'The Breath of Life'/ The Black Breath

[Encaitare]

"Among my folk men speak mostly of the "breath" (or the "breath of life"), and they say that if it leaves the house, it may by seeing eyese be seen as a wraith, a shadowy image of the living thing that was."~HoME X, Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth

Sounds like the shadow or 'wraith' that left Saruman's body after he died.

The breath of life concept makes me think of the Sandman (surprise, surprise), and maybe only a few people will get this, but I think it's worth mentioning. In The Wake, the Endless fashion a servant out of mud, and all leave their mark on it, but only when Death breathes life into it can it actually function.

[Bêthberry]

What are words but breath ennunciated, given form and meaning by tongue and lips and teeth? The breath of life is presence, fully present and not some stamped image on a page or fleeting electrical impulse on a screen.

The Nazgul, of course, are never fully present, hence their corrupted breath.

[Annatar!]

Eru sent into Ea the flame imperishable, the Secret Fire; the divine Life force of the world.
Metaphorically: Fire needs oxygen... oxygen implies breath. Perhaps to Tolkien breath is the sustanance of the flame imperishable in each and every one of us