Timeline Event
Nazgûl swept away at the Ford of Bruinen
Event Type: Military/Strategic
Age: 3rd Age - Ring War
Date: October 20, 3018
Description:
An event in the Ambush at the Ford of Bruinen; see that entry for an overview.
The three Riders that were still in... the Ford... disappeared, buried suddenly under angry foam. Those that were behind drew back in dismay....
... Frodo heard cries, and... he saw, beyond the Riders that hesitated on the shore, a shining figure of white light; and behind it ran small shadowy forms waving flames....
The black horses were filled with madness, and leaping forward in terror they bore their riders into the rushing flood. Their piercing cries were drowned in the roaring of the river as it carried them away.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 12, Flight to the Ford
'Caught between fire and water, and seeing an Elf-lord revealed in his wrath, they were dismayed, and their horses were stricken with madness. Three were carried away by the first assault of the flood; the others were now hurled into the water by their horses and overwhelmed.'
'And is that the end of the Black Riders?' asked Frodo.
'No,' said Gandalf. 'Their horses must have perished, and without them they are crippled. But the Ringwraiths themselves cannot be so easily destroyed.'
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 1, Many Meetings
Three of the black horses had been found at once drowned in the flooded Ford. On the rocks of the rapids below it searchers discovered the bodies of five more, and also a long black cloak, slashed and tattered. Of the Black Riders no other trace was to be seen, and nowhere was their presence to be felt. It seemed that they had vanished from the North.
'Eight out of the Nine are accounted for at least,' said Gandalf. 'It is rash to be too sure, yet I think that we may hope now that the Ringwraiths were scattered, and have been obliged to return as best they could to their Master in Mordor, empty and shapeless.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 3, The Ring Goes South
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 18Jul06
