Can a 💀Nazgul be terminated by destroying its Nine Ring companion?

[BalrogRingDestroyer]

I know that Sauron held these Nine after the Nazgul were corrupted, or I think he did, so getting them from him would have been practically impossible.

However, in theory, if you threw one of the Nine Rings into Mouth Doom or threw it before Smaug when he was spitting fire, could you destroy the Nazgul that was ensnared by it or would destroying the One Ring be the only way to truly destroy a Nazgul once the mortal Man had been totally corrupted by the influence of the Great Ring and turned into a Wraith, since the Ruling Ring would now be the dominating force? Or would it work since Sauron didn't physically possess the One Ring at the time of LOTR but wouldn't work if he actually did?

Of note where this might actually be physically possible after the defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance as Sauron would be too weak to claim them, if someone found the Nine Great Rings meant for Men lying around and threw them into Mt. Doom (which might be easier for someone to do than it would be to destroy the One Ring) then would that Nazgul have been sent to the Halls of Mandos and never been able to return to the physical realm of Arda?

 

[Ent]

I know that Sauron held these Nine

I believe actually Sauron gave each of nine kings one of the nine rings, ensnaring them... then they became wraiths as the rings, tied to the power of the One, extended their lives beyond mortal limits.

Could the nine rings have been destroyed by a Dragon? Likely, Only the One is said to be able to resist Dragon fire.

The problem would have been getting one of the nine from its King to begin with, to toss it into Mount Doom...

might actually be physically possible after the defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance as Sauron would be too weak to claim them

Given that the power of ALL the rings was tied to the One, (even the Three became powerless), having any of the Nine Rings after Sauron's defeat and the destruction of the One would have been worthless. Could they then have been tossed into Mount Doom? Sure. Was it necessary? They had become mere trinkets. In fact, they may have even perished together with the one, having been 'sullied' by Sauron from the beginning.

That's my guess.

 

[ZehnWaters]

I know that Sauron held these Nine after the Nazgul were corrupted, or I think he did, so getting them from him would have been practically impossible.

However, in theory, if you threw one of the Nine Rings into Mouth Doom or threw it before Smaug when he was spitting fire, could you destroy the Nazgul that was ensnared by it or would destroying the One Ring be the only way to truly destroy a Nazgul once the mortal Man had been totally corrupted by the influence of the Great Ring and turned into a Wraith, since the Ruling Ring would now be the dominating force? Or would it work since Sauron didn't physically possess the One Ring at the time of LOTR but wouldn't work if he actually did?

Of note where this might actually be physically possible after the defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance as Sauron would be too weak to claim them, if someone found the Nine Great Rings meant for Men lying around and threw them into Mt. Doom (which might be easier for someone to do than it would be to destroy the One Ring) then would that Nazgul have been sent to the Halls of Mandos and never been able to return to the physical realm of Arda?

I'm not sure we can say with certainty, though I would think they did need the tie of their own rings to survive, it's possible they didn't. I know that the Ringwraiths no longer had their rings as Sauron had taken them back so it's possible they were so bound to Sauron they didn't need the rings any longer as they were under the purview of the One Ring.

 

[BalrogRingDestroyer]

I believe actually Sauron gave each of nine kings one of the nine rings, ensnaring them... then they became wraiths as the rings, tied to the power of the One, extended their lives beyond mortal limits.

Could the nine rings have been destroyed by a Dragon? Likely, Only the One is said to be able to resist Dragon fire.

The problem would have been getting one of the nine from its King to begin with, to toss it into Mount Doom...

Given that the power of ALL the rings was tied to the One, (even the Three became powerless), having any of the Nine Rings after Sauron's defeat and the destruction of the One would have been worthless. Could they then have been tossed into Mount Doom? Sure. Was it necessary? They had become mere trinkets. In fact, they may have even perished together with the one, having been 'sullied' by Sauron from the beginning.

That's my guess.

I more meant after Isildur defeated Sauron, not Gollum. Could someone have found the nine Rings and tossed them into the Fire to ensure that at least the Nazgul didn't come back?

 

[d4rk3lf]

I'd say yes.
Their life force (or dead force ) were bound to the rings, and rings were bound to The One Ring.
Sauron held their rings, and only because of that, they were forced to obey him.
However, if Frodo had enough will power, and wanted to do that, he could command Nazguls, because he had The One Ring, and Sauron couldn't do anything about that.
Sauron WAS able to force them to give him their rings, ONLY because he was in possession of The One Ring, at that point in time.

One thing worth mentioning is that it would need extreme will power to use One Ring to command the Nazguls. Saruman claimed he was able to do it, but maybe even him wouldn't able to do it, because The One Ring TRUE master was Sauron,

At least, that's my opinion.

 

[Ent]

I more meant after Isildur defeated Sauron, not Gollum. Could someone have found the nine Rings and tossed them into the Fire to ensure that at least the Nazgul didn't come back?

Ah.
Well... that's a good question. By the time Sauron was overthrown at the end of the 2nd age, I believe the Nine were already wraiths. They were also overthrown with him and/or went into hiding.
The problem I see is with 'finding the rings to destroy them.'
The Nazgûl, being in the spirit realm, would have been very hard to find - though perhaps not impossible.
They didn't take shape again until Sauron's return.

Could the rings have been destroyed if found? Uncertain. Their fate was entirely bound up with the power of the One Ring by that time. I don't know if that would have conferred to them any kind of indestructibility or not. We know the lesser rings were consumed by Dragons, as were some of the seven Dwarf rings... but they never submitted to Sauron as the Nine had.

A great speculative question.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I'm reviving this to raise a couple of points.

1. We aren't told exactly when Sauron distributed the rings he captured, unless I missed it somewhere; at some point between S.A 1700 and c. 2351, clearly, but that's a long time-span. By the latter date, they're referred to as "the Nazgul or Ringwraiths", so they must have spent some time using the power of their rings before they became "invisible permanently"; at which point-- at least by my reading -- Sauron reclaimed the rings from them, as they would now be helpless without him.

2. All the "named" rings are -- again, in my reading -- "Great Rings, the Rings of Power"; it's my belief that Tolkien included the "lesser rings" to provide an in-universe explanation for the magic rings that turn up in so many folk and fairy tales.

 

[Olorgando]

One thing Sauron and the nine Ring-wraiths seem to have had in common is existing in their - for the R-ws unnatural - forms without actually wearing their respective rings. The question is whether Sauron would have been able to control the nine Ring-wraiths directly, or if he needed the connection via One Ring to Nine Rings to do so.. If his control over the nine Ring-wraiths depended on their rings still being in existence (and possibly the wraiths' unnatural existence depended on the same), then destroying a Ring-wraith by destroying its ring should be a possibility. How to get at any of these nine rings in the deepest dungeons of Barad-dûr, even after the temporary defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age, is an entirely different matter.

 

[Deimos]

One thing Sauron and the nine Ring-wraiths seem to have had in common is existing in their - for the R-ws unnatural - forms without actually wearing their respective rings. The question is whether Sauron would have been able to control the nine Ring-wraiths directly, or if he needed the connection via One Ring to Nine Rings to do so.. If his control over the nine Ring-wraiths depended on their rings still being in existence (and possibly the wraiths' unnatural existence depended on the same), then destroying a Ring-wraith by destroying its ring should be a possibility. How to get at any of these nine rings in the deepest dungeons of Barad-dûr, even after the temporary defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age, is an entirely different matter.

I think your only chance to avoid becoming a wraith (the point of no return) is to give up / get rid of the ring while you're still of corporeal form.
That is, "once a wraith, always a wraith". If a person reached "wraith stage" the destruction of one's ring (wherever it is) wouldn't change anything (imo).
There has been an essential change. A wraith's destruction would be tied only to Sauron's destruction.