Rings of Power: What does Nampat mean?

What does “Nampat” mean in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Let’s break down the meaning of the Orc chant in Episode 6.

All of the threads are finally tangling together in The Rings of Power. Galadriel and Halbrand have brought the forces of Númenor to Middle-earth, and successfully defended Bronwyn, Arondir, and their people from Adar and his army.

“Udûn” is the strongest episode of the show to date, one that strips back the narrative hopscotching for a focused, bloody battle with violence far beyond anything Peter Jackson brought to the screen. You can check out our review here.

As Adar prepares the Orcs to march on Ostirith, they begin chanting a word: Nampat – but what does it mean?

What does Nampat mean in Rings of Power?

Nampat means “death” in Black Speech, the official language of Mordor, and is the war-chant of the Orcs.

In Episode 6, Adar tells his Orcs that some of them will fall during the battle, but they’ll die as brothers and sisters. One of the Orcs then says: “Nampat”, and the rest of the army begins chanting it too.

From the subtitles on Prime Video, we know Nampat is derived from Black Speech, designed by Sauron to be the unifying language of all servants in Mordor, including Orcs.

Some fans online suspected that Nampat actually means “take back” or “seize”, derived from “nampë” in Quenya, the language spoken by the non-Telerin Elves who reached Valinor.

However, Prime’s X-Ray feature confirms that Nampat means Death.

As per A Tolkien Compass, “it is said that [Orcs] had no language of their own” in the Elder Days, “but took what they could of other tongues and perverted it to their own liking, yet they made only brutal jargons, scarcely sufficient even for their own needs, unless it were for curses and abuse.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7 will be available to stream on Prime Video on October 7. You can sign up to Amazon Prime here.