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Old 08-07-2020, 01:54 PM   #3
Pitchwife
Wight of the Old Forest
 
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall
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Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Pitchwife is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.
Was there a single character in the book whom Jackson et. al. didn't distort and diminish? Maybe Bill the Pony, I dunno.

IMO JK Rowlings Dementors came closer to the essence of the Ringwraiths (and were probably, let's put it politely, inspired by them) than what we were shown in the movies, with regard to their main weapon being terror. Which makes it all the more remarkable how Maggot, a simple hobbit farmer, found the courage to stand up to a Black Rider and tell him to get off his land, and quickly, or else! It's interesting how the Nazgûl grew in stature during Book One - or, you might say, how more and more of their true nature was revealed both to and by the author - , from their first appearance, surrounded by an air of vague unease and creepiness, to the double climax in A Knife in the Dark and Flight to the Ford.

(Wholly d'accord with everything Morth said above about the Ford scene! The Witch-King striking Frodo dumb was perhaps the most scary bit, it's like you're trying to expel the Devil but he won't let you utter the holy names. (A Catholic education is hard to shake off.)

About the Nine and Sauron, I think you're spot-on with bringing up Gollum, Boro. They were probably like him, only far further gone in their addiction to their rings and without a chance of ever regaining them. Maybe their relationship to Sauron was something like between a junkie and their dealer - I mean, deep down they must have known that their rings would never be given back, but they just couldn't help themselves doing his bidding. Also maybe he could use the bond between them and their rings to do things to their spirits. It doesn't bear thinking about too closely.
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Und aus dem Erebos kamen viele seelen herauf der abgeschiedenen toten.- Homer, Odyssey, Canto XI
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