Sauron Creating the Rings?
Derek McG.

Would someone please tell me where this idea came from that Sauron created the Rings? I will state this one more time: SAURON DID NOT CREATE THE RINGS (except, of course, the One Ring). This is stated very clearly in The Lord of the Rings (I suggest you re-read The Shadow of the Past VERY carefully if you think he did). Yes, Sauron did give the Rings as gifts, but HE STOLE THEM FROM THE ELVES, who were the ones who forged them.

Gandalf states that "The Three, fairest of all, the Elf-lords hid from him, and his hand never touched them or sullied them." Now, tell me, how could Sauron have forged them if his hand never touched them?

He also says, "The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven smiths they were but trifles - yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals. But the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, they were perilous." This is clearly implies that the Elven smiths practiced on the lesser rings before creating the Great Rings.

If these are not enough evidence, I gave a quote in my last post from the Silmarillion which explicitly states that the Elven smiths forged the Rings of Power. If anyone can find a quote stating that Sauron forged the Rings (rather than simply giving them as gifts), I would love to see it.