LogFAQs > #908239527

The main reason for the Nazgul wearing the cloaks was to interact with normal people. This they did to try and ascertain the location of the ring as can be seen by their encounters with the Gaffer and Farmer Maggot, not to mention their manipulation of Bill Ferny and other folk in Bree. The Nazgul were incredibly confident in themselves and the power that they held over the little folk in the west lands of Middle Earth during the Third Age. They were not aware that a man of Strider's stature was with the Hobbits at Weathertop, and even if they had know that a man was with them, they wouldn't have known that it was the descendant of the Numenorian Kings. Thus, the reason that they didn't take off their cloaks must come down to the fact that they were overconfident. After the very successful infiltration of Bree and then the relentless tracking of the Hobbits, they would have had no reason to take off their cloaks for the battle at Weathertop. It is a huge theme in the Lord of the Rings that the Enemy's main downfall is his overconfidence, as Gandalf states at the Council of Elrond that Sauron would never even consider the fact they would send in Hobbits to Mordor to destroy the ring. So before you try and poke holes in the masterwork of JRR Tolkien, why don't you just enjoy the books for what they are and stop trying to be a little whiney bitch.