Sauron’s expansion in the third season of The Rings of Power has introduced the Nazgnagôl, a lethal vanguard of ring-bearing servants.
As the series returns with its latest season, these figures appear as a precursor to the Nazgûl, serving as the Dark Lord’s primary enforcers across Middle-earth.
According to the series, the term Nazgnagôl translates from the Black Speech of Mordor as “Ring-servant,” distinguishing them from the later “Ring-wraiths” or Nazgûl seen in the Third Age.
While the Nazgûl are spectral beings, the Nazgnagôl remain living men of high birth, possessing bodies of flesh and blood. Showrunners John D. Payne and Patrick McKay described these figures to Empire as “Proto-Ringgeistern” because they are the individuals who will eventually evolve into the spectral servants encountered by Frodo.
The transition from noble ruler to “Ring-servant” occurs when the recipient dons one of the nine rings created by Sauron at the end of the second season.
The Dark Lord explains during the bestowal of these items that the act of wearing them forces the user to exist simultaneously in the physical world and the unseen, ghostly dimension introduced in the first season. This process grants the wearers magical abilities while effectively binding them to Sauron’s control.
Four of the nine rings have been distributed thus far in the new season:
- The first Nazgnagôl is a member of the Lossoth, a people from the cold northern region of Forodwaith.
- The second is a Haradrim from the south, a group previously identified as allies of Sauron.
- The third is Khamûl, an Easterner from Rhûn, who secured his ring after killing his companions and receiving healing for his disfigurement from the artifact.
- The fourth is Theo, the character previously left as the Lord of Pelargir, who accepts the ring after learning of his father Fäldred’s connection to the nobility of Mordor.
While the Witch-king of Angmar has yet to be revealed, Sauron must distribute five additional rings to complete his cohort of nine servants.
