The Ring of Madness

Also known as Fane's Ring or the Ring of the Great Apes. This Black Ring is believed to have been given the king of the great apes after the creation of the Sun. The ape kings did not guard the Ring very well, since the apes didn't mind the Sun, as it made the fruits on the trees taste sweet. So one of the ape wizards was allowed to use the Ring and examine its magic. But like most apes, the ape wizard had little understanding of magic, and all he achieved was to be possessed by a demon, called Fane the Mad by sages. Fane knew how to release the powers of the Ring, but he was mad, totally insane. Fane ruled the great apes, and the apes lost their minds. Heroes succeeded in stealing the Ring and Fane was banished from Middle Earth. But in the last days of the First Empire one of the emperor's counselors attempted to use the Ring against the enemies of the empire. Whether this slowed or hastened the fall of the empire is unknown, but Fane returned to Middle Earth and the Ring disappeared. The Ring of Madness turned up recently in the Ring Saga  when Baltax presumably used the Ring to scare the citizens of two cities witless (see the New Sun Lands Crusade)