The Nazgul and Crossing Water

Croaker

Member
I'm a couple weeks behind so I don't know if this has come up yet, but it was mentioned in passing a few episodes ago: Why can't the Nazgul cross water? The concept that spirits - or at least ghosts - can't cross water isn't just a medieval one, but goes back to ancient Greece.

I read a paper in the Journal of Biblical Literature about the walk on water scene in Mark, in which the disciples exclaim they saw a ghost. The idea to the original readers in the Roman world is an absurdity, because everyone knew ghosts couldn't walk on water: only deities could. (The passage in Mark then has all the hallmarks of a typical ghost story in the Greco-Roman world, but it's not a ghost. Thus Mark turns the genre on its head, amusingly - to the 1st Century reader- demonstrating the denseness of the disciples while surprisingly revealing the deity of Jesus).

The Greeks believed that water served as the place of destruction for the dead and also functioned as a boundary.

I attached the paper, which goes into Greek and Roman sources about these ideas, and maybe these sources informed the Medieval era and also Tolkien's ideas, and may be of interest during the flight to the ford, if I'm not too late!
 

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Interesting! It isn't super clear in the books, but the impression I get is that they do have to cross running water to go up into Eriador, however they're reluctant to do so.
The Greeks believed that water served as the place of destruction for the dead and also functioned as a boundary.
Is that a link to the Ringwraiths being reluctant to cross running water? They're more-or-less dead...

And the cursed Dead Men of Dunharrow do walk (and ride ghost-horses??) on water. How would that relate to the literary and mythical precedents? Is it a useful expedient for the story, or does it have some significance, such as distinguishing them from the Ringwraiths?
 
So funny that I was visiting this forum today to post this exact article. (Jason Combs is a friend who was just behind me in the same PhD program, which is how I knew of the article.) I just had to go back to find the podcast episode to relocate the discussion since I'd been driving when listening.

In any case, I definitely agree that Tolkien is operating with typical classical boundaries in his portrayal of the wraiths having trouble with running water.
 
That's pretty amazing you were thinking of the same article and you know Jason Combs. I've studied (in an online setting) under Dr. Michael Heiser, who included it in one of his online classes years ago.
 
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