Why Was the Witch-king so Powerful?

Necron 99 · Post February 7th, 2022, 9:24 am

Insight into enemies in Middle-Earth.

Ancalagon · Post February 8th, 2022, 10:26 pm

This makes me really hope the show runners for the upcoming Rings of Power series take their time with the 9 kings of men. Hopefully they'll be given some depth and we get to experience some of their lives before accepting the rings then watch their descent into becoming ringwraiths. It could make for compelling viewing if some realized their mistakes by accepting their rings... how they might act before eventually succumbing. That approach would require patience and careful storytelling on an immense scale if not rushed. I guess time will tell...

Necron 99 · Post February 9th, 2022, 8:46 am

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 8th, 2022, 10:26 pm This makes me really hope the show runners for the upcoming Rings of Power series take their time with the 9 kings of men. Hopefully they'll be given some depth and we get to experience some of their lives before accepting the rings then watch their descent into becoming ringwraiths.

I would not hold my breath on that, at least not yet. There is a video out on YT that spotlights all of the new advertisement posters for the series. Each poster, depicts a "man", dwarf, or elf that apparently received a ring of power. What is catching the eye of some folks, is the fact that several of the "kings of men" appear to be women, and then of course you see differing skins tones. You only get to see their hands and torso, no head shots are in any of the posters.

The 9 Kings of Men and the 7 Dwarf Lords are all, canonically, male; of the 3 Elves, Galadriel is the only female. So, based on the posters shown, preliminary speculation is that the series is already prioritizing progressive agenda, over good, Tolkien-esque storyline. I guess we'll have to wait and see what future trailers and the series itself, shows.

Ancalagon · Post February 9th, 2022, 10:33 am

Necron 99 wrote: ↑February 9th, 2022, 8:46 am
Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 8th, 2022, 10:26 pm This makes me really hope the show runners for the upcoming Rings of Power series take their time with the 9 kings of men. Hopefully they'll be given some depth and we get to experience some of their lives before accepting the rings then watch their descent into becoming ringwraiths.
I would not hold my breath on that, at least not yet. There is a video out on YT that spotlights all of the new advertisement posters for the series. Each poster, depicts a "man", dwarf, or elf that apparently received a ring of power. What is catching the eye of some folks, is the fact that several of the "kings of men" appear to be women, and then of course you see differing skins tones. You only get to see their hands and torso, no head shots are in any of the posters.

The 9 Kings of Men and the 7 Dwarf Lords are all, canonically, male; of the 3 Elves, Galadriel is the only female. So, based on the posters shown, preliminary speculation is that the series is already prioritizing progressive agenda, over good, Tolkien-esque storyline. I guess we'll have to wait and see what future trailers and the series itself, shows.

The Nine were "great kings of men"... not queens. The Nine should be male per JRRT. I've not seen the video you mentioned but as for skin tones, that might be possible depending on where The Nine came from. E.g. Near Harad and Far Harad. Per lotr.fandom.com regarding the people of Harad, "Those of Near Harad were swarthy, with black hair and dark eyes, whereas the people of Far Harad had black skin." If any of The Nine were from Harad then that would make sense. However, the only Nazgul with a location name attached to him that I know is the Witch-King of Angmar so definitely not Harad.

Necron 99 · Post February 9th, 2022, 3:22 pm

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 9th, 2022, 10:33 amThe Nine were "great kings of men"... not queens. The Nine should be male per JRRT. I've not seen the video you mentioned but as for skin tones, that might be possible depending on where The Nine came from. E.g. Near Harad and Far Harad. Per lotr.fandom.com regarding the people of Harad, "Those of Near Harad were swarthy, with black hair and dark eyes, whereas the people of Far Harad had black skin." If any of The Nine were from Harad then that would make sense. However, the only Nazgul with a location name attached to him that I know is the Witch-King of Angmar so definitely not Harad.

I agree on the skin tones, I don't particularly care one way or the other on that, as you said, depending on where the kings came from, would dictate their particular race of men.

Ancalagon · Post February 9th, 2022, 7:03 pm

Did JRRT ever specify dates or a date range in the Second Age when the rings were given to Men?

Necron 99 · Post February 9th, 2022, 7:42 pm

I know that the date of 1697 Second Age was given for when Sauron had the One Ring along with possession of the 16 rings of power (for the men and dwarves). The 3 eleven rings had not been corrupted and the elves secreted them away. Sometime after that is when the rings were given out. If there is a timeline for the individual rings, it's probably found in the Silmarillion.

Ancalagon · Post February 10th, 2022, 10:04 pm

I read through the Of The Rings of Power [...] chapter of The Silmarillion up to the point where Sauron is defeated by the Last Alliance. There is no timeline for the individual rings.

EDIT: This discussion of Middle Earth, Rings of Power, and various characters has me thinking about breaking out my copy of Against the Darkmaster and rolling up a character to go for a spin against an orc or two.

Necron 99 · Post February 11th, 2022, 12:05 pm

Ancalagon wrote: ↑February 10th, 2022, 10:04 pm I read through the Of The Rings of Power [...] chapter of The Silmarillion up to the point where Sauron is defeated by the Last Alliance. There is no timeline for the individual rings.

EDIT: This discussion of Middle Earth, Rings of Power, and various characters has me thinking about breaking out my copy of Against the Darkmaster and rolling up a character to go for a spin against an orc or two.

That would be cool, I forgot that you picked that up after last summer. Giving it a run might be a fun exercise to see how the system shakes out.

Captain_Blood · Post February 19th, 2022, 4:53 pm

Sorry James, but I'm going to ruin your day here. Amazon has completely hosed their new show already. I was cautiously optimistic, now I'm just hope it doesn't go for more than a season.

This is a woodelf from the Mirkwood...

Let that sink in. Now here's a female dwarf...

I can't stress how wrong this is. Instead of bringing in new characters from other parts of the world where racial and ethnic skin tones have been established to be darker they're dropping them in with no regard to the actual world. Imagine the stories and histories they could have created. No, they've just decided to pull a Netflix.