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Wraith of Angmar
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Wolves
Ok! Ok! Now that I've argued my point into a deep hole its time for me to reinvent my opinion.
As strange as it may seem, I have long read the name 'Necromancer' but never associated Sauron with having such powers even though the Nazgul would seem to be pretty obvious evidence of power over death. In recent posts this simple fact has finally sunk in and I now am thinking along the following line which likely echoes what has been said above by others:
The wolves were the reanimated flesh of wolves or Wargs. They were prowling Hollin as part of Sauron's many-pronged plan to sweep the entire region for the ring bearer. He knew the Ring was in Rivendell, and he presumed that eventually it would be taken out of the Elven valley.
Such parties of lifeless creatures would make an excellent seek-and-destroy tool. Fortunately for Frodo and his hobbit friends, the wolves didn't find just hobbits.
They were defeated with a combination of conventional and magical tools.... swords, arrows, axes (both magical and non-magical) and wizard's fire.
The fact that they withdrew and did not return suggests they were not directly controlled, else they could have been thrown at the party again and again. Unless, of course, they were tools only available to the controller at night. And the Company did not allow the wolves another night.
The Barrow-Wight (RKittle)
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