XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien
From: fwbrown@bellsouth.net
In rec.arts.books.tolkien Julian Bradfield wrote:
> On 2014-10-21, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>> "...and then they saw a shape, moving at a great speed out of the West,
>> at first only a black speck against the glimmering strip above the
>> mountain-tops, but growing, until it plunged like a bolt into the dark
>> canopy and passed high above them. As it went it sent out a long shrill
>> cry, the voice of a Nazgûl; but this cry no longer held any terror for
>> them: it was a cry of woe and dismay, ill tidings for the Dark Tower.
>> The Lord of the Ringwraiths had met his doom."
>>
>> So here it seems that not only was Sauron unaware that the King of the
>> Nazgûl had died, but another one has to fly all the way from Minas
>> Tirith to the Dark Tower to give him the news.
>
> Interesting. I'd always assumed that this *was* the witch-king, being
> dramatically and ostentatiously terminated, in rather the same way
> that Sauron and Saruman were.
An interesting idea, and not one that had occurred to me. But I'd
be surprised if a dead Nazgûl would be visible to mortal eyes. Even
Saruman was only briefly visible as a misty figure that rapidly vanished.
Besides, I wouldn't expect a dead Nazgûl to return to Sauron. In their
origins they were human, and so upon death almost certainly would go to
the Halls of Mandos and eventually pass beyond the confines of the world
as all human souls do. If the Valar can't change the ultimate fate of
Men without special permission from Eru, I don't think Sauron would be
able to do so either.
--
F. Wayne Brown
Þæs ofereode, ðisses swa mæg. ("That passed away, this also can.")
from "Deor," in the Exeter Book (folios 100r-100v)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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