# What happened to the Ringwraiths after Sauron snuffed it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** middle-earth\ **Created:** [December 6, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140 "2006-12-06T23:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/1 "2006-12-06T23:06:02Z")
Yeah, I could read the books. Again. But who has time for that when I have you foax? If I remember rightly, the RWs were indeed adversely affected when Frodo melted the ring, but I don’t recall exactly how that was. So, what, specifically would happen to the remaining 8 RWs upon the destruction of The One Ring? And why? I ask because … I really shouldn’t say this for fear of being burned as a heretic but … I’m putting together a Neverwinter Nights module for Minas Morgul at the dawn of the Fourth Age. It’ll require a bit of … license … since the last superevil Steward of MM met his demise shortly before his boss was greased, and I want to know if some/all of the remaining 8 can succeed him. Without his Bitchin’ Witch-King SuperPowers, of course. Central to this, I presume, would be the efficacy of the remaining slave rings without a master. if they still work, well hey–Wraiths on wings without supervision could make all kinds of mischief on what’s left of Middle Earth. 🆒 (BTW, is Sauron now necessarily dead? Or is he just really messed up. Mostly Dead. Again. Like after he met Isildur?) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/2 "2006-12-06T23:10:53Z")
I was actually talking to someone about this last night. In theory the power of the ring is what kept the Ring Wraiths going, but when I ref’d Middle Earth Campaigns I fudged and had the #2 Ring Wraith Gothmog and an additional Ring Wraith I called the Shadow Master survive and recoup enough to cause trouble by 115 Fourth Age. The Ring Wraiths were a vital link to the older evil. It really helped the campaigns. Good luck with you campaign, I will be restarting a Middle Earth Campaign within a few months. Jim ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/3 "2006-12-06T23:14:48Z")
In the film, they crash to the ground. In the book, there is no specific mention: ‘the servants of Sauron fell with him’ is my recollection. Given they were men whose life was unnaturally prolonged by the One Ring, it seems eminently reasonable that they died when the Ring dissolved. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/4 "2006-12-06T23:16:11Z")
I hit submit to soon: Sauron is really, really dead this time. Using him will be a cop out. Feel free to have Dragons scattered around some of the Northern Mountains. The last known where abouts of the Mouth of Sauron are unknown, I played him out as a powerful Liche who new where to lift some interesting items out of Morder before he fled Morder. Remember the story of the two Blue Wizards is yet untold. They travels to the East and could be used in a variety of ways. Do not forget that Shelob is alive and angry and more cautious. Could be a fun adventure when the characters get powerful. Clearing the Barrow Downs is another high powered adventure to consider. My campaign will begin fighting an evil wizard organizing a group of Goblin Kingdoms on the North by Angmar and Gundabad. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/5 "2006-12-06T23:24:53Z")
IIRC, Sauron wasn’t annihilated but was rendered utterly powerless forever. It’s just conceivable that someone with enough power could summon what was left of his spirit if they wanted knowledge that Sauron possessed. Shelob lives? I coulda’ sworn she was killed d-e-a-d. Yeh, there are definitely dragons, but I thought Smaug was the last of the “Great” dragons? And there’s always orcs. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/6 "2006-12-06T23:33:20Z")
Well, Gandalf said that that a fall into “nothingness” awaited the ringwraith he confronted in Minas Tirith. But since the Nazgul were originally men, I’d expect their spirits went to Mandos for a time, then left the circles of the world. Just like the spirits of other men. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/7 "2006-12-07T00:35:40Z")
[QUOTE=glee] In the film, they crash to the ground. In the book, there is no specific mention: ‘the servants of Sauron fell with him’ is my recollection. Given they were men whose life was unnaturally prolonged by the One Ring, it seems eminently reasonable that they died when the Ring dissolved. [/QUOTE] Near the end of the chapter “Mount Doom” (p. 276 of ROTK in my edition): “And into the heart of the storm…the Nazgul game, shooting like flaming bolts, as caught in the fiery ruin of hill and sky they crackled, withered, and went out.” I always interpreted that to mean the Nazgul arrived at Mount Doom just in time to get crisped out of existence in the eruption following the destruction of the Ring. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/8 "2006-12-07T00:48:46Z")
What **ryobserver** said. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/9 "2006-12-07T01:10:15Z")
Although, since the Professor neglected to write _“Frodo watched in horror and disgust as one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight fiery forms plunged into the wreckage of Oroduin, shrieking in pain and release.”_, you might be able to get away with claiming that a couple weren’t accounted for, and are now annoying the good folk of Neverwinter Night-Land. Do the Appendices have anything related to the cleansing of Minas Morgul? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/10 "2006-12-07T02:47:16Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Do the Appendices have anything related to the cleansing of Minas Morgul? [/QUOTE] It was one of the duties of the Prince of Ithilien (Faramir, don’tcha know) to clear Minas Morgul of the fear and dread that still lurked there. But it was noted that long ages would need to pass before anyone would be able or willing to dwell there again. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/11 "2006-12-07T03:00:22Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] Shelob lives? I coulda’ sworn she was killed d-e-a-d. [/QUOTE] When Sam put on, the ring he could hear her whimpering in whatever hole she dragged herself into after the ‘stinged’ her. Perhaps she kicked it later but there’s no mention of it. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/12 "2006-12-07T03:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] It was one of the duties of the Prince of Ithilien (Faramir, don’tcha know) to clear Minas Morgul of the fear and dread that still lurked there. But it was noted that long ages would need to pass before anyone would be able or willing to dwell there again. [/QUOTE] Actually what happened is that the Cuenta Verde estates were built on that location, to the great regret of the Freeling family, with little Carol Anne in particular bearing the brunt of the consequences of that fatal decision. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/13 "2006-12-07T04:12:56Z")
There is certainly one of the nine rings that escaped the eruption: it’s presumably lying there on the Pelennor Fields, where Eowyn slew the Captain… ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/14 "2006-12-07T04:19:21Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Actually what happened is that the Cuenta Verde estates were built on that location, to the great regret of the Freeling family, with little Carol Anne in particular bearing the brunt of the consequences of that fatal decision. [/QUOTE] Well, that’s kind of where I was thinking of taking it. Ya, Witch King is dead and maybe the corporeal beasts were destroyed under Faramir’s lead, but in the absence of human habitation it is a certainty that brazillions of disenfranchised orcses & uruks & evil wotnots would have wandered out of Mordor and into the ruined, empty and altogether evil city. I see room for _noncorporeals_ to linger and reign over and _modify_ the new settlers. And the powerless au de Sauron could be channelled into an advisory position until he finally tricks someone into leeching some power his way. Maybe by way of his possessing a new witch king whom he had groomed and advised into a powerful being. He was always a sneaky bastard. I would really like to employ some Nazgul, but to say that some missed getting deep fried at Mt. Doom would seem to imply that they did not make as much haste in that direction as they could have. That they held back, for obviously selfish reasons, and allowed the ring to be destroyed. Hardly the actions of a slave to Sauron’s will. Do we know that all the dwarf rings were eaten by dragons along with their bearers? I wonder how likely a ring bearer would be to face a dragon himself when all he’d have to do is “wish a few dozen of his subjects would do it.” Was Spiro Agnew a Nazgul? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/15 "2006-12-07T04:21:06Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] There is certainly one of the nine rings that escaped the eruption: it’s presumably lying there on the Pelennor Fields, where Eowyn slew the Captain… [/QUOTE] Hmmm…I like the way you think. Maybe found by Faramir’s kid–the budding young ‘wizard’s pupil!’ ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/16 "2006-12-07T04:50:02Z")
Didn’t Galadriel say that the remaining rings would gradually lose their power after the One Ring is destroyed? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/17 "2006-12-07T05:06:36Z")
All of the Rings were “powered” by the One, even the three Elven Rings. When the One was destroyed, they lost their power and the things created with them were destroyed. Barad-dur fell, the Nazgul finally died, the enchantments protecting Lothlorien faded. Even had any particular Ring survived (as the one on the Pellenor Fields) it would have been just a piece of jewelry. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/18 "2006-12-07T06:47:14Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Even had any particular Ring survived (as the one on the Pellenor Fields) it would have been just a piece of jewelry. [/QUOTE] Yes, but a piece of jewelry with an important magical history, quite suitable for use as a … dare I say it … horcrux? Yes, I believe I have a new theory to astound my muggle friends! ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/19 "2006-12-07T07:43:42Z")
You need any voiceovers? I’m not a pro or anything, but I can do a pretty good Saruman impersonation, Balrog growling, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140/20 "2006-12-07T07:46:00Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] All of the Rings were “powered” by the One [/QUOTE] Canon? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-ringwraiths-after-sauron-snuffed-it/383140.md?page=2)