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Gothmog, LoB · 05-19-2016, 05:24 AM

@Inziladun:

I'd say there were absorbed by their own rings/the One Ring who then totally controlled and 'bound them'. In a sense they were thus also bound to Sauron but only through the One Ring. I think we can safely say that a new Dark Lord - say, Gandalf or Galadriel, using the One to topple Sauron - would then also have commanded the allegiance of the Nazgûl. Perhaps even before they had dealt with Sauron directly because they most certainly wouldn't have been able to attack or even oppose a powerful wielder of the One - regardless whether Sauron in Barad-dûr had still a body or was already reduced to a powerless spirit.

The question what the Hidden Realm actually is is actually quite intriguing. Are the Nazgûl truly invisible to anyone? I don't think so. The 'default setting' of the One seems to be to make a wearer invisible/draw him/her into the spirit world, and neither Gollum nor Bilbo or Frodo ever had the power/control to change that. What was the purpose of this?

One assume it had to do with Sauron's great desire to find the One after he had lost it, and on the spirit plane it would have been much easier for him to discover such a wearer, perhaps even more so while Sauron himself still lacked a body. After all, everything that was Sauron's or made/accomplished with the One Ring would have become the property of a usurping Dark Lord had he/she been successful at that.

We certainly do know that Sauron himself didn't get invisible to the eyes of men while wearing the Ring (else Elendil would have fought against an invisible man, and Isildur would have cut the Ring off an invisible corpse). Not to mention that wearing the Ring made Sauron appear much more powerful and terrible than he already looked under normal conditions.

We also know that the Nine could make the wearer invisible or make invisible things visible but in their cases, too, they wouldn't have used the 'invisibility feature' not all that often. They wanted to have power over their fellow men, after all. Sometimes they certainly also wanted to sneak around and uncover secrets like Gollum, but most of the time they certainly wanted to be seen as great and powerful people.

Now, the idea is that this invisibility/spirit world feature is only relevant when Men/Dwarves (and perhaps Sindar) wear those rings. The Noldor exist and see on both planes, so any Noldo smith from Eregion forging and later wearing one of the Nine or Seven wouldn't have been invisible to his peers the way Frodo and Bilbo was for theirs (proven by the way Glorfindel looks in Frodo's eyes when he sees him while wearing the One).

So the rings do just alter or add to or sharpen the perception of wearers who are naturally not able to see *everything*. But that is different, I think, from the status of the Nazgûl. They have been changed permanently, and might actually have become closer to 'lesser spirts' of eälar rank. After all, Tolkien's thoughts about the witch-kinig indicate that he wasn't really destroyed by Merry and Éowyn, suggesting that he could have returned eventually had the One Ring not been destroyed soon after.

The history of the Third Age (and the end of the Second) also suggest that the power of the Nazgûl is greatly intertwined with the power of Sauron himself. After he is defeated they 'go into the shadows'. And while Sauron hides in Dol Guldur for about a millennium or more they also seem to grow in power - at least the witch-king is. But when Sauron retreats into the East after Gandalf pays him a visit the Nazgûl suddenly become inactive again - despite the fact that they just recently conquered Minas Ithil and might have been able to press their advantage then and there and destroy Gondor just as the witch-king had destroyed Arthedain. Presumably Sauron's original plan was to do just that but he wasn't ready yet to face Gandalf and thus he had to postpone the entire plan.

We also know that Sauron took the Nine Rings back from the Nazgûl so his direct control/connection to them in the Third Age (after he had taken the rings back, at least) would have worked on the basis of transferring power and orders via the rings. I guess this was a more difficult process then using the One for the same kind of thing, but still effective enough.

05-19-2016, 05:24 AM	#96
Gothmog, LoB Animated Skeleton Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 38	@Inziladun: I'd say there were absorbed by their own rings/the One Ring who then totally controlled and 'bound them'. In a sense they were thus also bound to Sauron but only through the One Ring. I think we can safely say that a new Dark Lord - say, Gandalf or Galadriel, using the One to topple Sauron - would then also have commanded the allegiance of the Nazgûl. Perhaps even before they had dealt with Sauron directly because they most certainly wouldn't have been able to attack or even oppose a powerful wielder of the One - regardless whether Sauron in Barad-dûr had still a body or was already reduced to a powerless spirit. The question what the Hidden Realm actually is is actually quite intriguing. Are the Nazgûl truly invisible to anyone? I don't think so. The 'default setting' of the One seems to be to make a wearer invisible/draw him/her into the spirit world, and neither Gollum nor Bilbo or Frodo ever had the power/control to change that. What was the purpose of this? One assume it had to do with Sauron's great desire to find the One after he had lost it, and on the spirit plane it would have been much easier for him to discover such a wearer, perhaps even more so while Sauron himself still lacked a body. After all, everything that was Sauron's or made/accomplished with the One Ring would have become the property of a usurping Dark Lord had he/she been successful at that. We certainly do know that Sauron himself didn't get invisible to the eyes of men while wearing the Ring (else Elendil would have fought against an invisible man, and Isildur would have cut the Ring off an invisible corpse). Not to mention that wearing the Ring made Sauron appear much more powerful and terrible than he already looked under normal conditions. We also know that the Nine could make the wearer invisible or make invisible things visible but in their cases, too, they wouldn't have used the 'invisibility feature' not all that often. They wanted to have power over their fellow men, after all. Sometimes they certainly also wanted to sneak around and uncover secrets like Gollum, but most of the time they certainly wanted to be seen as great and powerful people. Now, the idea is that this invisibility/spirit world feature is only relevant when Men/Dwarves (and perhaps Sindar) wear those rings. The Noldor exist and see on both planes, so any Noldo smith from Eregion forging and later wearing one of the Nine or Seven wouldn't have been invisible to his peers the way Frodo and Bilbo was for theirs (proven by the way Glorfindel looks in Frodo's eyes when he sees him while wearing the One). So the rings do just alter or add to or sharpen the perception of wearers who are naturally not able to see everything. But that is different, I think, from the status of the Nazgûl. They have been changed permanently, and might actually have become closer to 'lesser spirts' of eälar rank. After all, Tolkien's thoughts about the witch-kinig indicate that he wasn't really destroyed by Merry and Éowyn, suggesting that he could have returned eventually had the One Ring not been destroyed soon after. The history of the Third Age (and the end of the Second) also suggest that the power of the Nazgûl is greatly intertwined with the power of Sauron himself. After he is defeated they 'go into the shadows'. And while Sauron hides in Dol Guldur for about a millennium or more they also seem to grow in power - at least the witch-king is. But when Sauron retreats into the East after Gandalf pays him a visit the Nazgûl suddenly become inactive again - despite the fact that they just recently conquered Minas Ithil and might have been able to press their advantage then and there and destroy Gondor just as the witch-king had destroyed Arthedain. Presumably Sauron's original plan was to do just that but he wasn't ready yet to face Gandalf and thus he had to postpone the entire plan. We also know that Sauron took the Nine Rings back from the Nazgûl so his direct control/connection to them in the Third Age (after he had taken the rings back, at least) would have worked on the basis of transferring power and orders via the rings. I guess this was a more difficult process then using the One for the same kind of thing, but still effective enough.