Who Knew about Bilbo’s Ring?

[Alcuin]

Graphically. Of the thirteen dwarves in Thorin & Co, Thorin, KÃ*li and FÃ*li were dead at the end of the story. I think Gandalf either told the Elvenking, or he figured it out. (The Elvenking was smart, observant, and wise.) I also think Gandalf told Elrond upon their return to Rivendell. Maybe it was professional courtesy, or seeking counsel; but Elrond had the remnant of the Smiths of Eregion in Rivendell, and Bilbo clearly had a ring of that sort. (Reference posts 1 and 3.)

It’s worth considering in the context of Lord of the Rings whether Gandalf thought at first that Bilbo had one of the lesser rings the Noldor made in Eregion. That’s what makes sense: Gandalf had no reason to believe it was the One Ring, but since the Great Rings were all accounted for (with the outside possibility of a loose one of the Seven), a logical first conclusion would be that Bilbo had one of the Noldor’s “trial� or essay rings. The only risk to Bilbo would be that Sauron’s taint would still be on it; but it’s possible a number of these were floating about.

[Nerwen]

I have always been fascinated by "the lesser Rings" that Gandalf first thought Bilbo had found. Obviously they had no "proper gem", as the Three, the Seven, and the Nine had, according to Gandalf. But what I am unclear about is, would they have made the wearer invisible? The conclusion seems inescapable, given Gandalf's knowledge of that property of the Hobbit's Trove. One wonders, in vain, for some other information about them. They could not make the wearer aware of other wearers' thoughts, as the Ruling Ring was said to do by Galadriel. Surely they could not "breed gold" as the Seven were said to do. The only other magic ring I know of outside Andvari's Ring in Wagner is more like the One Ring in that

This attribute is revealed early in The Ring of the Nibelung, in the opening scene, when the dwarf Alberich learns from the Rhinemaidens that the one who forswears love can make a ring from their gold, a ring that will grant its owner mastery of the universe..

http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbo.../ringmyth.html

Susie