watch.
For some reason this movie and the process that went in to making it hits me on a deep emotional level…don’t know quite why or what issues it brings up…but I’m profoundly sad whenever I get through watching Return of the King for some of the same reasons, Abby. The finality of it all really gets to me.
Did we ever really question that it would find it’s way back home?
😉
So mean girl, are you insinuating that I’m so evil that it would naturally make its way back to me! 🙂
My only question is, why isnt the ring available in gold? It should be gold.
You know the ring came to me for some unknown reason, maybe because it wanted to temp me, maybe becasue it knew it would get back to its rightful owner. I thought I had lost my precious again. Then I suddenly realized it was not MY precious but anothers. I felt little like Gollum. I did not want to give it right back, I wanted the ring bearer to suffer, to feel what it is like to not have their precious. Sleepless nights, insanity setting in. But I just could not put Carl through the agony of it all.
And for the record….. I was NOT in the men’s restroom!
while i can’t say it surprises me to learn that you wear jewelry based on a fantasy novel…it does surprise me to learn that you wash your hands! when did this start?
Just recently Scott, when the natives taught me the wonders of their ways…soap, and water….
Turns out my boss Mark found it in the men’s restroom and gave it to Jamie thinking it was hers or something. Either way I’m thankful to have it back.
Yes Eagle, there are versions in gold but I liked the silver much better.
Two Towers was my least favourite cinema release. Faramir is my fav character from the books and I didn’t like him in TT. But then I got the ee. All hail the wonders of dvd 🙂
Plus more Sean Bean, always a good thing
Great post. Glad it had a happy ending! Thanks for the visit yesterday!
carl – i can understand why you wouldn’t want to wear the Gaiman bracelet and the One Ring at the same time. can you imagine – the evil that would be wrought upon the world through your hand.
incidently, what does the bracelet say?
Your boss gave it to the female coworker, thinking it was hers! That’s great!
You know, I’ve tried. I really have. I’ve tried to read LOTR quite a few times, especially when I was in my sci-fi/fantasy reading period. Just couldn’t get into it. I did love the films, though. Perhaps I should try again.
The bracelet is a thin, silver band that says “Mind the Gap” in engraved old-typeset letters (I’ll look for the link to her site when I get home). I call it the ‘Gaiman bracelet’ because years ago a friend took my hardback copy of Neverwhere to a book signing for me and in addition to personalizing it he wrote “mind the gap” in it. When I saw the bracelet at an art fair it immediately spoke to me in a quirky Gaimanesque voice and said “buy me”. Mary then purchased it for me for a birthday gift.
I tend to agree Mysfit as on those rare occasions when I’ve worn both I feel that my right arm possesses a life of its own!
Hey, WE all seem to make it back here every day~ so I’m not surprised the ring did, too.
I’m just sayin’
😉
mg
Carl, I was just excited to know that you wash your hands after throne use!
So many brave and fair knights do not.
The reason he thought it was Jamie’s ring is that she had lost her One Ring a few weeks back so he just assumed it was hers. And yes, it was in the “men’s” room but we have all these little one toilet bathrooms all over the place so it would’nt be out of the question for someone of the opposite sex to use the restroom when needed.
And Nat, the books are difficult. I too haven’t read all of them. It is a different style of writing that really takes some getting used to. I truly believe that Tolkien’s skill at creating language and creating what is essentially a mythology for Britain helped his books succeed by transcending the problems some people have with the way he wrote.
My One Ring is a simple gold band but I cherish it.
Glad yours came back to you.
I actually “lost” my wedding band a few years back. I take it off alot when I’m typing on the computer and I knew that I had laid it on my computer desk but multiple searches of the room turned up no ring. A month or so later I was deep cleaning the room and picked up the writing mat that lays on my desk. Keep in mind that I had picked this up and looked underneath several times. This time I heard an audible ding as the ring fell on the desk. The mat was coated with foam on the underside to keep it from scratching the surface and the ring was imbedded in the foam. I was very, very thankful for the return of that ring, and thankful that my dad had loaned me his first wedding ring to wear during the interim.
Since Karen pointed out the positive of Carl washing his hands and the comment on other knights who do not I thought I would share. A couple of years ago a local TV station did a one day study at a local business and ” researched ” the hands washing habits of men and women. On that day the number of men who washed their hands outnumbered the women almost two to one. Alas the sad fact overall was less than 40% of people of either gender even washed afterwards at all. Of course this was totaly unscientific but funny none the less.
I must apologize now for really bring the topic of this blog down a notch. 🙂
To keep the topic going. . .
I remember one day we came out of church. I was about 12 years old and my Dad told my mom that she didn’t need to shake hands with the men in the church. She asked why and he related to her that most of the men in the bathroom NEVER wash their hands.
Hmmmm.
Its a common phenomenon! I hate to admit this, but oddly enough I’m less inclined to wash my hands at home unless I’m helping to prepare dinner (yeah, right says Mary) or we have company. I guess unconsciously I’m okay with my own families’ germs!
I cannot fathom walking out of a public restroom without scrubbing my hands!
Oh, wow, what an amazing ring. Glad it’s back where it should be. I’ll bet Mary is, too!
I’m sure she is as she wouldn’t want to hear me whining and crying about losing it! Have fun at the Tori Amos concert!