Ringwraith
In the fiction of
J. R. R. Tolkien, the
Ringwraiths, also known as the
Nine Riders or the
Nazgūl in the language of
Mordor, are evil servants of
Sauron in
Middle-earth.
The nine Ringwraiths arose as Sauron's most powerful servants in the
Second Age of Middle-earth. It is said that three of the Nine were lords of
Nśmenor corrupted by Sauron. They were all powerful mortal
Men to whom Sauron gave nine
Rings of Power. These proved to be their undoing:
- Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgul were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death.\n:The Silmarillion: "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," p. 289
For many years the bearers used the rings to gain great wealth, prestige and power. The corrupting effect of the rings caused their bodily forms to fade over time until they had become wraiths entirely. Given form only through the attire of black cloaks and hauberks of silver mail, their original form was completely gone and invisible to mortal eyes. Their hypnotic eyes could be plainly distinguished from their dark clothing, and in a rage they appeared in a hellish fire. Untouchable to mortal men, (unless blessed by
Elvish magic), they had many weapons, which included long swords of steel and flame, daggers with magical venomous properties and black maces of great strength.
Their arsenal of deadly armaments was not confined to physical means; they also had magical weapons of devastating power. They were surrounded by an aura of terror, which affected all living creatures; their breath (called the Black Breath) was poisonous, and their cries caused terror and despair in all who heard them. Some of the Nazgūl appear to have been accomplished sorcerers and used magic to devastating effect.
The Nazgūl first appeared around 2251 of the
Second Age and were soon established as Sauron's principal servants. They were dispersed after the first overthrow of Sauron in 3434 at the hands of the
Last Alliance of Elves and Men, but their survival was nonetheless assured while the
One Ring persisted. They re-emerged around 1300 of the
Third Age, when the Lord of the Nazgūl, the
Witch-King of Angmar, led Sauron's forces against the human kingdom of
Arnor. He was eventually defeated in battle in 1975 and returned to
Mordor, gathering the other Nazgūl in preparation for the return of Sauron to that realm. In 2000, they besieged
Minas Ithil and captured it after a two-year siege. The city thereafter became the stronghold of the Nazgūl, from where they directed the rebuilding of Sauron's armies.
In 2942 Sauron returned to Mordor and declared himself openly in 2951. Two or three of the Nazgūl were sent to his fortress at
Dol Guldur to garrison that outpost.
In 3017, near the beginning of the story told in
The Lord of the Rings, Sauron commanded the Ringwraiths to recover the
One Ring of Power from "Baggins of the Shire". Disguised as horse riders clad in black (see
Black Riders), they sought out
Bilbo Baggins whom
Gollum had revealed had the One Ring in his possession.
By the conclusion of the novel, all of the Nine Nazgūl were destroyed. The Lord of the Nazgūl himself was slain by
Eowyn (with help from
Merry) during the
Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The remaining eight Ringwraiths attacked the Army of the West during the last battle at the
Black Gate. However, when
Frodo Baggins put on the ring in the fires of
Mount Doom, Sauron ordered the eight remaining Nazgūl to fly with all possible speed to Mount Doom to intercept Frodo. They arrived too late, with the Ring falling into the fire along with the hapless Gollum. The Nazgūl were caught in the firestorm of the erupting mountain and were destroyed.
Only a few of the Nazgūl are named or identified individually in Tolkien's works. Their leader was the
Witch-king of Angmar, and his second in command was named
Khamūl. At least three of them were of
Black Nśmenórean race, including the Witch-king. Khamūl was a lord of
Easterlings, and was the only Nazgūl known by his name, although
Gothmog, Lieutenant of Barad-dūr, may have been a Nazgūl.
Modern Slang
\nThe term Nazgūl has been used to refer to IBM's cadre of
lawyers, particularly with reference to the
SCO v. IBM lawsuit because they supposedly never sleep, are utterly ruthless, and are completely loyal servants to their master. The usage appears to have originated in a comment on
Slashdot:
- "Not long ago, the Black Gate of Armonk swung open. The lights went out, my skin crawled, and dogs began to howl. I asked my neighbor what it was and he said, `Those are the nazgul. Once they were human, now they are IBM's lawyers.'"
(
IBM is headquartered in Armonk,
New York.)
It also has been suggested that this usage can be traced back to the 1969–1982 IBM antitrust suit with the
United States Department of Justice, but this has not been substantiated.
Category:Middle-earth ringwraiths
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