Witch-king of Angmar

Last updated

The Lord of the Nazgûl, also called the Witch-king of Angmar, the Pale King, or Black Captain, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings . He was one of the Nine among Men that the dark lord Sauron gave Rings of Power, becoming Nazgûl or Ringwraiths. His ring gives him great power, but enslaves him to Sauron and makes him invisible. As a wraith, he had once established himself King of Angmar in the north of Eriador. In the events of the Lord of the Rings, he stabs the bearer of the One Ring, the Hobbit Frodo Baggins, with a Morgul-knife which would reduce its victim to a wraith. Much later, in his final battle, the Lord of the Nazgûl attacks Éowyn with a mace. The Hobbit Merry Brandybuck stabs him with an ancient enchanted Númenórean blade, allowing Éowyn to kill him with her sword.

Contents

In early drafts, Tolkien had called him the "Wizard King", and considered making him either a renegade member of the Istari, or an immortal Maia, before settling on having him as a mortal Man, corrupted by a Ring of Power given to him by Sauron. Commentators have written that the Lord of the Nazgûl functions at the level of myth when, his own name forgotten, he calls himself Death and bursts the gates of Minas Tirith with magical spells. At a theological level, he embodies a vision of evil similar to Karl Barth's description of evil as das Nichtige, an active and powerful force that turns out to be empty. The prophecy that the Lord of the Nazgûl would not die by the hand of Man echoes that made of the title character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth .

Fictional history

Image map with clickable links of the north-west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, showing Arnor in the north of Eriador (left), with the Witch-kingdom of Angmar at the northern end of the Misty Mountains (top centre). Sketch Map of Middle-earth.svgBreeMoriaRohan
Image map with clickable links of the north-west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, showing Arnor in the north of Eriador (left), with the Witch-kingdom of Angmar at the northern end of the Misty Mountains (top centre).

The Witch-king first appears in the Second Age of Middle-earth. The Dark Lord Sauron gave Rings of Power to powerful Men, including kings of countries in Middle-earth. These confer magical power, but also enslave their wearers to the owner of the One Ring, Sauron himself. [T 1] [T 2]

The Lord of the Nazgûl appears as the Witch-king of Angmar during the Third Age and is instrumental in the destruction of the Northern kingdom of Arnor. [T 3] In his notes for translators, Tolkien suggested that the Witch-king of Angmar, ruler of a Northern kingdom with its capital at Carn Dûm, was of Númenórean origin. [T 4] Nothing is heard of him when Sauron is overthrown by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men late in the Second Age, but his survival is assured by the power of the One Ring. [T 5]

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 the Shire to find and recover the One Ring. He is cloaked and hooded in black; his face cannot be seen; he rides a black horse. [T 8] [T 9] [T 10] [T 11] At Weathertop, the Witch-king stabs Frodo, the bearer of the One Ring, in the shoulder with the Morgul-knife, breaking off a piece of it in the Hobbit's flesh. [T 12] Frodo is able to see that the Witch-king is taller than the other Nazgûl, with "long and gleaming" hair and a crown on his helmet. [T 12] He is swept away by the waters of the river Bruinen and his horse is drowned. He returns to Mordor. [T 13] He reappears mounted on a hideous flying beast. [T 14] [T 15]

During the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Witch-king uses magic, including Grond, a battering-ram engraved with evil spells, to break the gates of Minas Tirith. He is faced by a single warrior, Dernhelm, actually a disguised Éowyn, a noblewoman of Rohan; and not far away, Merry, a hobbit of the Fellowship. Éowyn boldly calls the Nazgûl a "dwimmerlaik", telling him to go if he was not deathless. [lower-alpha 1] He casts back his hood to reveal a crown, but the head that wears it is invisible. Merry's surreptitious stroke with an enchanted Barrow-blade brings the Nazgûl to his knees, allowing Éowyn, the niece of Théoden, to drive her sword between his crown and mantle. [T 14] Thus the Witch-king is destroyed by a woman and a Hobbit, fulfilling Glorfindel's prophecy. [T 6] Both weapons that pierced him disintegrate, and both assailants are stricken by the Black Breath, which causes a cold paralysis, terror, and often death. [T 14]

Analysis

From Wizard to Witch-king

Scraperboard illustration of the Witch-king by Alexander Korotich , 1981 Witch-king of Angmar by Alexander Korotich 1981.jpg
Scraperboard illustration of the Witch-king by Alexander Korotich , 1981

Megan N. Fontenot, on Tor.com , writes that in early drafts, Tolkien names him "the Wizard King", so powerful in wizardry that his opponent Gandalf is unable to counter him unaided. In early drafts of "The Council of Elrond", Gandalf explains that his enemy was "of old the greatest of all the wizards of Men". In a later draft, Tolkien adds that the Wizard King was also "a great king of old" and the "fell captain of the Nine [Riders]"; Fontenot glosses "fell" as implying "ravenous cruelty" and "ruthless ... savagery". [T 17] [2]

Later, in a draft of "The Siege of Gondor", Tolkien makes the Wizard King "a renegade of [Gandalf's] own order" from Númenor. [2] In the manuscript of his notes for translators, Tolkien suggested that the Witch-king of Angmar was most likely of Númenórean origin. [3] Fontenot comments that this could make him both a Maia rather than a Man, and originally one of the Istari, or, as she states, "something decidedly other". [2] But Tolkien then reduces the Wizard King's power, so that Gandalf is able to tell Pippin as they wait for the attack on Gondor that "In him I am not overmatched", and that the Wizard King's main power is to inspire fear at a distance (with the Black Breath). [2] At some stage, too, he renames the enemy the Witch-king; Fontenot suggests this was to distinguish more clearly between him and the Wizards like Gandalf and Saruman. Tolkien had thus explored making him a wizard (Istari or otherwise) or an immortal Maia, before settling on a "a human king whose lust for power got the better of his good judgment." [2] She wonders what he might have been like before he accepted a Ring of Power from Sauron, noting that he was seemingly filled with "possessiveness, greed, lust, and a desire for dominance", all markers of evil in Tolkien's scheme of things. [T 18] [2]

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 Tom Shippey writes that the Lord of the Nazgûl hovers close to being an abstraction, "a vast menace of despair ... a huge shadow", [T 19] actually calling himself Death: "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it?" [T 19] [4] The scene forms, too, a picture of the "unexistence of evil", [4] based on the Boethian philosophy that God is all-powerful, so evil is not the equal and opposite of good, but simply its absence: [5] he forms "a huge shadow". [4]

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 Fleming Rutledge writes that whereas the "pale king", the invisible Witch-king of Angmar, is striving to kill Frodo, the real king, Aragorn, who has been out of sight, in disguise as a Ranger, is doing all he can to heal him: the two kings are opposites. [7] She writes also that while the enemy visible to Gondor is the Men of Harad and the Easterlings, the real enemy is personified by the Witch-king. [7]

Fleming Rutledge's comparison of the Witch-king and Aragorn [7]
CharacterKingshipGoalVisibility
Witch-kingWas King of AngmarTo kill the ring-bearer Frodo Actually invisible
Aragorn Has claim to be King of Gondor To heal FrodoHas been out of sight as a Ranger

Prophecy both true and false

Tolkien's use of prophecy about the Witch-king's death parallels Shakespeare's, where the witches speak both truth and falsehood about Macbeth's death. Painting by Henry Fuseli Fuseli - Macbeth and the Witches.jpg
Tolkien's use of prophecy about the Witch-king's death parallels Shakespeare's, where the witches speak both truth and falsehood about Macbeth's death. Painting by Henry Fuseli

Julaire Andelin, in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , writes that prophecy in Middle-earth depended on characters' understanding of the Music of the Ainur, the divine plan for Arda, and was often ambiguous. Thus, Glorfindel's prophecy "not by the hand of Man will [the Lord of the Nazgûl] fall" did not lead the Lord of the Nazgûl to suppose that he would die at the hands of a woman and a hobbit. [T 6] [9]

Shippey states that the prophecy, and the Witch-king's surprise at finding Dernhelm to be a woman, parallel the witches' statement to Macbeth in Shakespeare's play of that name that he may "laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4, scene 1), and Macbeth's shock at learning that Macduff "was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (Act 5, scene 8), as Macduff was born by Caesarean section. Thus, Shippey notes, despite Tolkien's stated dislike of Shakespeare's treatment of myth, he read Macbeth closely. [8]

The Tolkien scholar Michael Drout identifies a further parallel with Shakespeare, one of several allusions to King Lear in The Lord of the Rings. The Witch-king says "Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey", as the mad Lear says "Come not between the dragon and his wrath". [10]

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 The Hobbit film trilogy, the Wizard Radagast briefly encounters the Witch-king while investigating the forest fortress of Dol Guldur. [14]

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

  1. ↑ "Dwimmerlaik" represents a word in Rohirric, the speech of Rohan, supposedly 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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gandalf</span> Fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien

Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" (Dvergatal) in the Völuspá.

The Nazgûl, introduced as Black Riders and also called Ringwraiths, Dark Riders, the Nine Riders, or simply the Nine, are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. They were nine Men who had succumbed to Sauron's power through wearing Rings of Power, which gave them immortality but reduced them to invisible wraiths, servants bound to the power of the One Ring and completely under Sauron's control.

Éowyn is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. She is a noblewoman of Rohan who describes herself as a shieldmaiden.

Glorfindel is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is a member of the Noldor, one of the three groups of High Elves. The character and his name, which means "blond" or "golden-haired", were among the first created for what would become part of his Middle-earth legendarium in 1916–17, beginning with the initial draft of The Fall of Gondolin. His name indicates his hair as a mark of his distinction, as the Noldor were generally dark-haired. A character of the same name appears in the first book of The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, which takes place in Middle-earth's Third Age. Within the story, he is depicted as a powerful Elf-lord who could withstand the Nazgûl, wraith-like servants of Sauron, and holds his own against some of them single-handedly. Glorfindel and a version of the story of the Fall of Gondolin appear in The Silmarillion, posthumously published in 1977.

The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, was the defence of the city of Minas Tirith by the forces of Gondor and the cavalry of its ally Rohan, against the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron from Mordor and its allies the Haradrim and the Easterlings. It was the largest battle in the War of the Ring. It took place at the end of the Third Age in the Pelennor Fields, the townlands and fields between Minas Tirith and the River Anduin.

<i>The Return of the King</i> (1980 film) 1980 animated musical television film by Jules Bass

The Return of the King is a 1980 American-Japanese animated musical fantasy television film created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. It is an adaptation of part of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1955 high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It takes its name from The Return of the King, the third and final volume of the novel, and is a sequel to the 1977 film The Hobbit.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, the Battle of the Morannon or the Battle of the Black Gate is the final confrontation in the War of the Ring. Gondor and its allies send a small army ostensibly to challenge Sauron at the entrance to his land of Mordor; he supposes that they have with them the One Ring and mean to use it to defeat him. In fact, the Ring is being carried by the hobbits Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee into Mordor to destroy it in Mount Doom, and the army is moving to distract Sauron from them. Before the battle, a nameless leader, the "Mouth of Sauron", taunts the leaders of the army with the personal effects of Frodo and Sam. Battle is joined, but just as it seems the army of Gondor will be overwhelmed, the Ring is destroyed, and the forces of Sauron lose heart. Mount Doom erupts, and Sauron's tower, Barad-dûr, collapses, along with the Black Gate. The army of Gondor returns home victorious, the War of the Ring won.

The fictional races and peoples that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth include the seven listed in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls, as well as spirits such as the Valar and Maiar. Other beings of Middle-earth are of unclear nature such as Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry.

"The Council of Elrond" is the second chapter of Book 2 of J. R. R. Tolkien's bestselling fantasy work, The Lord of the Rings, which was published in 1954–1955. It is the longest chapter in that book at some 15,000 words, and critical for explaining the power and threat of the One Ring, for introducing the final members of the Company of the Ring, and for defining the planned quest to destroy it. Contrary to the maxim "Show, don't tell", the chapter consists mainly of people talking; the action is, as in an earlier chapter "The Shadow of the Past", narrated, largely by the Wizard Gandalf, in flashback. The chapter parallels the far simpler Beorn chapter in The Hobbit, which similarly presents a culture-clash of modern with ancient. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey calls the chapter "a largely unappreciated tour de force". The Episcopal priest Fleming Rutledge writes that the chapter brings the hidden narrative of Christianity in The Lord of the Rings close to the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saruman</span> Fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien

Saruman, also called Saruman the White, later Saruman of Many Colours, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is the leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the novel. He comes to desire Sauron's power for himself, so he betrays the Istari and tries to take over Middle-earth by force from his base at Isengard. His schemes feature prominently in the second volume, The Two Towers; he appears briefly at the end of the third volume, The Return of the King. His earlier history is summarised in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Faramir is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He is introduced as the younger brother of Boromir of the Fellowship of the Ring and second son of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. Faramir enters the narrative in The Two Towers, where, upon meeting Frodo Baggins, he is presented with a temptation to take possession of the One Ring. In The Return of the King, he leads the forces of Gondor in the War of the Ring, coming near to death, succeeds his father as Steward, and wins the love of Éowyn, lady of the royal house of Rohan.

Meriadoc Brandybuck, usually called Merry, is a Hobbit, a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, featured throughout his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings. Merry is described as one of the closest friends of Frodo Baggins, the main protagonist. Merry and his friend and cousin, Pippin, are members of the Company of the Ring. They become separated from the rest of the group and spend much of The Two Towers making their own decisions. By the time of The Return of the King, Merry has enlisted in the army of Rohan as an esquire to King Théoden, in whose service he fights during the War of the Ring. After the war, he returns home, where he and Pippin lead the Scouring of the Shire, ridding it of Saruman's influence.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, the Dúnedain were a race of Men, also known as the Númenóreans or Men of Westernesse. Those who survived the sinking of their island kingdom and came to Middle-earth, led by Elendil and his sons, Isildur and Anárion, settled in Arnor and Gondor.

Peregrin Took, commonly known simply as Pippin, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is closely tied with his friend and cousin, Merry Brandybuck, and the two are together during most of the story. Pippin and Merry are introduced as a pair of young hobbits of the Shire who become ensnared in their friend Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the One Ring. Pippin joins the Company of the Ring. He and Merry become separated from the rest of the group at the breaking of the Fellowship and spend much of The Two Towers with their own storyline. Impetuous and curious, Pippin enlists as a soldier in the army of Gondor and fights in the Battle of the Morannon. With the other hobbits, he returns home, helps to lead the Scouring of the Shire, and becomes Thain, or hereditary leader of the land.

Théoden is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. The King of Rohan and Lord of the Mark or of the Riddermark, names used by the Rohirrim for their land, he appears as a supporting character in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. When first introduced, Théoden is weak with age and sorrow and the machinations of his top advisor, Gríma Wormtongue, and he does nothing as his kingdom is crumbling. Once roused by the wizard Gandalf, however, he becomes an instrumental ally in the war against Saruman and Sauron, leading the Rohirrim into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Aragorn is a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arnor and Gondor. Aragorn is a confidant of the wizard Gandalf and plays a part in the quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. As a young man, Aragorn falls in love with the immortal elf Arwen, as told in "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen". Arwen's father, Elrond Half-elven, forbids them to marry unless Aragorn becomes King of both Arnor and Gondor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sauron</span> Primary antagonist in Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings

Sauron is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth. In the same work, he is identified as the "Necromancer" of Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit. The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the "angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron". Sauron appears most often as "the Eye", as if disembodied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evil in Middle-earth</span> Theme in Tolkiens fiction

Evil is ever-present in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm of Middle-earth. Tolkien is ambiguous on the philosophical question of whether evil is the absence of good, the Boethian position, or whether it is a force seemingly as powerful as good, and forever opposed to it, the Manichaean view. The major evil characters have varied origins. The first is Melkor, the most powerful of the immortal and angelic Valar; he chooses discord over harmony, and becomes the first dark lord Morgoth. His lieutenant, Sauron, is an immortal Maia; he becomes Middle-earth's dark lord after Morgoth is banished from the world. Melkor has been compared to Satan in the Book of Genesis, and to John Milton's fallen angel in Paradise Lost. Others, such as Gollum, Denethor, and Saruman – respectively, a Hobbit, a Man, and a Wizard – are corrupted or deceived into evil, and die fiery deaths like those of evil beings in Norse sagas.

J. R. R. Tolkien derived the characters, stories, places, and languages of Middle-earth from many sources. Shakespeare's influence on Tolkien was substantial, despite Tolkien's professed dislike of the playwright. Tolkien disapproved in particular of Shakespeare's devaluation of elves, and was deeply disappointed by the prosaic explanation of how Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane Hill in Macbeth. Tolkien was influenced especially by Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and he used King Lear for "issues of kingship, madness, and succession". He arguably drew on several other plays, including The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, Part 1, and Love's Labour's Lost, as well as Shakespeare's poetry, for numerous effects in his Middle-earth writings. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey suggests that Tolkien may even have felt a kind of fellow-feeling with Shakespeare, as both men were rooted in the county of Warwickshire.

References

Primary

  1. ↑ 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."
  2. ↑ Tolkien 1980, 4. "The Hunt for the Ring" i. "Of the Journey of the Black Riders"
  3. ↑ Tolkien 1955, Appendix A, 1 "The Numenorean Kings"
  4. ↑ 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 .
  5. ↑ Tolkien 1955, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years", entries in "The Second Age"
  6. 1 2 3 4 Tolkien 1955, Appendix A, I, iv "Gondor and the heirs of Anarion"
  7. ↑ Tolkien 1955, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years", entries in "The Third Age"
  8. ↑ Tolkien 1954a, book 1, ch. 2 "The Shadow of the Past"
  9. ↑ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 2 "The Council of Elrond"
  10. ↑ Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 3 "Three is Company"
  11. ↑ Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 4 "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"
  12. 1 2 Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 11 "A Knife in the Dark"
  13. ↑ Tolkien 1954a book 1, ch. 12 "Flight to the Ford"
  14. 1 2 3 Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 6, "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"
  15. ↑ Carpenter 2023 , #211 to Rhona Beare, 14 October 1958
  16. ↑ Tolkien 1990, p. 372
  17. ↑ Tolkien 1989, pp. 9, 116, 132, 149
  18. ↑ Tolkien 1990, pp. 326, 331
  19. 1 2 3 Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 4, "The Siege of Gondor"

Secondary

  1. ↑ Shippey 2005, p. 394
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fontenot, Megan N. (31 October 2019). "Exploring the People of Middle-earth: The Witch-King of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgûl". Tor.com . Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2005). The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion . HarperCollins. p. 20. ISBN   978-0-00-720907-1.
  4. 1 2 3 Shippey 2005 , pp. 242–243
  5. ↑ Shippey 2005 , pp. 131–133
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Hunsinger, George (2020). "Barth and Tolkien". Wiley Blackwell Companion to Karl Barth. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 693–700. ISBN   978-1-119-15656-7.
  7. 1 2 3 Rutledge, Fleming (2003). The battle for Middle-Earth: Tolkien's divine design in Lord of the rings. William B. Eerdmans. pp. 85, 96. ISBN   978-0-8028-2497-4. OCLC   52559213.
  8. 1 2 Shippey 2005 , pp. 205–206
  9. ↑ Andelin, Julaire (2013) [2007]. "Prophecy". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia . Routledge. pp. 544–545. ISBN   978-0-415-86511-1.
  10. ↑ Drout, Michael D. C. (2004). "Tolkien's Prose Style and its Literary and Rhetorical Effects". Tolkien Studies . 1 (1): 137–163. doi: 10.1353/tks.2004.0006 . S2CID   170271511.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Dellamorte, Andrew (20 June 2011). "The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy: Extended Edition Blu-ray Review". Collider. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  13. ↑ See also Conlogue, Ray (16 December 2003). "Tolkien's Gentlemanly Art of War". The Globe and Mail.
  14. ↑ LaSala, Jeff (14 November 2014). "Extending The Desolation of Smaug: More Is More". Tor.com . Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  15. ↑ Makai, Péter Kristóf (2014). "Games and Gaming: Quantasy". A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien . John Wiley & Sons. pp. 530–544. ISBN   978-0-4706-5982-3.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.