How fast can a 💀Nazgul fly.?

[Vorondil]

In The Two Towers, Gandalf says that: ''It is two-hundred leagues or more in straight flight from Barad-Dur to Orthanc, and even a Nazgul would take a few hours to fly between them.'' I measured on the map, and it's about 590 miles between Barad-Dur and Orthanc, so if it flew that distance in 3 hours, it would give it a speed of around 196 miles per hour. Is that right?

 

[d4rk3lf]

I doubt it could fly 196 mph, and few hours could mean several hours too.
I consulted Google for the fastest bird, and got that is The peregrine falcon, that can fly up to 186 mph.

However, fell-beasts are much larger (and larger = slower), so I consulted google again, and asked estimated speed of the pterodactyl, as I think they are closest in size, and got result of 67 mph.

But, since this is a fantasy world, I assume we can add some percentage to speed, so I'd say they could fly something like 80-130 mph... and would take them several hours between Barad Dur and Orthanc.

 

[Deimos]

In The Two Towers, Gandalf says that: ''It is two-hundred leagues or more in straight flight from Barad-Dur to Orthanc, and even a Nazgul would take a few hours to fly between them.'' I measured on the map, and it's about 590 miles between Barad-Dur and Orthanc, so if it flew that distance in 3 hours, it would give it a speed of around 196 miles per hour. Is that right?

I think maybe Gandalf is speaking in generalities to allay the company's fears, or even outright panic.; I.e, maybe it's closer to being a 4 hour flight.
What he is saying (or not quite saying) is that they needn't recklessly leap into action post-haste, because it's not as if Sauron is going to act in the next 30 minutes.
That is, it's "We have a little breathing room, but don't dawdle; get packed up and be on your way (after I leave with with "Mr Curiosity-nearly-killed-the-Took)." ...just my opinion.

 

[Ent]

Yes, the key lies in the definition of "a few", which is simply "more than 2 but not many."
A Few is also often compared with or interchangeable with "a handful" which would mean 5ish or so.

But 'a few' can mean more, too... such as when 'a few' are coming to the wedding itself, but 50 to the reception. 'A Few' here could even be a dozen.

So many possibilities are at hand.

We know Gandalf said to Gwaihir they needed to 'outmatch the wings of the Nazgûl' when going to get Frodo.

If we want to get literal, a Bald Eagle can readh 75 - 99 mph, a red-tailed hawk 120 mph and a Golden Eagle has clocked at 200 mph.

So a great number of speeds and variations are available given Gwaihir and buddies are fantastical to begin with.

But the 3 hours at 196.66 mph is apparently not unreasonable.

And @Deimos' comment is well-taken. Gandalf is generalizing...bringing a bit of perspective into their situation.

 

[Radaghast]

Yes, the key lies in the definition of "a few", which is simply "more than 2 but not many."
A Few is also often compared with or interchangeable with "a handful" which would mean 5ish or so.

But 'a few' can mean more, too... such as when 'a few' are coming to the wedding itself, but 50 to the reception. 'A Few' here could even be a dozen.

So many possibilities are at hand.

We know Gandalf said to Gwaihir they needed to 'outmatch the wings of the Nazgûl' when going to get Frodo.

If we want to get literal, a Bald Eagle can readh 75 - 99 mph, a red-tailed hawk 120 mph and a Golden Eagle has clocked at 200 mph.

So a great number of speeds and variations are available given Gwaihir and buddies are fantastical to begin with.

But the 3 hours at 196.66 mph is apparently not unreasonable.

And @Deimos' comment is well-taken. Gandalf is generalizing...bringing a bit of perspective into their situation.

The figure of 200mph for the golden eagle is very probably downward flight (just as the Peregrine falcon's 242 mph is from a high-speed dive; its max level flight speed is 68 mph). Wikipedia lists the golden eagle's maximum level speed at 80 mph.

 

[Ent]

The figure of 200mph for the golden eagle is very probably downward flight

no doubt.

 

[Ent]

This may be more useful:

 

[Radaghast]

That's the chart I consulted. To be the third-fastest horizontal flyer for a bird as large as the golden eagle is fairly impressive (the Peregrine comes in at 7th in horizontal flight, incidentally).

 

[Ent]

Thus if we say the Winged Beasts could do, say, 90 miles an hour flat out as fast as they could pump, it would take about 6 1/2 hours... still well within the range of a 'few' hours.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

This may be more useful:

View attachment 25752

So maybe fail beasts were White-throated needletails?

 

[Ent]

White-throated needletails?

Well disguised ones, with no feathers or body hair, skin stretched between the wing 'fingers', and really, really bred and fed and nurtured to countless times their original size. Quite a feat, but well... we're talkin' about Sauron here, so....

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

In seriousness, I always assumed they just flew really really high, almost like in an arc type path, not just a straight line, maybe that would help in getting there "in a few hours"

 

[Vorondil]

I always assumed they just flew really really high, almost like in an arc type path, not just a straight line,

I always thought the same thing, but they'd have to fly very high to shorten the flight-time.

 

[Elthir]

Well, no one said it yet,
so I guess I "must".

African or European?

 

[Ent]

I guess if we really look at the original post, "How fast can a Nazgul fly", the answer is... 'not at all.' Zero.
Now... a "winged Nazgul'... that is, one riding on the fell beasts provided by Sauron, could go at slightly less than the optimal speed of the beast itself.

But a Nazgul can't fly at all.

(well, at least this time, I provided responses in the line of the INTENT of the post before I went 'literalist' on you..! Take heart.)

 

[d4rk3lf]

In seriousness, I always assumed they just flew really really high, almost like in an arc type path, not just a straight line, maybe that would help in getting there "in a few hours"

This was measured during initial Fell-beast training sessions, and how fast they can deliver a message...
... and then... Sauron said: "I'll just simply use the freaking Palantir"

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

I am physically incapable of understanding the concept of mph so I'm not going to participate.

 

[Olorgando]

I always assumed they just flew really really high, almost like in an arc type path, not just a straight line,

I always thought the same thing, but they'd have to fly very high to shorten the flight-time.

This would only work if some of the Nazgûl on their fell beasts flew on "standby" in a holding pattern very far above Barad-dûr. But then how would Sauron give them their specific instructions? From a "standing start", they would have to climb up to that altitude first, which would slow them down massively at first.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

This would only work if some of the Nazgûl on their fell beasts flew on "standby" in a holding pattern very far above Barad-dûr. But then how would Sauron give them their specific instructions? From a "standing start", they would have to climb up to that altitude first, which would slow them down massively at first.

Maybe the heat from Mt. Doom could push them up high, like a hawk on a thermal?

 

[Olorgando]

Maybe the heat from Mt. Doom could push them up high, like a hawk on a thermal?

The Nazgûl flying on their fell beasts were seen over western Rohan on 05 March. Darkness begat to flow out of Mordor four days later, on 09 March. And the kind of eruption that formed the cloud flowing out of Mordor would have burned the fell beasts to a crisp. 😵