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King Brand in Dale had been visited by a nazgul
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Sorry? Please fill me in, I'm a little sketchy on this particular detail. Also, can you be sure that the messenger to Dáin was a Nazgûl? I thought that they first re-appeared in public only when the Bridge of Osgiliath was temporarily wrested from Gondor?
As for Gimli's hope that Balin was still alive, messengers can go astray, especially in those dangerous times, and it would be entirely possible that Khazad-Dûm was still populated, even though their kinfolk up north hadn't heard from them.
Gandalf not telling anyone about Thráin's Ring is a tricky one. When did he actually know for sure that the Ring had been taken from him? I can't recall, but I don't think Thráin mentioned it at the time, and that it was a later guess of Gandalf's.
John Howe's version of Sauron's messenger to the Dwarves.