The Witch-king of Angmar - Epic Character History

come not between the Nazgul and his prey or he was 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 I shriveled mine to be left naked to the lidless I a sword rang as it was drawn she what you will but I will hinder it if I may hinder me thou fool no living man may hinder me end quote hey guys you stand here with a requested video on one of everyone's favorite doom bringers the witch-king of Angmar born at an unknown date in the second age of middle-earth the man who would later be known as the witch-king of Angmar likely lived in Numenor at the beginning of his life it is speculated by fans of the legendarium that he comes from Numenor but it is said in akalabeth in The Silmarillion that three of the nazgûl were of the great númenórean race and in my opinion Sauron would have had his greatest lieutenant be one of these three as the other men of middle-earth known as middle men were considered lesser in strength and intellect in comparison to the númenóreans the witch king or the lord of the Nazgul is first seen in middle-earth in the year 2000 251 of the Second Age this was already after his kingship and mortal life and when he was given his ring of power during this time or after his emergence he was given one of the nine rings of power for mortal men and thus the former king that we knew nothing about sealed his fate to Sauron service and openly announced his loyalty to Sauron he had the appearance of a wraith so he was invisible but he cloaked himself in black robes and had fiery eyes with an iron crown that he wore beneath his hood the lord of the Nazgul helped sauron's conquests after his betrayal of the elves and dwarves until the year 3262 of the second age when King our there's-- on took a host of men from Numenor and captured Sauron Sauron was captured by his own will and this was his plan to take down Numenor it can be assumed that in sauron's absence from middle-earth for the next 57 years the lord of the Nazgul ruled in Mordor as a steward of sorts until his masters returned when Sauron did return in the year 3000 319 of the second age he came back disembodied but with the remains of his power and the One Ring he again took shape but he lost his power to shape-shift as most if not all of the Maya have the ability to do so now that didn't mean the destruction of his essence or anything but he was able to go under different guises before this such as an ATAR the gift Lord among others but now after his destruction at Numenor after Numenor was sunk beneath the seas and he was drowned along with many other people he lost the ability to do this anyways Sauron donned his black armor after his return and compiled his forces for another war with the free peoples during the war of the last Alliance the lord of the Nazgul served his master very well helping in his campaigns and even possibly aiding in the taking of menace ethel causing a seal door to flee for his life and it is interesting to think that the lord of the Nazgul may have helped with that because he would later rule menace Ethel when it would be renamed Minnis Morgul but again I'll get to that later he served even until sauron's defeat on the slopes of Mount Doom after this the nazgûl and their master went into hiding the end of the second age in the beginning of the third came and went and finally after waiting with Sauron to consolidate forces power and to give him time to look for the One Ring the nazgûl and their master returned Sauron built an occupied dough gold or around the Year 1100 of the Third Age and the wise thought of the possibility of the return of the nazgûl and that they were ruling the castle but they didn't even dare to think that Sauron had returned and Sauron does keep the secret for a long time at this time the nazgûl hadn't been seen for over a thousand years and in the year 1300 of the Third Age the lord of the Nazgul took action again against the free peoples though he didn't reveal himself as one of the nine yet he had the city of Karn Doom built in the far reaches of the northeast of area door and he ruled Angmar as its witch king you'll notice that I haven't said which King since the start of this video because up until this point in the timeline he wasn't known as the witch king yet but it is the events succeeding his return here that make him so memorable and terrifying and known as the witch-king he built armies of evil men orcs trolls and many other terrifying creatures and he planned now to wage war with the weaker of the two kingdoms of the Doudna Dean Arnor at this time our noir was falling apart and was split into three different kingdoms Arthur Dayne cardolan and rude are they were also nearing Civil War if you want to learn more about these kingdoms of Arnor I have another video for you link in the description below in the Year 1409 of the Third Age the witch-king openly attacked the kingdoms he first brought down rude are as he easily corrupted many of its people that were Hillman and overthrew any Doudna Dayne rule then using rude arse help and the might of his forces he overthrew a munsoo or Weathertop as it was later known and the witch-king attacks cardolan for many years but cardolan was able to repel and hold their own for a long time but eventually plagues that infested both Gardaland and Gondor sent by the witch-king and Eng Mars foul spirits that rose whites from the borrowed downs combined with his many armies overtook cardolan and then the witch King turned his sights toward foreign Aust the last bastion of north and the only hope for Arthur Dana our Knorr true Kingdom to survive but in 1974 of the Third Age it too fell to egg Mars might but the witch king's victory was short-lived and Glorfindel a lord of Rivendell and Gondolin and an ur the Prince of Gondor brought mighty armies from the south and east and reclaimed forests those former glory would be lost until the days of king Eleazar and the hosts of the free peoples beat and Mar on the fields west of forests in the battle of forest and the witch King fled it was during this battle that Glorfindel realized the true might of the witch-king and discovered that he was the Lord of the nine na school after the fear of the witch-king made a nurse horse buck and eject the writer and Glorfindel bade Prince a nerd not to pursue him and Glorfindel said quote do not pursue him he will not return to these lands far off yet is his doom and not by the hand of shall he fall even as he said this the witch-king taunted Prince Anna and fled after his defeat in the north he was still somewhat victorious and the kingdom of Arnor remains in ruin as there were now two few do Nadeem to restart the already fractured kingdom so the remaining men followed aaron earth as their chieftain of the Doudna Dean and they became Rangers fearing to go back to forest calling it the dead man's dike and believing it to be haunted fear beat the men of the north until aragorn's time and that was enough for the witch-king now he turned his eyes south to Gondor he wandered the wild for five years finally coming to Mordor with a plan he gathered the other eight nazgûl to him and laid siege to Menace Hill once more the siege lasted two years until the witch king and his forces took the fortress and Men called it menace Morgul or the tower of black sorcery 41 years later the Morgul Lord as the witch king was now called challenged the newly crowned king of Gondor an ER who had fought at the Battle of forest to a duel the steward of Gondor was able to convince the king not to go to this duel but seven years later in the year 2050 of the Third Age the headstrong King accepted the challenge and he was never seen again the line of the kings of Gondor broke and he was the last until LSR whose lineage ran from the r norian blood of kings quick sidenote here in my favorite video game the Lord of the Rings Online yes I am just that much of a nerd the character of Mordred the false King of Angmar and gothmog the commander of the witch Kings forces at the Battle of Pellinore fields is in fact the Wraith of King an ER it's a pretty cool thing that the Lord of the Rings Online team did see when King ANR disappeared into Minnesota in this timeline he was turned into a wraith to serve the witch-king rather than just killed like he probably was in the actual timeline of the story anyways after this the nazgûl remained dormant and menaced Morgul leading to the watchful peace Sauron removed himself from Dumbledore as he didn't wish to reveal himself yet and his eye nor or his spirits went east so that no elves or Wizards or men could figure out who and what he was serán eventually returns to his four stronghold most likely stronger than when he left and it is assumed that he made plans with his servants to reveal himself which he eventually does to the white council in duel gold or during the time of Bilbo Baggins journey to the Lonely Mountain after he is driven from Dougal door he returns to Mordor to rebuild Parador and stake claim to middle-earth once again then the War of the Ring happens in which the witch King plays a major part in the year thirty onine of the Third Age Gollum is captured in Mordor and he is tortured to reveal what he knows about the ring and the names Baggins and Shire are revealed it seems to me that Sauron previously knew that Gollum had the ring at one point probably through spying on him in Mirkwood and so Sauron went after him first to find a lead for the One Ring Sauron sends the nazgûl out as Black Riders from Menace morale to investigate these leads on the ring Sauron suspected that Saruman might know where the Shire is and sent the lord of the Nazgul to speak with him at Isengard as Saruman had already fallen at this point after this conversation the riders went far north speaking with Saruman spy on the road to learn the connection between the Baggins family and Hobbiton the lord of the Nazgul doesn't seem to have entered the Shire but instead set camp at and reef south of bree and journey to the Barrow downs awakening more whites of old do Nadeem this is the same tactic that he had used to crush the kingdom of Cardin many years before that is also most likely why Frodo and the other hobbits are attacked by barrel whites as they come after the witch King had already been there after hearing that Frodo Baggins had left the Shire the nazgûl led by their Lord almost catch Frodo and the ring a few times and the Lord of the Black Riders even stabs Frodo on Weathertop with his moral knife that would turn Frodo into a wraith if left unturned into a wraith the ring would have been theirs the nazgûl pursue frota to the Fords of Bruni and are swept away by Elrond and gandalf combined power they then slowly go back to Mordor and are re cloaked to be tasked with the destruction of Gondor the witch King takes on his former name armor and weaponry of old and oversees the construction of a large army and Menace Morgul when the army departs to overtake Gondor Frodo who he had stabbed five months earlier and hiding seized the witch-king depart on his fellow Beast leading the army the witch-king easily overrun saskia and brings his armies before menace Tirith on march 14 30 19 of the Third Age and with the help of his commander named gothmog and the other eight now school he nearly brings Gondor to ruin during the battle the witch-king laid spells of ruin upon the already evil enchanted Grande and those spells drove the drivers mad it was partially because of him that the gates fell so easily and three hits from the wolf head the battle is going so well for the witch-king that he is even able to walk through the Gateway of menace to earth and challenge gandalf face to face revealing his hoodless eyes of fire and crown of iron he ignites his sword ready to strike the old wizard down and achieve a great victory for Mordor but he is betrayed by the sound of horns at dawn the Riders of Rohan charged into battle and turned the tide not only of the battle itself but of the war the witch-king had to retreat to his fell beasts and continue the fight outside even overcoming King Theoden with his beasts but as his fel steed prepared to feast on the fallen king who was alone with his horse a loyal man of Rohan durn helm comes to save his king durn helm and conversation with the witch-king reveals himself to not be a man at all but a owen the niece of Theoden and a woman of great valor and strength she hughes the head off of the witch Kings fel steed with one mighty blow and the witch king is brought to his feet for a final fight he is stabbed in the knee by meriadoc brandybuck with a blade from the borrowed downs and a Owen stabs him in the place beneath his crown effectively ending the contractor of so much pain and torment over the many centuries in the end though Tolkien does write that the witch king's voice was quote never heard again in that age of the world end quote so it could be that the witch King didn't have enough time to wreak loke but would have with enough time or he came back in later ages or maybe he only came back at dagger dagger wroth the last battle at the end of times if the prophecy of mandos is indeed true thank you all for watching I hope you all enjoyed it and I really did like studying and learning out all of this the witch-king is one of my favorite villains of all time and I know my brother really likes the characters well it is interesting that at the end of his life the witch King was killed by a woman of a kingdom that he never tormented whether he is númenórean or not it is interesting that he only fought those of númenórean descent like he only went after Arnor and Gondor and the kingdoms that he never fought Dale and Rohan the kingdoms of the middle men that many deemed to be lesser men ended up providing a woman that would end him permanently anyways thank you all again I've gotten a lot of requests for different theories and fan fictions I should do so I'll be doing one next weekend I'll be leaving a poll of which topic of fanfiction I should do on the Facebook page so check that out if you're interested link in the description below once again thank you all so much for your outstanding support as always leave a like or comment if you enjoyed the video and let me know what else you would like to see share this video with a friend who you think might enjoy it subscribe to see my next videos and as always thank you for joining me on this adventure until the next one my friends

Channel: Men of the West

Views: 1,344,285

Keywords: LOTR, Middle-Earth, Tolkien, Witch-King, Morgul Lord, Minas Morgul, Númenor, Arda, Silmarillion, Hobbit, Black Riders, Sauron, One Ring, Mordor, Fell Beast, Eowyn, Theoden, Snowmane

Id: CJ7DhHBHIF8

Length: 14min 28sec (868 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2017