Tolkien was a master when it came down to playing with words. This being said, I am aware that in the Lord of the Rings, the professor wrote the following: and upon his finger was a ring of gold with a great blue stone, Vilya, mightiest of the Three.

Canon as Tolkien presented it, offers also different variations about the strengths of the three rings. In Unfinished Tales, he states that Nenya was the Chief of the tree, which ties in this story with the some sort of leadership Celebrimbor sees in the ring to protect the other two, as he wants to hide them from Sauron. Then in History of Middle-earth, part 9, Sauron defeated Narya is called 'Narya the Great'. It reads to me that all three rings have their own powers and will manifest themselves thusly, but are equal to another.

Looking at the colour attributions, the 'colour' white (Adamant/Nenya) reflects lights and augments it; blue is in my opinion a colour of peace, purity, and healing. To me as the author white is a defending colour here and therefore can shield the others from being touched by Sauron's colour: black. Without Nenya using its colour and being placed in a grey pouch, both the red and blue ring would be tainted and the rings could not have been fully put into use later on as it happened with the other rings.

In Tolkien canon, the professor only elaborates a bit on Narya (which can be used to give others courage and kindle their hearts with hope (based on canon from Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales). Of Vilya it is said that the stars shone more brightly above Rivendell, so that is a bit of a give away to the stronghold's location (it tells me that the ring was rather loud compared to Galadriel's ring that deflected and protected).

To find out more about the attributes of the stones and as to why Celebrimbor chose them, I found the following pagan lore:

• Sapphire: wisdom stone. Blue sapphire is traditionally associated with love and purity. Blood, veins, all healing, joy, peace, beauty, intuition, dreams, "Stone of Prosperity".
• Ruby: a very energetic stone that imparts vigour to life, fires enthusiasm, encourages passion for life and motivates one in achieving goals. Heart, fever, re-birthing, intense energy, happiness.
• Diamond/clear quartz: has powers of protection against anyone who doesn't mean you well. Clear Quartz is a pure and powerful energy source, which has the ability to transmit and receive energy. All healing, re-direction of energy, amplify, "Stone of Power", harmony, clarity, psychic awareness.

The key to this story is the use of colours and how the white ring negates the other two rings in such a manner that they can get out of Eregion in secret. Nenya as a ring (white adamant) ensures that the other two remains hidden, how this works is explained in the story. How the ring later on manifested themselves with the ringbearer is another story altogether, but at this point of time, it resolves about Celebrimbor’s view and purpose of the rings.

Curufin’s lesson and explanation is inspired by Riveda’s instruction to Deoris in The Fall of Atlantis, book three Deoris, chapter five Words, section II by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Curufinwë = Curufin’s father name in Quenya
Telperinquar= Celebrimbor’s name in Quenya