Alan Sisto

I mean, I think even Gollum, had he had to use it more than he did.

Yes.

Had he worn it all the time, that would have been even more problematic.

But he was living under the mountain.

He didn't have to wear it very often.

He was pretty much in hiding anyway.

And then it's the same thing with Bilbo.

Bilbo only used it a few times.

It would have been better if he hadn't used it at all.

So for this next part, I want to go back to the timeline for a bit.

So the rings that Sauron got after he took over Eregion, they were distributed sometime after that capture in Second Age 1697, but obviously sometime before the first Ringwraith's appearance, which was about 550 years later in Second Age 2251.

Yeah.

In those intervening years, a lot has happened, right?

The shadow has begun to fall on the men of Numenor as they're growing jealous of the serial longevity of the elves, even with or possibly because of the longer lifespans that they had.

And as we've talked about this season, both with Sara in our talks on Aldarion and Erendis, and then also with James in the story of Tal Elmar, the Numenoreans have also greatly expanded their power in the west of Middle-earth in this timeframe.

So about a thousand years after they first appear, so now in 3262 Second Age, that's when Sauron is taken prisoner.

And you should hear the air quotes there because he very much used that as an excuse.

He just wanted to get over there.

So that's when Arferazon captures him and Sauron puts on those finishing touches of the corruption of the Numenoreans.

We're never told the specific identities of any of the Nazgul.