Flammifer
Well-Known Member
The class went on at length about the hypothesis that the shadow (seen and felt) flying fast and against the wind, was a disembodied Nazgul not yet returned to Mordor.
The Nazgul have had plenty of time since the Fords of Bruinen to get back to Mordor, get mounted on Fell Beasts, and get back to Hollin.
There is no evidence that the shadow was incorporeal. It says that Frodo 'saw or felt' the shadow. If he saw it, it is not incorporeal, and could easily have been a Fell Beast.
I suggest that a mounted, scouting, Nazgul is a simpler and more straightforward explanation than a lingering disembodied Nazgul.
My suggestion is that Sauron sent one or more mounted Nazgul out to dispatch his spy network out towards Rivendell and environs. It was one of them who sent the crebain. It was one of them that sent the wargs over the mountains. Several of them also made a circuit of Rivendell, and this is one of those heading back.
As first-time readers, it makes much more sense that the Crebain are Sauron's spies than Sarumans (a movie induced fallacy in my opinion). We know that Sauron has spies. We have never heard of Saruman having spies. We know that Sauron has birds and beasts as spies. We have no conception that Saruman can control birds - that is Radagast's job.
So, it's a Nazgul, in my opinion. And a corporeal Nazgul riding on a Fell Beast. And the crebain are Sauron's, not Saruman's.
The Nazgul have had plenty of time since the Fords of Bruinen to get back to Mordor, get mounted on Fell Beasts, and get back to Hollin.
There is no evidence that the shadow was incorporeal. It says that Frodo 'saw or felt' the shadow. If he saw it, it is not incorporeal, and could easily have been a Fell Beast.
I suggest that a mounted, scouting, Nazgul is a simpler and more straightforward explanation than a lingering disembodied Nazgul.
My suggestion is that Sauron sent one or more mounted Nazgul out to dispatch his spy network out towards Rivendell and environs. It was one of them who sent the crebain. It was one of them that sent the wargs over the mountains. Several of them also made a circuit of Rivendell, and this is one of those heading back.
As first-time readers, it makes much more sense that the Crebain are Sauron's spies than Sarumans (a movie induced fallacy in my opinion). We know that Sauron has spies. We have never heard of Saruman having spies. We know that Sauron has birds and beasts as spies. We have no conception that Saruman can control birds - that is Radagast's job.
So, it's a Nazgul, in my opinion. And a corporeal Nazgul riding on a Fell Beast. And the crebain are Sauron's, not Saruman's.