Fell beasts

Fell beasts were great winged creatures with a beak and claws and were described as similar to great carrion birds, but monstrous looking and greater than all other birds, including Eagles. They were dark and appeared shadow-like even at night. Their body was naked, lacking any quills or feathers. They had a long neck as well as vast pinions consisting of a web-like "hide between horned fingers". They possessed a "fell speed" which allowed them to fly faster than the wind. Furthermore, fell beasts also gave off a stench. In battle they swooped upon prey with their feet to drop foes from the sky, crushed enemies under their sheer weight, and used their vast wings to blow foul gusts of wind.

While their origins are uncertain, the fell beasts may have hailed from an earlier age of the world, a diminishing number of which had clung to survival in the remote reaches of Middle-earth. Under Sauron's care, these creatures were prepared for the use of his Nazgûl, who employed them in travel and in the uses of war.

Following the destruction of the black horses used by the Nazgûl in their pursuit of Frodo Baggins, Sauron appointed his brood of fell beasts to serve as the Ringwraiths' new steeds. These were glimpsed on several occasions before the Siege of Gondor, where they bore the Nazgûl to war and plagued the armies of Gondor and Rohan.

As the Fellowship of the Ring travelled down the Anduin, a winged creature briefly attempted to assail the company before being driven off by an arrow from Legolas' bow.

On Thursday 1 March, while Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, and Gollum were crossing the Dead Marshes, a Nazgûl borne on a winged creature passed overhead at midnight at "the speed of the wrath of Sauron." On Sunday 4 March, the party witnessed another Nazgûl, possibly "on some swift errand from Barad-dûr", pass overhead on a winged creature. On Monday 5 March, an hour after midnight, a third winged creature flew overhead in the direction of Mordor.

Around dawn on Tuesday 6 March, "a flying darkness in the shape of a monstrous bird" swooped over the hall of Meduseld in Edoras. To deter an attack, Gandalf counselled the Rohirrim to assemble at Dunharrow, in the valley under the mountains, rather than in the fields outside Edoras. Théoden was told of the sighting after returning from the Hornburg three days later.

Five Nazgûl, aloft on winged creatures, assailed Faramir and his company as they retreated from Osgiliath. They were driven off by Gandalf, who caused a white light to be emitted from his hand, which the Nazgûl could not face.

After the arrival of the Rohirrim to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Witch-king of Angmar abandoned his horse for a fell beast. Upon this steed he confronted the host of the Rohirrim, and slew Théoden's horse from underneath him. Éowyn, casting away the guise of Dernhelm, leapt to the king's defense and killed the beast, and with the help of Meriadoc Brandybuck slew its rider.

As in the expression "fell things" occurring earlier in The Lord of the Rings, the word fell in this sense is an archaic English word meaning "dreadful, terrible".

The term "fell beasts" is not used solely for the winged steeds of the Nazgûl: it was also used as a descriptor for various evil creatures of Mirkwood, and also a descriptor of a type of creature hunted by Oromë in addition to monsters.

In a reply to a letter, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that he did not intend for the Nazgûl-bird to be a pterodactyl, though he acknowledged that it was "pterodactylic" and "owes much to" the "mythology of the 'Prehistoric'". He considered that its description left open the possibility for it to be "a last survivor of older geological eras".

1978: The Lord of the Rings:

One of the Nazgûl (possibly the Witch-king, for he carries a mace) is shown riding on a winged creature. However, Bakshi's film only covers events up to the Battle of the Hornburg, so that is the only appearance of a Nazgûl-bird.

1980: The Return of the King:

The Nazgûl ride winged horses. In the confrontation between Éowyn and the Witch-king, the latter is seen riding a plump black-grey dragon-like animal. Gandalf had called it a Carrion-fowl.

1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:

The Fell Beasts are said to likely be "distant relatives of ancient Cold-drakes", and "grow to lengths of 30 feet (with 30-35-foot wingspans)". In the middle Third Age they live in mountainous areas of Mirkwood, presumably because of the Necromancer's presence at Dol Guldur. They are used as steeds by both the Nazgûl and a few Olog-hai warlords.

1995-8: Middle-earth Collectible Card Game:

Fell Beast increases the number of strikes of one Nazgûl hazard-creature. Wild Fell Beast is a Drake which attacks with three strikes. With the card "Fell Rider" the Ringwraith may move to a non-Darkhaven site, but without allies and followers.

2001-3: The Lord of the Rings (film series):

The fell beasts are depicted as more Dragon-like and serpentine. As opposed to having beaks, they have lipless mouths full of jagged teeth, fins running along their spine, long whip-like tails and dark gray scales. This depiction is heavily influenced by John Howe, who was one of the concept artists for the films.

In the films, the fell beasts are used for attack much more often than in the books, with the Nazgûl usually swooping down and screeching, making the defenders at the gate of Minas Tirith run away, leaving Gandalf alone to face the Witch-king as he enters.

Although on screen the films never make this mistake, sometimes cast or crew members (Lawrence Makoare and Richard Taylor most notably) on the commentary tracks and the documentaries refer to the fell beasts as Nazgûl; this is incorrect. The fell beasts are the creature that the nine Nazgûl ride, and the mistake probably arose because fell beasts are always seen with a Nazgûl atop them.

2001-: The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game:

The Fell Beasts are portrayed without beaks, reminiscent of the depiction in The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy.

2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game):

A Nazgûl mounted on a fell beast (depicted as a dragon-like creature) appears in the Amon Hen stage of the PC and console versions of the game, where it serves as the final boss. In the first phase of the battle, the beast crawls on the ground and fights Aragorn (armed with his sword). During the second and final phase, it flies into the sky and shoots green fireballs from its mouth down at Aragorn (who shoots back at it with his bow), until it is weakened and finally shot down by Legolas in the game's ending cutscene.

2002-5: The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game:

Hell-hawks, employed as mounts by the Ringwraiths and found wild in southern Mirkwood and (after the War of the Ring) in Gondor, resemble a "cross between lizards and featherless birds". They were bred by Sauron in mockery of the Great Eagles.

2011: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North:

Agandaûr has several Fell beasts under his control. At the end of Chapter 1, Agandaûr flees on the back of one of them.

2022: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:

2023: The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria:

Fell beasts are among the monsters infesting Moria. The female dragon Narag-Shazon claims that Sauron forcibly employed her to breed the creatures.

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