Ring of Bone

[mothwing]

On his first hand he wore rings of stone,
Iron, Amber, Wood and Bone.
There were rings unseen on his second hand,
One blood in a flowing band,
One was air all whisper thin,
And the ring of ice had a flaw within.
Full faintly shone the ring of flame,
And the final ring was without name.
- The Wise Man's Fear.

I rediscovered a ring that I brought back as a souvenir from a mammoth and prehistoric europe exhibition that my family and I went to when I was ten. It's not that pretty, but because of my obsession with the Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy I'm wearing it anyway. 

Nobody gets the significance because it's not really a fandom item, but I know. I'm also on the lookout for an iron, amber and wood ring, though I suppose wearing the latter does send the wrong signal. The various rings and their meanings as well as their subtle introduction is one of my favourite parts of Rothfussian world-building. 

Comments

[ysilme]

Nobody gets the significance because it's not really a fandom item, but I know.
But that is the most important pat about it, isn't it?
I'm rarely wearing any piece of jewellery just for the looks of it, but usually more for the meaning they have for me. Nearly everything I wear is silver, most either without stones or with lapislazuli or moonstone), and either I got them on special occasions, had them gifted to me, or a combination of both. My most favourite ring, besides my wedding ring which is made from an irregularly shaped band of hammered silver, set with a small moonstone, is a silver replica of a ring found in an excavation in Roskilde and dated to the 12th century. It looks very organic, like some strands or twigs interwoven in a loose fashion, and isn't fully closed either but feels like a twig circling my finger. It looks medieval and viking, and I love to wear it when I dress accordingly and go to fairs, or dress up, but it stands for many more things for me, and I often also wear it when I have the wish or need to feel close to these things. Similarly, there are several small stones with holes in them we found on our favourite Danish island, or one somewhere in Sweden. They're usually called "Hühnergötter", as I learned later, though I learnt that only lately. But I grew up with them as my parents had brought these back from the island as well, went to search them there every time we visited, and they hold a kind of special symbolic and even mythical feeling for me that is very important. I have one or two to be worn as necklace and one I yet have to make an ear pendant from, but the necklace I wear for the reasons described above. There is also the most special of these stones, a small one the WW found and gave to me. It has two penetrating holes crossing each other in the middle, making a kind of four-way hole, and it's very precious to me. I have to have it sitting besides my bed at all times, as it is too bulky to wear as jewellery.

Looking for this kind of ring - have you thought of trying medieval fairs for that? I remember one crafter of very beautiful wood jewellery, lovely rings among them,and another who had all kinds of iron rings with stones. Usually it's not too difficult and expensive to have something crafted to your wishes... I wish I could do and design jewellery. The first lines of the poem gave me all kinds of ideas... ;o)

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Your wedding ring sounds beautiful!

I both love and fear it when jewellery acquires such a personal meaning. I once had a silver ring shaped like a celitc knot that I had worn every day for ten thirteen years, ever since I was thirteen years old. It was extremely important to me and I somehow lost it. I searched it for weeks, but it was gone and I still can't quite grasp it. I am worried for my wedding ring now for that very reason - I never took that other ring off, but it was still gone one day.
I know those stones, I usually try and find some when I'm at the beach in Denmark as I find them fascinating.

Yes, especially for the wooden one, I thought of fairs as well, as I remember seeing some there, but now that you mention it I'd love to have a ring with all five components! I'll look into that.

Designing jewellery - me, too. My sister in law works with metal and some of her colleagues make their own jewellery. I really envy them.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Those two books are my favourite books at the moment. I can't wait for the third one. ♥