The Rings of Power Will Invent an Early Version of the Ringwraiths Named the Nazgnagôl

“We love looking back at what inspired Tolkien,” showrunner J.D. Payne told Empire. “He led with language. Language became a scaffold on which the myth would hang. The word Nazgul means Ringwraith in the Black Speech of Mordor. But before they were Ringwraiths, we know that these were just men. So we were able to derive in the Black Speech that nagôl could mean servant. Nazgnagôl, therefore, literally means Ring-servant.”

Only two of the Nine were ever named by Tolkien: the fearsome Witch-king of Angmar, and his second-in-command: Khamûl, the Black Easterling, who will be played in the upcoming season by British stage actor Zubin Varla.

“Every character stays the hero of their own story,” Payne concludes. “From Khamûl’s point of view, he is a warlord who deserves to be a king, whose power has been usurped by a dark wizard. Sauron offers him a way back to the top.”

This appears to suggest an intertwining of the meandering subplot featuring the halflings and Gandalf in the east, where Khamûl is from, with the series’ more central plotlines. Curiously, there has been no mention yet at all of the halflings returning for the series’ third season. Meanwhile, the identity of the Dark Wizard remains a mystery — though it is believed he is likely one of the two Blue Wizards left out of Tolkien’s main work.

Earlier this week, we learned that Galadriel’s husband Celeborn will also finally be introduced in the show’s next season. The role is set to be portrayed by Stranger Things’ Jamie Campbell Bower, who described the character as acting like a “lover-boy.”

Rings of Power is still on-track to run for five seasons, with the $1 billion Prime Video show claimed to be still under the protection of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ “magical halo” despite its huge costs.

Image credit: Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social