Who Were The NAZGUL? | The Origins of the Ringwraiths | Middle-Earth Lore

Well done, Yes, please do Denethor.

The "high lords of Numenor" that became the Nazgul, arrived on the Nine Ships that escaped the destruction of Numenor? That's wrong. In The Tale of Years, it is said that the Nazgul first appeared c.2251 of the Second Age---over 800 years before the Downfall. They (at least the "Three high lords of Numenor") were probably already in Middle Earth. But they were members of the "King's Men" aka The Black Numenoreans, who had settled in Middle Earth long before Elendil arrived.

I just got one question. Please enlighten me.😊

how did the witch king of agmar died and was buried at the high fells along with the other 8 Wraiths?

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 😃

The black Numenorians that became Nazgûl were not necessarily on the ships that survived the fall of Numenor. The Numenorians had already founded a number of territories and realms in middle earth by the time of the fall. It’s entirely possible that the Nazgûl who were black Numenorians were rulers and lords in those realms. Furthermore I think it is possible that Numenorian lords could have already received rings in Numenor before the fall. Sauron after all had the one ring with him when he was in Numenor.

The Nazgul were first seen in 2251 Second Age. This means they were not traitors to Elendil. They remained in Middle Earth when Sauron was on Numenor. But we are told that Sauron's own forces abandoned him against the full might of Numenor. So did the Nazgul flee as well or do you think Sauron called them back? There may only be nine of them, but they would be able to cause fear and surely damage Numenor's forces greatly.

I hate the philosophy of Tolkien that condemns the seeking of power and greatness, and glorifies obedience to one's fate.

It is not a weakness of Men, that they are ever-hungry, ever searching for more, relentless in their ambition. It is our strength.

"Azog sent me "

AZOG sent me here

The Nazgul first appeared around 2251 Second Age, this is over 1000 years before the Fall of Numenor and the founding of the kingdoms in exile (Arnor and Gondor). While three of the Nazgul are supposed to have been Numenorean in origins, they long predate any of the King's Men of the later Numenorean era. They may have been Numenoreans that settled in Middle-Earth during the period immediately after the War of the Elves and Sauron, which dates to 1697 S.A.

There is absolutely no indication that any of the Nazgul were numbered among the King's Men of Ar-Pharazon's court. They may however have been tied to the port of Umbar which was historically a haven for the faction of the King's Men and later the Black Numenoreans.

The Nazgul predate the destruction of Numenor by more than a thousand years

Numenoreans were already in middle earth before the 9 ships of the faithful sailed. This seems like a big mistake in this video, something you guys should really know if you are making Tolkien videos. I was about to say do better research, but this is something you should just know as Tolkien content creators. You should really correct this video.

the way you say Ar-Pharazôn is soo annoyingly irritating i had to to insult your intellect each time i heard it. (just friendly banter) still love your videos

You should redo this video. The three Balck Numenoreans most certainly aren't among the 9 ships of the faithful. There were already evil numenoreans residing in middle earth before the fall. They were located south, around Umbar.

Is Talion from the middle earth games not canon? If you do not know this is a bit of a spoiler for the games, in the end of "Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor", Talion, The playable charcter, had no choice but to become a Ring Wraith to survive, however he resisted the ring's power for a few years succumbing to its power, in the DLC of "Middle Earth Shadow of War"

I'm not going to lie even though we already know two of them one being the witch king of agmar and the other being Khamul. It's best to keep the rest in Shadow (Pun intended) because if you think about it the less you know the more mysterious and scary it is. I don't need to know the exact identity of each Nazgul, would it be cool yes but honestly it would defeat the purpose of keeping the identity of the Ringwraiths hidden in mystery and terror. Yes they had their fun in Shadow Of War by making characters like Helm Hammerhand and even Isildur and then even Tallion takes his place. Yes it's cool kind of fan Theory like hey what if this were actually to happen but it would be best just to keep the remaining seven in Shadows heck we don't even know much about the Witch King or Khamul anyway just that they were great Kings in their time before they fell under the domain of the dark lord.

Please, yes. The real Denethor.

I’m not sure where I originally heard this theory but I heard an idea once about how the rings corrupted all eventually the length of time based on there own strength and goodness. This implies that not all the men were inherently evil or flawed some may have even been great heroes. Men who found or got one of the rings and tried or even succeeded in doing good but that became worse and worse the longer the rings was in there possession

I don't think that there were any King's Men on the nine ships that sailed to Middle Earth when Numenor was destroyed, the Nazgul that had Numenorean origins were probably black Numenoreans nobles and lords who ruled over settlements east and south of Middle Earth during the second age, settlements that were probably acquired through the wars that the King's men fought and were fighting in the continent at the time.

I’d love a video that shows the differences between movie and book denathor

The Black Numenoreans had settlements in Middle Earth in the South, so the Black Numenorean Ring Wraiths might have been from those colonies.

The Witch King is basically the ghost of Macbeth.
No man may kill him/None of woman born

Denethor, please & thank you.

What about men who, above all else, seek to complete the entirety of the pokedex?

Real Denethor.

Denethor please

Yes...do an episode on Denethor please.

It’s been nearly two years since I’ve seen this channel and I’ve missed seeing the videos! I’ve been a broken blade subscriber on Patreon since. I completely forgot I had subscribed 😅.

Question was Denethor and his sons have the gift of long life just like aragon?

Yes, please do a deep dive into Denethor

I think the witch king was numenorean and went evil when didn't get the crown
What do u think is it possible that he was was evil before getting one of the nine rings?

I kinda like we don’t know who the are and I hope rings of power doesn’t touch on them too much, that being said I would the witch king to show up

Murazor, later the Witchking of Angmar, was the 2nd son of the 12th king of Numenor. My favorite was the 8th wraith, the lady Adunaphel.

I would like to see a video on the true Denethor son of Ecthelion, lord and faithful Steward of Gondor. It was a shame that as a child, my only view of him was that he was a kind of crazy, favorite-playing jackwad. I think it's high time that his character be given a loyal overview; as imagined by Tolkien.

Yes to Denethor's story. Faramir was also one of the less well represented characters in the book, but at least he was hastily redeemed.

My brain hurts watching your videos sometimes haha

A real Denethor video please!

In the video game Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, three of the Nazgul Talion faces as bosses are given identities and a sense of individuality in order to provide more variation to the flights and more depth to the story. It is shown that the role of being a Nazgul can be passed on to other Ring-bearers following the 'true death' of their predecessor.

Real Denethor please

Awesome video

Real Denother videos please?

Would enjoy a deep look into Denathor & prior Stewards.

Watching the xtended edition (Again) and 2 questions occurred to me- What if the watcher in the water had killed and eaten Frodo? The ring would be In it rather than on a finger, but still. Second, what if the Balrog had killed them all and acquired the ring?

Denethor please; at the very least the eating scene needs revenge upon it

I just don't understand the hurried, hurried, hurried narration.

Denethor is a misunderstood character..yes please Denethor video.

I don't know where y'all get your information from, but it's off. The Black Numenoreans had nothing to do with the Faithful nor their ships. They were already in Middle Earth. They had built cities long ago.

I disagree that the black Numenorean's were on the 9 ships with Elendil and his sons. There were a lot of permanent settlements by the Numenoreans in Middle Earth established during the second age. Many of them, especially in the south, were allied with the Kings men.... Umbar, for example. I think it was those southern Numenoreans that were given the rings. Elendil and his sons didn't establish the settlements, they just added to them and created kingdoms from them.

The 3 black Numenoeans who became Nazgul cannot have been on the 9 ships of the faithful, as the Nazgul first appeared in SA 2251, while Numenor was not destroyed until SA 3319, 1068 years after the Nazgul first appeared!!! This puts them in the reign of Tar-Ancalimon the 14th King of Numenor who ruled from 2221 to 2386, and during whose reign the two parties of the King's Men and the Faithful arose.

I think Peter Jackson's portrayal of Faramir was more of a character assassination than Denethor's, but would be interested to see your perspective.