Wizard King of Angmar

Initially, he was a king of people skilled in witchcraft. In handwritten notes for translators, Tolkien noted that the name of the Sorcerer King and his past are not described anywhere, but he may have been one of the Numenore exiles (there is an indication in Akallabet that some Nazguls were formerly Numenoreans). But some time ago some notes about Angmarz were found in his notes ^[1] . It is believed that he was a Numenorean prince who voluntarily or by deception followed Sauron. He received from Sauron the eldest of the Nine Rings intended for humans and was the most powerful of the nine Nazguls. Also his hallmark was a black crown on an invisible head (in Jackson's film - a stylized mask with spikes).

Sauron , hiding in the East after the war of the Last Union, in the form of an incorporeal spirit returned in 1050 of the Third Age . He built the fortress Dol Guldur in the south of Mirkwood . Around 1300, the Nazguls appeared. Their leader founded the kingdom of Angmar in the north of the Misty Mountains , located on both sides of the ridge. The capital of Angmar was Karn Doom , standing on the northernmost peak of the mountains. There, the Witch King gathered orcs , evil people, and other creatures to strike at the kingdom of Arnor . As early as 861, after the death of King Earendur , as a result of a quarrel of his three sons, Arnor split into three separate states: Artedine , Kardolan and Rudaur . In Artedine, the Isildur dynasty entrenched itself for a long time, but in Rudaur and Kardolan it soon died out.

Disagreements between the heirs of the throne allowed the Witch-king to realize his plans to seize the lands of fragmented Arnor. Almost immediately, Rudaur switched to the side of Angmar. Together, they managed to crush Cardolan, whose last king died in 1409 A.D. however, with the help of the elves, Artedine continued to hold on for over 500 years. By 1974 T.E. Angmar’s power increased again, and at the end of winter the Wizard attacked Arthedine. With a sudden blow, he captured Fornost and forced the Dunadans still living there to move beyond the Moon River. The last king of the northern kingdom of Arveduy , covering the refugee’s withdrawal, managed to escape to the Lossots in Forohel Bay, but died on an elven ship, wiped and crushed by ice. Together with the king, two of Arnor's three palantines drowned. In the same year, the allies of Artedyne approached the borders of Fornost: the Gondor army under the command of the son of King Earnur , and the elves Lindon and Rivendell , led by Cirdan Korabel and Glorfindel . The Witch-king rode out to meet his enemies. He was in black robes, a black mask and a black horse.

The great battle of Fornost took place on the lands between the Northern Hills and Lake Evendim . As a result, the army of Angmar was defeated, and the Witch-king tried to retreat to the Karn Dum. He was caught up by Earnur with his cavalry. The leader of the Nazguls was full of hatred for the heir to the throne of Gondor and attacked him. Earnur tried to confront the Nazgul, but his horse got scared and fled. The Wizard King taunted Earnur. Then Glorfindel himself appeared on the battlefield, but the Phantom King did not accept the battle with the elf and disappeared. It was then that Glorfindel uttered a prophecy about the Witch King:

He will not return here anymore. He still has no destiny to die. Yes, and he does not fall at the hands of a mortal husband.

- Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King: "Appendix A" p. 332

The kingdom of Angmar eventually fell, and the Witch-king took refuge in Mordor . In 2002, i.e. the Nazguls captured Minas Itil and made it their place of residence. And 7 years after the accession of Prince Earnur to the throne, the Witch-King challenged him to a duel. He drove into Minas Morgul, and no one else saw him. It was believed that Earnur died in the dungeons of Minas Morgul. Since the last king of Gondor did not leave an heir, the governors began to rule the southern state of the Numenoreans.

The so-called Vigilant World, which began with the first escape of Sauron from Dol Guldur in 2063, i.e., ended in 2460, when the Dark Lord returned to his temporary shelter. In 2475, the orcs attacked the first capital of Gondor, Osgiliath . The bridge was destroyed, and the city was ruined, and no one else lived there. The warlord Boromir, the son of the governor Denethor I, desperately resisted the troops of Mordor , and even the Witch-king was afraid of him. Boromir repulsed Ithilien , but the wound received by the Morgul blade reduced the life of the glorious commander.

During the War of the Ring , the Sorcerer King participated in the hunt for the Ring and wounded the Guardian Frodo on Mount Amon Sul. Sauron hid in secret the beginning of the search for the Ring of Omnipotence by the Nazguls. The fact is that on June 20, 3018, the troops of Mordor attacked Osgiliath. The defense of Osgiliath was led by Boromir and Faramir , the sons of the governor Denethor II . They brought down the city bridge and kept the west coast from being captured. But no one noticed how the Nazguls crossed Anduin.

In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Witch-king commanded the forces of Morgul, commanding them quickly, skillfully and ruthlessly, he crushed the gate of Minas Tirith with a spell and broke the spirit of his defenders. He also during the battle dealt a mortal blow to King Rohan Theoden (killing his horse, which in turn crushed the king) . But a certain young warrior of Rohan prevented the Witch-king from finishing off Theoden.

A cold voice answered:

“Do not stand between the Nazgul and its prey!” Or he won’t just kill you. He will take you to the Houses of Wailing, beyond all Darkness, where your flesh will be devoured, and a trembling mind will appear naked before the Eyeless Eye.

There was a clang of a sword drawn from its scabbard.

- Do whatever you want. But I will interfere if I can.

- Will you interfere with me? You're a fool. No living husband can interfere with me!

The Return of the King: "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields," p. 116

It turned out that it was Eowyn , the niece of King Rohan. However, the Witch-king lingered, overwhelmed by doubt (for the first time a simple warrior confronted his aura of horror). Eowyn chopped off the head of the winged creature - on which the Nazgul leader sat. The Witch-king was enraged, he waved a mace, trying to kill her, but hit the shield. From a mighty blow, the shield shattered into chips, the queen's arm was broken, she fell to her knees. The Witch King raised his mace to deal a mortal blow. But the hobbit Merry Brandyback accompanying the princess on Theoden's campaign to the walls of the capital of Gondor crept up behind him and hit his leg with his dagger. No sword, even in the most powerful hands, would harm the Nazgul, but Merry had an Arnor dagger, created by Dunedain for the war against Angmar, painted with runes to destroy Mordor. The magic of the blade cut through the ghostly flesh. From hitting a ghost, the hobbit’s hand immediately died, which subsequently nearly led to his death. The Witch-king swung forward, and at that moment Eowyn, having risen, with the last effort plunged her sword into the void between the cloak and crown (in the Jackson film), she spent a chopping blow between the crown and armor on the invisible neck in the book.

The prophecy uttered by Glorfindel after the Battle of Fornost came true: the Witch-king died at the hands of a woman and a hobbit.

Literature

• The Witch-king is featured in the novel by Cyril Yeskov, The Last Ring-Bear . The one who, thanks to The Lord of the Rings, is considered the Sorcerer King, is just the commander of the southern army of Mordor, who does not have any supernatural powers. Under his command, the army of Mordor, taking the Osgiliath and the Pelennor fortifications in several hours, besieges Minas Tirith . In the Battle of Pelennor , after strange reports of Gondor reinforcements, whose soldiers cannot be killed, the commander drove to the front line and saw the army of the dead led by Aragorn . Seeing that his soldiers would now take flight, he threw himself on Aragorn, but he pretended to take an honest duel, but in fact set the commander under attack from the living dead (His death at the hands of Meriadoc and Eowyn is a legend composed by order of Aragorn.) The epilogue also mentions the once-existing witch-king Angmar and his distant descendant from the “modern” world.
• In the novel “The Great Game” by Natalya Nekrasova (from the series “The Black Book of Arda ”), a story of the origin of the Sorcerer King is described: according to the author’s plan, he was originally one of the relatives of King Numenor Tar-Atanamir and his governor in Middle-earth. Prince Eldarion, also known as Halkar, according to Nekrasova, was the victim of the espionage game of Sauron- Annatar, who subsequently captivated him, but not only broke him with torture and horror, but managed to convince the former Numenorean blood prince to side with the Darkness, convincing him to betrayal by the royal kinsman and offering his new adept his help in the matter of revenge.
• In Oleg Vereshchagin ’s novels, “Squire” and “The Last Warrior,” the Witch-king is the main antagonist. The cycle is dedicated to the adventures of a teenager from Russia of the 21st century, who accidentally failed in the world of Middle-earth and ended up in Eriador during the Angmar Wars.

Music

• Three songs are dedicated to the sorcerer-king Natalia Vasilyeva , also known as Elhe Niennah, co-author of the book “The Black Book of Arda”: “Angmarets”, “Helkar-I” and “Helkar-II”.
• Tam Greenhill 's song “The Cry of the Angmar King”.
• Aire and Saruman's song "Helkar".

Computer Games

• The playable character in the games “ The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of Middle-earth ”, “ The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of Middle-earth 2 ” and the addition to it “ Under the banner of the Sorcerer King ” (in this game the main campaign is twisted around the formation of the Sorcerer-King in Angmar, and his confrontation with Arnor and the elves). The Lord of the Rings: Confrontation , where he also appears as the boss in the Pelennor Fields mission. He was the boss in the game “ Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ” in the mission “Pelennor Fields”, where he had to shoot down his winged creature so that Eowyn finished it off.
• In the game "Lego Lord of the Rings" is a regular game character.

• Nazguls

• Hammond WG , Scull C. . The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion . - London: HarperCollins , 2005 .-- 894 p. - ISBN 0-00-720907-X .
• Tolkien J.R. R. Lord of the Rings . Book I. The Commonwealth of the Ring = The Lord of the Rings. The Fellowship of the Ring / Per. from English M. Kamenkovich, V. Carrick. -St. Petersburg : ABC , 1999 .-- 704 p. - 7000 copies. - ISBN 5-7684-0747-2 .
• Tolkien J.R. R. Lord of the Rings . Book III. The Return of the King = The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King / Per. from English M. Kamenkovich, V. Carrick. - St. Petersburg : ABC , 1999 .-- 734 p. - 7000 copies. - ISBN 5-7684-0749-9 .
• Tolkien. JRR Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth / Ed. C. Tolkien . - Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980 .-- 472 p. - ISBN 0-395-29917-9 .