Q: How Could the Númenoreans Not Know Who the Nazgûl Were?
ANSWER: A blog follower submitted 2 questions in October 2020. This is the 2nd question (slightly edited):
I feel this can be filed under “impossible to say”, but I have always wondered why the mortality-obsessed Númenoreans didn’t make a bigger deal out of the Nazgûl. Given that the 9 rings were given to highly prominent men, including 3 Númenoreans, I feel that by Ar-Pharazôn’s time it would have disseminated. Given that Sauron convinces Pharazôn to sail on Valinor to claim immortality, you would think knowledge of extremely long-lived men would arouse suspicion. I understand the rings were ostensibly top secret, but unless the kings who became Nazgûl surreptitiously fell totally off the grid around the time they would normally die, I feel that it would have aroused strong interest.
All we know for sure about the Nazgûl is that 3 were Númenoreans, 1 was an Easterling, and they first appeared (as Nazgûl) around Second Age year 2251. That’s not much to go on in terms of extrapolating the details of their Second Age history.
If, as I have argued through the years, the Eldar didn’t reveal anything about the Rings of Power to the Númenoreans until the time of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, it follows that the Númenoreans wouldn’t have become aware of enough facts about the Ringwraiths to connect the dots.
Also, even though Tolkien says the Men to whom Sauron gave Rings of Power “became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old,” that doesn’t necessarily mean they rose in the esteem of the Númenoreans. It took many centuries for Númenor to become some powerful that Ar-Pharazôn felt he should have been titled “king of the world”. Many things would have happened beyond Númenor’s knowledge for centuries. And then one must also consider the possibility that Númenoreans guessed who (some of) the Ringwraiths were, but those guesses were lost when Númenor’s records were destroyed. Very little of the knowledge accumuldated by the Númenoreans survived the Downfall.
But there are probably many ways Tolkien could have contrived to keep the Númenoreans in the dark about the men who became Nazgûl. Here are a few suggestions.
1. The 3 Númenoreans Could Have Faded Quickly
People often assume that if Gollum didn’t fade in 600 years then it must have taken a long time for anyone to fade. But J.R.R. Tolkien never said that. How quickly they faded depended on how much they chose to use their rings.
It doesn’t follow that Sauron had to bestow the rings on anyone sooner after seizing them. He could have bided his time. He also may not have had a plan for the rings right away. Since we know nothing of the movement of the Rings of Power after they were captured, almost any scenario would work for fan fiction or role-playing games.
Hence, rapid fading would mean that living Men using Rings of Power would create less of a disturbance in world affairs.
2. The 3 Númenoreans Could Have Been Prisoners
Sauron could have captured many prisoners during and after his wars. He might have devised a plan for using Númenorean vassals with the rings. He could have offered them wealth, power, and prestige in exchange for their loyalty. He need not have divulged who he was to them.
The idea that prisoners could have been turned solves the problem of hiding the rise of the Ringwraiths from Númenor. They could have been sent far away from the coastlands where Númenorean power was invested.
3. The 3 Númenoreans Could Have Gone Rogue before Fading
Tolkien doesn’t say when the first Númenorean turned to evil. There could have been many generations where advernturers from Númenor decided they didn’t want to be proud, noble seafarers who helped the less fortunate tribes of Middle-earth.
In this scenario, Sauron need only find a few rogue adventurers who had turned their backs on the West and its ideals. These men would have been more susceptible to corruption and thus less likely to refuse the gifts.
4. Númenor’s Kings Didn’t Track All the Warlords
According to “The Tale of Years” in The Lord of the Rings, around the Second Age year 1800 “the Númenoreans begin to establish dominions on the coasts. Sauron extends his power eastwards. The shadow falls on Númenor.” This could reflect the influence of the Rings on several Númenorean adventurers. Maybe they were the first warlords.
But as the Númenorean kings began to resent their mortality they changed their perspective on Middle-earth. Maybe they didn’t care who set up as a warlord or how, as long as they sent tribute back to the homeland – or maybe they just didn’t pay attention to all the petty adventurers who went off on their own.
5. The Ringwraiths Didn’t Act Like Normal Men
Regardless of how quickly anyone became a Ringwraith or where, once the Nazgûl revealed themselves in forms that merited distinction in annals and gossip, they probably didn’t look or act like living men again.
One question I’ve seen people debate is when the term Nazgûl was first given to them. The entry for Second Age year 2251 says they first appeared at this time. But that doesn’t mean people called them by that name. The “Tale of Years” represents a Fourth Age component in the Red Book of Westmarch. It’s not a Second Age document that someone found and slipped into the Hobbits’ diary. Since the ToY entries are not given in quoted text form, they are intended to represent J.R.R. Tolkien’s own interpretation of whatever records were included in the Red Book.
So when the Ringwraiths were first recognized as non-living servants of the Enemy, they were probably called something else. They could have been emissaries or captains or stewards of petty realms. Anyone writing fan fiction or running a role-playing game has a lot of leeway in imagining how they interacted with Middle-earth, and possibly Númenoreans, without revealing their true natures.
Conclusion
The Nazgûl were something new in terms of Middle-earth’s monsters and horrors. And given the great power they must have wielded during the Second Age, I doubt many people would have tried to get close to them and lived to tell the tale.
Enslaved by Sauron, they would have been unable and probably unwilling to engage in a classic villain infodump for any random adventurer. “How did I become like this? The tale is long and filled with grief…”
Sauron didn’t explain his evil plans to anyone. Why would his slaves do so?
I don’t think it should seem surprising that the Númenoreans didn’t realize what was brewing on their doorstep, nor that they didn’t know 3 of their own had been ensnared in a scheme that had already triggered a devastating war. And once the Shadow fell on Númenor I think only the Faithful would have cared much about who Sauron’s powerful vassals and allies were. But they were themselves suffering from oppression and fleeing the Darkness. They were hardly in a position to monitor everything going on in the world.
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Little is said by JRRT about the roles if any played by the Nazgul in the Second Age, so it seems a safe bet that the Númenoreans didn’t see them as a problem. They seem to have become more of a thorn in the side of the Elves and Elendil’s descendants during the Third Age. On that note, and I hope this isn’t too much of a digression, I recall from “The Hunt for the Ring” in “Unfinished Tales” that there is a bit where the Nazgul have messed up during their search. Messengers reach them from Mordor conveying threats which frighten even the chief. I’ve often wondered what kind of threats would bother a Nazgul? They’re immune to ordinary weapons, they seem never to have died as normally understood, and they survived Sauron’s “deaths” intact. Although they are too completely controlled by the Ring to even think of rebelling, they do seem to have licence to operate to some extent on their own initiative – witness their division of forces when they were tracking the hobbits from the Shire. The only thing I can think of is that Sauron somehow convinced them that he had the power to terminate their status as wraiths and bust them back to human, and thus instant death and dissolution.
Little is said by Tolkien about anything in the Second Age. 2251 is just about the only event between the War of Elves and Sauron and the Last Alliance that is recording more than the birth or death of a king. So I don’t think the absence of any info means they weren’t active. All it means is that Tolkien’s passion was not for the Second Age, and so he didn’t think it necessary to consider what role they have. Presumably, they were at least active in some capacity, as Akallabeth mentions them.
The Númenoreans couldn’t tell who invisible people really were? Shocking! 😉 Seriously, Sauron had no need or desire to advertise who or what the Nazgûl really were. That we know three of them were Númenoreans, not to mention even knowing another’s actual name, is a surprise. I would say it’s all Fourth Age supposition. Perhaps their corpses, if they left any, revealed something.
My own interpretation is that they were lords (or aristocrats) of far away Numenorean colonies in the East and South of ME who fell under the shadow and started to do Sauron’s bidding without Numenor realizing it. By the time they would have grown so powerful thanks to their ring and with Sauron’s help that Numenor would have noticed, Numenor would have already fallen under the shadow, and there would be no need for any action to be taken against them as these powerful beings would be perfectly aligned with the King’s Men. And since Sauron’s plan was to bring about Numenor’s downfall, there would be no incentive for him to reveal who or what the Nazguls really were or use them in battle to assist Numenor.
That totally makes sense. They could even have continued to trade and send tribute and booty to Númenor (and used the opportunity to create a spy network), and the kings probably would never notice that some of their colonies had been subverted to Sauron. Later, once the Faithful fled to Middle Earth, they’d probably just see the Nazgûl kingdoms as Black Númenorean colonies. They might not have realized anything was significant about the Nazgûl until the War of the Last Alliance, when they presumably revealed their powers.
As I read and re-read Tolkien, I’m surprised at how little information flow there can be in Middle-earth. Frodo didn’t tell anyone in the Fellowship that he was wearing a mithril coat, not even Gandalf. Gandalf waited until the Council of Elrond before telling any Dwarves that Sauron had taken Thrain’s Ring. Very few people in Gondor knew where Rivendell was located, or that the Palantiri ever existed, and that they might still exist. I personally put a lot of weight in Michael’s fourth explanation, that the folks in Numenor didn’t know or care what was happening in Middle-earth, as long as they kept receiving a steady supply of resources.
I sometimes wonder if anyone in a human nation of Middle-earth ever thought, “The King must be really, really, old by now. And has anyone seen him lately?” Sauron must have given mortal Men the Nine Rings sometime after 1695, when he captured Eregion, but before 2251, when the Nazgul first appeared. Up to and during that time, the members of the Numenorean royal family typically lived for around 400 years. But shortly after that time, their lifespan steadily dwindled until it reached approximately 200 years. Maybe no one in Middle-earth really knew how long human kings were expected to live?
I don’t think that Frodo not telling about the mithril shirt has anything to do with ‘information flow’ 🙂 hehe, sometimes people have specific information that they don’t share for various reasons, people don’t gush about everything they know or have all the time. With such knowledge as shared on the council, it is only natural that various peoples would bring in their own various news, some information are also considered secret or part of higher knowledge, the Rings of Power and the palantiri all such artifacts of great significance are exactly the type of ‘restricted’ top secret information 🙂 only few of the Wise are full aware of in the first place. It should be noted that the Middle-earth doesn’t have means of mass communication, there are no newspapers, even education is not nearly as widespread (though it should be noted that peoples of Middle-earth in any case have still high rate of literacy all things considered). Personal details or things that people wish to keep hidden as personal info are also a part, here one can also bring up the espionage that Queen Beruthiel did on her own subjects:
” She had nine black cats and one white, her slaves, with whom she conversed, or read their memories, setting them to discover all the dark secrets of Gondor, so that she knew those things “that men wish most to keep hidden,” setting the white cat to spy upon the black, and tormenting them.”
Espionage and spies, especially of the Enemy are also vital element. The major way the news travels is with the people traveling, merchants, peddlars, immigrants, marching soldiers, travelers, wanderers, Rangers, Dwarves going on their ventures, all these are sources of information from far off lands or things that various smaller or more isolated communities get their news of the wider world. Various regions are underdeveloped and desolate, which additionally hinders the exchange of information, when messengers send do not return from some place, and travel itself can be seriously dangerous it’s no wonder. Places with higher population density, where more people live where there is more coming and going naturally would receive more. In any case despite all various rumors spread across, some also lies and misinformation (on purpose spread by agents of Sauron) like the rumor that Rohirrim pay tribute to Sauron (even Eagles who were responsible for gathering news reported that one). As the example of The Hobbit has it sometimes even birds and beasts carry information and news:
“The Elvenking had received news from his own messengers and from the birds that loved his folk, and already knew much of what had happened.”
Even then he had incomplete picture. But some really important events that held enormous significance at times carried through across vast distance:
“Very great indeed was the commotion among all things with wings that dwelt on the borders of the Desolation of the Dragon. The air was filled with circling flocks, and their swift-flying messengers flew here and there across the sky. Above the borders of the Forest there was whistling, crying and piping. Far over Mirkwood tidings spread: “Smaug is dead!” Leaves rustled and startled ears were lifted. Even before the Elvenking rode forth the news had passed west right to the pinewoods of the Misty Mountains; Beorn had heard it in his wooden house, and the goblins were at council in their caves.”
Rumors of things or imperfect information, tales often mixed with fable or legend would be the most obvious element of information flow:
“…for the rumour of Beleriand, of its lands and waters, of its wars and riches, went now far and wide, and the wandering feet of Men were ever set westward in those days.”
As we see even thoug the Shire was fairly isolated some share of news did come in, during the years before Frodo’s quest:
“He looked at maps, and wondered what lay beyond their edges: maps made in the Shire showed mostly white spaces beyond its borders. He took to wandering further afield and more often by himself; and Merry and his other friends watched him anxiously. Often he was seen walking and talking with the strange wayfarers that began at this time to appear in the Shire.
There were rumours of strange things happening in the world outside; and as Gandalf had not at that time appeared or sent any message for several years, Frodo gathered all the news he could. Elves, who seldom walked in the Shire, could now be seen passing westward through the woods in the evening, passing and not returning; but they were leaving Middle-earth and were no longer concerned with its troubles. There were, however, dwarves on the road in unusual numbers. The ancient East-West Road ran through the Shire to its end at the Grey Havens, and dwarves had always used it on their way to their mines in the Blue Mountains. They were the hobbits’ chief source of news from distant parts – if they wanted any: as a rule dwarves said little and hobbits asked no more. But now Frodo often met strange dwarves of far countries, seeking refuge in the West. They were troubled, and some spoke in whispers of the Enemy and of the Land of Mordor.
That name the hobbits only knew in legends of the dark past, like a shadow in the background of their memories; but it was ominous and disquieting. It seemed that the evil power in Mirkwood had been driven out by the White Council only to reappear in greater strength in the old strongholds of Mordor. The Dark Tower had been rebuilt, it was said. From there the power was spreading far and wide, and away far east and south there were wars and growing fear. Orcs were multiplying again in the mountains. Trolls were abroad, no longer dull-witted, but cunning and armed with dreadful weapons. And there were murmured hints of creatures more terrible than all these, but they had no name.
Little of all this, of course, reached the ears of ordinary hobbits. But even the deafest and most stay-at-home began to hear queer tales; and those whose business took them to the borders saw strange things.”
A lot of stuff and information anyway would be after a while lost to time, when not recorded and even the records can perish and be destroyed, and over centuries and centuries many things can be forgotten, even scientific knowledge may be forgotten or lost during the great upheavals and disasters.