Tolkien's Changing Concept of the Nazgul and the Istari

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Gordis

... I think the readers fully expected them to fight, and to kill each other, like with the Barlog...

I wonder though...

Was a Nazgul, even their Chief, as great as a Balrog? And wasn't Gandalf the White now more powerful than Gandalf the Grey had been?

[Gordis]

Originally Posted by Valandil

I wonder though...

Was a Nazgul, even their Chief, as great as a Balrog? And wasn't Gandalf the White now more powerful than Gandalf the Grey had been?

I think I know the answer to this question. Unfortunately, the answer lies not in the text of the LOTR, but in the drafts for the story, published in HOME 6-8. Here is the piece I have just posted in the "Death of Ainur" thread in ME Forum:

Tolkien had an earlier conception of the Witch King, where his nature and identity were no mystery. In LOTR drafts he was called "the Wizard King" and was originally the most powerful WIZARD of the same order as Gandalf.

"Gandalf has insufficient magic to cope with Black Riders unaided, whose king is a wizard" The Treason of Isengard p. 9

War between Ond and Wizard King....Tarkil's fathers had been driven out by the wizard that is now Chief of the Nine" The Treason of Isengard p.116

"Then my heart failed me for a moment; for the Chief of the Nine was of old the greatest of all the wizards of Men, and I have no power to withstand the Nine Riders when he leads them" The Treason of Isengard p. 132.

"Denetor and Faramir marvel at Gandalf's power over Nazgul. Gandalf says things are still not so bad - because the Wizard King has not yet appeared. He reveals that he is a renegade of his own order...from Numenor. 'So far I have saved myself from him only by flight'...""The War of the Ring" p.326.

Interesting that the idea that the 9 Rings were given to MEN was a very early conception:

"But all the Nine Rings of Men have gone back to Sauron, and borne with them their possessors, kings, warriors, and wizards of old, who became Ring-wraiths and served the maker and were his most terrible servants" The Return of the Shadow, p.260.

On the contrary, the idea that Wizards were Maiar who were sent to ME from Valinor in the THIRD Age was a late idea, from the time when "The Istari" in the Unfinished Tales were written (after the main text of the LORT and before the Appendices).

Of course, when Tolkien made up his mind about the nature of Wizards, and decided they came to ME around TA 1000, it became impossible for the WK to be one of them, because, how then "the 9 rings were given to men?" How could a Maia become a wraith?

So, the "Wizard King" was changed to the "Witch-King" throughout the text, and a few sentences when Gandalf reveals his nature (see quotes above) were removed.
But that was all. Nothing was changed in the scene of the WK's death - so his body disappears much like Saruman's (and understandably so).

Everyone reading LOTR gets a clear impression that Gandalf fears the WK, because he is overmatched. And it made sense in the earlier conception, because the Wizard King was the more powerful WIZARD of the two, or had similar power and strength as Gandalf the White. Also the WK still remains the strongest BY FAR than the other nazgul (though now the reason for it is gone).

That is how the Witch-King lost his identity. He is still called "King and Sorcerer of old", but Tolkien never came up with a new story for him, that had to explain why he was so very powerful.

In a way it is now a plothole of the LOTR.

[Valandil]

Interesting... and I don't have those HoME books. Would you mind if I copy that into a new thread?

[Gordis]

By all means, Val, if you feel it doesn't really belong to the chapter discussion.

There are several LOTR plotholes caused by the perpetual development of Tolkien's conceptions.

HOME Books give answers to many debatable things in the LOTR - for example Glorfindel's prophecy and whether it applied to Gandalf or not. Also, perhaps to the Gothmog question.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

In TTT Aragorn mentions that Gandalf the White was indeed more powerful than all of the nine.

Originally Posted by Aragorn

And this I also say: you are our captain and our banner. The Dark Lord has Nine. But we have One, mightier than they: the White Rider. He has passed though the fire and the abyss, and they shall fear him. We will go where he leads."

Also I agree with Val. The Witch King may be mighty, but he is only a wraith and was formerly a man. The Balrog was a Maia, as Gandalf is. Surely Gandalf is more powerful.

[Gordis]

Aragorn tries to be confident, but old Gandalf is not so sure of himself:

‘Yet now under the Lord of Barad-dûr the most fell of all his captains is already master of your outer walls,’ said Gandalf. ‘King of Angmar long ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgûl, a spear of terror in the hand of Sauron, shadow of despair.’
‘Then, Mithrandir, you had a foe to match you,’ said Denethor. ‘For myself, I have long known who is the chief captain of the hosts of the Dark Tower. Is this all that you have returned to say? Or can it be that you have withdrawn because you are overmatched?’
Pippin trembled, fearing that Gandalf would be stung to sudden wrath, but his fear was needless. ‘It might be so,’ Gandalf answered softly. ‘But our trial of strength is not yet come. ROTK

And then again look how this part has been toned down in comparison with the draft.

Originally Posted by Telcontar_Dunedain

Also I agree with Val. The Witch King may be mighty, but he is only a wraith and was formerly a man. The Balrog was a Maia, as Gandalf is. Surely Gandalf is more powerful.

As LOTR stands now, that is undeniably right.
But the first-time reader, who has not read the Appendices before the story and has never heard of the Maiar, reading the above, feels apprehensive for Gandalf. And, may be, that was the author's intention.