Wraiths
|
This article or section needs expansion and/or modification. Please help the wiki by expanding it. |
Wraiths was a name for people having been transformed into undead beings.[1] The realm of the wraiths was called the Wraith-world.[2]
History
In the Elder Days, the wraith of Gorlim appeared in a dream of Beren.[3]
In the Third Age, it was rumoured that the wraith of Helm Hammerhand haunted the enemies of Rohan, killing those who felt fear.[4]
The most famous of the wraiths were the Ringwraiths, Men ensnared by Sauron's Nine Rings.[5] Some of the victims of the Ringwraiths, too, could be transformed into wraiths, albeit lesser and under their command (although no such being is known to have existed).[2] This nearly happened to Frodo Baggins, after having been stabbed by the Morgul blade of the Witch-king.[1]
Etymology and Names
In the Legendarium
The Black Speech/Sindarin word gûl was translated as "wraith(s)" in the Red Book of Westmarch.[5][6][7]
Real-world
Wraith is a Scottish word meaning "ghost" (of uncertain origin; possibly from Gaelic, Irish arrach "specter, apparition").[8]
Other versions of the legendarium
In a draft for The Lord of the Rings Appendices, the Paths of the Dead were said to have been guarded by the "fell wraiths of the Forgotten Men".[9]
Portrayal in Adaptations
1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:
- The wraith Gaurithoth, an undead Númenórean lieutenant, serves the Witch-king and haunts a burial mound near the Blue Mountains.[10]
2002-5: The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game:
- Wraiths are the most common of the three type of ghosts (the other being phantoms and wights). The wraith is without a physical, tangible form, and consists only of the soul of a person wishing to fulfil an evil goal after his or her death.[11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Knife in the Dark"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Beren and Lúthien"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, passim
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 11
- ↑ Helge Fauskanger, "Orkish and the Black Speech: Base Language for Base Purposes" at Ardalambion (accessed 27 December 2010)
- ↑ Douglas Harper, "wraith" at Online Etymology Dictionary (accessed 26 December 2010)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "IX. The Making of Appendix A": (ii) "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen", p. 267
- ↑ Jessica Ney (ed.; 1990), Angus McBride's Characters of Middle-earth (#8007), pp. 38-39
- ↑ Scott Bennie, Mike Mearls, Steve Miller, Aaron Rosenberg, Chris Seeman, Owen Seyler, and George Strayton (2003), Fell Beasts and Wondrous Magic, pp. 25-27
