Witch-king of Angmar
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The Witch-king of Angmar, aka Lord of the Nazgûl or the Black Captain, is the chief of the Ringwraiths of Middle-earth. He is a fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien. His true given name is not known, nor are the names of any of the other Nazgûl save Khamûl.
The Witch-king was originally a human king. In the Second Age, he was given one of nine Rings of Power to help rule over his realm. He and eight others were already in the service of Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor. The Rings gave them incredible power, which they used to further their own ambitions, but eventually the Rings completely corrupted them and turned them into the ghostly, undead Nazgûl.
Biography
The Second and Third Ages
The first sighting of the Nazgûl in Middle-earth was reported in 2251 of the Second Age. For the next 1200 years, the Lord of the Nazgûl would serve Sauron as his second in command. He fought in the war against the Last Alliance of Elves and Men between 3434 and 3441 of the Second Age. It was in 3441 that Sauron was defeated by Isildur and the nine Nazgûl disappeared from Middle-Earth.
One thousand years into the Third Age, Sauron took a new form as the Necromancer, and founded the fortress of Dol Guldur in southern Mirkwood in 1050 of the Third Age. This signalled the return of the Nine Nazgûl to Middle-earth.
The Lord of the Nazgûl reappeared in 1300 of the Third Age in the north near the lost realm of Arnor. There he founded the kingdom of Angmar. It is after the formation of Angmar and several conflicts with the Dúnedain of the North that the Lord of the Nazgûl received the title of Witch-king, Lord of Angmar, for which he was the best known since this was his first great act independent of Sauron.
He then began his open war campaign with the three divided kingdoms of Arnor (Arthedain, Rhudaur , and Cardolan). In 1409 of the Third Age, the Witch-king invaded the kingdom of Rhudaur and Cardolan and eventually destroyed both kingdoms. Soon, the only resistance against the Witch-king's forces was the western kingdom of Arthedain. The Witch-king continued his war for hundreds of years. In 1636, the Witch-king sent wights to the Barrow-downs in Cardolan in order to prevent the rebirth of the kingdom. The Witch-king claimed ultimate victory in the north in 1974 of the Third Age, when his forces captured Fornost Erain, the capital of Arthedain. With its capture, the final kingdom collapsed, and with it, the last remnants of the lost realm of Arnor were destroyed.
The Witch-king gladly took his seat of power in the newly captured Fornost. But his glory did not last long, for in 1975, general Eärnur of Gondor landed at the harbors of Mithlond, leading an army of Gondorians. His army was joined by the Elves of Lindon and the remnant of the northern Dúnedain and marched on the Witch-king.
They did not meet the Witch-king at Fornost, but on the plains west of it toward Lake Evendim, home of the ancient kings of Arnor, Annúminas. The battle would forever be known as the Battle of Fornost. Earnur's army was later joined in the midst of battle by Glorfindel and his Elven army from Rivendell. The combined forces of Elves and Men brought utter defeat to the Witch-king and his forces. After the battle, the Witch-king fled south to Mordor and his kingdom of Angmar, without an able leader, was destroyed. It was when the Witch-king fled and Eärnur attempted to follow that Glorfindel stopped him and made his famous prophecy,
- "Do not pursue him! He will not return to these lands. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of Man shall he fall."
The Witch-king finally returned to Mordor in the year 1980 of the Third Age.
When the Witch-king returned, his wrath of defeat still burned within. In 2000, the Witch-king led the Nazgûl on a siege of Minas Ithil. They finally captured it in 2002, in the name of Sauron and renamed it Minas Morgul, the Tower of Black Sorcery. It was at Minas Morgul that the Witch-king made his stronghold, giving him the title of Lord of Morgul.
In 2043, King Eärnil II of Gondor died and his son, the Witch-king's old enemy, Eärnur inherited the throne. Upon his coronation, the Witch-king challenged him to combat, but Eärnur refused. However, seven years later in 2050, the Witch-king again challenged him, this time he accepted. Eärnur rode out of Minas Tirith to meet the Witch-king in Minas Morgul. He entered the city's gates and was never seen again, thus ending the reign of the Gondorian Kings and causing the beginning of the ruling Stewards of Gondor.
No more than twelve years after the siege of Minas Ithil, Osgiliath was next in the Witch-king's line of sight. He led hordes of Orcs and Haradrim against the city. The city had already been devastated centuries before by a plague, and the Witch-king's forces ruined what remained of the city and destroyed the great bridge linking the east and west banks of the Anduin river. This was a devastating blow to the morale of Gondor.
In 2941, the Necromancer was finally expelled from Dol Guldur when Gandalf confirmed that he truly was Sauron in disguise. Sauron returned to Mordor and began preparations to find his One Ring. He began the reconstruction of his dark tower, Barad-dûr, in 2951 and sent three Ringwraiths to re-capture Dol Guldur. And in 3018, with the capture of Gollum, Sauron learned the location of the Ring from two words uttered by Gollum, "Shire...Baggins." Sauron opened the gates of Minas Morgul and sent forth the Witch-king and the other Nazgûl disguised as Black Riders to fetch his Ring.
The War of the Ring had begun.
The War of the Ring and Downfall
The Witch-king of Angmar and the other eight Nazgûl rode swiftly from Mordor to the lands of the Shire. They continued to search for "Baggins" until they tracked him to Buckland. The Nine Riders raided Buckland but could not find the Ring.
The Witch-king led four other Nazgûl to Weathertop where they discovered Frodo, Strider, and the other hobbits. The Ringwraiths attacked the party and the Witch-king wounded Frodo with a Morgul blade. Though successfully driven off by Isildur's heir, Strider, Frodo's wound threatened to turn him into a wraith like the Nazgûl. Elrond of Rivendell sent Glorfindel to guide Frodo to Rivendell where Elrond could heal his wound. Glorfindel's race to Rivendell lured the Ringwraiths into the Bruinen. Here, Elrond and Gandalf the Grey released a great flood in the form of horses made out of water. This flood killed the horses of the Ringwraiths and sent them back to their master in Mordor, buying the Fellowship time to plan an attack.
With their return to Mordor, Sauron bestowed the Nazgûl with fell beasts, great winged beasts as their new mounts. Sauron used the lesser eight Nazgûl for reconnaissance work and the occasional shock troop. The Witch-king, however, returned to Minas Morgul and reassumed the role of commander of Sauron's forces. He then began battles to capture Osgiliath. The Witch-king was afterwards known as the Black Captain by the soldiers of Gondor because he instilled fear in his enemies; Gondor captain Boromir was driven off in an early skirmish, barely managing to destroy Osgiliath's last great stone bridge.
The final battle for Osgiliath was fought on March 13, 3019 of the Third Age against Faramir's rangers. Faramir's forces could not hold the Orc hordes who swarmed across the Anduin in barges under the control of Gothmog. Faramir pulled his forces back to Minas Tirith assailed by flying Nazgûl, losing nearly all of his forces in the retreat. Faramir was returned to Minas Tirith gravely wounded. With Gondor's defeat at Osgiliath, nothing stood in the way of Sauron's ambitions of destroying Minas Tirith and the Free People's hopes.
On March 14, massive numbers of Orcs, Haradrim, and Easterlings (over 200,000 strong, according to the Peter Jackson film; however, Tolkien never gives such a number) marched on the gates of Minas Tirith. Sauron had bestowed the Witch-king with newfound strength, making his might the greatest it ever had been. Equipped with new armour, he rode in, leading the army to the gates. Before dawn on the 15th, the great battering-ram Grond was used to break the city's main gate, and the Witch-king rode into the city unchallenged, save by Gandalf. Before Gandalf's strength was put to the test, however, the cock crowed and the horns of Rohan were heard as around 6,000 of their riders joined the battle. This forced the Witch-king to ride out to face this new threat.
The Witch-king mounted his fell beast and began slaughtering the Rohirrim. Théoden attempted to rally his troops to form a resistance against him. The Witch-king responded by personally intervening in the fray involving the Rohirric King. Flying on the back of his fell beast, he drove upon Théoden. The advancing Rohirrim's horses panicked as his beast attacked. Théoden's horse, Snowmane, became frightened and was struck by an arrow and fell upon its master.
As the Witch-king hovered over Théoden, Éowyn and the hobbit Merry stood in his way.
- "Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"
- "Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."
- "Do what you will, but I will hinder it, if I may."
- "Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"
- "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Eomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."
Éowyn slew his fell beast in a single strike. The Witch-king arose, filled with malice and attacked. With a single strike of his flail, he shattered her shield and broke her left arm.
As he towered over her, preparing to deliver the final blow, Merry rushed behind him and plunged his enchanted sword into the back of Witch-king's knee. Éowyn took the opportunity to strike. As he fell to his knees, Éowyn rose. She then thrust her sword into the face of the Witch-king, causing him to wither and pass away from this world, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Glorfindel from many centuries before: he had fallen not by the hands of a "man", but by those of a woman and a hobbit. Had it not been for Merry, The Witch-King would have killed Éowyn. With his death, the battle turned. No more than ten days later, Sauron himself was finally defeated when the One Ring was finally cast back into the fires of Mount Doom.
Names and titles
The Witch-king's true name is never given, and therefore among Tolkien fans, the Witch-king is often simply called Angmar, after the name of the realm he founded and led (as Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, is simply "Wellington"). Many fans also identify him as one of the three Black Númenóreans Tolkien stated had become Nazgûl, or possibly Isilmo, a Númenórean prince and father of Tar-Minastir.
Some sources name the Witch-King Murazor or Er-Murazor, and also give names for the other Ringwraiths. However, these names are found solely in the now-defunct Middle-earth-themed role-playing and trading card games produced by Iron Crown Enterprises, and are therefore non-canonical.
In Peter Jackson's "Return of The King"
In the film directed by Peter Jackson, the Witch King's encounters are different. First, he appears in Minas Morgul, causing Frodo to remember his encounter with him and "feel his blade." Secondly, he gives the following order to Gothmog:
- Send forth all legions. Do not stop the attack until the city is taken. Slay them all.
When Gothmog asks him of Gandalf's fate, he remarks, "I will break him."
Later, during the battle at Minas Tirith, he confronts Gandalf. The following is a conversation between the two:
- "Go back to the abyss! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your master!"
- "Do you not know death when you see it, old man? This is my hour."
The Witch King then proceeds to break Gandalf's staff, and is just about to kill him when he hears the army of Rohan approach the besieged Minas Tirith. He departs momentarily. Later, during the Battle of The Pelennor Fields, he is killed by Éowyn, the niece of King Théoden.
External links
- Witch-King of Angmar at The Thain's Book
Trivia
- An undead witch-king named Þráinn appears in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar. It is probable that this was Tolkien's source of inspiration.
- The prophecy of Glorfindel also echoes Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which one of the witches foretells that "none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (Act IV, scene i). Macbeth is eventually slain by Macduff, who "was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd [aka, was born of a crude Caesarian section, and thus was not "born" in the sense of going through the birth canal ]." (Act V, scene viii).