Unmasked?

[Rachel Port]

Re: bones. I can't help thinking of Ezekiel.

But bones is often used to mean remains, and did they embalm their dead? Didn't the Numenoreans? And I don't think Tolkien would bother saying the bones were stirred if he meant they were looted. He is more precise than that.

And Raupulfr (for lack of the proper keys) I agree, there wouldn't be blood - that's for life. They just need physical form.

 

[JJ48]

If the bones were animated, why not say something like, "the bones were stirred in the mounds, and then began walking in the hollow places with a clink of rings on cold fingers."?

I think that would put too much emphasis on the bones. The bones were animated to become the physical bodies of the wights, but the spirit is important too, and makes the wights more than just the bones. At least, that's how I understand the line.