The Lesser Rings

[Lalwendë]

Thanks for that! Located it and have copied it here:

'When the Ringwraiths swept by, your friends ran up behind. Close to the Ford there is a small hollow beside the road masked by a few stunted trees. There they hastily kindled fire; for Glorfindel knew that a flood would come down, if the Riders tried to cross, and then he would have to deal with any that were left on his side of the river. The moment the flood appeared, he rushed out, followed by Aragorn and the others with flaming brands. Caught between fire and water, and seeing an Elf-lord revealed in his wrath, they were dismayed, and their horses were stricken with madness.

This is also relevant:

You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in
the wraith-world yourself, and they might have seized you. You could see them, and they could see you.'
'I know,' said Frodo. 'They were terrible to behold! But why could we all see their horses?'
'Because they are real horses; just as the black robes are robes that they wear to give shape to their nothingness when they have dealings with the living.'

Yet it was the 'Morgul-blade' that was almost the cause of Frodo becoming a wraith, not the Ring, though that helped the Ringwraiths to hurt him. Again, an artefact with magic of some kind wrought into it? Or just a blade which inflicted a terrible injury, but with the consequence that as a Ringbearer he would become a wraith rather than die?

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Yet it was the 'Morgul-blade' that was almost the cause of Frodo becoming a wraith, not the Ring, though that helped the Ringwraiths to hurt him. Again, an artefact with magic of some kind wrought into it? Or just a blade which inflicted a terrible injury, but with the consequence that as a Ringbearer he would become a wraith rather than die?

There is no indication that a wound from a ‘Morgul-knife’ with pieces of the blade within would have gradually changed only a Ring bearer into a wraith. It seems to me likely enough that if the leader of the Ringwraiths had stabbed Sam, or Merry, or Pippin, or Aragorn, the same thing would have happened to that person.

The part word morgul- means ‘black magic’ (mor ‘black’ + gûl ‘evil sorcery’).

Possibly because Frodo was a Ring-bearer he had increased susceptibility to a morgûl wound. Or possibly the Ring actually helped Frodo to resist the enchantment. We are not told either way. Aragorn’s athelas helped, but some fragments of the blade had gotten in too deep for Aragorn to find them.

But a knife that was otherwise normal but inflicted a horrible wound would probably not be called ‘Morgul-’ by Gandalf, its blade would not have vanished away in the light, and Aragorn and Glorfindel both would not have been so concerned. Glorfrindel in particular refers to signs written on the surviving hilt which he doubts the others can see but which are evil.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Yet it was the 'Morgul-blade' that was almost the cause of Frodo becoming a wraith, not the Ring, though that helped the Ringwraiths to hurt him. Again, an artefact with magic of some kind wrought into it? Or just a blade which inflicted a terrible injury, but with the consequence that as a Ringbearer he would become a wraith rather than die?

Originally Posted by jallanite

There is no indication that a wound from a ‘Morgul-knife’ with pieces of the blade within would have gradually changed only a Ring bearer into a wraith. It seems to me likely enough that if the leader of the Ringwraiths had stabbed Sam, or Merry, or Pippin, or Aragorn, the same thing would have happened to that person.

The part word morgul- means ‘black magic’ (mor ‘black’ + gûl ‘evil sorcery’).

Possibly because Frodo was a Ring-bearer he had increased susceptibility to a morgûl wound. Or possibly the Ring actually helped Frodo to resist the enchantment. We are not told either way. Aragorn’s athelas helped, but some fragments of the blade had gotten in too deep for Aragorn to find them.

But a knife that was otherwise normal but inflicted a horrible wound would probably not be called ‘Morgul-’ by Gandalf, its blade would not have vanished away in the light, and Aragorn and Glorfindel both would not have been so concerned. Glorfrindel in particular refers to signs written on the surviving hilt which he doubts the others can see but which are evil.

The "Morgul-blade", I have always believed is simply called after Minas Morgul, the "capital city of the Ringwraith", so it would be the place of its making (or the place where it "comes from" in the eyes of the outside world). But of course that does not dismiss the fact that Morgul does mean "black sorcery", and of course that is where the name of Minas Morgul (or Imlad Morgul) comes from.

But yes, the essential part is correct: the blade would have made anyone a Wraith in time. We are told about the shard that remained inside Frodo for a long time, and was traveling towards his heart. But I think the Ring sped up the process. Simply put: if somebody keeps wearing the Ring for long, he starts fading. If someone is stabbed by a Morgul-Blade, he starts fading. This is just adding the two of them together.

For reference, emphasis mine:

Originally Posted by LotR, Book II, Chapter I: Many Meetings

"Elrond is a master of healing, but the weapons of our Enemy are deadly. To tell you the truth, I had very little hope; for I suspected that there was some fragment of the blade still in the closed wound. But it could not be found until last night. Then Elrond removed a splinter. It was deeply buried, and it was working inwards."
Frodo shuddered, remembering the cruel knife with notched blade that had vanished in Strider's hands. "Don't be alarmed!" said Gandalf. "It is gone now. It has been melted. And it seems that Hobbits fade very reluctantly. I have known strong warriors of the Big People who would quickly have been overcome by that splinter, which you bore for seventeen days."
"What would they have done to me?" asked Frodo. "What were the Riders trying to do?"
"They tried to pierce your heart with a Morgul-knife which remains in the wound. If they had succeeded, you would have become like they are, only weaker and under their command."

[littlemanpoet]

Makes one wonder how many weak wraiths were skulking around Mordor or elsewhere.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Makes one wonder how many weak wraiths were skulking around Mordor or elsewhere.

I am pretty sure there are several topics about it... I recall participating in at least one such discussion, if not more. But I think the Morgul-blades (especially if they were "destroyed upon use" type of weapons) were usually used only in special circumstances, against special enemies... not a thing you'd waste on everyone just to make an army of small wraiths... after all, the process of making the blades probably was not so simple...

[littlemanpoet]

Good point.

[Lalwendë]

This makes me wonder if the blade was kept for specific use upon the Ringbearer once he was found. Presumably the Ringwraiths would know that such a weapon would fade once used, so it wouldn't be whipped out just to use on any common or garden enemy?

Have we gone too far off topic yet?

[jallanite]

From The War of the Jewels (HOME 10), page 383:

In S. the word gûl (equivalent to Q ñóle) had less laudatory associations, being used mostly of secret knowledge especially such as possessed by artificers who made wonderful things; and the word became further darkened by its frequent use in the compound morgul ‘black arts’, applied to the delusory or perilous arts and knowledge derived from Morgoth.

This explanation suggests, but does not prove, that when Gandalf uses the term “Morgul-knife”, he is referring to the knife being a knife of black magic rather than to it being made in Minas Morgul. Of course Gandalf might have meant both at once.