The Powers & Abilities of THE NAZGUL! (RINGWRAITHS)| Middle Earth Lore

I already joked with my friends how the Witch King had bigger balls than Sauron and even Morgoth. The dude was so confident when he challenged Gandalf, even though Gandalf would've mopped the floor with all the Nine combined. To have the balls to challenge a guy who is the same divine race as the Dark Lord. Huge respect for The Lord of the Nazgul.

If the seven dwarf kings turned into Nazgul, they probably would be small, and that makes me happy

The Nazgul, and the Witch-King especially, are immensely cool in my opinion. I think the following description by Gandalf summs it up: "King of Angmar long ago, sorcerer, ring-wraith, Lord of the Nazgul, spear of terror in the hands of Sauron, shadow of despair."

Funny anecdote: in the original drafts of LOTR, Frodo was going to push Gollum with the Ring to his death in the Sammath Naur. Then, the entrance of the Chamber is blocked by the Witch King: either Frodo says he is the Ringmaster and commands him to jump in the fire, or Sa heroically appears and stabs the Witch-King from behind, slaying him. In the oldest version there was even a sketched duel between Sam and a surviving Ringwraith on a rock island floating over the magma. Outstanding 😃

Khamul might have embraced darkness in life already rather than only once turning into the wraith. Perhaps he was a necromancer or dark wizard or just generally just so naturally evil pre-ring that the effect is multiplied. Great video as always.

I love the contrast between the Fellowship and the Nazgul. The Fellowship is a voluntary group, fighting the Ring and Sauron by choice, while the Nazgul are enslaved by it's influence. The Nazgul remind me that you always have a choice to do the right thing.

Concerning their items, robes and form after they loose it: I don’t think it is barely an inconvenience when they lost their „clothes“ from Elronds water spell. Elrond did more than disrobe them and Sauron did more than giving them robes, weapons and wearable items. Sauron GAVE them the form of black riders, a far more powerful spell than just making specific single items like clothing, wearables and mounts. He gave them a mortal form, bound their spirits to it and allowed those disbodied entities to touch the mortal world in the first place. This form is destroyed by Elrond, they cannot simply take up other items after that.

My theory on the identity of the Nazgûl: 1. Witch-King (Black Númenórean)-Prince Isilmo, kept youthful by his royal Númenórean blood and his own witchcraft and denied the throne by his family (including his son-the future king) 2. Khamûl-Easterling ruler of the far east, conqueror of Rhûn (descendent of the Easterlings who fought for Melkor and as a result, have been "veiled" in darkness ever since, hence, Khamûl's issues with daylight) 3. 8th Lord of Andúnië (Black Númenórean)-counselor to the King of Númenór and a sorcerer 4. Admiral Ciryatur (Black Númenórean)-tricked into wearing a ring after defeating Sauron in battle-Sauron's ultimate revenge 5. Dúnedain (descendent of Númenórean and Haradrim ancestry) Sorcerer of Umbar-conqueror of the south 6. Dúnedain (see above) General of Far Harad-enslaver of the Southrons 7. Haradrim General of Near Harad-enslaver of his own people through military force 8. Easterling Warrior of Northern Rhûn 9. Variag ruler of Khând-used as a messenger of the north (Khamûl's Lieutenant) The timeframe adds up (spanning from about 1700 SA-1900 SA,) the locations make sense (3 rings for Númenór, 3 for the east and 3 for the south-all major regions/cities accounted for) and their backgrounds make sense (aka previous occupations-sorcerers, warriors, kings, advisors, military leaders-all of which are in a position to corrupt and conquer.) Also, all of these characters are either vague (i.e. General of Umbar-no name/date,) have a rough date of their life (i.e. we know there was an 8th Lord of Andúnië and he likely took his position as Counselor around 1850 but the name and exact dates are unknown) or they have a relative "timestamp" of when they "checked in" but they never exactly "checked out" (i.e. we know Isilmo was born in the 1300's but his death is unrecorded/we know Ciryatur was Admiral of the Númenórean navy in 1700 but his death is unrecorded) which leaves their "demises" completely open/vacant. So, those are my thoughts. If you want to know how I came to these conclusions, I will tell you, but I am sure no one cares.

Sauron didn’t die at the end of return of the king, he was forever diminished. He is a Maia, he cannot die he could be made into a spirit of hatred that can no longer take physical form or influence the world around him.

I'll never forget seeing the second Fellowship of the Ring movie trailer and watching that awesome shot of the Nazgul riding out of Minas Morgul. I knew then that the movies were in good hands.

Don't care what anyone says, there is no more metal and awesome name as "The Witch King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgul and Greatest of the Nine"

I think the Nazgul are just so interesting and badass.

Some powers of the Witch-king: - Silence: "By Elbereth and Lúthien the Fair,’ said Frodo with a lasteffort, lifting up his sword, ‘you shall have neither the Ring nor me!’ Then the leader, who was now half across the Ford, stood up menacing in his stirrups, and raised up his hand. Frodo was stricken dumb. He felt his tongue cleave to his mouth, and his heart labouring. His sword broke and fell out of his shaking hand." Here we already have the use of a spell rarely remembered in the book: in addition to having given a "silence" lv 2, it still made Frodo lose consciousness. For those who play D&D 5e, we can make a list of some of the Witch King's abilities: A) Black breath: "He seemed to be asleep. ‘‘I thought I had fallen into deep water,’’ he says to me, when I shook him. Very queer he was, and as soon as I had roused him, he got up and ran back here like a hare.’ ‘I am afraid that’s true,’ said Merry, ‘though I don’t know what I said. I had an ugly dream, which I can’t remember. I went to pieces. I don’t know what came over me.’ ‘I do,’ said Strider. ‘The Black Breath" B) An aura of Inexplicable Terror to the point of driving the armies of Gondor and generating a fighting frenzy for the allied forces: "Some said that it could be seen, like a great black horseman, a dark shadow under the moon. Wherever he came a madness filled our foes, but fear fell on our boldest, so that horse and man gave way and fled." C) Control of the weather to the point of generating a windstorm and a blizzard: "Do not mount on this sea-monster! If they have them, let the seamen bring us food and other things that we need, and you may stay here till the Witch-king goes home. For in summer his power wanes; but now his breath is deadly, and his cold arm is long." (...) "But Arvedui did not take his counsel. He thanked him, and at parting gave him his ring [the Ring of Barahir], saying: 'This is a ring of worth beyond your reckoning. For its ancientry alone. It has no power, save the esteem in which those hold it who love my house. It will not help you, but if ever you are in need, my kin will ransom it with great store of all that you desire." And a lightning storm in Minas Morgul: "And Minas Morgul answered. There was a flare of livid lightnings: forks of blue flame springing up from the tower and from the encircling hills into the sullen clouds." D) A certain ability of necromancy to imprison evil spirits for the creation of Barrow Wight. E) Control over fire - to trigger an explosion spell on Grond: "Then the Black Captain rose in his stirrups and cried aloud in a dreadful voice, speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone. Thrice he cried. Thrice the great ram boomed. And suddenly upon the last stroke the Gate of Gondor broke. As if stricken by some blasting spell it burst asunder: there was a flash of searing lightning, and the doors tumbled in riven fragments to the ground. " And create a flame-sword (Azor Ahai): "Old fool!' he said. 'Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!' And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade." There is a writing by Tolkien that speaks (in letter 210) of the "Demonics force" that anabolized the witch king, to the point of making him an active weapon in addition to the innate fear he generated in opponents, so much so that he managed to approach a region "on fire" (fire being a weapon against the Nazgûl) in the siege of Minas Tirith.

The Witch King was a sorcerer before he was turned. That's why he has more powers than the other Nazgul.

Perhaps Khamul is the one who first received his ring of power and the last who turned into a wraith. In the meantime, just like Gollum, he began to hate both sunlight and moonlight, that's why it affects him the most.

I like the idea that the Nine were a mix of kings, great warriors, and sorcerers. While not canon, I do love the story from Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor / War, as only at the end do we realise Talion's entire arc has been a backstory for one of the Nazgul. I wasn't too keen on some of the ones they added, like Isildur, even though it added to the drama. At least they didn't do all of them, and left the Witch King alone! You have to wonder if the others found "freedom" the way he did when the Ring was destroyed. Maybe, maybe not. In Talion's case, his succumbing to become a Wraith was a self-sacrifice to protect the rest of Middle Earth from Sauron, rather than an act of greed or lust for power. As far as the books go, I think keeping historical details of the Nine as vague or nonexistent as possible adds to the mystique. Part of what makes the Witch King so sinister is we know literally nothing about him or who he was in life. I detest that modern storytelling insists on giving every single character a detailed backstory, leaving nothing for fans to speculate or draw their own conclusions.

Love the shadow of war idea of talion as a ring wraith

I like the idea that Kamuel was a threat to Sauron thus he received a 'gift' that he resisted the influence, or wore his ring less often. ("And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength, and to the good or evil in their wills in the beginning...") That being in sunlight reminded him of his lost mortality and humanity.

In regards to why Khamûl was weakest in the sunlight, I have a theory. Maybe he was a truly evil yet powerful leader in his time. A bandit-king or something along those lines. Since he would already be evil, and would likely favor shady tactics (night raids and ambushes for example), acting during the day would have been a disadvantage for him even before he got the ring. So naturally after becoming a ringwraith, not only is his strengths enhanced, but so are his weaknesses. If I had to give an example of someone I am thinking of, he would be most like Black Dow from the First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Just a truly heartless and despicable character.

I would say in terms of raw power we know 6 of the 9 Nazgûl were able to stalemate Gandalf the Grey at Night, the Witch-King was leading the 6 during that fight. Said fight made massive Light, Fire, and Lightning more or less cover Weathertop and the fight could be seen several miles away. Aftermath of the fight the top of the hill was scorched, at least an area of it from what I recall. This fight lasted a whole night and when the chance arrived Gandalf took it which was when the night ended, seems pretty consistent with the statement that Sauron believed that all 9 of the Nazgûl together (with the environment working in their favor) is unbeatable. Combine that with their pseudo-immortality, magical weapons that can turn people into Wraiths they control, their Rings of Power (which they didn't have during LOTR trilogy) and their fear abilities (which Tolkien considers their main strength) then they are pretty potent. While Tolkien does say their physical prowess isn't that great they are pretty superhuman since they survived Elrond/Gandalfs tidal wave that had massive boulders that smashed into them and the Witch-King smashing Éowyns shield in one blow that also broke her arm. I do wish we saw how an individual Nazgûl fairs against a powerful opponent, who knows how strong they are individually. Only one that we have any sort of idea is when the Witch-King wanted to fight Gandalf the White but then he seemingly ran away from the Rohirrim charge, although that was also because the cloud that was provided by Sauron granting him darkness was blown away by Manwë, Vala of the Winds and Airs. Since Darkness greatly enchances their power, maybe the Witch-King with darkness during the Battle of Minas Tirith indeed was a peer of Gandalf the White? But there is also the idea that Gandalf only uses the "appropriate" amount of power in whichever situations he is involved with, so ultimately scaling from him is iffy.