Of the Morgul Lord, the Witch-king of Angmar

“If he had a name it’s long since been lost. He would have been known only as a servant of evil. One of a number. One of Nine.”

Ever since his debut in The Lord of the Rings (1954), the ghastly Witch-king of Angmar has been one of the most fearsome villains from J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, a sinister character that seems almost torn from the pages of a thriller or horror piece, and who received an iconic portrayal in Peter Jackson’s motion picture franchise.

Probably of “Númenórean descent”, the Man who ultimately became the Witch-king was one of Nine “kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old”, and fell into darkness long ago when he was given one of Nine Rings of Power by Sauron the Deceiver. Blinded by greed and by the promise of immortality, he took it without question. Like the others, he acquired “glory and great wealth”, but it all came at a cost: in the end, this great king of Men was ensnared and came “under the thraldom of the ring” that he bore. He became one of the chief servants of the Dark Lord: first and mightiest of the Nine Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), neither living nor dead, forever subject to the will of Sauron and tethered to the Ruling Ring of Power.

“Now few could withstand even one of these fell creatures, and (as Sauron deemed) none could withstand them when gathered together under their terrible captain, the Lord of Morgul.”

Known by various sobriquets, (“the Morgul Lord”, “the Captain of Despair”, the Chieftain of the Ringwraiths, “the Black Captain” etc.) the Witch-king served his master for many years, leading armies and waging a long campaign against the heirs of Isildur in “Middle-earth’s northern regions”. The Witch-king of Angmar gained notoriety for his role in the destruction of Arnor and the loss of Gondor’s last king, as well as for being Sauron’s “deadliest servant”, nigh unkillable. During the War of the Ring, the chief of the Nine “Ring-servants” was sent to hunt down the Ring-bearer, but he failed and returned back to the Dark Lord empty-handed. The Black Captain was then put by his master in charge of the massive host from Mordor for the decisive assault against Gondor’s capital of Minas Tirith. But it was there at the Siege of Gondor, that the Lord of the Nazgûl was fated to finally meet his match and fall:

“Go back to the abyss! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your master!”

Lord of the Barrow-wights

“It was Sauron’s chief servant, the Witch-king, who summoned the Barrow-wights to infest those tombs.”

The Barrow-downs, known as Tyrn Gorthad in Sindarin Elvish, were ancient burial mounds “built in the days of the old world of the First Age” by the “Fathers of Men” – the ancestors of the Dúnedain. When the realms of Gondor and Arnor were established in Middle-earth, the Barrow-downs became part of the North-kingdom. The Dúnedain revered the Barrow-downs as a sacred site and “many of their lords and kings” were laid to rest there. After the division of Arnor between the provinces of Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur, the region of Tyrn Gorthad was counted among the territories of Cardolan. It was in the days of the long war between Angmar and the remnants of Arnor that the Great Plague appeared: the people of Cardolan were not spared its deadly touch and, in the wake of this scourge, the arm of the Witch-king stretched out to the Barrow-downs:

“It was at this time that an end came of the Dúnedain of Cardolan, and evil spirits out of Angmar and Rhudaur entered into the deserted mounds and dwelt there.”

By the foul craft of the Witch-king of Angmar, the evil spirits desecrated the remains of the Men buried there by inhabiting them, twisting the bodies of their lifeless hosts into grotesque puppets of flesh that haunted Tyrn Gorthad. These horrifying creatures came to be known as Barrow-wights and because of them the Barrow-downs acquired “an evil reputation in the folklore of the Shire and Bree”. As to the nature of the evil spirits that had infested the tombs, there are many wretched houseless souls (including Elves “who had become corrupted”) wandering the world, and some of them “were enslaved by the Dark Lord and do his work”. Possession and the domination of spirits were sorcerous arts that had clearly been passed on to the Witch-king by his master, the Necromancer:

“It is said that Sauron did these things, and taught his followers how to achieve them.”

Centuries later, after the Dark Lord had instructed him to find the Shire and capture the Ring-bearer, the Witch-king, garbed as one of Nine Black Riders, travelled to the Barrow-downs to summon all of his allies and minions nearby to join in the hunt:

“In notes on the movements of the Black Riders at that time it is said that the Black Captain stayed there for some days, and the Barrow-wights were roused, and all things of evil spirit, hostile to Elves and Men, were on the watch with malice in the Old Forest and on the Barrow-downs.”

The Witch-king’s ploy came dangerously close to success: for as they passed through the Barrow-downs, the Ring-bearer Frodo Baggins and his companions were caught by one of the Barrow-wights and trapped in one of the mounds – believed by some to be “the grave of the last prince of Cardolan”. The four Hobbits were rescued, however, thanks to the timely intervention of the mysterious Tom Bombadil, who drove the foul creature away.

Bane of Arnor and Gondor

As the strength of the Dúnedain of Arnor began to wane, dissensions led to their kingdom being “divided into three: Arthedain, Rhudaur, and Cardolan”. The royal bloodline of Isildur endured in Arthedain, but it soon failed in Cardolan and Rhudaur. Meanwhile, the Witch-realm of Angmar arose in the north and “evil Men, and Orcs, and other fell creatures” were gathering there:

“The lord of that land was known as the Witch-king, but it was not known until later that he was indeed the chief of the Ringwraiths, who came north with the purpose of destroying the Dúnedain in Arnor, seeing hope in their disunion, while Gondor was strong.”

The kings of Arthedain attempted to reunite Arnor: Cardolan accepted the sovereignty of Arthedain. But Rhudaur opposed the claim: the reins of that region had been seized by “an evil lord of the Hillmen, who was in secret league with Angmar”. When all was ready, the Witch-king’s armies moved into Arnor: the Tower of Amon Sûl (Weathertop) was besieged and reduced to a ruin, “Cardolan was ravaged” – though a remnant of the Dúnedain still resisted in the Barrow-downs – and Rhudaur was overrun by the wicked Hillmen subject to Angmar. The host of Angmar was eventually repelled by the Men of Arthedain with the aid of the Elves from Lindon sent by Círdan the Shipwright. For a time, the Witch-king’s armies were “subdued by the Elvenfolk” from Lindon, Rivendell and Lothlórien. But the Lord of the Nazgûl remained undeterred in his task to crush the Dúnedain of Arnor and to extinguish the line of Isildur, the hated enemies of his dark master.

As I mentioned before, the Great Plague led to the end of Cardolan and the fall of the Barrow-downs under the sway of the Witch-king of Angmar. With Gondor under threat from the ‘Wainriders’ – “Easterlings under Sauron’s control” -and perceiving that a “single power and will” (i.e. Sauron) was directing all their enemies behind the scenes, the Dúnedain of Arthedain tried to renew their alliance with their kinsmen in Gondor:

“But neither kingdom was able to send help to the other; for Angmar renewed its attack upon Arthedain at the same time as the Wainriders reappeared in great force.”

Under the cover of harsh winter, the Witch-king launched his final assault: the host of Angmar besieged and “captured Fornost”, the capital of Arthedain, and “Arvedui Last-king” perished in a shipwreck caused by a fierce storm – perhaps the sorcerous work of Sauron’s Ring-servant. With the fall of Arthedain, Arnor was no more: the Dúnedain of the north were reduced to a small folk of Rangers wandering the wilderness. The Witch-king of Angmar then claimed lordship over their lands as a vassal of Sauron (who was still concealed in Dol Guldur) and moved his seat of power to Fornost. But his reign of terror came to an end: the Men of Gondor commanded by royal heir Eärnur joined forces with “the proud princes of Rhovanion” and Elves from Lindon and Rivendell led by Círdan and the mighty Glorfindel to form the Host of the West – a coalition to oust the servant of the Dark Lord from the north. The Witch-king’s armies were finally vanquished and he himself “turned to flight and passed into the shadows”. Eärnur attempted to pursue the Lord of the Nazgûl, but Glorfindel bade him stay and prophetically said:

‘‘He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall.’’

Years later, the Lord of the Nazgûl re-emerged from the shadows to once again do Sauron’s bidding. Joined by the other Ringwraiths in Mordor, the Black Captain besieged the Gondorian fortress of Minas Ithil for two years until they finally conquered it. Thus Minas Ithil was turned into Minas Morgul, the “Dead City” and the new lair of the Witch-king, from where he prepared Mordor for the eventual return of Sauron. Following the coronation of Eärnur as King of Gondor, the Morgul Lord issued him a challenge to single combat, “taunting him that he had not dared to stand before him in battle in the north”. The first time Mardil, the Steward of Gondor, was able to restrain Eärnur’s wrath. But seven years later, the Lord of the Nazgûl repeated the challenge, taunting the King of Gondor that to the cowardice of his youth was “now added the weakness of age”. So great was the offense that this time Eärnur accepted to meet the Witch-king in battle, riding eastwards and passing through the gates of Minas Morgul, never to be seen again…

“The Witch-king has been unchallenged in combat – and Gondor has been without a king – ever since.”

From the ‘Wizard King’ to the Witch-king

In a previous post, that was called Of Saruman, the Jailor of Mordor, I mentioned that the Witch-king of Angmar was actually an offshoot of the original outline for the Wizard Saruman the White from the early versions of The Lord of the Rings: a turncoat from the Order of Istari that had “fallen and gone over to Sauron”, Gandalf reveals as much in the drafts for “The Council of Elrond” and “The Siege of Gondor” chapters:

“Denethor and Faramir marvel at Gandalf’s power over Nazgûl. Gandalf says things are still not so bad—because the W[izard] King has not yet appeared. He reveals that he is a renegade of his own order … [? from] Númenor. “

“In him I am not overmatched, and yet still I am matched, for he was a member of our order before evil took him.”

Nonetheless, as J.R.R. Tolkien’s conception of the Five Istari  being “all Maiar, that is persons of the ‘angelic’ order”, took hold, the connection between the Witch-king (or at this stage, the ‘Wizard King’) and those Wizards that came to Middle-earth from the West was abandoned in subsequent versions. Tolkien also eventually amended the character’s name, perhaps in an effort to further distance the Morgul Lord from Maiarin mages like Gandalf and Saruman. But the idea of him being a powerful sorcerer from the race of Men to begin with was not fully discarded. Nor his ties to Númenor, which endured through the published version, with Tolkien hinting that the Lord of the Nazgûl was of Númenórean lineage much “like the Lieutenant of Barad-dûr [the Mouth of Sauron]” and the heirs of Isildur (the latter being a cynical kinship, given the Morgul Lord’s role in the downfall of Arnor and Gondor). For Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit, concept artist Andrew Baker elected to pursue Tolkien’s suggestion and gave the wraith-armor worn by the Witch-king at Dol Guldur a Númenórean vibe – with the Morgul Lord’s faceless crest being reminiscent of the swan-winged crowns of Elendil and Aragorn seen in The Lord of the Rings the motion picture trilogy. And as I mentioned before: a similar backstory was not the only thing that the Witch-king borrowed from fellow vassal of Sauron, Saruman: the role of captain of the armies of Mordor during the Siege of Gondor, bestowed upon “the traitor Saruman” in the original sketches of the story, was assumed by the leader of the Nazgûl in the end.

It is worth mentioning that Peter Jackson’s portrayal of the stand-off between the Witch-king of Angmar and Gandalf the White in the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King the motion picture actually echoes Tolkien’s depiction of the Witch-king being clearly mightier than our beloved wandering Wizard in the early drafts. In an outline of what would become “The Council of Elrond” chapter, Gandalf expresses his fear of the Lord of the Nazgûl and his own self-doubts regarding his ability to stand against him:

“Then my heart failed for a moment; for the Chief of the Nine was of old the greatest of all the wizards of Men, and I have no power to withstand the Nine Riders when he leads them.”

An even more curious thing, however, is that J.R.R. Tolkien briefly considered having the Witch-king of Angmar (still going by ‘Wizard King’) survive up to the Battle of the Black Gate, with his son Christopher noting that the Morgul Lord’s “fate on the Pelennor Fields had not yet arisen” in the story. In this manuscript, Sauron perceives at last Gandalf’s ploy: the sole purpose behind Aragorn’s challenge was to draw the forces of Mordor out and to keep the gaze of the Red Eye away from the Hobbits’ journey to Mount Doom. The Black Captain is thus sent by his master to prevent the Ruling Ring of Power from being destroyed, but he arrives to the scene too late. Just as the Ring begins to melt away in the fires of its making, the Lord of the Nazgûl makes his appearance:

“Frodo turns and sees the door blocked by the Wizard King. The mountain begins to erupt and crumble. ‘Here we will perish together’, said the Wizard King.”

Tolkien then considered either having Sam come to Frodo’s rescue with the Elvish sword Sting, stabbing “the Black Rider from behind”, having the Wizard King throw himself in the fiery abyss after the Ring, perhaps in a vain attempt to save it, or even having Frodo command the Wizard King to follow the Ring into the flames. Ultimately, Tolkien assigned the role of final obstacle for Frodo and Sam at the Crack of Doom to Gollum instead.

The term “Morgul-blade” or “Morgul-knife” did not appear until later in the writing of The Lord of the Rings. In the earliest version of “The Council of Elrond” chapter, the origin of the enchanted weapon that  Frodo was stabbed with at Weathertop further strengthened the sorcerous connection between Sauron, the “master of necromancy”, and his servant the Witch-king, suggesting that the dreaded dagger’s ability to turn the victim into a wraith was the Dark Lord’s own handiwork:

“They attempted to pierce you with the sword of the Necromancer, said Gandalf.”

As Megan N. Fontenot put it, the Witch-king’s fall under the sway of Sauron is not much different from that of the rest of Sauron’s chief agents (the remainder of the Nazgûl, as well as Saruman and the Mouth of Sauron) since he is also a character “whose lust for power got the better of his good judgment”. The corruption of all these beings by the Deceiver was easy, since they were not pure-hearted people to begin with: they had plenty of vices and plenty of ambition that Sauron exploited and used to lure them to his side. As Fontenot noted:

“Possessiveness, greed, lust, and a desire for dominance are always marked as explicitly evil in Tolkien’s work, and the Witch-king apparently has these qualities to excess.”

Sources

For my original post on Blogger: Of the Morgul Lord, the Witch-king of Angmar

• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, “Prologue”, by Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull
• The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, “The Hunt for the Ring”, J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• WETA Workshop
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War Appendices, “The Witch-king”
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (the motion picture), “The Deep Breath Before the Plunge”
• The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, “Letter 131”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Humphrey Carpenter)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (the motion picture), “The Witch-king’s hour”
• The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, ”Rivendell”
• The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A “The Númenórean Kings”, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, ”The Barrow-downs”
• Morgoth’s Ring, “Laws and Customs among the Eldar”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim: Official Visual Companion, “A Brief History of Gondor and Rohan”, by Chris Smith
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (the motion picture), “Minas Morgul”
• The Treason of Isengard, “The Council of Elrond (1)”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• The War of the Ring, “The Siege of Gondor”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, “The Istari”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• Sauron Defeated, “The Story of Frodo and Sam in Mordor”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (the motion picture), “A Knife in the Dark”
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, “Many Meetings”, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Return of the Shadow, “At Rivendell”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• Reactor: Exploring the People of Middle-earth: The Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl, by Megan N. Fontenot