Fellbeast

Fell beasts are dark creatures of the old world and have the resemblance of a pterodactyl. In the movie, The Lord of the Rings, the Nazgul rode on the back of Fellbeasts during the battle, as well as, while scouting for the One Ring.

Fell beasts are foul creatures with wings and have no hair or feathers on their body. They are quite large, give off a repulsive odor, and have long sharp nails on their fingers, like that of an eagle. Sauron bred countless dark creatures in Mordor to strengthen his army. Fell beasts were bred specifically for Nazgul. Some believe that fell beasts resemble the appearance of a pterosaur, but Tolkien did not intend to do so. He did, however, agree that there are some similarities between the two. While fell beasts do resemble the outer appearance of an older version of a pterosaur, unlike the hairy, warm-blooded anatomy of its doppelganger, fell beasts are more reptile-like, hairless/featherless, and decaying in appearance.

Fell beast: French; “fel” meaning Dreadful or terrible, and “beast” meaning animal or creature. The word Fell, in Middle English, means frightful, vicious, dreadful, or fierce. In modern-day English, the lost word Fell has been brought back through Tolkien’s novels. Tolkien did not use the fell beast to identify the ghastly flying creatures, but simply to describe its nature as a fierce animal. He also used the word to Fell multiple times as an adjective. Example: “Fell light in his eyes” or “Fell meats”. It was the readers who had decided to identify the mounts of Ringwraiths as fell beasts. Fell beasts are often misrecognized as Nazgul. The confusion arose from video games, where the name Nazgul have been used to identify a Ringwraith on his fell beast as a unit. Furthermore, in a scene from The Return of the King, a Ringwraith says to Theoden, “Do not come between the Nazgul and his prey”, while a fell beast was about to eat Theoden’s injured horse. Thus, giving fuel to the flame, and creating the confusion that fell beasts are Nazgul.

Fell beasts are powerful creatures and can be deadly on a battlefield. On top of that, a Nazgul wielding a sword while riding it makes the pair a deadly force altogether. As the second-fastest beast to dominate the sky, a fell beast can easily swoop enemies with its feet and drop them from the sky. It can also use its body weight to crush enemies, and wide wingspan to strike a deadly blow.

The Nazgul initially rode on black horses when they first started their hunt for the One Ring. But the horses were destroyed by a flood (Elrond’s intervention during a pursuit of Frodo) when the Nine Nazgul riders reached Ford of Bruinen, close to Rivendell. Arwen was carrying a poisoned Frodo Baggins to Rivendell in her steed. Upon being chased, she led the group to the river of Bruinen. When the pair reached Bruinen, they crossed the river effortlessly. But as the Nazgul riders attempted the same feat, Arwen summoned a flood in the language of Quenya, to destroy the nine Nazguls in pursuit.

Acknowledged by the Fellowship as “a great winged creature, blacker than the pits in the night”, the Fellbeast made an appearance, mounted by a Ringwraith, on the edge of the western side of river Anduin. The fellowship had departed from Lothlorien and was resting by the shores at the time. Legolas used the Lorien bow to shoot an arrow at the creature. The creature took a hit, screeched harshly, and flew away towards the east. Gollum referred to the fell beast as “wraiths on wings” when he came across one in the Dead Marshes. He was taking Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee to Mount Doom (to destroy the One Ring) at the time and they had to take an alternative route through the marshes to get inside Mordor.

A Fellbeast was mentioned once again, by a lord of Harrowdale. He claimed that the monstrous beast passed Edoras and hovered over Meduseld. Gandalf, upon hearing this, changed the battle plans and asked the Rohirrim to gather at Dunharrow to prevent the attack in an open field. The captain of the army of Gondor, Faramir, was sent on a suicide mission to reacquire Osgiliath. After failing to do so, he escaped from the battlefields, accompanied by the surviving two-third of his men. While on his way to Minas Tirith, a group of Nazgul riders on their fell beasts attacked the group from above.

Gandalf rescued Faramir from the Nazgul riders. He used his staff to emit a white light that drove them away from the retreating force. During the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the corrupt king and slave to Sauron, King of Angmar, was on the battlefield, riding his fell beast. He attacked King Theoden and injured him. Eowyn, Theoden’s niece, who was fighting in the battle as Dernhelm, took off her guise and cut off the head of the fell beast. After the beast dropped dead, Nazgul charged at her. But she killed Nazgul with the help of Meriadoc Brandybuck. The fell beasts appeared in the last scene during the Battle of the Black Gates. Gwaihir attacked the flying creatures with the help of the Great Eagles. Sauron, later on, called back the Nazgul when he sensed Frodo in Mount Doom.

The Lord of the Rings (1978 by Ralph Bakshi): Ralph Bakshi [1] ended his film after the Battle of the Hornburg. During the entire animation film, the Nazgul King appears once, with a mace in his grasp while riding a fell beast. The Return of the King (1980 animation by Rankin/Bass): In the scene with Eowyn coming face to face with the King of the Nazgul, the mount of the Nazgul looks like a bird. Gandalf referred to the steed as carrion fowl. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Peter Jackson): The fell beasts appear multiple times, portrayed as “wyverns”. The creatures are described as winged serpents with two legs. Their heads resemble that of a snakehead, and they have no beaks. The first appearance of a fell beast is when a Ringwraith rides it over the Dead Marshes in The Two Towers. Middle earth: Shadow of War: We can see creatures similar to that of a fell beast. These creatures are called Drakes.

The fell beast can breathe poisonous gas on their enemies in The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. [2] The feature allows the player to significantly damage his/her enemy. The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle earth: There are three fell beasts in the game, but they are portrayed as heroes. All three creatures are mounted by a Ringwraith Shadow of War: Shadow of War is a part of the Shadow of Mordor series. Fell beasts appear in this video game as a similar creature, called hell-hawks.

1. ^The Lord of the Rings (1978).
2. ^The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age.