Black Breath and Disembodied Nazgul

[Lailyn]

I was wondering about the Black Breath recently and did a little reading on it. I’m curious if we know anything or anyone has theories or thoughts on whether repeated exposure to the Black Breath would build up some kind of immunity, build up to “worse” experiences, or neither?

The only example I could think of someone being exposed more than once was Merry (based on: once in Bree, once at Weathertop and lastly vs. the Witch-King-- correct me if I’m wrong). I imagine Frodo probably was also “exposed” more than once though I’ll be honest, I didn’t go back to check and I also wonder if his experience would be amplified or affected in some way by his possession of the Ring.

While doing that digging, I came across this quote that the Nazguls’

“chief weapon was terror. This was actually greater when they were unclad and invisible; and it was greater also when they were gathered together.”

from The Hunt for the Ring: Other Versions of the Story, Unfinished Tales

Which led to more questions and made me wonder... why? Do they need to expend some energy to maintain their disguise as Black Riders which reduces their ability to instill terror? Do their rings of power help them to do so?

And finally, that led me to a hypothetical: what would happen if a Nazgul lost (or otherwise removed) one of their Rings?

These aren’t really very streamlined or yes-or-no questions and may only lead to conjecture, but I am curious what people think.

[Raisins]

This is very interesting -I honestly don't have any quotes to back up my thoughts on it (terrible I know) but I would think that being formless would have something to do with fear of the unknown. If you can't see it you can't tell where it is... That in general to humans is absolutely horrifying - we have for millennia killed that which we don't know because we fear it so for something to be a formless terror would fit well into that. Going cloaked in something gives them a form - and they do likely have to cut back on their terror especially when they were on horses as we read those are horses of Rohan which aren't fond of evil terribly so they would also likely be having to excerpt power on their mounts to keep them in check.

As for their rings... I feel like it probably does give them some sort of boost to wear them - as they are directly connected with Sauron which would very likely result in the lessening of their power (or possibly even them completely ceasing to exist entirely) should they lose their rings.

I would argue thought that they've likely already lost their rings in terms of a physical sense - they could very well be hanging out in Barad-dur with Sauron their souls partially attached to them (which is why they answer to Sauron), the corruption of their souls by Sauron was complete, and if they have no form they can't possibly wear a ring - which should mean that the ring has become part of their incorporeal form if in fact they still have them. We also see their 'bodies' were destroyed in the Bruinen when they tried to cross into Imladris - that would have cause them to lose their rings then and become weaker when instead we see them return stronger on beasts specifically made to withstand their evil vs the horses they use to ride.