The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
The earliest likely reference is to wounds suffered by the Steward's heir Boromir in III 2475;1 these wounds must have ceased with the destruction of the Nazgûl on 25 March III 3019
Origins
Caused by the weapons of the Nazgûl
Race
Men, corrupted by the Nine Rings
Settlements
Associated with Minas Morgul, captured by the Nazgûl in III 2002
Pronunciation
Morgul is pronounced 'mo'rgool'
Meaning
Literally 'wounds of dark magic', but likely named from their association with Minas Morgul

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About this entry:

  • Updated 19 December 2015
  • This entry is complete

Morgul-wounds

Wounds inflicted by evil blades

The weapons of Sauron's greatest servants - or, at least, of the Nazgûl - carried dark enchantments that cursed the wounds they inflicted. The wounds themselves varied; that suffered by Steward Boromir left him in crippling pain and shortened his life, while the wound taken by Frodo on Weathertop threatened to make him a wraith.


Notes

1

Boromir received a wound in battle that caused him agonies throughout the few remaining years of his short life. This is the first specific reference to a 'Morgul-wound'. The Nazgûl and their weapons were far older than this, and we have to assume that Morgul-wounds long predated Boromir's unfortunate fate.

The name 'Morgul-wound' cannot have gone back farther than III 2002, when the Nazgûl occupied Minas Ithil and caused it to be renamed as Minas Morgul. (Strictly, the word morgul means 'dark sorcery', so a Morgul-wound could be any evilly magical wound, but context, and the fact that the word is always capitalised, implies a connection with the place rather than the concept.)

The Nazgûl themselves dated back to about II 2250, more than three thousand years before the capture of Minas Morgul. It seems unavoidable that they inflicted dark wounds at some point during this long period, but those wounds must have been known as something other than 'Morgul-wounds'.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 19 December 2015
  • This entry is complete

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