In Mordor, who created the swords for the Nazgûl?
As they were kings of men from different places before the became wraiths I'd say that their swords were made by men, but I am not sure.
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6lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Ringwraith_sword - "The Ringwraith sword were long swords of black steel that were hand-forged in Mordor for the Ringwraiths, the deadliest servants of Sauron."– ValorumCommented May 2, 2019 at 22:06
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4@Valorum where did the wiki got that info?– Gonçalo PeresCommented May 2, 2019 at 22:26
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3Dunno. If they referenced it, I'd have posted it as an answer– ValorumCommented May 2, 2019 at 22:31
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1@Valorum why not answer it– GingeCommented May 4, 2019 at 0:53
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10@Ginge - Because "Someone posted on a random wiki that xyz" isn't the kind of answer I personally want to be associated with.– ValorumCommented May 4, 2019 at 6:16
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3 Answers
I'm willing to be corrected on this, but I think the answer is "we don't know". The swords could have been made in Mordor, Minas Morgul, Dol Guldur... They might even be artifacts from the Nazgûl's countries of origin.
The only information I can recall about their weapons is that the blade the Witch-king uses to stab Frodo is referred to as a "Morgul-knife" by Gandalf in "Many Meetings". So this was probably made in Minas Morgul, but it wasn't the Witch-king's sword, only a knife that he used with his other hand.
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3Morgul is just the Sindarin word for sorcery (with the implication of evil magic) and the term could be just to describe the evil power of the knife, rather than where it was made. Commented May 2, 2019 at 22:30
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2Good answer! All we know about Morgul knives is that they are enchanted. They could be ordinary knives -- plunder from Osgilliath, for all we know -- enchanted by the Nazgul. Commented Nov 7, 2019 at 15:16
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I think we don't know is the most likely, but in the (very not Canon) Shadow of War PC game... Spoiler Alert You, Talion the ranger, kill one of the Nazgúl and take his ring, eventually replacing him. In the time being you single-handedly hold back the forces of Mordor, explaining why Sauron didn't attack earlier than he does in the LOTR. In this case you keep your sword, so maybe they just use the ones they had in life? Commented Nov 8, 2019 at 10:55
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@IanThompson I gave the bounty to your answer, however I didn't accept it, as, imo, "We don't know" is acceptable if it's accompanied by a list of the references that you checked. Commented Nov 15, 2019 at 16:07
Speculation
The Necromancer / Sauron
If we presume "Morgul" as the term used to be linked with Minas Morgul, which thus implies a domain/stronghold of Sauron, then we can look to early drafts of The Fellowship of the Ring:
Gandalf calls the weapon that was used 'a deadly blade, the knife of the Necromancer which remains in the wound', not a 'Morgul-knife'
The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Pt1, Christopher Tolkien - p.211
In a later draft:
The 'Morgul-knife' is still the 'knife of the Necromancer'
The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Pt1, Christopher Tolkien - p.363
Thus - we can see that originally, Tolkien was associating the one named weapon in the text very directly with Sauron. He later changed it of course to 'Morgul-knife' but again, given the association of Minas Morgul and Sauron, it isn't unreasonable to presume then that Sauron or someone quite close to him constructed their weapons.
answered Nov 11, 2019 at 18:50
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Gandalf calls the weapon that was used 'a deadly blade', not a 'Morgul-knife'. >'a deadly blade, the knife of the Necromancer which remains in the wound' - (there's stuff in that block quote that shouldn't be). Also, Why is Sauron called “the Necromancer”?, backs this answer up.– MazuraCommented Nov 16, 2019 at 0:57
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1the stuff in the block quote is verbatim from Christopher Tolkien's book cited in the answer. In it, he's talking about drafts, not the final print edition. Yet, in the final print edition - (at least my copy) Gandalf says "They tried to pierce your heart with a Morgul-knife, which remains in the wound.' Any problems with the block quotes you can take up with the author's kid. He's the one holding all the notebooks :D @Mazura Commented Nov 16, 2019 at 2:38
The swords were made in Mordor.
According to lotr fandom, the swords were made in Mordor specifically for the Nazgûl.
The Ringwraith sword were long swords of black steel that were hand-forged in Mordor for the Ringwraiths, the deadliest servants of Sauron.
They wielded these weapons mainly during the War of the Ring until their deaths in March 25, 3019, when Sauron was finally destroyed.
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12I've downvoted. This fan-written wiki seems to be making a bold assertion but hasn't offered any evidence to back it up– ValorumCommented May 4, 2019 at 6:18
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The only Ringwraith that was singled wields a Morgul Blade. See Appearance and characteristics section. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazg%C3%BBl– GingeCommented May 4, 2019 at 23:57
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1FWIW, the lotr.fandom page this unreferenced claim was copied from was deleted in August 2019.– SchmuddiCommented Nov 30, 2020 at 15:43