Ring of Barahir

The Ring of Barahir was an ornate silver ring given to Barahir by the Elven king Finrod Felagund, in reward for saving his life in the Dagor Bragollach. It was a sign of eternal friendship between Finrod and the House of Barahir, and became an heirloom of Barahir's kin.
 
== Description ==
The ring was described as the likeness of two serpents intertwined with eyes made of green jewels. This was the symbol of the House of Finarfin. The serpents met beneath a crown of golden flowers that one upheld and one devoured. The jewels, at least, were crafted in Valinor and sometimes seemed to burn with green fire.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XIX: "Of Beren and Lúthien"
 
(…) green jewels gleamed there that the Ñoldor had devised in Valinor. For this ring was like to twin serpents, whose eyes were emeralds, and their heads met beneath a crown of golden flowers, that the one upheld and the other devoured; that was the badge of Finarfin and his house.
J.R.R. Tolkien described the ring in verse in The Lay of Leithian:
 
Proud are the words, and all there turned
to see the jewels green that burned
in Beren’s ring. These Gnomes had set
as eyes of serpents twined that met
beneath a golden crown of flowers,
that one upholds and one devours:
the badge that Finrod made of yore
and Felagund his son now bore.
While the Ring of Barahir was not known to contain any magic or power, it is notable as one of the oldest crafted objects in Middle-earth. Lasting through the War of the Ring but having been crafted before the First Age, the Ring of Barahir was thousands of years older than any of the Rings of Power. The palantíri were the only other items to rival the ring in age, both being made in the Years of the Trees.
== History ==
 
The ring was forged by the Ñoldor in Valinor at some point towards the end of the Years of the Trees in the First Age. It was brought to Middle-earth by Finrod Felagund as an heirloom of the House of Finarfin.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XIII: "Of the Return of the Noldor" Finrod carried the ring until the year FA 455, when Barahir, an Adan, saved his life during the Dagor Bragollach. Finrod gave Barahir the ring as a sign of friendship between himself and Barahir's house.
 
Barahir would bear the ring for the remainder of his life, until he was waylaid by Orcs led by Gorgol, who took Barahir's hand and ring.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, chapter IV: "The Lay of Leithian Recommenced" Both hand and ring, however, were retrieved by Barahir's son Beren when he avenged his father. Beren laid the hand to rest with his father's remains, but kept and wore the ring. Beren later used the ring to prove his lineage to Thingol when he first entered Doriath and again when he sought Finrod's help in the quest for the Silmaril.
 
The ring was passed from Beren in direct line to Dior, then his daughter Elwing and her son Elros, who brought it to Númenor during the Second Age. It was an heirloom of the Kings of Númenor until Tar-Elendil gave the ring to his eldest daughter Silmariën, who was not allowed to succeed him on the throne. She in turn gave the ring to her son Valandil, first Lord of Andúnië. It was handed down to succeeding Lords of Andúnië to the last, Elendil.Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Two: The Second Age, Chapter I: "A Description of the Island of Númenor", note 2
 
In the Third Age the ring was again passed in direct line from Elendil, to Isildur, to the High Kings of Arnor, and then Kings of Arthedain. The last King of Arthedain, Arvedui, gave the ring to the Lossoth of Forochel in thanks for the help he received from them, thus it was not drowned with him. It was later ransomed from the Snowmen by the Dúnedain of the North, after which it was kept safe at Rivendell.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers, I. "The Númenórean Kings", iii. "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur"
 
Eventually, it was given by Elrond to Aragorn, son of Arathorn, when he was told of his true name and lineage, together with the shards of Narsil. In 2980 of the Third Age, in Lórien, Aragorn gave the ring to Arwen Undómiel at their betrothal.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands) "The Third Age"
 
Nothing is said of the fate of the Ring of Barahir in the Fourth Age, but it was most likely either again passed to Eldarion and the Kings of the Reunited Kingdom, or it went with Arwen to her grave in Cerin Amroth.
 
== In adaptations ==
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, Aragorn wears the Ring of Barahir. In the Special Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Saruman perceives Aragorn's true identity through the ring through its description by Gríma Wormtongue.
 
== Gallery ==
RingofBarahir.jpg|The Ring of Barahir as it appears in the fan-film Born of Hope
 
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Ring van Barahir
Albanian 	Unaza e Barahir-it
Amharic 	ሪንግ ኦፍ ባራሂር
Arabic 	خاتم باراهير
Armenian 	Բերահիրի օղակաձեւ
Azerbaijani 	Barahirin Üzüyü
Basque 	Barahirren eraztuna
Belarusian Cyrillic	Кольца Барахира
Bosnian 	Barahirs prsten
Breton 	Gwalenn Barahir ?
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Пръстен на Барахир
Catalan 	L'Anell de Bàrahir
Cebuano 	Singsing sa Barahir
Chinese (Hong Kong)	巴拉漢之戒
Cornish 	Besow Barahir ?
Croatian 	Barahirov prsten
Czech 	Barahirův prsten
Danish 	Barahirs Ring
Dutch 	Ring van Barahir
Esperanto 	Ringo de Barahir
Filipino 	Singsing ni Barahir
Finnish 	Barahirin sormus
French 	Anneau de Barahir
Galician 	Anel de Barahir
Georgian 	ბარაჰირის ბეჭედი
German 	Barahirs Ring
Greek 	Δαχτυλίδη του Μπάραχιρ
Gujarati 	બારાહિરની રિંગ ?
Hebrew 	טבעת בראהיר
Hindi 	ड़िङ ओफ़ बरहिर्
Hmong 	Nplhaib ntawm Barahir
Hungarian 	Barahir Gyűrűje
Icelandic 	Hringur Barahir
Italian 	Anello di Barahir
Irish Gaelic 	Fáinne de Barahir
Japanese 	バラヒアの指輪
Kazakh 	Бараһірің сақинасы (Cyrillic) Barahiriñ saqïnası (Latin)
Kurdish 	Qulp ji Barahir (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Бараhир шакеги ?
Latin 	Inauris Barahir
Latvian 	Gredzens Barahir
Lithuanian 	Žiedas barahir
Macedonian Cyrillic	Прстен на Барахир
Malaysian 	Cincin Barahir
Maltese 	Ċirku ta ' Barahir
Marathi 	बाराहायर्स रिंग ?
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Бараhир-ийн бөгж
Nepalese 	बाराहिरको औँठी
Norwegian 	Barahirs Ring
Pashto 	انگشتر باراهیر
Persian 	انگشتر باراهیر
Polish 	Pierścień Barahira
Portuguese 	Anel de Barahir
Romanian 	Inelul lui Barahir
Russian 	Кольцо Барахира
Scottish Gaelic 	Fàinne de Barahir
Serbian 	Барахиров прстен (Cyrillic) Barahirov prsten (Latin)
Sinhalese 	බරාහිර්ගේ වලල්ල
Slovak 	Barahirov Prsteň
Slovenian 	Barahirjev Prstan
Spanish 	Anillo de Barahir
Swedish 	Barahirs Ring
Tajik Cyrillic 	Ринги Барахир
Thai 	แหวนแห่งบาราเฮียร์
Turkish 	Barahir'in Yüzüğü
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Перстень Барагіра
Urdu 	بارہیروں کی انگوٹی ?
Uzbek 	Бараҳир Халққа (Cyrillic) Barahir Xalqqa (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Nhẫn của Barahir
Welsh 	Modrwy Barahir
Yiddish 	רינג פון באַראַהיר
 
== References ==
cs:Barahirův prsten
de:Barahirs Ring
es:Anillo de Barahir
fr:Anneau de Barahir
it:Anello di Barahir
nl:Ring van Barahir
pl:Pierścień Barahira
ru:Кольцо Барахира
Category:Rings and jewels
Category:Objects
Category:Arnor