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tolkiens legendarium - What Is the Difference Between a Wraith, a Wight, and a Ghost?


I always heard the terms "ghost" and "wraith" used interchangeably, until I read Lord of the Rings. Clearly the Ring Wraiths are not ghosts, since they interact with the physical world.


I also know, in the same work, there are the Barrow-Wights and I've heard wights and wraiths compared in the past.


What is the difference between a wraith, a wight, and a ghost? Are the Ring Wraiths the only wraiths in LotR? Are there examples of just regular ghosts in LotR?



Answer



As an example of "regular" ghosts, see Dead Men of Dunharrow (the Dead who Aragorn called to help him defeat Umbar Corsairs)


The difference between a wraith, a wight and a ghost is that





  • A ghost is a pure immaterial spirit of a former Man.




  • Barrow-wights were demons/spirits of a somewhat unclear origin (most likely, spirits of the Dúnedain corrupted by the Witch-King of Angmar - he who later became the leader of the Ringwraiths), who inhabited the corpses/bones of the dead Heros/Kings (the concept was lifted by Tolkien from Germanic/North mythology, details on Wikia).




  • Ringwraiths were living men corrupted by the 9 Rings.


    They became "neither living nor dead" according to Aragorn, but they were physical beings (able to wear material cloths and wield weapons and fight), albeit not visible to others as far as their flesh.





So, ghosts and wights were both spirits, but the latter were animating corpses/bones and the former were fully immaterial. Wraiths were material for most part, and NOT spirits per se.


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