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#81 |
Overshadowed Eagle
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
Posts: 3,857
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Yeah, sorry, Inziladun, I was lacking a bit in clarity there... the point I was driving at was that Tolkien (not Sauron) originally set things up so that female Ringwraiths were just as likely as male ones, and that it seems unlike him to completely drop such an idea.
Again, the later 'mass-produced' stuff was about Tolkien's intent. It's trivially true that Sauron could, physically, have made a female Nazgul; the question is whether Tolkien would have considered it. And I have new evidence! (What can I say? Dawn brings fresh light.) How do you feel about this? The Cats of Queen Beruthiel are a metaphor for the Nazgul. To get it in straight away - a metaphor by Tolkien, not by Beruthiel or the Gondorians. But... Beruthiel's cats are nine black and one (the leader) white. We think of Sauron as black or red, but he himself preferred to go in fair guise, and would doubtless use white as a colour if he could. The Black Riders, of course, are black. Weak, obviously... except that these cats are spies, just like the Nazgul, reporting back to their white Lord. Except that these are cats, in a Legendarium where the only other famous cat was Tevildo... who was later replaced by Sauron. Except that everyone feared the Cats, just like they did the Nazgul. Except that Beruthiel's name was written out of history (she is remembered by an obvious epithet, 'Angry Queen'), while Sauron purportedly refuses to let his be spoken (the Mouth aside). Except Beruthiel directly caused the end of the first line of the Kings of Gondor, while the Nazgul eventually ended the last... My point? In this short piece that has so many points of connection to the Nazgul, the lead character... is a woman. (Next time: the unusual place of Tar-Telperien, prospective Nazgul, in the narrative of Numenor. Maybe.) |
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#82 | |
Loremaster of Annśminas
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,307
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Quote:
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didnt know, and when he didnt know it. |
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#83 |
Loremaster of Annśminas
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,307
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Tar-Telperien died in SA 1731. She was notable for two things: being the second ruling Queen, and being the first monarch to cling to the Sceptre into her dotage (although she did finally relinquish it shortly before her death).
Now, besides the whole "death" part scotching the Nazgul theory, even if we were to go all Alex Jones and suggest she faked it somehow, there's also the fact that she very visibly aged-- not something a keeper of a Great Ring would or could do.
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didnt know, and when he didnt know it. |
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#84 | |
Overshadowed Eagle
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
Posts: 3,857
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Obviously the Tar-Nazgul theory assumes that she either faked her death, or was actually ousted in a palace coup that was hushed up. Since the only source texts I know of are of Numenorean origin (or rather, were written by Tolkien as in-universe documents of Numenorean origin...), they would be expected not to mention such a shameful event. hS |
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