Wraiths in The Lord of the Rings were the common apparition; someone who had been killed yet lives on by some dark sorcery (necromancy or a Morgul-blade), or someone who died in darkness or serious dishonor.
History
First Age
During the First Age, the love sick Gorlim having betrayed his comrades in arms appeared to Beren as a Wraith, confessing what he had done.[1]
Second Age
During Sauron's influence and rule in Middle-earth, he swayed and corrupted nine powerful Men of Númenórean and Easterling stock by giving them each one of the nine Rings of Power. Afterwards, they slowly faded into darkness, becoming Ringwraiths enslaved to the will of Sauron, fated to roam the world until their end.
Third Age
The Dunlendings feared that Helm Hammerhand was a Wraith that wandered through Rohan as its protector.
No other evidence of any other Wraiths are recorded as existing in Middle-earth, save for the Ringwraiths, the úlairi, who continued in the East and in Mordor and when the Ring was discovered came out to search for it. When Frodo is stabbed by the Witch-King of Angmar in the first book he is infected by the evil magic from a Morgul blade; if Glorfindel had not saved Frodo, he would have eventually become a Wraith himself.[2][3][4]
References
- ↑ The Silmarillion: Quenta Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: Appendix A, "The House of Eorl"
