The Day I Accepted a Ring of Power from a Beautiful Stranger and Fell Into Eternal Darkness

I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam

Mae govannen! With all the March Madness posts this month, I am not able to get to an Extended Edition Essay this month. We’ll be back to our regularly schedule programming next month. BUT that doesn’t mean there’s no bonus content for all you Extended Edition Members! Here’s a bonus humor piece from the point of view of one of the nine Nazgûl for you (it’s a satire of this wild story from last month, where Charlotte Cowles, the financial advice columnist for The Cut, shared about how she got scammed out of $50,000). Thanks for helping to make this newsletter possible! —J

p.s. quick reminder that the Tolkien Reading Day giveaway is still open for entries and the 25% off sale on extended edition memberships is live through Sunday.

The Day I Accepted a Ring of Power From a Beautiful Stranger and Fell Into Eternal Darkness

I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam

Image Credit: New Line Cinema

On a Tuesday evening in the Second Age of Middle-earth, I put a ring on my finger, fully believing it contained the power to govern over the race of Men. “That’s really nice of you to just, like, give this to me,” I told a fair and beautiful — like, distractingly beautiful — elf I had never seen before. Now, I totally realize this should have been a red flag. But he said his name was Annatar, Lord of the Gifts, so it did seem possible that he would have such an item and also just give it to me.

Now, looking back, I can CLEARLY see that this was a scam. But here’s what I can’t figure out: