Alternative forms
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Etymology
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From nazgûl (“ringwraith”) in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional language Black Speech, a compound of nazg (“ring”) and gûl (“wraith; spirit”).
Nazgul (plural Nazgul)
- (fantasy) An evil force which heedlessly destroys everything in its path, and appears like a horseman dressed all in black.
2007, Glen Duncan, I, Lucifer, page 55:The West Hampstead studio flat looks like the Nazgul have just thundered through it […]
2011, Kristin Hannah, Night Road, page 282:The last thing she wanted was for Zach to come storming out of the house like a Nazgul, telling her to get the hell away from his daughter.
2012, Tom Holt, You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps, page 133:There's three blokes who look like the Nazgul in pinstripes, and a skinny hatchetfaced bird who keeps saying “Well?” at me every time she asks me a question and I don't answer her inside half a second.
Nazgul (plural Nazguls)
- (fantasy role-playing games) A type of demonic or undead creature.
1994, Chiaroscuro, “Re: ColdMUD, interesting career(class,guild)-systems, and thoughts about mudding”, in rec.games.mud.misc[1] (Usenet):(On Lost Souls there is a Ringwraith guild; Nazguls are members at levels 26-29.)
1994, The Nowhere Man, “Re: Only 9 Nazguls? (was: Ascension (long))”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack[2] (Usenet):In the Touist[sic] quest, there was a polymorph trap on the first level, and one of the non-peaceful buggers polyed into a Nazgul (ugh!).
1999, Jonathan Ellis, “Re: unique version of moria”, in rec.games.roguelike.moria[3] (Usenet):AFAIK Moria itself has never had uniques, though some variants do (Morgul has the nine Nazguls, for instance) or artifacts.
2001, Pat Gunn, “Re: [Pern] YASD (#$# Nazguls)”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband[4] (Usenet):Scrolls of mass genocide, scrolls of teleport, and a kick-ass bow generally are prerequisites for killing Nazguls in Pernband.
2000, Fuzzy, “AD: [rom] Dawn of Empires - mud.dawnofempires.com”, in rec.games.mud.misc[5] (Usenet):Soulcrusher established his power in Valhalla itself where he trained the Nazguls and built a guardian to protect his privacy.
2002, Matthew Murray, “Short Bow of the Nazgul”, in rec.games.roguelike.angband[6] (Usenet):While poking around on level 20, I came across an object I've never seen before, a Short Bow of the Nazgul (x2) (-7,-7) {cursed}.
Further reading
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