First, I should mention that despite the subject...this post is unrelated to anything Paul has done, except in spirit.
I also intend this post, as its own issue, to be a compliment to Paul, the hard work and research he does framing his topics, and the depth and range of conversation which results therefrom...
End of suckup (ahem, I mean disclaimer!).
I was thinking the other day about the Ringwraiths and the Barrow wights...They seem to be the only "undead with roles in LotR.
This was probably brought about because I was reading from Shippey over lunch, and the section had to do with LotR, and geography...he talked about the importance of names, especially when the name is irrelevant, except to add background and depth to the world. The given example is the poem on Theoden's horses grave...
Faithful servant, yet master's bane,
Lighfoots foal, swift Snowmane.
The name of Theoden's horse is not necessary to the story, but even more unnecessary is the name of any of Lightfoot's family tree, unless they bear some significance historically, which they do not. The only purpose ,really, of either name, is that it gives depth and reality to the world of Middle-earth.
Personally, I find it an effective technique, and one that I do not note used by many authors. This is part of the reason I love LotR...there is that depth and history...right down to being able to look up the names and accomplishments of every king of Rohan since the founding.
He also spoke of name derivations of areas around Oxford, and in other parts of England, how the names evolved, their significance to Tolkien, and how they related to Middle-earth.
For instance,
...the same map will show the small town of Brill in Buckinghamshire, once *Bree-hill-it was to be reshaped in The Lord of the Rings as Bree.
Other references...
Shirriffs comes from "Shire-reeves"
Thain (Took) comes from the Old English "thegn" which meant "king's servant."
He then goes on to discuss Tom Bombadil, and his adventures, which include Tom's first adventure, being pulled into the River by the Riverwoman's daughter, Goldberry. He is later also attacked by a Barrow-wight.
The next step only the evolution of the thought processes is that the Riverwoman is a River Hag, like the mother of Grendel from Beowulf. However, living in the Withywindle, which derives from the Cherwell, a river near Oxford, whose name comes from cier-welle, meaning "to turn stream, ie winding stream. "Withy" is an old word for "willow". Therefore, the Withywindle is essentially, the "willow winding stream."
Because of the tendency to see the river hags as at least somewhat reflective of the river they live in (ie Peg Powler, the child eating hag of the rapid moving River Tees, perhaps (according to Shippy) the Withywindle would have a calmer hag, who might have a daughter like Goldberry.
This, of course brings us to Bombadil and the Barrow-wights, who we know were evil spirits from Angmar, (home of the Witch-king) who would animate the bodies of the dead warriors of Carn-dum, who were buried in the Barrows near Bombadil's home.
So,
1. Isn't it ironic that the wights found their homes among the dead of their enemies from life.
2. I find interesting the possible relationships between the two groups of Tolkien's undead both being at least loosely tied to Angmar.
3. We have wraiths, as one type of undead, the spirits of dead evil...who were not willing themselves to die, but continue to exist as disembodied spirits.
4. The other type is the wraiths, who still have their original bodies, but they have faded essentially to invisibility, and according to Gandalf take shape and form from their clothing.
5. What other similarities and differences do we see between the types of undead... ie powers and limitations thereon, weaknesses, origins, patterns of behaviour, etc.
6. Shippey also comments on one of his original Bombadil poems...
Old Tom Bombadil was a merry fellow;
bright blue his jacket was, and his boots were yellow.
You've forgotten Barrow-wight dwelling in the old mound
up there a-top the hill with the ring of stones round.
He's got loose tonight" under the earth he'll take you!
Poor Tom Bombadil, pale and cold he'll make you"
This was originally published in The Oxford Magazine in 1934.
Further,
To readers of The Oxford Magazine in 1934 the poem must have seemed almost a nonsense-poem. What it does is to take the English landscape, perhaps the safest in the world, and to try to make it haunted. Tolkien did have a little to work on. Barrow-wights are familiar in Norse saga as ghosts, or more accurately walking corpses, coming out of their grave-mounds for vengeance on the living.
Unfortunately for Tolkien, although there are Barrows in England, their is no history of them being haunted.
So, for those of you with wights or the like in your native cultural history...how do those tales impact today, and how similar or different are they from the wights of Tolkiens world?
I hope everyone else has the fun with this that I have.
Unfortunately, I leave for work in an hour, but will try to respond to any posts and thoughts when I return home this evening.
SBV!
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Wow!
I've just been reading Shippey's book too (as you know!) - it's brilliant. I never appreciated before just how important and relevant almost every name (and place-name) in the LOTR is, and how meticulous Tolkien was with every creature and location referring to existing mythology or legend.
An initial thought for now...
Your comments about the wights remind me of Wajz's recent post about evil being either the absence or antithesis of good.
In the wights, Tolkien was obviously emphasising his belief that evil was indeed an absence, and embodied that absence in the figure of the Nazgul, who are essentially worn to nothingness by their unnatural "non-life".
Shippey talks about the "wraithing process" which, although couched in mythical terms by Tolkien, is a real concept to which we are all susceptible.
I will have to think about this post some more and get back tomorrow. I'm "suffering" the effects of a rather large helping of whisky right now! Hopefully some more coherent thought will find it's way into my brain later.
...diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls...
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I've just been reading Shippey's book too (as you know!) - it's brilliant. I never appreciated before just how important and relevant almost every name (and place-name) in the LOTR is, and how meticulous Tolkien was with every creature and location referring to existing mythology or legend.
I agree with this, and hope you are enjoying the book as much as I.
Are you finding it a slow read? For me, it is at least partially due to my schedule, but by the same token, there is just so much detail that I have to go slow to digest it all!
I also love the fact that in writing Tolkien took the holes in his source material and what he perceived as the mistakes in the original manuscripts, and fixed those mistakes to create crucial elements of his stories.
In the wights, Tolkien was obviously emphasising his belief that evil was indeed an absence, and embodied that absence in the figure of the Nazgul, who are essentially worn to nothingness by their unnatural "non-life".
Shippey talks about the "wraithing process" which, although couched in mythical terms by Tolkien, is a real concept to which we are all susceptible
This, I find fascinating.
I like the idea that not only can evil be the antithesis of good, or even the absence of good, but just an absence...(I do not know if that is exactly what you meant, but either way, it is a fascinating concept...)
It is interesting how they are void of anything but a hunger, and a hatred of life.
On the other hand, the Nazgul and the wraithing process...these men, like those who became the Barrow-wights, were evil, but were overcome by a more powerful dominating influence, which caused any humanity they had to fade away (during the wraithing process...literally, as well as figuratively) until they became shadows of their former selves (literally, as well as figuratively), consumed by hate and lust for power, until they became slaves to hate.
I do not know if I have seen these ideas presented as such on this board.
"wraithing process" which, ..., is a real concept to which we are all susceptible
Again...a new thought...It is interesting to think of people I know who have been consumed by bitterness and anger...leading to other things, perhaps alcohol abuse, etc. In this process, they become slaves to a substance, which although giving the illusions of life covers a gaping emptiness, within.
Congratulations on creating some very new, very interesting thoughts, and thank you for this contribution.
I will have to think about this post some more and get back tomorrow. I'm "suffering" the effects of a rather large helping of whisky right now
Frankly, on this quote, I have to express some disagreement. You are hereby backup proof to my theory (which I test on occasion) that whiskey can be a lubricant to the mind.
Judging from you above post, a little whiskey is not a bad thing for you.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Hi!
I loved Shippey's book. I could not put it down! I just finished it a few days ago (I'm starting on Tolkien's letters now) but I shall have to read it again, it was too much to take in. Shippey's unique experience of holding the same position as Tolkien in the University and sharing his love of philology has given him some extraordinary insights into Tolkien's work.
The comment about the wraithing process being one to which we can all succumb is, in fact, from Shippey himself (I can't take credit for it!) - and it is a fascinating thought.
Thank you for such a brilliant original post, it has led to some amazing discussion!
...diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls...
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Academic honesty...
Well done...
I am still early in the book...a couple of pages here and there has been the best I can do...
It's kind of funny...I was just driving home from work the other night, with Shippey's discussion of the names associated with the Old Forest (which will tell you where I am) and their proximity to Oxford rolling around in my head, and the rest simply took care of itself.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Hi SBV, Thanks for the compliment but really when I came to this board. It sounds corny, but I stumbled upon the chance to discuss ideas and thoughts that were reciprocated by the board members. As much as I or you, or anyone else gives to the board it gives back to you tenth fold. Which is a surreal experience in a sense but very rewarding.
Great topic, but I haven't bought that book by Shippey yet!  but you sure have posted some interesting questions to mull over tonight!
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I agree with you wholeheartedly about getting back in spades from giving to the board.
However,
1. Some people do so quietly, and in the background with things like maintenance and record keeping.
2. Although I usually find a way to shoot my mouth off when one of those deep threads comes around, the prerequisite for me doing that is that a post has to be created.
3. Every once in a while, I manage to step back and come up with a topic of depth, worthy of an interesting discussion.
4. Every week, you have a new post or two, all deep, all thought provoking.
5. So, I decided to say "thank you" by following the mantra...."imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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This is so not fair. You and Ptero post great threads and I am going to be sort of "gone" through the weekend.
And this is one that requires lots of planning. I'll work on it!!
Take care,
 the Oracle
I live at the dumb end of the leash.
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yrose, check your pms, please.
Erm, excuse me, bigv. 
"I'm afraid the strain was more than he could bear"~Doc Holliday, Tombstone.
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Just sent you one Trin .
I live at the dumb end of the leash.
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yeah...yeah...yeah...
What a tease...
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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It is not going anywhere...end of the weekend, it will still be around...
When you come back...go to your profile...find this post...and come on down!
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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OK, I've had a sleep, sobered up, and now the thoughts have decided to creep back into my head...
Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wights are like the antithesis of each other.
Tom is vigorous, jolly, uninhibited, a colourful spirit of the earth who takes delight in all living things. A spirit of what is, who belongs firmly in his corner of middle earth.
The Barrow-wights are stealthy, evil, dispossessed spirits of nothingness who must inhabit the dead in order to exist. Spirits of things that were, who no longer belong in either this world or the next.
Tom has no desire for earthly material things, even the Ring has no power over him. He is content with his lot and happy to stay exactly the way he has always been.
The wights are still hungry for more, looking to seduce unwary travellers into their shadowy world.
Tom and the wights play a sort of game, where during the day Tom holds sway, banishing the evil spirits from the earth, back into their shadows; and at night the wights torment Tom, tapping at his windows and crying in the darkness.
Are they dependent on each other? Are they locked in some unearthly cycle which (with Tom tied to his realm and the wights tied to the barrows) they are doomed to repeat for eternity?
...diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls...
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BB-15
(Fri Jun 6 05:48:28)
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Hi BelladonnaTook; loved your post.
"Are they dependent on each other? Are they locked in some unearthly cycle which (with Tom tied to his realm and the wights tied to the barrows) they are doomed to repeat for eternity?"
I didn't fully realize this before until this thread. Tom and Goldberry are like our waking conscious lives, possibly based partly on Tolkien's own happy marriage. Yet the unconscious (fears, nightmares) still remain.
Tolkien must have struggled with this duality in his life. He had by all accounts a happy adult life once he married and became a professor. But he must have experienced in his dreams, images of the horrors of World War 1 and the tragedies of his childhood. The story of Tom and Goldberry and the wrights is a wonderful metephor for the duality of happiness and the lurking nightmare. Yet the story has a daily happy ending. For while Tom can never get rid of the images of the wights, he is not disturbed by them and is always their master.
Take care, BB ;-)
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Like BT...a completely new look at the Bombadil phenomenon...
Bombadil as psychotherapy...helping Tolkien deal with the trauma of his past...certainly will require more thought. I hope to have a better answer later.
Thank you.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Wow, BB, I was just thinking the other day how I wished I'd seen you around more lately, and here you are demonstrating exactly the reason why! That was a great post, from Big V and Belladonna, too. I'm going to let this stew and hopefully come up with a reply, but for now I just wanted to say, great job and good to see you again!
I'm naked under my clothes...again 
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Thank you, Dirtrum.
When you wander this way again...check out Belladonna...she has expanded on her previous thoughts (this time, perhaps regrettably, from a position of sobriety ), and come up with more original thoughts.
I look forward to you thoughts.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Well...
Sobering up isn't always the best solution to one of my posts... but it seems to have worked for you.
Unfortunately, I have about 10 minutes before I have to get ready for work. I like my initial view of your thoughts, but will have to reread in depth at a later time. Just in that quick view you have given my some new things to think about, which is really what a lot of this is about...
Thank you for your contribution. It seems to have us wandering down a new road. I had not thought of the (deliberate) juxtaposition of life and death in this section of the books. More later...
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Thank you Sir Big V!
I must admit, I didn't realise I had these thoughts myself until my fingers started tapping the keys!
This is what usually happens with me (especially if I've had time to sleep on a topic and let the thoughts sort themselves out before replying) - I have no idea what I'm going to say until it appears on the page. I quite surprised myself this time. Tom Bombadil isn't a character I usually devote much thought to. My brain must have a mind of it's own...!
(Or maybe it was the whisky after all)
...And looking forward to your thoughts...
...diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls...
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Frankly, your method of response is frequently how I deal with Paul's posts. I read what he wrote, and come back a day or two later, and let the fingers do the talking.
It may possibly have been the whiskey!
I think you might want to give more thought to Bombadil. Seriously...if you are coming up with this with some Shippey background and some whiskey...think what you might do if you tried...
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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OK, I've had a sleep, sobered up, and now the thoughts have decided to creep back into my head...
Big test...will you be more lucid and thought provoking than you were intoxicated? hmmmmmmmmmmm
Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wights are like the antithesis of each other.
Tom is vigorous, jolly, uninhibited, a colourful spirit of the earth who takes delight in all living things. A spirit of what is, who belongs firmly in his corner of middle earth.
The Barrow-wights are stealthy, evil, dispossessed spirits of nothingness who must inhabit the dead in order to exist. Spirits of things that were, who no longer belong in either this world or the next.
This is also fascinating. I like the juxtaposition on all levels...
1. Life vs. death
2. Joy vs. hate
3. openness vs hiding
4. Warm vs. cold
5. Present vs. past
6. Satisfaction vs. greed
Tom and the wights play a sort of game, where during the day Tom holds sway, banishing the evil spirits from the earth, back into their shadows; and at night the wights torment Tom, tapping at his windows and crying in the darkness.
How about
7. Day vs. night.
The only concern there is # 5, because while Bombadil is always part of the IS...whenever he is...the B-w are part of the was...but they carry over...
Are they dependent on each other? Are they locked in some unearthly cycle which (with Tom tied to his realm and the wights tied to the barrows) they are doomed to repeat for eternity?
This is the one speculation I do not agree with, for a couple of reasons.
1. Tom predates the Barrow-wights...remember that the Elves were the Elder Children of Illuvatar and Men the Younger Children of Iluvatar.
Barrow-wights are spirits of evil men. The Elves predate both the men and the therefore the Barrow-wights.
2. The Elves do not seem to remember a time before Bombadil. They refer to him as Iarwain Ben-adar..."Oldest and Fatherless."
3. The Barrow-wights are destroyed by sunlight...
When Tom rescued the Hobbits, he broke open a barrow, and let light in, killing the wight/wights inside. I am sure there are other barrows and other wights, but if they are destructable, and he is not...then the cycle will eventually be broken.
More great thoughts. Thank you.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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Hello Big V (Sir)
Thank you for all your kind comments!
I agree with your points about the age of Tom (and therefore his interactions with the wights not being an essential part of his being) in LOTR. These thoughts also occurred to me - after I had posted! I think what was running through my head at the time was Tolkien's poems about Tom, which he wrote before LOTR was concieved. Well, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!
Now I'm going to be really niggly (all this Tolkien must be rubbing off on me!). I don't drink whiskey (which is Irish) I drink whisky (which is Scottish) - a very important distinction, especially if you're married to a Scot, as I am!
The Talisker (the single malt from the Isle of Skye) is definitely beneficial to the brain cells! (hic!)
...diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls...
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Talisker...Bowmore...Deanston...they all have their benefits!
Would you be happier if I referenced whisk(e)y, since there is also Canadian and American, as well as Scotch and Irish?
BTW...good excuse!
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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"there is also Canadian and American, as well as Scotch and Irish? "
Huh!.... Philistine.
...diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls...
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Palestine?
Hell no! I am not religious...
I said it exists...not that I drink it...
About the only whiskey I drink other than single malts (and the occasional Chivas) is a particular single batch bourbon..., but only rarely.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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I love it! I just have time right now to respond- but I will! Wonderful post, BSV!
"I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew..."
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"I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew..."
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V, I made a post last night, on which several people have commented with very flattering kudos. In that post I made reference to a second topic I wanted to broach...and it's kinda sorta in line with this topic here, so I might as well do it here.
But first, if I may engage in a little brown-nosing myself...with all due respect to the generous (and if I may add, insightful) people who have said such nice things about my analyses, it is with considerable awe I hold contributors like Paul, yourself, BB-15, Belladonna, Athene, Aule and others that are able to take apart an issue from the inside out. To start with some ideas at a philosophical level and to extrapolate them until they include that which we see on the screen or on the page. I tend to do my analyses from the outside-in...to take what I see and sift through the clues to find the hidden truth.
I start with the haystack and look for the needle...you conceive of the needle and theorize the haystack, which always flabbergasts me (in a good way).
Brown-nosing over.
One more aside before I move on to this particular haystack has to do with the first part of your post, with the mention of little details that give Tolkien's works the granularity necessary to make me believe in the physical reality of his world. Whether that's an in-depth description of the landscape or whether that's an off-hand reference to ancestry, I find it wonderful.
The example you gave, of Lightfoot, is spot on. Look, we all live in the real world. Let's say you visited a cemetary. You're in Boston (they've got a lot of cool cemetaries in Boston) and you're taking headstone rubbings. And you come across one that reads something like "John, son of Henry." You can figure it out from context, right? You don't need someone to ask out loud, "Who's Henry?" and someone else to say "Henry was John's father." You can figure it out.
It took a lot of discipline for Tolkien to add this level of detail but to impart it in offhand ways that jive with real life. No one in the story asked, "So who foaled Snowmane?" It was just there, on the epitaph, a little detail to note as you passed on to more relevant things. Just like the real world works.
OK, on to the haystack. This particular pile of drying grass in which we've buried an implement of my grandmother's craft is the Ring. Not only this post but several others of recent vintage have made me think of the Ring and of quantifying somehow exactly what it is and what it does. What do we know about it, superficially, from the books and the film?
--It makes people invisible
--It endows those puissant enough to marshal it with great power
--It supposedly has a will of its own, or it is an extension of Sauron's will, and it can use that will to influence its wearer and also those around it.
--It can perceive the other Rings of Power, and they can perceive it
***NOTE: Here would be a good place to mention that I have not, in fact, read Shippey, so I'm in the dark (so to speak) on what has been referred to here as the "wraithing process". From here on out this is just lkalliance thinking out loud, and I'd love for others to add to this analysis with their own perspectives or with supplemental insights from Shippey or other sources.
I look at it this way:
There are two worlds, existing in parallel. Perhaps more, but two that we're concerned with. Perhaps this mimics our own concepts of multiple planes of existence or of heaven and hell and earth. But for our purposes there is what I'll call the "real world"...the world of Arda, of Middle-Earth; and the "wraith world", a world of spirits and raw fear.
Tolkien himself wrote of the wraith world, and in the early drafts of LOTR Gandalf was to go into some detail in his education of Frodo on the wraith world and in particular on the Elves' relation to it. But that was cut. Still, there are references to it in the finished product and Frodo is introduced to it on Weathertop. In fact, he's introduced to it any time he puts on the Ring.
Because that's what I think the Ring is...a conduit to the wraith world. Frodo's natural state is to be in the real world; wearing the Ring brings him into the wraith world and out of the real world. So the Ring doesn't in fact make one "invisible"...it draws them into this other world, and out of the real one.
The Nine work similarly but in reverse, allowing the Ringwraiths to have a shapeless form and a psychological presence in the real world. I'd hypothesize that if somehow one of the Nine were wrested from the hand of a Ringwraith, that he would lose all presence in the real world. But even as it stands, the physical forms that the Nine may take in our world is extremely limited.
By contrast, the One is far more powerful than the Nine -- even Frodo is given the ability to see reasonably clearly in the wraith world and Sam notes his heightened hearing in the books. And thus one of enough inherent strength -- one that could withstand the inherently psychological nature of the wraith world -- could use the One Ring to marshal it and turn it to his uses.
Using this paradigm, perhaps a lot of the behaviors and characteristics of the Ring can be explained. How many times have we heard the question asked, "Big deal, it makes you invisible. So what? Why does it make this thing a great weapon?" Because what it really does is bring to bear the intense, overbearing fear that the wraith world brings with it. Were the Ringwraiths great warriors? Not that we know. For most of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Lord of the Nazgul stays out of the fray. It's said in the books that he drives his forces from behind, through fear. And the Nazgul themselves are not frequently confrontational. Often they shadow, harass, and intimidate. They bring with them the psychological dread of the wraith world.
And that's only using the Nine. The amount of dread and fear to be brought to bear with the One Ring must be devastating, indeed.
In this model, the Ring isn't in fact, a sentient thing, but rather is giving voice to the wills of those inside the wraith world, anxious for new minds, new souls, on which to prey. It calls to the Ringbearer, it calls to Faramir, it calls to Aragorn, as it called to Isildur.
Perhaps the wraith world is indeed the source of Sauron's power. The Rings of Power were his attempt to ensnare the other races. To draw the mighty of the Noldor into the wrath world and to there entrap them. In this sense Sauron invested much of his own innate nature as a conduit into that world into the One Ring, taking that connection out of his own being and putting it in a form with which he could ensnare the Elves.
But of course that went awry. He was perceived as he put on the One Ring, and the Elves, of course, took theirs off. Perhaps the Three were too powerful to be perceived by the Nine in the absence of the One. The Nine were slave-rings, but the Three needed to plausibly entice the Noldor to use them. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
But the One Ring was not destroyed, as we all know, and that vital link between Sauron and the wraith world, though weakened, remained tenuously intact. Via the Nazgul he was still able to tap into that realm. But with the destruction of the One, the Three, the Seven and the Nine were all removed from the picture, and the last link between Sauron and the source of his power over those that lived in the real world -- the link that used to be embodied in Sauron himself but was now embodied in the One Ring -- was gone for good.
Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.
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Sir_Big_V
6 days ago (Sun Jul 13 21:12:20)
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First, elkie...I should say I have impressed myself.
I already have a post which beat you to the punch...you said, however, that your second topic is somewhat inline with what I have here. In what way? What was your topic, so we might address it more fully?
I thank you deeply for the compliment. You place me in August company...and it is still July.
I like your explanation of the differences in our styles. I can do what you do, take something I see, analyaze it and find what it is getting at, and trying to say, but when responding to posts...I prefer to look into them, see what is discussable, comment on it and lead off in new directions.
Elkie...it is always an accomplishment when I flabbergast you.
The piece about Snowmane is part of what inspired me to write this...and he does it throughout the entire story, but in a way that you almost aren't aware of, if it isn't pointed out. The Entwives are a blunt version of the same tactic.
Even, Eomer son of Eomund, falls into the same category.
I agree with your description of some of the Ring's characteristics. The Shippey book is in my car, so I can't quote, but..you want to read it.
I don't remember the details, but according to Shippey, Tolkien was looking at the wraithing process as more of an inner thing than an outer.
The one big issue I have is that (two my memory) the Ringwraiths did not have their Rings....If memory serves, Sauron held the Rings of the Nine, and sent the wraiths to do his bidding.
But, it is late...bed calls soon.
I will finish this tomorrow night.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
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