You have seen entirely too many movies if you think that is wise or intelligent an idea. Furthermore, this assumes the edge of the boat to be even with or below the dock; if it were elevated very greatly at all such a jump across even a modest distance would be impossible.
It's not quite the same in the book, aside from Vector's comment. DavidRoberts Oh, right. They made some movies out of this series. I try to forget that. I cannot stress enough the sheer unpleasantness of soggy wraith robes.
Show 2 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. My copy of UT is a few hundred miles away so I wasn't able to check. It must be at least 20 years since I read it so I'm a little disturbed that I remembered the phrase "difficult to sustain" correctly Can everyone voting this up give the credit to RoyalCanadianBandit as well or instead, please? He's the one who brought this up first, all I did was dig out the quote.
Add a comment. Royal Canadian Bandit Royal Canadian Bandit 36k 7 7 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. If the Wraith had attempted to make the leap and missed and the horse had drowned, it would have been a long walk back to Mordor to get another, as untrained horses would not tolerate any of the Nine.
Oh, come on. So he would have to double-up on a horse with another ringwraith. Nooo, can't have that; we'd rather let the ring escape us than suffer that kind of humiliation. As it turned out they were wrong and had to do the long walk home anyway, but to be fair, the hobbits would never have made it out of Bree if Strider hadn't found them when he did.
The limiting factor for the ringwraiths was not that they needed numbers to overcome the hobbits. Whether one or five of them would have caught Frodo would not have mattered.
Maybe after they traveled with Aragorn : However, as long as they have separate horses they can cover a lot more ground. I was about to add this same answer until I saw yours. To augment your point, I believe it is also mentioned somewhere that Ulmo was one of the few Valar whom still exercised their authority during the time of the quest. Until the End of Days mostly they are occupied with enjoying the unfolding of the Song of Creation, as that is their charge from Eru.
Jimmy Shelter - Thanks! Clear contextual support for my stated thesis : There's lots of others too. Just thought of Sam calling on Elbereth Gilthoniel when confronting Shelob as another case in point. I would recommend including the cite that user provided into your answer as a supporting quote to paragraph 1. It would improve the answer with the support that the citation provides. Background It's been noted in other answers that Ulmo's powers ran through rivers.
Evil creatures fear certain elements Ringwraiths, orcs and other evil creatures are well-aware of the mythology and history of Middle-Earth. They avoid domains where Valar are particularly powerful, including: The sun and the moon guided by Maiar, Arien and Tilion Rivers and oceans of all kinds Ulmo's domains Certain forests and ents Yavanna's domains So all servants of Sauron avoid crossing waters if they can help it.
Note about the Ford of Bruinen In addition, the Ford of Bruinen in particular - the river that the Ringwraiths hesitate to cross when chasing Frodo and Glorfindel Arwen in the movie , also marks the border of Elrond's sphere of influence around Rivendell.
Amarth Amarth 4, 13 13 silver badges 33 33 bronze badges. The oath was before the kinslaying. There would be nothing to kinslay for if the Noldor weren't already committed to their fateful campaign. Can you please add a bit more detail? Links tend to go dead, especially obscure forums see starwars. Wraith means ghost, spirit or something out of shadow, shadowy. Let me further explain this: Classical elements Fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry.
Air is primarily wet and secondarily hot. Water is primarily cold and secondarily wet. Earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold.
Crossing the river for them was a nuisance. Secko Secko 7, 4 4 gold badges 35 35 silver badges 63 63 bronze badges. Umm, the ringwraiths do not fear the cold. Just think of Angmar So not cold itself, but a form of it in water. I'm I forgetting something obvious? It is often stated that their main weapon was fear. Eowyn and Merry no longer feared for their lives on the Pelennor; and Aragorn knew he had to do all in his power to save the Ringbearer. The Witch-King fleeing from Earnur would be another example and having a reincarnated angelic Elf-lord pursuing him didn't help either.
This would explain at least the situation at Weathertop rather nicely. They were afraid of fire and water, for whatever reason -- the pure physical side is less important here, I think; rather the spiritual connotations such as the power of the Lord of Water -- but their being afraid on Weathertop was more due to Aragorn. And it probably was a tactical retreat anyway. Actually Birdland, I'm not sure that Frodo's barrow-blade did stab the Nazgul - afterwards Strider picks up a piece of black cloth and says this was the only hurt Frodo did to him, so maybe Frodo just sliced off a piece of his robe and didn't actually touch his body, or whatever you would call it.
Dramatically it was probably just as well - imagine if the Witch-King had fallen 1, pages earlier. Kind of takes away from the whole Siege of Minas Tirith scene. Sharku has a point though - lack of fear, though I don't know if Merry was so much fearless as just overcome by despair - the frame of mind that says "I might as well, I'm dead either way. It also makes you wonder, why on earth did the Ringwraiths wear robes and ride steeds winged or hoofed in the first place? Certainly "their chief power was to inspire terror" and the black robes certainly help, but they're also quite a Look At Me - Frodo could see them from quite a distance.
Wouldn't it have made more sense for them not to wear anything so they could sneak up on the Ringbearer unnoticed if not unfelt? I've never gotten the feeling that the Nazgul DID fear water.
They didn't follow the hobbits across the Brandywine at the ferry because it was too deep for their horses to swim. And they were perfectly willing to cross at the Ford of Bruinen; it was only the Guardian of the Ford that defeated them.
That is the reason some held back and had to be driven into the Bruinen by the rear attack of Glorfindel. They knew their horses would die in the rocks and waves. But Glorfindel in all his "First Born" glory scared them and drove their horses into a panic, so they dived blindly into the water to be swept away. I think it might have been the same with Aragorn.
They feared the light of his spirit more than the torch he was carrying. I don't know about them being physically impotent, Sharku. I do not envision much fighting in the scene, let alone the Nazgul actually being driven off by Aragorn.
I did not like the movie portrayl at all, I've always believed that the Nazgul chose to retreat. Perhaps they were afraid of being robbed of their raiment or even being slain by Aragorn and they did not want to take a chance. It is easy to underestimate the power of the Ulari, but remember Gandalf says that not even Glorfindel a very, very powerful elf that killed a Balrog and Aragorn could stand against the 9 alone.
Find More Posts by Thingol. Without garments we can't do anything and it takes a long time to get a new one. So it makes a strange kind of sense that xwe'd stay away from fire which would burn our cloaks up and water which could sweep it off and away. Does that make sense?
Exactly, N. Fire and water do no harm to Ring Wraiths themselves. But it can harm their steeds or the cloaks they have to wear. More of an inconvenience than anything else. It's not like they're going to melt or anything. Q: What do you call a Nazgul in a river? A: Soggy. About the Nazgul fearing fire When the Lord of the Nazgul was at the top of his strength was during the siege of Minas Tirith. And most of the terrain of the Pelennor was covered with fire, Orcs had torches, catapults threw fireballs Everything was closely orchestrated by the head Nazgul.
So I don't think they feared fire. Ever seen Predator? Personally I think fire might have had a similar affect on the Nazgul. Although I really have no clue. Maybe fire does hurt them. Because Aragorn said on Weathertop, Quote:. A short while later, the Riders are reluctant to cross the Ford of Bruinen near Rivendell. In both the case of the film and the book, there is an implication that the Ringwraiths are at least partially deterred by Elvish magic, especially because they attempt to cross before being swept away by a magically summoned tide.
Christopher Tolkien, who for years upheld the legacy of his father's works, wrote in Unfinished Tales that "my father nowhere explained the Ringwraiths' fear of water" and that the author conceded the notion was "difficult to sustain" going forward. Most likely, the idea was incorporated as a plot device to prevent the Hobbits from being captured, derived from European folklore, which portrayed unholy creatures, such as vampires, as being unable to cross running water.
Despite Tolkien's own admission that a clear reason for the Ringwraith's fear was never provided, some fans have attempted to conjure up an in-universe explanation. Tolkien "The Lord of the Rings". JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Ringwraiths and water. Gandalf White Gone Missing. Questions, questions I've been wondering about this, and can't seem to find anything on it. Possibly because I haven't had the time to look! A friend told me that the ringwraiths couldn't touch water unless their master ordered them to or something, and that's why they stood awhile waiting to cross the River in the movie.
Is this in the books , and if so where? Thanks for the help. BlackCaptain Vast Menace of Despair. Most people after watching the movie think that just because the Ringwraiths dont go through the water, that they're afraid of it. I, however, think that the Nazgul knew that once they'ed cross the Ford, the "magic" of the elves was at work, and could take them out. And since their need for the Ring more like Saurons will was so great, they decided to cross anyway, and thats when disaster struck.
They didnt cross cuz they were afraid But Saurons will took over them and made them cross, and led them to a watery Maeglin Active Member. I agree, they did not want to go into the water even if they could get across, for as soon as they reached the other side they were overlooking the valley of Rivendell , where the magic of the Elves was at work and the Nazgul could not enter there, especially since if they dared to cross it really would have ticked off the elves and they would go and kill them all.
This makes you think Perhaps the Nazgul slightly had a will of their own?
0コメント