Nazgul

English

Alternative forms

• Nazgûl

Etymology

From nazgûl (“ringwraith”) in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional language Black Speech, a compound of nazg (“ring”) and gûl (“wraith; spirit”).

Noun

Nazgul (plural Nazgul)

1. (fantasy) An evil force which heedlessly destroys everything in its path, and appears like a horseman dressed all in black.
   • 2007, Glen Duncan, I, Lucifer, page 55:

     The West Hampstead studio flat looks like the Nazgul have just thundered through it […]

   • 2011, Kristin Hannah, Night Road, page 282:

     The last thing she wanted was for Zach to come storming out of the house like a Nazgul, telling her to get the hell away from his daughter.

   • 2012, Tom Holt, You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps, page 133:

     There's three blokes who look like the Nazgul in pinstripes, and a skinny hatchetfaced bird who keeps saying “Well?” at me every time she asks me a question and I don't answer her inside half a second.

Noun

Nazgul (plural Nazguls)

1. (fantasy role-playing games) A type of demonic or undead creature.
   • 1994, Chiaroscuro, “Re: ColdMUD, interesting career(class,guild)-systems, and thoughts about mudding”, in rec.games.mud.misc‎^[1] (Usenet):

     (On Lost Souls there is a Ringwraith guild; Nazguls are members at levels 26-29.)

   • 1994, The Nowhere Man, “Re: Only 9 Nazguls? (was: Ascension (long))”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack‎^[2] (Usenet):

     In the Touist^[sic] quest, there was a polymorph trap on the first level, and one of the non-peaceful buggers polyed into a Nazgul (ugh!).

   • 1999, Jonathan Ellis, “Re: unique version of moria”, in rec.games.roguelike.moria‎^[3] (Usenet):

     AFAIK Moria itself has never had uniques, though some variants do (Morgul has the nine Nazguls, for instance) or artifacts.

   • 2001, Pat Gunn, “Re: [Pern] YASD (#$# Nazguls)”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband‎^[4] (Usenet):

     Scrolls of mass genocide, scrolls of teleport, and a kick-ass bow generally are prerequisites for killing Nazguls in Pernband.

   • 2000, Fuzzy, “AD: [rom] Dawn of Empires - mud.dawnofempires.com”, in rec.games.mud.misc‎^[5] (Usenet):

     Soulcrusher established his power in Valhalla itself where he trained the Nazguls and built a guardian to protect his privacy.

   • 2002, Matthew Murray, “Short Bow of the Nazgul”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband‎^[6] (Usenet):

     While poking around on level 20, I came across an object I've never seen before, a Short Bow of the Nazgul (x2) (-7,-7) {cursed}.

Further reading

• Nazgûl on Wikipedia.Wikipedia