The High Council · Keepers of the Three

The Seat of Vilya

Vilya, the Ring of Air

Vilya, the Ring of Air, was set with a blue stone and was the mightiest of the Three. Celebrimbor sent it to the High King Gil-galad, and before Gil-galad fell he gave it to Elrond. With it Elrond kept Imladris, Rivendell, through the long years of the Third Age. Tolkien called that house "a refuge for the weary and the oppressed, and a treasury of good counsel and wise lore". Songs, histories and old tongues were kept there when they had been forgotten everywhere else, and Bilbo went there to finish his translations from the Elvish. When the free peoples had to decide the fate of the One Ring, it was at Elrond's table that they met. Elves, Dwarves, Men and Hobbits all spoke and were heard, and it was there that the Nine Walkers were chosen. This seat honours the keeper of a house of learning - the one who holds the knowledge together, gathers the right people and helps them reach the truth.

Sources: The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age; The Fellowship of the Ring, Many Meetings and The Council of Elrond; Unfinished Tales.