Editing Middle Earth characters (section)

==Items of significance==
We're kind of bloating the definition of "character" here, but there are quite a couple of items in Middle-Earth that might as well be characters since Tolkien assigns a great deal of significance to them. 

*'''Silmarili''': The 3 Silmarils were made by Fëanor using the lights of the Two Trees of Valinor (Telperion and Laurelin). These jewels were so beautiful and powerful that the Valar believed the fate of the entire world were bound by them. Additionally, they were capable of making the wielder and the land the fairest of all the world. When Melkor first saw them, it was his main desire to seize them; and when he eventually stole them he burned his hand in the process (since the gems tend to burn unhallowed flesh). The theft of the Silmarils would cause a [[The Silmarillion|chain of events which would cause a lot of destruction, betrayal and death]]. Fëanor and the majority of the Noldorin Elves would pursue Melkor(now called Morgoth) into Middle-earth, and for the next solar centuries they would attempt to reclaim the Silmarils. However, by the ending decades of the First Age, only 1 Silmaril would be retrieved and most of the Elf lords that were related to the quest had died. When Morgoth was at last defeated and banished, two of the sons of Fëanor took the two remaining jewels for their own. One of them threw himself into a fiery chasm with the gem, whilst the other threw it to the sea; the last Silmaril was forever worn by Eärendil, as he roamed the sky like a star. 
*'''Rings of Power''': The titular magical rings. There are 20 in total: 3 Elven Rings, 7 Dwarven Rings, 9 Human Rings and the Master Ring. The Rings were created as incredibly powerful magical artefacts by the Elven smith Celebrimbor in Eregion, intended to preserve the world and increase the wisdom and abilities of the wearer. However, this intended purpose was corrupted by Sauron who helped Celebrimbor in the creation of the Dwarven and Human Rings. Sauron intended the Rings to be conduits through which he could control the races of Middle-Earth via binding them all to his Master Ring. The Elven Rings stand out because they were created last and without Sauron's help and therefore remain untouched by his corruption (their power still hinges on the One Ring, though). Tolkien kept the description of what the Rings actually ''do'' very vague, from what we could gather from the Elven Rings, they probably all intended to fulfil its wearers deepest desires and guide their people to greater wisdom and understanding of the world. The Elven Rings were not used until Sauron was vanquished for the first time in the battle of the Last Alliance. By the time of the third age, their keepers were Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf. Galadriel used the power of her Ring to preserve a vision of Valinor in Lothlórien and keep evil out of the forests (to the point that Orcs literally and figuratively could not enter it), what Elrond and Gandalf did with theirs is left to interpretation. The Dwarven Rings are implied to be the main source of their legendary riches with the side-effect that it made them really greedy, awakening the Balrog of Moria and attracting Smaug to Mount Erebor; the Dwarven rings were eventually destroyed or claimed by Sauron. Of the Rings of Men, we know next to nothing, except that their wearers are now the Nazgûl. The Master Ring has the power to dominate the other ringbearers and is strongly implied to be a sentient being of some kind. It radiates a strong allure to anyone who sees it, to the point that people find themselves unable to let it go once they have it (also why Bilbo giving it up is such a testament to his willpower; he was literally the only being in Middle-Earth up to his time who had the Ring and gave it up willingly). 
** '''The New Ring''': Exclusive to the Shadow of Mordor continuity. Forged by Celebrimbor's wraith with help from Talion for the purpose of beating Sauron at his own game. Tolkien actually said that doing this would just create another Sauron, and sure enough, Talion's use of The New Ring doesn't end well for him at all. Appearance wise, it's basically a palette swap of the One Ring, being silver with glowing blue runes instead of gold with glowing orange ones. 
*'''Lesser Rings''': created before the Rings of Power by Celebrimbor and his smiths as practice. As the name implies, their powers are significantly more mundane. Gandalf had originally believed that the ring Bilbo found was one of the lesser rings since it was plain and didn't seem to confer many special abilities. Some of them likely were in Sauron's possession and given to his commanders.
*'''Palantiri''': The seeing stones. There were seven in total that Elendil brought over from Númenor when he landed in Middle-Earth. They were perfect spheres made of black stone and rumoured to have been created by Fëanor himself. The Palantiri were the key to the early dominance of the Dúnedain in Middle-Earth; with them, they could keep a watch over large swaths of the world and communicate with their kin in far away lands. Using a Palantir is a daunting and esoteric task that was not well understood even when knowledge of the existence of the stones was relatively common (emphasis on relative, the existence of the Palantiri was one of the closest held secrets of the Dúnedain) and as a result, the mileage one could get out of them varied wildly, generally speaking, they responded best to people the stones thought were their rightful owners. Sauron and Saruman famously were frustrated with their inability to utilise their respective Palantir's full potential; for example, Saruman wanted to use the Palantir of Orthanc to search for the ring but found Sauron instead. Used correctly, they gave their users the ability to see far into the land, like you would with a camera-equipped drone and communicate with other users over large distances. By the time of the third age, only four of the seven Palantiri were left: The Palantir of Orthanc which was in Sarumans possession and passed onto Gandalf when Grima threw it out of a window. Gandalf took the Palantir with him to Valinor. Sauron held the Palantir of Minas Ithil, stolen when the Nazgûl sieged and destroyed the city and destroyed when Barad-Dûr collapsed as a result of the destruction of the One Ring. Denethor, by the power of his office, held the Palantir of Minas Tirith, where it passed onto Aragorn when he became King. A fourth one sat in a tower on the western edge of Arnor, directed at where Númenor used to be. The other there were over time lost to the passing of time, Gondor lost the Ithil-Stone when the Nazgûl destroyed Minas Ithil. The largest Palantir of them all was located in Osgiliath and was lost when the city burned down during the Kin-Strife. Arnor had three, one in Annúminas and one in Amon Sûl. All three were lost when Arvedui, the last reigning king of Arnor sought refuge from the Witch-King of Angmar in Forodwaith and drowned when a rescue party sent by the elves of Lindon failed to save him; the stones sank together with their owner.