The battle at Weathertop– Hobbits, Aragorn and The Nazgul
I must honestly say, I was disappointed by the way the battle at Weathertop was portrayed in the recent movie Fellowship of The Ring. In the movie version, Aragorn engages in a fiery display of melee combat single handedly driving off seven Nazgul including the Witch King who ruled Angmar.
In the book, events were portrayed with much more realism. A realism the movie, in this case, failed to capture.
First Point- The Ring
The Nazgul engaged in their ambush because they were in pursuit of the Ring. Defeat and victory was not their goal, their goal was retrieval of the One Ring.
Second Point- "A Knife in the Dark"
The Nazgul's attack was staged in darkness outside of a ring of light cast by the group's blazing torches. In Tolkien's description, the figures of the Nazgul were murky, almost indiscernible in the shadows. Frodo saw the Witch King and answered his challenge– putting on the Ring that revealed him to the senses of the Nazgul and stepping outside of the protective circle of light.
This is when the Nazgul, like a great white shark who decides to attack prey in deep water, pounced. The Witch-King stabbed Frodo with a Morgul Knife.
Third Point- "Sting and wait"
To follow with my shark analogy, sharks will often bite once and then stand off at a distance, waiting for their prey to bleed out before returning to consume the carcass. The Nazgul's tactics at Weathertop were similar. Once Frodo was stabbed, they withdrew, relying on the Morgul Knife to kill him. For most, the Morgul Knives are fast acting. A poison of the spirit, if you will. From the Nazgul's point of view, all they had to do was sting and wait for the poison (in the form of a knife-tip seeking Frodo's heart) to run its course. The result would be a wraith under their control whom they could command to bring the Ring back to Sauron.
So when Aragorn leapt among them after their attack on Frodo, they had no need to stand and fight. Giving only token resistance, they melted back into the shadows. All they had to do was wait.
Fourth Point- "The Resilience of a Hobbit"
The fly in the ointment for the Nazgul was the resilience of the Hobbit– Frodo. It was unprecidented that someone should RESIST the influences of the Morgul knife for so long. They'd never encountered Hobbits before and had no way of knowing that Frodo would have been capable of the desperate journey to Rivendell or, much less, of facing the Witch-King himself at the fords. But for the resilience of the Hobbit, in addition to the healing powers of Aragorn, the Nazgul would have won.
Fifth Point- The capabilities of Scale
True, Aragorn was very powerful. But he did not yet possess his sword- Anduril (the reforged Narsil) and he was outnumbered by seven of the worst horrors in all of Middle Earth. The Witch King, alone, single handedly destroyed the civilization of the Dunedain. By the capabilities of scale a Nazgul rank somewhat lower than a Balrog. However, being under the direct control of Sauron, they were possessed of a much greater cunning.
A few nights before, Gandalf met with the same group of Nazgul at Weathertop. A Maia, Gandalf possessed might far surpassing that of the mortal Aragorn. Yet, even he, was unable to defeat the Nazgul at Weathertop. He met them, fought briefly and then withdrew to Rivendell.
To assume that Aragorn could succeed where Gandalf could not is a faulty presumption. The flashy combat portrayed in the film was a pretty spectacle but it undermines the dire tone of the story crafted by Tolkien making the Nazgul look like little more than a bunch of ghoulies dressed in black capes– spirit of death wannabes.
-C
I must honestly say, I was disappointed by the way the battle at Weathertop was portrayed in the recent movie Fellowship of The Ring. In the movie version, Aragorn engages in a fiery display of melee combat single handedly driving off seven Nazgul including the Witch King who ruled Angmar.
In the book, events were portrayed with much more realism. A realism the movie, in this case, failed to capture.
First Point- The Ring
The Nazgul engaged in their ambush because they were in pursuit of the Ring. Defeat and victory was not their goal, their goal was retrieval of the One Ring.
Second Point- "A Knife in the Dark"
The Nazgul's attack was staged in darkness outside of a ring of light cast by the group's blazing torches. In Tolkien's description, the figures of the Nazgul were murky, almost indiscernible in the shadows. Frodo saw the Witch King and answered his challenge– putting on the Ring that revealed him to the senses of the Nazgul and stepping outside of the protective circle of light.
This is when the Nazgul, like a great white shark who decides to attack prey in deep water, pounced. The Witch-King stabbed Frodo with a Morgul Knife.
Third Point- "Sting and wait"
To follow with my shark analogy, sharks will often bite once and then stand off at a distance, waiting for their prey to bleed out before returning to consume the carcass. The Nazgul's tactics at Weathertop were similar. Once Frodo was stabbed, they withdrew, relying on the Morgul Knife to kill him. For most, the Morgul Knives are fast acting. A poison of the spirit, if you will. From the Nazgul's point of view, all they had to do was sting and wait for the poison (in the form of a knife-tip seeking Frodo's heart) to run its course. The result would be a wraith under their control whom they could command to bring the Ring back to Sauron.
So when Aragorn leapt among them after their attack on Frodo, they had no need to stand and fight. Giving only token resistance, they melted back into the shadows. All they had to do was wait.
Fourth Point- "The Resilience of a Hobbit"
The fly in the ointment for the Nazgul was the resilience of the Hobbit– Frodo. It was unprecidented that someone should RESIST the influences of the Morgul knife for so long. They'd never encountered Hobbits before and had no way of knowing that Frodo would have been capable of the desperate journey to Rivendell or, much less, of facing the Witch-King himself at the fords. But for the resilience of the Hobbit, in addition to the healing powers of Aragorn, the Nazgul would have won.
Fifth Point- The capabilities of Scale
True, Aragorn was very powerful. But he did not yet possess his sword- Anduril (the reforged Narsil) and he was outnumbered by seven of the worst horrors in all of Middle Earth. The Witch King, alone, single handedly destroyed the civilization of the Dunedain. By the capabilities of scale a Nazgul rank somewhat lower than a Balrog. However, being under the direct control of Sauron, they were possessed of a much greater cunning.
A few nights before, Gandalf met with the same group of Nazgul at Weathertop. A Maia, Gandalf possessed might far surpassing that of the mortal Aragorn. Yet, even he, was unable to defeat the Nazgul at Weathertop. He met them, fought briefly and then withdrew to Rivendell.
To assume that Aragorn could succeed where Gandalf could not is a faulty presumption. The flashy combat portrayed in the film was a pretty spectacle but it undermines the dire tone of the story crafted by Tolkien making the Nazgul look like little more than a bunch of ghoulies dressed in black capes– spirit of death wannabes.
-C
