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In the Lord of the Rings trilogy we often hear the Nazgûl theme music:

What are the lyrics and translation for the words the choir sings repeatedly throughout the films?

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Dungeons and Dragons Online gives this translation for the Black Rider:

Nebabitham Maganane Netabdam daurad Nepam ned abarat-aglar ido Nidir nenakham Bari 'n Katharad

'We deny our maker. We cling to the darkness. We grasp for ourselves power and glory. Now we come, the Nine, Lords of Eternal Life.

From Lyrics Translate:

The Nazgûl

Ristais dúath Nerchennin o chuil Coll am na waewath goeyl Tellin i Neder Gurth renia Meditha han phan Meditha ardhon

The Nazgul

Shreds of shadow Torn from life Borne aloft By fell winds. The Nine have come Death has taken wing. He will eat it all Eat all the world.

Also, here's a video with subtitles

and another one

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  • I only add this because I feel it is a more definitive source: The Music of The Lord of the Rings by Douglas Adams - which is a comprehensive collaboration with Howard Shore containing critical analysis of all three films. Page 313
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Dec 7, 2015 at 14:17
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    Per The Annotated Score, the DDO translation is the more correct one. The title of the song is "The Revelation of the Ringwraiths", and the translation is "We renounce our Maker. We cleave to the darkness. We take unto ourselves the power and glory. Behold! We are the Nine, the Lords of Unending Life."
    – Jason Baker
    Commented Dec 7, 2015 at 15:37
  • Bummer that the lyrics are in Sindarin, but I guess the Black Speech wasn't really designed for singing...
    – Mike Harris
    Commented Dec 8, 2015 at 3:26
  • @MikeHarris The lyrics are actually in Adunaic. </nerd>
    – Jason Baker
    Commented Dec 8, 2015 at 17:00
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    Both video links are dead
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 25, 2018 at 12:06
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To answer the question, we need the lyrics of the poem written for the movie by Philippa Boyens (and translated to Adûnaic by David Salo); The Revelation of the Ringwraiths:

Adûnaic:

Nêbâbîtham Magânanê
Nêtabdam dâur-ad
Nêpâm nêd abârat-aglar
îdô Nidir nênâkham
Bârî’n Katharâd

English:

We renounce our Maker
We cleave to the darkness
We take unto ourselves the power and glory
Behold! We are the Nine
The Lords of Unending Life.

Fellowship of the Ring Annotated Scores.

This poem is not used directly on the soundtrack but fractions of it appear at many places. You can find them here.

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  • If you're going to quote things, don't forget to use > quote tags to show that they're taken directly from elsewhere.
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 25, 2018 at 14:16
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    Also, it's not considered "nice" to spend a large chunk of your answer explaining why someone else's answer is worse than yours.
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 25, 2018 at 14:18

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