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| Witch-king of Angmar | |
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| Biographical Information | |
| Other names | Black Captain, Lord of the Nazgûl, Chief of the Nine, Lord of Minas Morgul |
| Created/born | S.A. 1800-2200, probably Númenor |
| Years influential | S.A. 2251-T.A. 3019 |
| Destroyed | T.A. 3019, Battle of the Pelennor Fields |
| Age | 4200+ |
| Realm | Angmar, Minas Morgul |
| Physical Description | |
| Race | Men/Nazgûl |
| Gender | Male |
| Appearance | (Later) Cruel, pale king with gleaming hair and a crown, invisible to most eyes |
| Accomplishments | Fall of Arnor, fall of Minas Ithil and Osgiliath, deaths of Eärnur and Théoden |
The Witch-king of Angmar was the chief of the Nazgûl, King of Angmar, and Sauron’s great captain in his wars. A wraith, the Witch-king of Angmar was nearly indestructible, a terrible warrior, and a cunning strategist.
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Some time after Sauron seized the Nine Rings in the Fall of Eregion, S.A. 1697 he gave them to mortal kings, sorcerers, and other warriors.1 With these rings the Nine achieved glory and grew wealthy, with the ability to turn invisible at will, not aging, but hating life as they were slowly drawn under Sauron’s dominion.1 Eventually all became Ringwraiths, the dreaded Nazgûl.
The one later known as the Witch-king was one of these, likely one of the unnamed three lords of Númenor to take the rings.2 3 He first appeared in the histories as a Ringwraith in S.A. 2251. Being the most powerful of the Nazgûl, he became their chief, the most dreaded servant of his master Sauron.
When Mordor fell in S.A. 3441, the Nazgûl vanished into the shadows, and were not heard of again for a long time.4
More than a thousand years later, in c. T.A. 1050 of the Third Age, Sauron began to rebuild his power in Dol Guldur. In c. T.A. 1300 his Nazgûl also reappeared, and the Witch-king established his realm, Angmar, in the north.4 His capital was Carn Dum, on the northernmost peak of the Misty Mountains. He summoned men, orcs, and other creatures of evil inclination to his banner. No one knew that he was actually a servant of the long-dormant Sauron, and few that he was a wraith.5
The Witch-king continued to press the men of Arthedain, laying siege to Fornost, and he might have taken over all of Arnor in that one offensive. But Araphor, the 18-year-old son of Arveleg, came to leadership and, with the help of the ancient elf Círdan of Lindon, repelled the Witch-king’s forces at Fornost and the North Downs.10 Elrond brought an army of Elves from Rivendell and Lothlórien, and the Witch-king was pushed back and subdued.
The Witch-king sat silent in Carn Dum, rebuilding his armies and preparing for a final assault on Arthedain, last of the Arnorian kingdoms. The Dark Plague came and went in Third Age 1636, taking with it the last of the Dúnedain of Cardolan. The Witch-king sent barrow-wights to inhabit the barrows in Tyrn Gorthad.10 In 1974, he felt that his power was sufficiently restored to begin the advance.
His attack was sudden, but not unexpected. King Arvedui sent a message to King Eärnil of Gondor the year before, but help did not arrive in time. Fornost fell, and the Witch-king took up residence there in the palace.11 Arvedui held out as best as he might on the North Downs, but at last fled north with the treasured palantíri of Amon Sûl and Annúminas. He would not return, for he perished in a shipwreck in 1975. With him the palantíri were lost forever in the icy seas of Forod. The already-diminished North-kingdom ended, and Arnor fell.10
Meanwhile, a coalition in the south had formed. Eärnil sent his son, Eärnur, north with a great fleet, all that Gondor could spare. They arrived at Lindon, and joined with the folk of Círdan. Círdan summoned all that would come: surviving Dúnedain of Arnor and elves of Lindon.11 Even a company of hobbit archers went to their aide.10 The Witch-king had grown overconfident, and instead of staying behind his fortifications initiated the attack. The Battle of Fornost was fought on the plain between Nenuial and the North Downs. The Witch-king may not have anticipated the strength brought against him, but for whatever reason the alliance gained the upper hand. His army began to fall back toward Fornost, but Eärnur’s magnificent horsemen struck from the north, and the Witch-king was routed.11
He decided to flee to Angmar and the safety of Carn Dum, but the cavalry, with Eärnur himself in the lead, overtook him. Moreover, the ranks of the allies swelled, as an army of elves from Rivendell came led by the mighty hero of old, Glorfindel. Angmar was purged of men and orcs, and all seemed lost for the Witch-king in the face of such numbers. But the Witch-king himself came at the last, robed and masked in black and riding a black horse, and attempted to kill Eärnur with his own hands. But Eärnur’s horse shied away and fled, and the Witch-king laughed. But Glorfindel came on his white horse, and faced with such power the Witch-king fled. He vanished into the shadows, and no-one marked where he had gone.11
Eärnur wanted to pursue, but Glorfindel held him back, and made his famous prophecy.
The Witch-king escaped to Mordor, and gathered the other Ringwraiths about him in 1980.4 Angmar and Carn Dum were lost, and so in 2000 the Witch-king began a two-year siege of Minas Ithil, eventually capturing the place and turning it into his residence. It was renamed Minas Morgul, and the palantír was sent to Sauron. The Witch-king sent an aura of fear in Gondor, and much of Ithilien was deserted.11
Eärnur succeeded his father as King of Gondor, and still held the Witch-king in especial hostility due to his humiliation at the Battle of Fornost. The year of his coronation the Witch-king sent him a taunting challenge, but Mardil the steward restrained Eärnur from rash action. Seven years later the challenge was repeated, and Eärnur rode with a small escort to Minas Morgul. None that rode thither ever returned, and there was no longer a King in Gondor.11
After this the Witch-king bided his time. He and the Nazgûl built up their armies, including the terrible new orc-race of uruks. In 2475 he sent them out to capture Osgiliath, which they did successfully. They were driven out by Boromir I, but Osgiliath now lay completely in ruins. Boromir went on to retake Ithilien, so that even the Witch-king feared him. But he was killed by a Morgul-wound, and so his rule was but twelve years.12
Sauron declared himself openly in 2951, and sent three of his Ringwraiths to Dol Guldur (though the Witch-king was left in Minas Morgul). Then, by lucky chance, the creature Gollum was captured and interrogated. Under torture, the wretched creature revealed the tale of the One Ring and how it came to be in his possession. But he had the daring to trick Sauron into thinking that the land of the hobbits who stole the Ring was on the banks of the Gladden River.13 Under the leadership of the Witch-king, Sauron sent the Nine unclothed and invisible to search for the Ring after the assault of Osgiliath.
They came upon the traitor called Wormtongue and questioned him. The terrified man told them everything he knew; that Gandalf had passed through Rohan, where the Shire was, and even that Saruman had lied to them. The Witch-king spared Wormtongue’s life, foreseeing that Wormtongue would bring ruin to Saruman. He divided his wraiths into four pairs, and went with the swiftest to Minhiriath. Along the way they captured several spies of Saruman, and found to their delight charts and maps of the Shire. They sent along the spy to Bree, warning them that they now belonged to Mordor, not Saruman.13
They came to Sarn Ford, but the Dúnedain Rangers prevented them from crossing. They sent for their great captain, the chieftain Aragorn II, who alone could well resist the wraiths, but he was away, and the Ringwraiths captured the ford and killed many of the Rangers.13 The Witch-king sent three Ringwraiths under Khamûl into the Shire while he went east with the others.4 But they had come too late: the Ring had moved on in the hands of a hobbit, Frodo Baggins.
He resumed the pursuit quickly, though, and found the Khamûl had been driven from the Last Bridge by his old enemy Glorfindel. The Witch-king, who only had one companion with him, was likewise unable to confront him openly. They regrouped and went south, rejoining with the other four. They managed to pick up the trail of the company of the Ring, and despite hindrance from Glorfindel and Aragorn managed to pursue Frodo alone on Asfaloth. The pursuit came to the Ford of Bruinen, and there Frodo compelled the horse to stop. The Witch-king saw his defiance and laughed, breaking his sword with a movement of his hand. But the waters of the Bruinen rose at Elrond's command, sweeping the Nine downstream.14
The Witch-king took the only surviving horse back to Mordor, arriving there in December. He then sent aid to the other eight Nazgûl, and they returned in secret. In Minas Morgul they prepared for a grand invasion of Gondor at the order of their master. The Witch-king was given by Sauron added "demonic" force.15 On March 10, 3019, the signal was given and Minas Morgul was emptied. The Witch-king rode at the head of the army in black, upon a black horse, as he had in the time of the wars of Angmar. As the Witch-king passed out of the gates of the dead city, he sensed the presence of Frodo. He was disturbed, but continued on through Ithilien.
With the Witch-king in command, Osgiliath soon fell.16 The defeat was attributed to his superior numbers, and his terrible presence which made all hearts to quail. The Rammas Echor was breached, and the Pelennor Fields were overrun. Other wraiths he sent out mounted on Fell Beasts. Faramir, Steward Denethor II's son, was wounded by a dart and the black breath, but his company was saved by a sortie. Then the Witch-king laid siege to Minas Tirith itself, sending fire and the heads of the dead Gondorians into the city via catapults. Then he launched the assault.
So the prophecy of Glorfindel was fulfilled, for the Witch-king did not fall at the hands of a man, but at the hands of a woman and a hobbit. With his death, and the coming of Aragorn II in the black ships, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was lost.
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. 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. In the now defunct Middle-earth Role Playing game, he was named Er-Murazor, a Númenórean prince, though this is strictly non-canonical and does not appear outside of the role playing material. It is also a popular belief among some fans, that the Witch-king was not dead as Éowyn had not an enchanted sword, and cite the passage that says that his wail was not heard again In this age of the earth. But other Tolkien scholars say that although the Witch-king's return at an unspecified time in the future is possible, another possible solution is that Merry's stroke destroyed the Witch-king's invulnerability allowing Éowyn's non-magic blade to end his existence forever. Also, because of the perishing of the One Ring, the nine other rings which kept the Nazgûl would probably have lost their power.
An undead witch-king named Þráinn appears in Hrómundar saga Gripssonar. It is possible that this was Tolkien's source of inspiration.
The prophecy that the Witch-king would fall "not by the hand of man" and the fulfillment of the prophecy occurring as a technicality (being slain by a woman) bears a striking resemblance to the prophecy regarding the title character's death in Shakespeare's Macbeth, where it was foretold that Macbeth will be slain "not by man born of woman" and is then killed by Mcduff, born by caesarian section. Tolkien it seems was familiar with the play having reputedly taken inspiration for the Last March of the Ents from the same source (See article Ents for details).
1978: Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings:
1980: Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King:
1981: BBC Radio's The Lord of the Rings:
2001: Vivendi's The Fellowship of the Ring:
2001-3: Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings:
2003: EA's The Return of the King: