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The Kingdoms of the Nine

Lieutenant of Dol Guldur
Gondor


Nov 22 2014, 3:59pm

Post #1 of 8 (1418 views)
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The Kingdoms of the Nine Can't Post

Since I try to avoid spoilers for the final film of the Middle-earth saga I "left" the Hobbit-Movie-Forum but decided to return and to focus on the many other forums this wonderful fan site has to offer. So I started to think about a few LOTR facts I always wanted to know more about. Questions that need to be answered, so to speak.

A question I always wondered about was: Which kingdoms of Men did the Nine belong to before they joined Sauron? Does Tolkien ever give a hint?

The only one I know of was Khamûl the Black Easterling who is obviously a former King of the Men of Rhûn.
But what about the other eight Nazgûl? I remember that three were of Númenorean descents. I always pictured the Witch-King of Angmar being one of them. In the movie-verse it appears that he indeed was a King of Angmar before he fell since he still had a body when they buried him in the High Fells. So in the movie-verse there might have been a Kingdom of Angmar who joined Sauron and was defeated by the "Men of the North" but the main question remains...

So which kingdoms of Men could that be? The different ones I remember from the books:

Harad
Thal (<-- is it a kingdom?)
Arnor
Gondor
Rohan
Númenor (<-- only one kingdom or more?)
Rhûn

Umbar (<-- is it a kingdom?)
Are there more I missed?

When I saw the image of the Nine in the latest BOTFA trailer the only one I could identify was the Easterling/Khamûl but all the others... could be from anywhere. Three look quite similar... these might be the three Númenorean kings right? But the other five? I know there are no clear answers given by Tolkien. It's more a mystery since we never learned much about their past but what do you thing?


"There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power."


Merovech
Bree

Nov 22 2014, 4:32pm

Post #2 of 8 (1005 views)
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In the BOFA trailer... [In reply to] Can't Post

There is a Ringwraith that looks to be wearing Haradrim armor on the top left.


Cari
Bree

Nov 23 2014, 10:07pm

Post #3 of 8 (937 views)
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This should have your answers [In reply to] Can't Post

I remembered this article from earlier this year and found it. You might find it rather interesting.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2014/02/25/87126-on-the-identity-and-origins-of-the-nazgul/


Morthoron
Gondor


Nov 24 2014, 3:17am

Post #4 of 8 (877 views)
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I would assume.... [In reply to] Can't Post

That at least two or three were of Numenorean stock, given Numenor's dominion over great swathes of what was to become Gondor, Umbar, Near Harad and even further south along the coast of Far Harad. One would think that at least one great king of the Haradrim was among them, another possibly of the Variags, and also ancestors of the tribes that made up the Balchoth and Wainriders.

Please visit my blog...The Dark Elf File...a slighty skewed journal of music and literary comment, fan-fiction and interminable essays.



Elizabeth
Half-elven


Nov 24 2014, 7:34am

Post #5 of 8 (894 views)
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Clickable link: [In reply to] Can't Post

On the identity and origins of the Nazgul








FoundEntwife
Rivendell


Dec 1 2014, 4:24am

Post #6 of 8 (758 views)
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it's [In reply to] Can't Post

tantalizing to see these lands and not know more abut them or the ringwraiths that might have come from them.

This tale grew in the telling. . .






http://pencilword.blogspot.com


squire
Half-elven


Dec 1 2014, 4:37am

Post #7 of 8 (772 views)
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And that's just the way he wanted it [In reply to] Can't Post

"Part of the attraction of The L.R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background : an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed." (JRRT, Letter 247, 1963)



squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd & 4th TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion and NOW the 1st BotR Discussion too! and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary


= Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.


Hamfast Gamgee
Tol Eressea

Dec 1 2014, 11:33pm

Post #8 of 8 (902 views)
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Or maybe [In reply to] Can't Post

That was Tolkien's way of saying that he didn't have a snowball's chance in in hell of finishing his work in his lifetime!


(This post was edited by Hamfast Gamgee on Dec 1 2014, 11:36pm)

 
 

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