The Ringwraiths -- What were they?

[Jessica Jade]

Can Sauron keep the fea of a mortal Man from its fate?

Definitely not. Nobody can take away death, which is the Gift to men from Eru. Only Eru himself can alter the fates of men.

(By the way, I suppose Beren was an exception. When men die, don't their spirits depart "whither the elves know not" beyond the circles of the world? I didn't know they went to Mandos first. But Beren was evidently a special case.)

The Ringwraiths most certainly are not dead. I recall in the early chapters of Fellowship when Gandalf tells Frodo about the Ring. He says something to the effect of how the people who posess the ring don't die, but they do not grow or obtain more life. They merely continue. Their life becomes merely stretched, unnaturally stretched and dangerously thin, like Bilbo and Gollum's lives. (remember Bilbo's description: "Like butter scraped over too much bread").

In the chapter Mount Doom, i think it was, Sam is asking Frodo if he remembers the stewed rabbit that he'd cooked from him, as well as the other happier times in the Shire: (I don't have the books with me at the moment so i'm doing this from memory the best I can)

Although I know these things took place,no taste of food, no feel of water, no memory of tree or grass or flower are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is nothing between me and the great wheel of fire. I begin to see it with my waking eyes, and all else fades.

Frodo speaks for himself, Gollum, and the Ringwraiths when he makes this chilling remark. What he said is the essence of what it feels like to be under the control of the Ring. It's overwhelmingly tragic. Innocent men fallen from grace and ruined by their greed.

It's interesting how when one puts the Ring on, their senses become more keen and they can hear things from afar and see things that they can't usually see. But at the same time, while being farsighted, they lose their nearsightedness and cannot clearly see what is close to them. Interesting interesting. I have more to say about this but it's in the back of my mind right now and I can't quite dig it up. Later, hopefully, it will come to me.