Image: North Yorkshire Police

A police force in England recently put out a Facebook appeal to try and track down the owner of a “distinctive silver ring” that was recovered at a crime scene. The ring? A replica of the One Ring from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

The police were seemingly unaware of the events they set into motion. Bring on the Middle-earth puns!

Officers in York are trying to locate the owner of a distinctive silver ring and are appealing to the public for their… Posted by North Yorkshire Police on Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Clearly, the York constabulary have not read, or watched, or been culturally exposed to The Lord of the Rings, because if they had, they would have simply brought it to Mt. Doom in Mordor, and dropped it off with a certain Lord Sauron, who has reportedly gone to great lengths to try and get it back.

In response to the flood of Tolkien fans replying with all of the quotes you were just thinking right now, the police force admitted that they “obviously need to brush up on our movie knowledge,” but closed with a ‘but seriously though’: “it is someone’s property and we would like to return it to whoever has had it stolen from them.”

The story may have a happy ending after all, as there appeared to be a commenter who was able to corroborate the York Police’s details. So the One Ring may return to its rightful owner, after all!

(That’s what we’re going for here, right Gandalf?)