The Nazgûl wore their rings long enough that their physical forms faded away until they had become entirely invisible to mortal eyes. Tolkien, Letter 246 They were by far the most powerful of his servants, and the most suitable for such a mission, since they were entirely enslaved to their Nine Rings, which he now himself held. any minor command of his that did not interfere with their errand - laid upon them by Sauron, who still through their nine rings (which he held) had primary control of their wills. In a letter from circa 1963 Tolkien says explicitly that Sauron held the rings: The Three are hidden still." Also, Galadriel told Frodo, "You saw the Eye of him that holds the Seven and the Nine." Yet at the Council of Elrond, Gandalf said that "the Nine the nazgûl keep". When Gandalf first told Frodo Baggins about the Rings of Power in The Fellowship of the Ring, he said, "The Nine he had gathered to himself the Seven also, or else they are destroyed. Some passages in the novel suggest that the Nazgûl wore their rings, while others suggest that Sauron actually held them. The corrupting effect of the rings extended the bearers' earthly lives far beyond their normal lifespans. The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", 346 The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Úlairi, the Enemy's most terrible servants darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thraldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. It was Sauron's design to control all these rings and their bearers through the One Ring, forged in secret for this purpose, but only the Nine succumbed completely to its power and its seduction: These were in addition to the three Celebrimbor forged, untainted by Sauron's evil, for the Elves. Sauron also gave seven Rings of Power to the Dwarves. Sauron gave each of them one of nine Rings of Power. They were once mortal Men, three being "great lords" of Númenor. According to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Nazgûl arose as Sauron's most powerful servants in the Second Age of Middle-earth.
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