Narya, the Ring of Fire: Gandalf's Ring and Its Replicas

Narya is the third of the Elven rings, the Red Ring and the Ring of Fire. For most of The Lord of the Rings nobody knows it exists, and that is the point: its bearer is Gandalf, and Tolkien keeps it hidden until the last chapter. This page covers the ring in the books and on screen, and which replicas exist.

The Lord of the Rings rings overview shows where Narya sits among the other rings, and how many Rings of Power are there? explains how the Three relate to the One.

Narya in Tolkien's books

Like Nenya and Vilya, Narya was made by Celebrimbor alone in Eregion, without Sauron's hand on it. Its stone is red; Tolkien writes that it was "red as fire", and The Silmarillion calls it a ruby. He never says what the band is made of, so any metal you see on a replica is the jeweller's choice.

Its keeping changes hands quietly. Celebrimbor gave it away early, and it ended up with Círdan, the shipwright of the Grey Havens. The drafts in Unfinished Tales disagree on whether it passed through Gil-galad first. When Gandalf landed in Middle-earth about a thousand years into the Third Age, Círdan gave him the ring, saying that with it he might rekindle hearts in a world growing cold.

That is what Narya does. It does not throw fire; it gives courage and hope to those around the bearer, which fits everything Gandalf does in the story. It is revealed at the Grey Havens at the end of The Return of the King, and Gandalf takes it over the Sea.

Narya on screen

In the prologue of Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring, Círdan wears Narya when the Three are shown with their first bearers. Gandalf can be seen wearing it in The Return of the King, but the films never explain what it is. The extended edition of The Battle of the Five Armies adds a scene at Dol Guldur where the ring is hidden on Gandalf's hand and nearly taken from him; that scene is the film's invention.

Jens Hansen, which made the film One Ring, says it did not make Narya. In Amazon's The Rings of Power, Narya is forged at the end of the first season, and Círdan is one of the three Elves who put the new rings on at the start of the second.

Narya replicas

Badali Jewelry makes Narya under its licence from Middle-earth Enterprises. The sterling silver ring with a lab-grown ruby starts at $199, cast to order in US sizes 5 to 20, and a 10K or 14K gold version starts at $2,899. It is about 17.3 mm across the setting, so it sits high on the finger. The design follows the book.

Jens Hansen sells Our Ring for Sir Ian, its own interpretation of Gandalf's ring, in silver and gold with an oval red stone. The workshop is clear that it is not licensed, that it did not make Narya for the films, and that for legal reasons it cannot use the ring's name.

We did not find a Narya from Wētā Workshop or The Noble Collection when we checked.

Choosing a Narya ring

A tall stone setting catches on gloves and pockets more than a band does, which matters if you plan to wear the ring daily. Badali casts each ring to order, so measure carefully first: our ring size converter and the One Ring size guide explain how. If you want to know how a licensed ring differs from a marketplace copy, the same signs apply as for the One Ring in is this the real One Ring?

The licensed Narya rings we track are listed below. The other Elven rings are Nenya and Vilya.