Re-imagining the Ringwraiths

[Boromir88]

As I brought up in a different topic I've been doing a reading of the books after several years and I had an almost complete change in my views of the Ringwraiths.

The Nazgul might just be the characters where the movies messed with my head the most. They do have the element of terror (Fran Walsh voices the scream and it is how I hear the description of their lonely cry in my head), but Jackson didn't go far enough with portraying their terror. He tried to portray them as Sauron's most skilled warriors, when that's not their power. When I previously read the books, it was difficult to separate that portrayal of the Nazgul were swordsmen. Viewing them in that light, I never quite felt they were a significant threat in Book I. I felt they were just ineffective subordinates, who had one job to do and couldn't do it.

However, it's probably been longer or the same amount of time since I've seen the films, so I didn't have that imagination that the Nazgul were warriors in my head this time, and it's completely changed my reading of the text (I'm also very thankful for this! )

I read Huey's thread here and Brett Devereaux's analysis which brings up a good point of Tolkien understanding the 'morale battleground' better than maybe any other fantasy author. The Ringwraiths demoralizing opposition is what makes them efficient and deadly effective. They aren't warriors in the skilled sword-fighters way, but they are deadly weapons in war, because of their ability to demoralize. I always remembered how Jackson fumbled the Weathertop scene with Frodo, but forgot just how much he fumbled it:

Terror overcame Pippin and Merry and they threw themselves flat on the ground. Sam shrank to Frodo's side. Frodo was hardly less terrified than his companions; he was quaking as if he was bitter cold, but his terror was swallowed up in a sudden temptation to put on the Ring...~A Knife in the Dark

Whether you read Frodo's striking back as courageous, or to me it seems more like desperation by a cornered animal, the entire event paints a completely different picture than the movies. Merry, Pippin and Sam sort of stand in the way or strike back in the movies, Frodo drops his sword and falls to the ground. This not only embarrasses Frodo's character, but it also weakens the Nazgul as 3 of the hobbits courageously decide to fight back. Completely different from the books, which shows the Nazgul's effectiveness to demoralize their opponent. I mean 3 of their opponents just lose all will to resist, and it's highlights Frodo's will, even though it feels more like desperation.

Now with this entirely new picture of the Nazgul in my head, I read The Hunt for the Ring in the UT as a supplement to get a better idea of them and this stood out:

At length they returned; but the summer was now far waned, and the wrath and fear of Sauron was mounting. When they came back to the Wold September had come; and there they met messengers from Barad-dur conveying threats from their Master that filled even the Morgul-lord with dismay.

It has me wondering what was Sauron's relationship with the Nazgul (and vice versa) truly like? Sauron at this point obviously wasn't happy with their failure to find the Ring's location yet, and the threats even filled the 'Morgul-lord with dismay.' In kind of a similar point, Gandalf says that Gollum hates the ring, but will never be rid of his need for it.

Again, I don't really have any questions. I'm mostly just glad to shake the flawed image of the movie!Ringwraiths from my mind. From the UT there appears to be a dichotomy between them and Sauron, that I wasn't expecting. Any other comments and information about their effectiveness I would welcome!