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the lord of the rings - What were the fell beasts the Nazgul flew on?


What were the fell beasts the Nazgul flew on called?



Answer



I don't think they were ever given a name. The Tale of Years in Appendix B just refers to "Winged Nazgûl". The only time we see one close up is in Book V, chapter 6: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields:



The great shadow descended like a falling cloud. And behold! it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil. And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things that fly; and he gave it to his servant to be his steed.




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