October 5, 2002

Regarding Ringwraiths
Eriol

Hello everybody, I see that some interesting questions are being raised about the Ringwraiths. First of all, Arina, I would like to point out that "Nazgul" and "Ringwraiths" are the same creatures, with the same powers. Actually, Ringwraith is just a translation of the name "Nazgul", which is in Black Speech -- you can see the root nazg- meaning rings, of course, as seen in the famous line "ash nazg grimpatul..."
(Forgive me if any details are wrong, I'm quoting from memory).

Also, someone asked about the Witch King, a "new character" in TTT. It is indeed the chief of the ringwraiths, that old ghost that Frodo saw at Weathertop. He was known as the Witch King before his identity as one of Sauron's minions and a Nazgul was known, when the Kingdoms of the North fought against Angmar. He was the major enemy of the kingdoms of the North, following Sauron's desires of course (we assume Sauron was inactive in the early Third Age, but he could be moving his minions to action, after all he was not destroyed, only unable to create a body). More details about the Kingdoms of the North can be seen in the Appendices at the end of the third book.

I hope this was useful!