May 20, 2003

The Rise of the Nazgul - To G
Manofwesternesse

G, you’ve got a few interesting points in that submission.
On the question of the rise (or re-rise!) of Sauron and the Nazgul, up until the time when the White Council drove Sauron from Dol-Guldur (just before the Battle of the Five Armies), Sauron had only been ‘taking shape’. Indeed until it was done the Council, (& Gandalf) did’nt know for sure that the evil growing there was indeed the Dark Lord. The nazgul only then began to take shape again and grew in power (& in ‘realness’ to my mind, as in they were always there but had little/no ability to influence things in the real world), after Sauron re-entered Barad-Dur. I seem to remember a number of references from Gandalf and others (feel the need of another re-read coming on!), on the growing threat to the Shire and specifically on the ‘re-emergence’ of the Ringwraiths as a power now that Sauron had begun to show himself again.

That’s a bit long winded, & my own opinion only, but as I see it Bilbo’s early years with the Ring were fairly unthreatened by any direct intervention by either Sauron or the Nazgul. It was only in the nick of time then that Gandalf engineered the handover of the Ring to Frodo & the last minute escape from the Shire.