Unfinished Tales - Part Three - IV - The Hunt for the Ring

[Inziladun]

Like G55, I like the extra information about the Ringwraiths. There's some good insight into the way they thought, and their relationship with their master.

I think it's amusing that Sauron let Gollum go in order to allow him to cause mischief, and maybe to lead Sauron to the Ring. Then Sauron got all in a bother when G. was captured by Aragorn, forcing Sauron to send out the Nazgûl to catch Gollum again. Gandalf described Sauron perfectly with "wise fool".

I've wondered about a particular passage for a while now.

But the Lord of Morgul...determined still to seek northward, hoping maybe to come upon Gollum as well as to discover the Shire. That this would prove to be not far from the hated land of Lórien seemed to him not unlikely, if it was not indeed within the fences of Galadriel. But the power of the White Ring he would not defy, not enter yet into Lórien.

(emphasis mine)

That leads one to believe the location of at least one of the Three, Nenya, was known to Sauron, when all indications in LOTR are that he merely had suspicions.
I guess that can be explained by supposing that the Witch-king sensed a great, dangerous power in Lórien, and wanted to avoid it for that reason, without knowing anything specific about it. That brings the question of the Nazgûl's potential to sense the Three. No, they hadn't been made by Sauron, and didn't have the portion of his power and will that called to Sauron's servants, yet the Three were still bound to the One. Is it odd that the Ringwraiths did not sense Nenya near Lórien, or Vilya when they were later near Rivendell? For that matter, Gandalf stood very close to the Witch-king at the Gate in Minas Tirith while either carrying or wielding Narya. Maybe the WK knew at that point who possessed all the Three, though he was unable to at least to give the knowledge of Narya to Sauron due to his destruction. Food for thought, anyway.