Rings of Power talk! - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Radtech51 · 11-27-2012, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Ingenious... but I'm afraid it won't wash. The quotes jallanite links to make that plain:

As you see, even if you suppose "the Seven" to be the Dwarf-lords(!), the information is given several other ways that won't bear even that interpretation.

I tend to agree, the evidence tends to supports the theory of a contradiction in the book favoring the fact that J.R.R Tolkien did make a mistake.

Inziladun · 11-27-2012, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radtech51

I tend to agree, the evidence tends to supports the theory of a contradiction in the book favoring the fact that J.R.R Tolkien did make a mistake.

One more possible explanation for Gandalf's statement "The Nine the Nazgûl keep", is that maybe it was Gandalf's (admittedly unclear) way of saying "The Nine are accounted for; they are forever associated with the Nazgûl".
Speculation? Yes? Was the passage in question very possibly a mere uncorrected slip? Yes. Still, like I said, I like to seek "in-world" answers to such questions as this whenever I can.

Alfirin · 11-27-2012, 10:19 PM

I would also like to point out that,while unlikey (in that it would be a deviation from the subject of the conversation) in a certain sense, the quote as it stands makes sense in another manner, that of meaning "The Nine are keptthe Nazgul", not literally, but figuratively. In a certian sense, each of the Nazgul is kept by his ring. The rings keep them in the sense of "keeping them slaves". They also likely "keep them" as in "preserve" them (out of all the ringbearers in the history, The Nazul are the ONLY ones (apart maybe from Gollum) whose time on earth is extended sufficiently that we KNOW thier rings have allowed them to "live past thier time" (Bilbo lives quite long for a hobbit, in fact as long as the longest lived hobbit known to that date, but the very fact that there was a hobbit before him that matched that age indicates that that lifespan is not outside of the range of normal hobbit possibility (i.e. that he could not have lived the exact same amount of time had he never worn the ring).

11-27-2012, 10:19 PM	#3
Alfirin Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 435	I would also like to point out that,while unlikey (in that it would be a deviation from the subject of the conversation) in a certain sense, the quote as it stands makes sense in another manner, that of meaning "The Nine are keptthe Nazgul", not literally, but figuratively. In a certian sense, each of the Nazgul is kept by his ring. The rings keep them in the sense of "keeping them slaves". They also likely "keep them" as in "preserve" them (out of all the ringbearers in the history, The Nazul are the ONLY ones (apart maybe from Gollum) whose time on earth is extended sufficiently that we KNOW thier rings have allowed them to "live past thier time" (Bilbo lives quite long for a hobbit, in fact as long as the longest lived hobbit known to that date, but the very fact that there was a hobbit before him that matched that age indicates that that lifespan is not outside of the range of normal hobbit possibility (i.e. that he could not have lived the exact same amount of time had he never worn the ring).