- 84
- 19
The Witch-King of Angmar is one of the most prominent antagonists of the rings' lord, but he has thus far been left at an Unknown tier of power. This is due to the complexity of scaling the Witch-king. However, this essay will serve as what is hoped to be a definitive conclusion about his power.
Before anything else, we must define what the Witch King is. The Witch-King is the greatest of the nine humans who were ensnared by Sauron in the second age of the legendarium; Tolkein writes that "Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thraldom of the ring that they bore and under the domination of the One, which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of Death."
There are various things of importance within this Quote, firstly the Witch King and some of the other Nazgul are explicitly defend as Sorcerers, Sorcery as a magical ability is rather distant from other forms of magic within middle earth. The reason being that Tolkien wrights that "a difference between the use of 'magic' in this story [The Lord of the Rings] is that it is not to be come by by 'lore' or spells; but it is an inherent power not possessed or attainable by Men as such."
Sorcery, or black magic, is the usage of the latent power of Melkor that he invested into Middle earth. Sorcerers harness this latent daemonic element to perform magic; this immediately exists as a rather prominent weakness for some of the other RingWraiths. However, the Witch-king is in impart, notably exempt from this rule to an extent, as you see, the Witch King is likely a Numenorean.
The Númenóreans were a great race of men blessed by the Valar with long life and great power and magic. Númenórean traces their linage to Elros a half-elf. Melian the Maia, this among other things, gives the Númenóreans the ability to wield some form of magic without the usage of Sorcery, the Númenórean crafted magical items such as the blade that cut Saurons finger, and the Palantir the magical seeing stones utilized by Saruman and Sauron during the third age, the Númenórean had some form of magical abilities. Tolkien writes that three of the Nazgul were of the great Númenórean race. Considering that the Witch King was the greatest of the Nazgul, it is immensely likely for him to have been one of these Númenóreans.
This would explain why he is, even initially, seemingly far more powerful than the rest of the Nazgul. We also know that the Witch King was far more resistant to the various weakness perpetuated by other Ringwraiths; he alone was capable of functioning in the light of the sun, which would leave the rest of the Ring Wraiths invalid, he alone was also capable of crossing running water, all of this points towards to the Witch King is far more powerful than his contemporaries, this, however, is rather obvious as Tolkein writes "The Witch-king, their leader, is more powerful in all ways than the others;"
This seems to be the case not only because the Witch King is more powerful, but that his body does not reside entirely in the Unseen realm, as he has visible "flaming eyes." although this is just speculation.
Another point of note is that the power of All the Ring Wreaths is directly linked and tied to the power of Sauron, the eviler there is in the world, the more shadow and darkness the stronger Sauron becomes, and so too does the power of the Witch-King, this is important for later.
This brings us to the topic of greatest impotence, attack potency. The reason nth power of the Witch-King has been used so long is that he can be a bit tricky to pin down; the main reason for this si the vents of the first book, whereby all the Nazgul, including the WitchKing, face Gandalf under cover of night, where they are the most pull and are unable to slay or even wound him.
And while it may be very well true that the Witch King was far weaker than Gandalf, that certainly changes by the Return of the King.
Tolkien writes that "The Witch-king, their leader, is more powerful in all ways than the others; but he must not yet be raised to the stature of Vol. III. There, put in command by Sauron, he is given an added demonic force. But even in the Battle of the Pelennor, the darkness had only just broken. See III 114.3"
Sauron greatly empowers the Witch King at this time, so much so that despite Gandalf being elevated in power and authority after his return as Gandalf Wight, he says," ',Yet now under the Lord of Barad-duˆr the most fell of all his captains is already master of your outer walls,' said Gandalf. 'King of Angmar long ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazguˆl, a spear of terror in the hand of Sauron, shadow of despair.' 'Then, Mithrandir, you had a foe to match you,' said Denethor. 'For myself, I have long known who is the chief captain of the hosts of the Dark Tower. Is this all that you have returned to say? Or can it be that you have withdrawn because you are overmatched?' Pippin trembled, fearing that Gandalf would be stung to sudden wrath, but his fear was needless. 'It might be so,' Gandalf answered softly.'"
Both Gandalf and Denethor admit that Gandalf himself may not be powerful enough to face the WitchKing in his empowered state; this is further supplied by the Witch King saying, "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 Witch-King is very confident that he will be capable of dealing with Gandalf, he could be wrong, of course, but this bare minimum must place him in a tier of power beyond that of the Balrog Moria.
There are other comparable demonstrations of similar levels of power, beofre his empowerment by Sauron during the wars of Angmar and Arnor, it is said that the Witch King "sent storms of cold" after the Duandien, the Witch King even at this time was capable of altering the weather and summoning blizzards.
Now immediately, some will mention his Death by the Hands of Eowyn and Pippin; while it is true that these characters are vastly weaker him, it's not really an Anti feat as Pippin happens to have a weapon specially designed to harm him, and there are dozens of instance thought the legendary where magical weapons are used to hurt massively powerful characters, IE fingolfin vs. Melkor, Isildur vs. Sauron, those weapons dont exactly scale to the characters base statistics.
In summary, the Witch King should be At least 7-B, likely 6-B considering his showings.
Before anything else, we must define what the Witch King is. The Witch-King is the greatest of the nine humans who were ensnared by Sauron in the second age of the legendarium; Tolkein writes that "Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thraldom of the ring that they bore and under the domination of the One, which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of Death."
There are various things of importance within this Quote, firstly the Witch King and some of the other Nazgul are explicitly defend as Sorcerers, Sorcery as a magical ability is rather distant from other forms of magic within middle earth. The reason being that Tolkien wrights that "a difference between the use of 'magic' in this story [The Lord of the Rings] is that it is not to be come by by 'lore' or spells; but it is an inherent power not possessed or attainable by Men as such."
Sorcery, or black magic, is the usage of the latent power of Melkor that he invested into Middle earth. Sorcerers harness this latent daemonic element to perform magic; this immediately exists as a rather prominent weakness for some of the other RingWraiths. However, the Witch-king is in impart, notably exempt from this rule to an extent, as you see, the Witch King is likely a Numenorean.
The Númenóreans were a great race of men blessed by the Valar with long life and great power and magic. Númenórean traces their linage to Elros a half-elf. Melian the Maia, this among other things, gives the Númenóreans the ability to wield some form of magic without the usage of Sorcery, the Númenórean crafted magical items such as the blade that cut Saurons finger, and the Palantir the magical seeing stones utilized by Saruman and Sauron during the third age, the Númenórean had some form of magical abilities. Tolkien writes that three of the Nazgul were of the great Númenórean race. Considering that the Witch King was the greatest of the Nazgul, it is immensely likely for him to have been one of these Númenóreans.
This would explain why he is, even initially, seemingly far more powerful than the rest of the Nazgul. We also know that the Witch King was far more resistant to the various weakness perpetuated by other Ringwraiths; he alone was capable of functioning in the light of the sun, which would leave the rest of the Ring Wraiths invalid, he alone was also capable of crossing running water, all of this points towards to the Witch King is far more powerful than his contemporaries, this, however, is rather obvious as Tolkein writes "The Witch-king, their leader, is more powerful in all ways than the others;"
This seems to be the case not only because the Witch King is more powerful, but that his body does not reside entirely in the Unseen realm, as he has visible "flaming eyes." although this is just speculation.
Another point of note is that the power of All the Ring Wreaths is directly linked and tied to the power of Sauron, the eviler there is in the world, the more shadow and darkness the stronger Sauron becomes, and so too does the power of the Witch-King, this is important for later.
This brings us to the topic of greatest impotence, attack potency. The reason nth power of the Witch-King has been used so long is that he can be a bit tricky to pin down; the main reason for this si the vents of the first book, whereby all the Nazgul, including the WitchKing, face Gandalf under cover of night, where they are the most pull and are unable to slay or even wound him.
And while it may be very well true that the Witch King was far weaker than Gandalf, that certainly changes by the Return of the King.
Tolkien writes that "The Witch-king, their leader, is more powerful in all ways than the others; but he must not yet be raised to the stature of Vol. III. There, put in command by Sauron, he is given an added demonic force. But even in the Battle of the Pelennor, the darkness had only just broken. See III 114.3"
Sauron greatly empowers the Witch King at this time, so much so that despite Gandalf being elevated in power and authority after his return as Gandalf Wight, he says," ',Yet now under the Lord of Barad-duˆr the most fell of all his captains is already master of your outer walls,' said Gandalf. 'King of Angmar long ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazguˆl, a spear of terror in the hand of Sauron, shadow of despair.' 'Then, Mithrandir, you had a foe to match you,' said Denethor. 'For myself, I have long known who is the chief captain of the hosts of the Dark Tower. Is this all that you have returned to say? Or can it be that you have withdrawn because you are overmatched?' Pippin trembled, fearing that Gandalf would be stung to sudden wrath, but his fear was needless. 'It might be so,' Gandalf answered softly.'"
Both Gandalf and Denethor admit that Gandalf himself may not be powerful enough to face the WitchKing in his empowered state; this is further supplied by the Witch King saying, "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 Witch-King is very confident that he will be capable of dealing with Gandalf, he could be wrong, of course, but this bare minimum must place him in a tier of power beyond that of the Balrog Moria.
There are other comparable demonstrations of similar levels of power, beofre his empowerment by Sauron during the wars of Angmar and Arnor, it is said that the Witch King "sent storms of cold" after the Duandien, the Witch King even at this time was capable of altering the weather and summoning blizzards.
Now immediately, some will mention his Death by the Hands of Eowyn and Pippin; while it is true that these characters are vastly weaker him, it's not really an Anti feat as Pippin happens to have a weapon specially designed to harm him, and there are dozens of instance thought the legendary where magical weapons are used to hurt massively powerful characters, IE fingolfin vs. Melkor, Isildur vs. Sauron, those weapons dont exactly scale to the characters base statistics.
In summary, the Witch King should be At least 7-B, likely 6-B considering his showings.
