# Black Breath



## Elendil3119 (Jun 11, 2003)

I was just reading in Foster's _Complete Guide to Middle-earth_ about the Black Breath. He says:


> A name given to the fell influence of the Nazgul, which resulted in despair, unconsciousness, and bad dreams, and after prolonged exposure, in death. Athelas was an effective remedy. Also called the Black Shadow by the doctors of minas Tirith; Black Breath was the name used by Aragorn.


How does the Black Breath affect someone? Do they have to be stabbed by a Morgul blade? Or is it just simply being in the presence of a Nazgul?


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## Celebthôl (Jun 11, 2003)

I believe it is just the presence of a Nazgul that makes it effective...


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## Maeglin (Jun 11, 2003)

Celeb is right, it is just being in the presence. Certainly all the men of Gondor did not recieve Morgul wounds, and all were terrified in the presence of the Nazgul. Faramir had also not recieved a Morgul would and was almost killed by the Black Breath. I believe the only character to recieve such a wound was Frodo.


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## Elendil3119 (Jun 11, 2003)

I'm pretty sure you guys are right. 


> 'I found him, sir,' put in Nob. 'Mr. Butterbur sent me out with a lantern. I went down to West-gate, and then back up towards South-gate. Just nigh Bill Ferny's house I thought I could see something in the Road. I couldn't swear to it, but it looked to me as if two men was stooping over something, lilting it. I gave a shout, but where I got up to the spot there was no signs of them, and only Mr. Brandybuck lying by the roadside. He seemed to be asleep. "I thought I had fallen into deep water," he says to me, when I shook him. Very ***** he was, and as soon as I had roused him, he got up and ran back here like a hare.'
> 'I am afraid that's true,' said Merry, 'though I don't know what I said. I had an ugly dream, which I can't remember. I went to pieces. I don't know what came over me.'
> 'I do,' said Strider. 'The Black Breath.


But what does Foster mean when he says "Athelas was an effective remedy"? I suppose that Athelas could be used to revive someone who was 'knocked' unconscious by the Black Breath, but how?


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## Ravenna (Jun 11, 2003)

I've always believed that athelas acted in this situation rather as smelling salts does. There is a brief passage (I think in FoTR, possibly when Frodo is stabbed), where it says something along the lines of Aragorn breathing on the Athelas, then crushing it and an invigorating scent arising from it which made the hobbits feel better. Sorry, books not to hand so I can't give the exact quote.
After all, there's also the fact that aromatherapy has been around for a long time, even if not called by that name, so there's no reason for Tolkien not to have been aware that some medicinal herbs also have beneficial scents.


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## BlackCaptain (Jun 12, 2003)

Well the Black Breath is something that invokes fear and termoil on one's soul, spirit, fea, whatever it is. Athelas is a plant that clears one's soul, spirit, fea, whatever, from all the problems and fears you have. It's quite simple to see how effecteve an elixer it could be.

The Black Breath is the Nazgûl's fear put into an aura, and targeted at someone. Athelas is a weed that's scent is made to remove all fear and pain from people through some wierd phsycotheraputic therapy of some sort. 

It's a match made in heaven!

I hope that all made sense...

*EDIT---->>> Any time that I said Sould, spirit, fea, or whatever up there in my post, I change it to Mind*


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## Lantarion (Jun 12, 2003)

Tut tut, I don't think that either Black Breath or Athelas affect the _fëa_.. Neither of them are 'magic' after all..


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## BlackCaptain (Jun 14, 2003)

Well then they affect your mental well-being


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## Lantarion (Jun 14, 2003)

I'm pretty sure that the mind (brain) and the _fëa_ (soul) are different things, even within Tolkien's works..


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## BlackCaptain (Jun 14, 2003)

There... I fixed it! I hope you can see where I edited my post...


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