In The Lord of the Rings, the Nazgûl were The Nine mortal men who Sauron ensnared by giving to them nine Rings of Power. Because the Ringwraiths were once mortal men, it makes some wonder what The Nine were like before they became slaves to the Ring. And was there any significant event that made the Men become the Nazgûl, or did this process happen over an extended period of time?
In The Lord of the Rings, the Nazgûl are known all throughout Middle Earth and have been given many names. The ghostly riders also go by the Ringwraiths, the Black Riders, the Úlairi, the Fell Riders, the Black Wings, the Nine Servants, and also simply The Nine. The Ringwraiths also have a terrifying shrieking sound they make that instills fear in those who hear it, and so in The Return of the King, there was also an Orc who called the Nazgûl “filthy Shriekers.” All but one Ringwraith had little to no identity—the one Ringwraith to be named in Tolkien’s work was the second in command called Khamûl. However, the leader of The Nine was referred to by a few titles—the most common being Number One (translation of the Orcish word Âsh), The Black Captain, The First of the Nine (a name given by the Elves), The Lord of the Nazgûl, and The Witch-king of Angmar.
Not much is known about the Men before they became the Dark Lord’s servants, but of The Nine, three were lords of the Númenóreans. One of The Nine (the second in command) was also a king of the Easterlings. The rings gave the Men great riches, power, and long life. They were also able to see things in the spiritual world those of the physical world were normally blind to. Their lives became thin, sort of stretched—like butter scraped over too much bread. And then, their bodies faded away. They became forever invisible, linked to the Ring, and after hundreds of years they became wraiths, whose entire existence was to serve the keeper of the Ring—Sauron.
The whereabouts of the Nazgûl were not noted in any book during the Dark Years. And after the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, the wraiths went unheard of. This is most likely because when Sauron was weak, the power of their rings was weak too causing them to fade away into darkness. The Nazgûl were only visible because of the clothing they wore—black cloaks and armor. They were said to have hypnotic eyes that could still be seen under their cloaks, and no mortal could touch them for if the Ringwraiths were angered, they would become engulfed in flames. Only certain weapons were able to cause them damage, like those from the ancient Elves or Dúnedain.
The Ringwraiths themselves also carried different weapons which had venomous properties, were poisonous, or were even of flames—all of which were very strong. Because the Nazgûl were of both the physical and spiritual world, the deadly beings had more than physical weapons. It is said they also possessed magical weapons and had the ability to cause great terror in close proximity. The Nazgûl have a magical “weapon” called the Black Breath, which was poisonous if breathed. Tolkien said the fear the Ringwraiths inspired was “enormously increased in darkness.”
Perhaps another reason the Nazgûl disappeared after the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was that they mainly existed within the Wraith-world—which was a spiritual ghost-like world that was directly linked to and controlled by Sauron. Because the Ringwraiths were wispy shells of Men, Sauron gave to them armor and cloaks so they could interact with the physical (or Seen world), without which they would be unable to touch or interact with anything. This is what makes them especially hard to battle. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn is seen battling the Nazgûl, and they appear to have been defeated only to return later with more strength. What actually happened was the Nazgûl’s disguises were destroyed, causing them to have to retreat and get more armor from Sauron.
Simply being in the presence of the Ringwraiths for extended periods of time was said to be deadly to mortals. Their proximity caused disorientation and illness. Tolkien has described ‘fear’ to be the Nazgûl’s greatest weapon since the fear they inspired in others was debilitating. As mentioned, not much is known about the Men before they became Ringwraiths, and not much is known about the Ringwraith’s early years either. They first made an appearance in the Second Age as Sauron’s primary servants, but were later dispersed and largely unheard of. They did not appear again until the Third Age when Sauron began to gain strength again. When Éowyn (with the help of Merry) defeated the Witch-king, the remaining eight Nazgûl rode Fell beasts during the Battle of the Black Gate.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, they served as Sauron’s air defense against the Eagles during the fight until Sauron became aware of Frodo—who had just claimed the Ring for himself. Sauron sent the Nazgûl to Mount Doom and ordered the greatest speed possible. When the Ring was destroyed, the Nazgûl were also destroyed along with their Fell beast mounts.