who are the nazgul?

[Ivriniel]

Originally Posted by mhagain

It should be obvious that the "long life" argument is bogus. If the other 6 Ringwraiths don't need to have long life, why should the 3 Numenoreans be a special exception?

I don't think people are saying 'long life implies head of the Nazgul'. Perhaps I haven't made my point clear. I am saying--they [the chosen nine in their mortal origin] can't have too long-a-life, given 700 years from 1695 to first appearance of Nazgul. If it was a line of Elros, (as in undiluted), you're looking at 400 years of normal life, before, 'stretching'. That's only 300 years--not enough, IMO. It was an argument about the 'who' of the bloodline of the Numenorean who would have been the Witchking.

I believe that the longer the life of the individual, the longer to turn Wraith like [unless] they were naturally more evil to start with. As the Gandalf quote implies about native strength and Laurelin Shelobs, an Ungoliant takes more to syphon from the exit end of the spider, to fill the Two Trees.

Make sense?