Which men received the Rings of Power and who are the Nazgul?
All nine Nazgul were once men, but Sauron used the rings of power to corrupt them and make them his servants in the Second Age of Middle-earth.
Amazon Prime Video’s The Rings of Power series is a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Based on the author’s work, the series is set during the Second Age, a period of relative peace. The adjective is “relative”, as something is brewing in Middle-earth.
This was the time when the dark lord Sauron rose up using the power of the rings. The Nazgul, also known as the ringwraiths, were not originally beings linked to darkness.
It all begins with the forging of the rings of power. Celebrimbor, of the house of Fëanor (the same family that has a bitter feud with Galadriel), ruled Eregion in the Second Age. This prince was the creator of the three rings that the elves received, Vilya, Nenya and Narya.
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Which men received the Rings of Power and who are the Nazgul?
However, Celebrimbor forged other rings that ended up in the hands of Sauron. These were the nine given to men, all of them monarchs of different territories. With Sauron ready to take over the world, he made the One Ring, destined to dominate all the others.
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The corruption of the rings: From kings to slaves
Blinded by ambition, money and fame, the bond of the One grew ever tighter, corrupting the Nine. Over time, the rulers became mere slaves to the Dark Lord, Ringwraiths able to sense any who wore the Ring. Unwittingly, they became forever bound to Sauron’s influence, and when he was gone, so were the Nine.
J.R.R. Tolkien did not name any of these kings, nor any of the Nazgul, with the exception of the Witch-king of Angmar and Khamûl, the latter Sauron’s lieutenant in the Third Age and (very briefly) Lord of the Nazgul. They all vanished without a trace when their lord was defeated after Men and Elves joined forces in battle. Unfortunately, Isildur, King of Arnor and Gondor, was unable to destroy the One Ring at Mount Doom. He chose to keep it for himself, and he too was corrupted by its twisted power.
Sauron and the Nazgul managed to survive, their fates being inextricably linked to that of the One Ring, even if they lost their spectral forms. However, when the powerful ring passed from the hands of Gollum to those of Bilbo, its return to the evil lord seemed more than guaranteed. The rest we see in The Lord of the Rings, when the hobbit Frodo Baggins joins the company and succeeds where Isildur failed. With the One Ring destroyed, the spirits of the Nazgul evaporated with that of their master.