Lord of the Rings question

[Mark]

I took a notion and watched the entire trilogy over the weekend and something puzzled me.

What exactly do the rings do?

Sauron makes these rings and they're passed out to the Elves, Dwarves and Men but they don't seem to have any kind of actual function.

As for the One Ring, everyone's fighting over it, thinking they will have some advantage over Sauron if they possess the ring, yet all it seems to do is slow down the aging process, drive you bonkers, make you invisible (which is pretty cool except it tells the bad guys were you are). All in all a fairly useless weapon.

Now, if only they had a Green Lantern ring...

[TC Kirkham]

I think they're supposed to take over the minds of whomever wears them...at least, that is what I got out of hte movies....

[Daniel DiCenso]

The rings were to be used to "snare" the souls and minds of their wearers, thus giving Sauron control of Middle Earth through its rulers. The Elves found out in time and hid their rings, the Dwarfs either destroyed or hid their rings, the nine human kings either were already ensnared or didn't believe the warnings of the Elves and Dwarfs and slowly became the Ring wraiths.

For this to work, Sauron essentially placed part of his own "soul" into the One Ring. That's why he needed it back. To regain full power. Gandalf intimated that the Ring was "alive" because of this and desires to return to its owner. To this end, it promises to fulfill whoever it temps, their greatest wishes. It often finds that those who desire power are easier to tempt.