Witch-king of Angmar
The Lord of the Nazgûl, also called the Witch-king of Angmar, the Pale King, and the Black Captain, is a fictional character in
In early drafts, Tolkien had called him the "Wizard King", and considered making him either a renegade member of the
Fictional history
The Witch-king first appears in the
The Lord of the
Over a thousand years later in the Third Age, the Lord of the Nazgûl leads Sauron's forces against the successor kingdoms of Arnor: Rhudaur, Cardolan, and Arthedain. He destroys all of these, but is eventually defeated by the Elf-lord Glorfindel, who puts him to flight, and makes the prophecy that "not by the hand of Man will he fall".[T 6] He escapes, and returns to Mordor. There, he gathers the other Nazgûl to prepare for Sauron's return.[T 6][T 7]
Towards the end of the Third Age, Sauron sends the Witch-king, leading the other Nazgûl, to
During the
Analysis
From Wizard to Witch-king
Megan N. Fontenot, on
Later, in a draft of "The Siege of Gondor", Tolkien makes the Wizard King "a renegade of [Gandalf's] own order" from Númenor.
Evil, the absence of good
In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
All save one. There waiting, silent, and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.
"You cannot enter here", said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade...
"The Siege of Gondor"[T 19]
The Tolkien scholar
The theologian George Hunsinger compares Tolkien's depiction of the Witch-king to the theologian Karl Barth's analysis of evil. Barth's conception is embodied in his term das Nichtige, "nothingness", which Hunsinger glosses as "something dynamic and sinister ... an active cosmic power, a power of destruction, a power of chaos, negation, and ruin."[6] The power of das Nichtige is both "outwardly repulsive" and in Barth's words "intrinsically evil"; it can be described but not explained, and is defeated by God; it is wholly evil and serves no good purpose. It is both fearful and empty.[6]
Hunsinger states that Tolkien's account of the Witch-king as he confronts Gandalf at the gate of Minas Tirith "captures something of Barth's notion of das Nichtige."[6] He finds it especially relevant that the Witch-king is "above all ... actual and yet empty at the same time", and comments that Tolkiens "dead but undead Black Rider is as good a symbol as any ... for Barth's impossible possibility."[6]
Similarly, Hunsinger finds Tolkien's description of how Éowyn kills the Witch-king "an image for the paradox of evil as something powerful and yet hollow at the same time." He notes that her sword shatters with her final stroke, but of her defeated foe, "nothing is left" in the empty mantle and hauberk.[6]
The Episcopal priest and theologian
Character | Kingship | Goal | Visibility |
---|---|---|---|
Witch-king | Was King of Angmar | To kill the ring-bearer Frodo | Actually invisible |
Aragorn | Has claim to be King of Gondor | To heal Frodo | Has been out of sight as a Ranger
|
Prophecy both true and false
Julaire Andelin, in
Shippey states that the prophecy, and the Witch-king's surprise at finding Dernhelm to be a woman,
The Tolkien scholar
Adaptations
In Peter Jackson's 2001–2003 The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, during the siege of Minas Tirith, the Witch-king wears a distinctive helmet over his hood resembling a mask and a crown, rather than the crown worn underneath his hood in the book.[11] The Witch-king's mount is largely responsible for the death of Théoden and his horse Snowmane, a departure from the book. As confirmed in the films' audio commentary, the design of the monsters was based largely on illustrations by John Howe.[12][13]
In the first film of Jackson's 2012–2014
Péter Kristóf Makai, in A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien, writes that the 1976 board game Middle Earth provided the Witch-king with a choice of nine spells, against Gandalf's eleven. Some of these were shared, such as the ability to project a defensive lightning-bolt.[15]
Notes
- Rohan, translated into Old English; Tolkien glosses it in the index as a "work of necromancy", a "spectre". It derives from Old English (ge)dwimor, "phantom, illusion" and -leikr, the Old Norse ending corresponding to Anglo-Saxon -lac, meaning "a state or act".[T 16] Tom Shippey writes that Tolkien borrowed the word from a Middle English poem, Layamon's Brut.[1]
References
Primary
- ^ Tolkien 1977, "The Akallabêth", p. 267. "Yet Sauron was ever guileful, and it is said that among those whom he ensnared with the Nine Rings three were great lords of Númenórean race."
- ^ Tolkien 1980, 4. "The Hunt for the Ring" i. "Of the Journey of the Black Riders"
- ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendix A, 1 "The Numenorean Kings"
- ^ Tolkien writes: "the name and origin of the Witch-king is not recorded, but he was probably of Númenórean descent." Hammond, Wayne G. & Scull, Christina, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 20. Tolkien later removed the passage; it does not appear in the version in Jared Lobdell's A Tolkien Compass.
- ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years", entries in "The Second Age"
- ^ a b c d Tolkien 1955, Appendix A, I, iv "Gondor and the heirs of Anarion"
- ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years", entries in "The Third Age"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 1, ch. 2 "The Shadow of the Past"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 2 "The Council of Elrond"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 3 "Three is Company"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 4 "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"
- ^ a b Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 11 "A Knife in the Dark"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 12 "Flight to the Ford"
- ^ a b c Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 6, "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"
- ^ Carpenter 2023, #211 to Rhona Beare, 14 October 1958
- ^ Tolkien 1990, p. 372
- ^ Tolkien 1989, pp. 9, 116, 132, 149
- ^ Tolkien 1990, pp. 326, 331
- ^ a b c Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 4, "The Siege of Gondor"
Secondary
- ^ Shippey 2005, p. 394
- ^ Tor.com. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-00-720907-1.
- ^ a b c Shippey 2005, pp. 242–243
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 131–133
- ^ ISBN 978-1-119-15656-7.
- ^ OCLC 52559213.
- ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 205–206
- ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
- S2CID 170271511.
- ^ Dembrow, Dylan (4 November 2018). "Lord Of The Rings: 20 Strangest Details About Witch-King's Anatomy". ScreenRant.
To better distinguish him from his fellow Nazgul, the Witch-king was given additional armor and a large, pointed helm. In the novels, whenever his hood is thrown back, he is described as wearing a king's crown, which floats atop his invisible head and his burning eyes of fire.
- ^ Dellamorte, Andrew (20 June 2011). "The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition Blu-ray Review". Collider. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
- ^ See also Conlogue, Ray (16 December 2003). "Tolkien's Gentlemanly Art of War". The Globe and Mail.
- Tor.com. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-4706-5982-3.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
- ISBN 978-0261102750.
- OCLC 9552942.
- OCLC 519647821.
- ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2.
- ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3.
- ISBN 978-0-395-51562-4.
- ISBN 0-395-56008-X.