Post by Elfhild on Nov 9, 2020 2:45:11 GMT
While this is not related to the Nazgul, this is a very interesting article about the age of the Mouth of Sauron.
middle-earth.xenite.org/how-old-was-the-mouth-of-sauron/
Here is a quote from "The Black Gate Opens" from The War of the Ring, History of Middle Earth series:
"No more is said in the draft of the history of the Lieutenant of Barraddur, the nameless Mouth of Sauron, than that ‘It is told that he was a living man, who being captured as a youth became a servant of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning grew high in the Lord’s favour…’ In the fair copy this was repeated, but was changed subsequently to: ‘But it is said that he was a renegade, son of a house of wise and noble men in Gondor, who becoming enamoured of evil knowledge entered the service of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning [and the fertile cruelty of his mind] [and servility] he grew ever higher in the Lord’s favour…’ (these phrases being thus bracketed in the original). In RK (p. 164) the Mouth of Sauron ‘came of the race of those that are named the Black Numenoreans.'"
It is very interesting to imagine the Mouth of Sauron as being a captive of Mordor who, over time, rose to great power, or a Gondorian traitor who eventually found himself winning the trust of Sauron himself.
middle-earth.xenite.org/how-old-was-the-mouth-of-sauron/
Here is a quote from "The Black Gate Opens" from The War of the Ring, History of Middle Earth series:
"No more is said in the draft of the history of the Lieutenant of Barraddur, the nameless Mouth of Sauron, than that ‘It is told that he was a living man, who being captured as a youth became a servant of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning grew high in the Lord’s favour…’ In the fair copy this was repeated, but was changed subsequently to: ‘But it is said that he was a renegade, son of a house of wise and noble men in Gondor, who becoming enamoured of evil knowledge entered the service of the Dark Tower, and because of his cunning [and the fertile cruelty of his mind] [and servility] he grew ever higher in the Lord’s favour…’ (these phrases being thus bracketed in the original). In RK (p. 164) the Mouth of Sauron ‘came of the race of those that are named the Black Numenoreans.'"
It is very interesting to imagine the Mouth of Sauron as being a captive of Mordor who, over time, rose to great power, or a Gondorian traitor who eventually found himself winning the trust of Sauron himself.