Nazgul Perception

[Sean]

Regarding the cry of the Nazgul when crossing the road. I do not believe there is clear evidence to say anything for certain, though based on the other encounters of the Nazgul and what little we know of how they perceive the world I was always under the impression that they were able to weakly sense living things around them which is mainly the hobbits and Strider in the wild. “We can feel their presence - it troubled our hearts, as soon as we came here and before we saw them; they feel ours more keenly.” –Strider. I took this as a way of the Nazgul have of perceiving those around them, which becomes greater with “negative” feelings, such as dismay and fear, and can be lessened with positive feelings, such as the hobbits in the Shire and the defense of the dell then Strider was telling the tale of Tinuviel. When crossing the road, the feelings of dread and fear where heightened and a nearby Nazgul became aware of this and sent the cry to signal to any others that the group is in a state of vulnerability. This does not necessarily mean the Nazgul knew anything about what was causing this fear, but the cry would be a signal to others to search and pursue at this time. -Just and interpenetration which did not seem to be touched on in the last class.

2nd question from way back: Do we have evidence that Luthien was called Tinúviel before Beren? I know if the poem he calls her by her elvish name, but I always took it that he gave her the name and it then became her elvish name in later retellings. I have been confused by this previously but I thought it was much more powerful that it was Beren who named her and other than confusing lines of text I never remember any evidence confirming that she was called Tinúviel before Beren in either the LOTR or in other writings, from the Silmarillion based material.

 

[dietlbomb]

Later on in the story we learn that the black riders have quite good eyesight, except it's only good in the wraith world. While Frodo is suffering from the Morgul blade's wound, he is moving into the wraith world, so much that by the time he encounters the black riders at the Ford of Bruinen, he is totally visible to them.

Is it possible that Frodo is visible to the black riders when the party crosses the road? I imagine that Frodo wouldn't have to be particularly bright to stand out against the blackness of the wraith world. Maybe a black rider standing on Weathertop can see him.

One other possibility: maybe the black riders have enlisted some (non-horse) spies. The Lone Lands are big, so it's not necessary that the narrator would know of their existence.

Either way, I still think the timing of the cry as the party crosses the road is a coincidence. It just makes the scene creepier. Normally crossing a road isn't very interesting.

 

[RanveighK]

A totally pedestrian take on this...when a horse and rider are well matched and spend enough time together, the rider will often be able to interpret the behaviour of the horse. Horses are primarily prey, and therefore hyper vigilant concerning their surroundings. It would be feasible that a horse could detect stress/fear in the environment from a Hobbit and transfer that information to a rider.