20: Tolkien's 20 rings of power

JRR Tolkien's 20 rings of power feature in today's advent calendar extract, from Rogerson's Book of Numbers

JRR Tolkien's works are deeply embedded within a lifetime of mythological and philological scholarship that merges strains of Celtic, Norse, Zoroastrian, Chinese and Byzantine storylines with his own imagination.

At the heart of his Lord of the Rings trilogy is the dark lord Sauron, who has made 20 rings of power: three for the elves; seven for the dwarves; nine for the kings of men; and one, forged in Mount Doom, which will allow him to control all the 19 ring wearers as explained by the secret rune verse, "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."

The "kings of men" become the nine (another significant Tolkien number) dark riders – a mounted hit squad devoted to the service of the dark lord Sauron. Originally led by the witch-king of Angmar and the easterner Khamu, they were given rings to bind them into obedience to Sauron, and their character, shape and substance are gradually subsumed until they become spectral Nazgûl, "ring-wraiths".

Tomorrow: the 21-gun salute

• Taken from Rogerson's Book of Numbers by Barnaby Rogerson

Reference and languagesLord of the RingsJRR TolkienBarnaby Rogerson
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