Vilya, the Ring of Elrond: The Story and the Replicas

Vilya is the ring of Elrond, the Blue Ring and the Ring of Air. Of the Three Rings of the Elves it is the mightiest, and it is the one that kept Rivendell a safe house for three thousand years. It is also the only Elven ring that Jens Hansen, the workshop behind the film One Ring, made for Peter Jackson's trilogy.

If you came here from the One Ring, the Lord of the Rings rings overview shows how all the rings connect, and how many Rings of Power are there? explains the twenty in order.

Vilya in Tolkien's books

Celebrimbor made the Three Rings alone in Eregion in the Second Age, without Sauron's hand on them. Vilya is gold, set with a great blue stone, a sapphire. Its name is usually read as "air" or "sky", which is how it became the Ring of Air alongside Nenya (water) and Narya (fire).

Its first bearer was Gil-galad, the last High King of the Elves in Middle-earth. He passed the ring to Elrond, and Elrond kept it for the rest of the Third Age. Like the other Elven rings it held off decay and the weariness of the world, and Rivendell owes its peace to it. Elrond did not use it openly while Sauron had the One Ring, because the Three were still bound to it.

The reader only learns all this at the very end of The Lord of the Rings, at the Grey Havens, when the Three are finally shown. Once the One Ring is destroyed, Vilya's power ends, and Elrond takes it over the Sea.

Vilya on screen

In the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring, Gil-galad wears Vilya when the Three are shown with their first owners. Later, in the extended edition of The Battle of the Five Armies, the ring can be seen on Elrond's hand in the fight at Dol Guldur.

The film ring itself came from Jens Hansen. The workshop says that for the trilogy it made the One Ring in all its appearances and Vilya, and no other ring of power. It designed Vilya from Tolkien's description and made it for Hugo Weaving, who played Elrond. According to the workshop it made Vilya again, with new One Ring props, for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

In Amazon's The Rings of Power, the Three are forged at the end of the first season from a mithril alloy, an idea that does not come from Tolkien. In the second season Gil-galad, Círdan and Galadriel put the rings on.

Vilya replicas

There are fewer Vilya replicas than Nenya replicas, and none from Wētā Workshop or The Noble Collection when we checked. Noble does sell rings worn by Elrond in The Hobbit films, but they are not presented as Vilya.

Badali Jewelry makes Vilya under its licence from Middle-earth Enterprises. The sterling silver ring with a lab-grown sapphire starts at $199 and is cast to order in US sizes 5 to 17. A 10K or 14K gold version starts at $2,399. Badali's design follows the book, not the film ring.

Jens Hansen sells a replica of the ring it made for the films, under the name The Ring of Hugo, in sterling silver and in gold. The workshop says plainly that it is not licensed merchandise, and for legal reasons it cannot use the ring's name. It is the closest thing to the Vilya you see on screen, with the same caveat as the unlicensed Movie Ring: the design is theirs, the licence is not.

Before you buy

Vilya has a large stone on a narrow finger, so the setting height matters more than with a plain band. Badali gives about 16.7 mm across the setting for its silver Vilya. If you are between sizes, our ring size converter and the One Ring size guide help you measure before ordering a made-to-order ring, which is harder to return.

The licensed Vilya rings we track are in the table below. The other Elven rings are Nenya and Narya.