I would like to figure out what we can say about the witch-king–he wasn’t a true Wizard, right? Most of his stuff is from the appendices on the North Kingdom, which seems to me to raise a problem re his timing–he is called a Black Numenorian, but wasn’t the trouble with Angmar pretty late in the decline of Arnor? Is he still a Numenorian proper at that stage?
(Don’t mean I ain’t lookin’ atchoo funny anyway.)
Sample_the_Dog writes:
> For Tolkien’s world to live and breathe, it must be elaborated, reinterpreted,
> reinvented, added to.
Says who? Adding to, reinventing, reinterpreting, or elaborating my favorite works of fiction has never personally struck me as necessary. The work stands on its own merit and other works derived from it stand on their own merit. Perhaps there are other people like you who feel it’s necessary to reinterpret a work (by making a movie of it or whatever), but there are also lots of people like me who want no such thing. At best all you’re doing is explaining how you feel a classic work of fiction should be treated. You should realize that other people feel quite differently.
Read “The War of the Ring” in the HOMES series, and you’ll see how the Wizard King evolved into the Witch King. Originally he was conceived as a fellow Wizard, like Gandalf and Saruman. Granted, just what Gandalf and Saruman were wasn’t really worked out well at that point in the drafting. But the Wizard King has been a Numenorian, got corrupted by Sauron, and became Chief of the Ringwraiths. He somehow must have survived Akallabeth, and turned up in Middle Earth again to serve his Master, then make trouble for the Numenorians in exile after Sauron’s fall.
However, after a few more edits, Wizard King became Witch King, and we end up knowing less about him than we did in the drafts.
The manuscript has some interesting conundrums, like a ringwraith “going nazgul” which apparently indicates a nazgul was originally a ringwraith on a winged steed.
Now I gotcha–I thought that lovely word “transmogrification” implied that the event of the transformation (from innocent wizard to fallen wraith) was actually described somewhere, not that it was a reference to the evolution of the idea of the character brought about by the editing process.
I don’t think he was a King in Numenor, so he must have become a King at the time he took over the Northern Kingdom splinter state. Is there anyone else in ME who gets called a witch besides this guy and Galadriel? Were Melian or Luthien ever called witches? Was “witch” exclusive to women except for him? [Could he have been a woman? Not based on what we have, of course, but it is an interesting idea.]
I’ve always hated those damn books.
/isolated
My understanding is the canonical Witch King (WK) is a Numenorean colonist who was given one of the Nine Rings around 1000 years prior to the Downfall. I assume he was a particularly ambitious and corrupt nobility, easily taken in by Sauron’s promises of power, and readily seduced by the magic and immortality that one of the Nine Rings conferred upon its user. After that, over time, this nameless individual was transformed into a Wraith, wholly subject to the power of the One Ring, even as his “life” was prolonged unnaturally by his own Ring. During his long corruption and transformation, he studied the black arts, and his powers of sorcery were enhanced by his Ring, such that he became more and more potent and terrible a foe.
From the time he first appeared as one of the Nazgûl, he served as Sauron’s 2nd in command in his wars against Men and Elves, held the fort during Sauron’s (willing) captivity in Numenor, His subsequent reconstitution after the Downfall, and His rise as the new Dark Lord of Middle Earth. The WK and the other Nazgûl fought in the Battle of the Last Alliance, and went into hiding when Sauron was defeated and the One Ring cut from his hand. He reappears not long after Sauron begins taking shape again as the Necromancer, and establishes the Witch Realm of Angmar, whence he assails the remnants of Arnor and eventually destroys them. It is during these wars against Rhudaur, Cardolan, and finally Arthedain, that he curses the Barrow Downs and sends the Wights to haunt them. Perhaps overextended, the WK was at last driven back by the combined forces of Eanur and the remnant of the Dunedain of the North, and Elves out of Rivendell led by Glorfindel, who then makes the prophecy that not by the hands of a man will the WK fall (stopping Eanur in his tracks as he attempts to pursue the WK after the latter is routed).
The WK abandons Angmar, and reappears on the Eastern borders Gondor with the other Ringwraiths and forces of orcs. Still enraged by his defeat in the North, he and the other Wraiths take Minas Ithil, transforming it into the haunted garrison of Minas Morgul, preparing Mordor for Sauron’s return. Prior to the first sorties of what will prove to be the War of the Ring, the last act of the WK’s of great note is his confrontation with Eänur, King of Gondor, who challenges the WK to one-on-one combat. Eänur is slain, and the line of Kings in Gondor is broken until Aragorn reestabilshes it at the end of the War of the Ring and the Third Age.
Sorry, got fouled up…Eärnil was the head of the Dunedain in the North during the battles with Angmar, I think…I got his name mixed up with Eänur of Gondor.
I know exactly what you mean, by this and your other posts. I agree.
GAH! I was right the first time. Eärnil was the King in Gondor, and sent Eänur, his son, up North to help the remnants of the Dunedain in the North fight the WK. It was Eänur who wanted to go after the WK, and was there when Glorfindel spoke his prophecy. Eänur was later King of Gondor, of course, and the rest is as I wrote it.
Damn memory grumble grumble…
Loopy, if you can’t keep all the heirs of Anarion straight, your uber-geek card will be at risk! 
Damn! Oh well, I probably as-much-as relinquished it long ago when I accused you of taunting me with Gwerlum of something-or-other…
You’re talking about works, but I was talking about fictional worlds, and the difference is not trivial.
I agree with you that “[t]he work stands on its own merit and other works derived from it stand on their own merit.” (Don’t have to look much farther than previous screen adaptations of Tolkien to figure that one out. 
)
But if Tolkien’s mythic universe is to take on a life of its own – much the way the worlds inhabited by King Arthur and Luke Skywalker have – I do believe that it has to become in a very real sense public property.
Actually, I’m not even “explaining how * feel a classic work of fiction should be treated.” Much classic fiction isn’t rich enough to be elaborated on. (And of course I realize that other people feel differently – it’s just that I assumed that it would be obvious that my post was my opinion and therefore didn’t need a qualifier to that effect. My apologies for the confusion.)
I don’t “feel it’s necessary to reinterpret a work.” But I do believe that works which allow extensive re-interpretation enter into a special realm. They become eternal, not as icons, but as commonplaces, as wells of inspiration for generations of artists.
My favorite book of all time is “The Little Prince”. And I have a wonderful reading of it by Peter Ustinov on vynil, and a pretty bad reading by Richard Burton on CD. But I can’t imagine anyone using the world of that book as inspiration for innovative new books, for truly creative film adaptations, as a background to interactive games, etc. No one is going to find an intriguing new species of pre-humanoids and call them “little princes”. No, they call them “hobbits”. Tolkien’s world, not just his work, has entered into the public imagination and taken on new life.
So yes, I’m pleased that Ea is being reworked and elaborated. Let the sleep of Yavanna end. Surely, there will be those who will warp and corrupt it, but that is the risk we take, and the risk is worth it – in my opinion.
Actually… (you knew someone was going to do that)
The Witch-King was the one who challenged Eärnur, knowing that his pride and his shame at balking at the Battle of Fornost would compel him to answer. He challenged him twice, in fact, and Eärnur was dissuaded the first time by his Steward, Mardil Voronwë. The second challenge could not be allowed to go unanswered, though, and Eärnur rode out from Minas Tirith, through the Pellenor, crossed the Anduin and was never seen again. Mardil Voronwë became the first Ruling Steward and the royal line was thought extinct until Elessar Telcontar took the throne in the Fourth Age.
Do you think Aragorn would still have been able to claim the kingship if Arvedui hadn’t married Firiel?
Ah yes, the Ungweliantë/Gwerlum incident. You were young and rash and high spirited…
He’s still the last direct descendant of Elendil, even if he didn’t have a closer connection to Gondor than that. And a major reason that Aragorn was able to claim the throne was Faramir’s acquiescence and fealty. Even if Aragorn could have paraded in every one of his ancestors from Firiel on up to testify for him, if the Ruling Steward stood firm against him he’d still have to fight for his place. I don’t see him doing that to Gondor. It’s kind of a morbid thing to say, but he was pretty lucky that Denethor went bats and got toasty before he made his claim.
I think marrying Elros’ niece would certainly have bolstered his case. When your potential Queen can point to the sky and say “See that star? That’s my Grandpa, who founded Numenor. Remember?”
Well, yeah…it’s not what you know. It’s Who you know.
Not to mention that Arwen was considered by virtually everyone to be Luthien returned, or reasonable facsimile like unto her. (“Those who know lore are doomed to repeat it, anyway.” 
)
I don’t blame the OP for his concern. If I had freaks like this running around my fandom, I’d be worried too.
Incidently, though I haven’t read the book, I’ve been following the sage for a year now and it’s extremely interesting. It will. Blow. Your. Mind.