Ringwraiths!!! Please READ!

[Ranger]

In my human ignorance i may have overlooked somthing, but i was wondering, do the ringwraiths, the nazgul still have position of there respective rings, and if so, what would happen if it was removed, would they perish, or just lose there physical form, just as sauron did when the one ring was removed from his hand by isildur, or would some special qualitly that would only apply to the one ring be the result of saurons disembodiment and not utter destruction. If any of what i listed above would apply please tell me so, i would dearly appreciate any input on this matter. Thank You

[Gothmog]

For myself I think that the Wraiths retained the rings. I can see no reason for Sauron to take them back and it is possible that without the Rings the Wraiths would die, they are after all is said and done only Mortals. Another point, if Sauron had taken the rings back why did he not give them to another nine mortals and thereby increase the number of Nazgul at his command.

Just my not so humble opinion.:D

and welcome to the forum.

[Lantarion]

I also think that the Nazgul wear their Nine Rings. But I'm not sure what would happen if they would take them off (if it's even true that they do wear them). I think they would not die straightaway, because they have not put a lot of their own power into their Rings; as they didn't have any magical power before they recieved the Nine. But I think they would lose their physical forms at least, yes, because the touch of Sauron has tainted the Nine Rings to corrupt and destroy the mind and body of their wielders.
Welcome to th forum, Ranger! :)

[Cian]

The bulk of the quotes speak, Imo, to Sauron taking back the Nine Rings after the loss of the One (esp. UT and Letters). The Ringwraiths could have become permanently invisible by then.

[Dagorlad]

How can we know? I won't even give my opinion, because without the facts, it's worthless. I have not seen or do not recall any clear quotes saying anything about it. I will bet any money that nothing is said about it in the LoTR, or the Hobbit.

[Olaf]

If I remember, the Ringwraiths were kings and warlords who wore the nine rings of power. Sauron's life force was connected to his ring and this feature was also instilled into the rings of the nine, when sauron took control of them using the One ring.
When they died they did not "pass on", but became ghost-like creatures (RingWRAITHs).
When the One Ring was destroyed, so were they shortly after. To remove the ring from a wraith? It might be possible, if it wasn't fused to the Wraith itself. They might lose their form for awhile, but they wouldn't "die". This happened to the five unforunate Ringwraiths who didn't look both ways before crossing the ford in their pursuit of Frodo.

[Pops]

Orginally posted by Grond in another thread:

"PGT, the HoME and Tolkien's letters make it clear that Sauron possessed the Nazgul's rings. That is why no ring clanged to the ground when the Witch-king was killed. The author's logic behind this was that Sauron had no mechanism to control the nine without the One. He therefore, took the nine and kept them. He couldn't give them to others for fear that he would loose his hold on the original nine and have no control whatsoever on the new nine. Get it? I'm not the clearest of communicators.

But that was how it was explained. Of course, if Sauron ever got the One back, he would have had other options. 1) returning the nine to the Nazgul and they would have become real, real bad-a**es or 2) maybe even start another nine jr. nazgul. I don't know if that was ever addressed by the author.

Hope this helps. Many of the loose end questions are answered in JRRT's letters and in the Histories of Middle-earth. You might want to add them to your collection if you haven't already. I love mine!"

That should answer your question.