read the book there was eighteen in total kevin

Because three were given to the Elves; immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern over each race. But they were all of them deceived, for a new ring was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret, a master ring, to control all others.

There was NOT only one ring! There was several rings, and the main ring was the most powerful ring!

Lol, I think there actually was more than one ring in the beginning...but you are quite correct as they were only concerned with the one :)

Sorry, I can't resist - Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. Now that's out of my system I'll behave. As the verse fails to state, there were originally 19, all made by Celebrimbor of Eregion (son of Curufin, son of Fëanor). The problem central to the story of Lord of the Rings is that all except the 3 elven rings were made with assistance from a disguised Sauron, going under the name Annatar. The Three were made first, and given by Celebrimbor to Círdan, Gil-galad and Galadriel. The Seven were made next and given out to the seven Dwarf Kingdoms. Only Durin's line is mentioned. The Nine were made, but I don't know if they were given to anyone. Sauron then sat down to make the One Ring, with the intention of controlling the owners of the other rings. When the One Ring was finished, Celebrimbor finally came out of his doze and realised what Sauron/Annatar was all about. The War of the Elves and Sauron followed (Second Age 1697), during which Sauron overran Eregion and gained possession of some of the Seven (possibly 6 of them - Durin's line maintained their Lord was given Durin's ring by Celebrimbor himself due to their close collaboration) and all of the Nine. With perhaps all but 4 of the 20 Rings now his, Sauron then gave out the Rings of Power that were in his possession. The Dwarves who received rings were not corrupted but merely made a bit more surly, greedy and defensive by them - something that really got up Sauron's nose. The Nine of course, created the Nazgûl, which was what Sauron had hoped for. Having never seen or touched the Three, their owners were unaffected by Sauron's plan, but use of their rings made them and their minds 'visible' to Sauron, thus greatly limiting their effectiveness. Sauron is 'The Lord of the Rings' - and everything that goes with them - due to his 'ownership' of the One Ring. God, I do go on.