I was working in the staff lounge of LepreCon this weekend and we ran a LOTR marathon (The Extended versions) from noon to 1:30 am One of the other workers in the room had seen the movies only once and was asking questions the uber-geeks did their best to answer. One, though, we could only guess at and that was when Éowyn was shiskabobing the Witch King, she asked, “So, how did he become head Nazgûl?”
We guessed it was the relative power the nine had before they succumbed to their rings; the Witch King of Angmar was a pretty powerful dude after all, but that was only a guess. Personally, I’m tickled by the thought of them standing around playing roshambo until the top dog emerges, but that’s just me.
I’ve poked around the Encyclopedia of Arda, but it doesn’t talk much about how they were ranked. Apparently only one of them even has a known name, and that’s the #2 guy. So, how did the Lord of the Nazqûl get the job?
Tolkien never said, IIRC. The chief Nazgul was a Black Numenorean of great power and authority, perhaps even a king, who long ago accepted a ring from Sauron. Presumably he was more of a badass than his eight chums, or the Dark Lord arbitrarily gave him the top spot.
To get more people into this thread, if I may suggest, you might want to ask a mod to change the title to “So, who died and made you Witch-King?”
He had the most power before he became a Ring Wraith. He was the most powerful sorcerer of the nine. His ability won out. Say what you will about Sauron, but at least he ran a Meritocracy.
Tolkien never dropped any strong hints to the background of the nine. Remember they were corrupted all the way back in the second age. The Nazgûl first appeared around S.A. 2251.
The nine rings were forged by Elves with Sauron’s assistance and the forging of the Rings of Power began circa S.A. 1500.
The second in command was Khamûl. He was a Black Easterling. UFT
He was called Sauron’s lieutenant, Shadow of the East, and the Black Easterling.
It is believed the the Witch King was a Numenorean, but nothing can confirm this.
I always had the impression that all of the Nazgul were more or less equal in rank, and they just beefed up Angmars role a bit in the movie to seem more impressive when Eowyn kills him. Could be wrong but I also thought “The Witch King of Angmar” referred to his title before he became a Ringwraith, not after.
In FOTR, in the intro, it mentions that nine of the rings were given to human kings, who became corrupted by Saurons evil. Elsewhere, someone (Aragorn, I think) explains that those nine were corrupted and twisted through the rings they wore, and became the Ringwraiths.
My $.02 is the Ringwraiths were barely capable of speech, let alone commands or arguing over who was in charge. Doesn’t Gandalf talk about them to Frodo back in the Shire, mentioning they desire the ring above all else and will do anything to get it? They’re mindless evil seekers, not capable of rational thought, tactics, or ranking systems.
“The Witch-King of Angmar” refers to his rule of the dark nation of Angmar around 2000 years before the War of the Ring. Angmar bordered the northern kingdom of Numenorean refugees, Arnor (although by that time it had been divided into Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan). The Witch-King was already a Nazgul at that point, and had been sent by Sauron (who had just built Dol Guldur in southern Mirkwood and was hiding there in disguise) to harry the northern Dunedain.
Not at all. There’s a scene in FOTR (book) where one of them asks the Gaffer if he knows anything about “Baggins”, and offers him much gold if he’ll help him. They’re definitely intelligent.
Yeah, the movie had to gloss over some tings, but the Ringwraiths were quite capable of acting with subtlety or ferocity as the case required. Remember the Morgul blade? Note that it was a sufficiently common weapon that well-educated wariors and scholars knew immediately what i was, how to counter it, and who could heal it. IIRC, that kind of weapon was the Witch-King’s personal toy.
