Note: The names and most of the background history of the Nine are derived from the Player's Guide to the "The Lidless Eye" series of the collectible card game "Middle-earth". Exceptions are the Witch-King and his second in command, Khamûl; on both of them sufficient information can be found mostly in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales".

This is an old Middle-earth player's tribute to his favourite card game.

RINGWRAITHS

by

Darth Gilthoron

Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die…

The clock is reset. The board is wiped clean. The game starts anew.

This is how the Third Age of the Sun begins. As the horns and trumpets of the Kings of Men hail the times to come, another power withdraws into the Shadow. Sauron of Mordor, heir to the Dark God, is defeated, just like, but a few millennia before, his master.

But then again… no. For the Dark God was banished from the World. Being cast out into the Void has not been Sauron's fate.

This is where it all begins again. The World was purged with fire and sword, but some evil will always survive the cleansing.

Our power is much diminished, our dark glory gone, our pride is broken. But we are still there, biding our time. In days to come, the Watch will not be kept any longer. The Free People will become estranged. The Elves will fade. The Dwarves will withdraw. And Men… Men will fail.

The Siege may be strong, but it will be breached at last.

And we will be there when our time has come.

We are the Nazgûl.