Witch-king of Angmar

Near Pure Evil
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	Witch-king of Angmar El-Murazor (possibly) Lord of the Nazgûl The Witch-king The Black Captain The Dread Lord Lord of Despair Leader of the Nazgûl
Origin	Middle-earth legendarium
Allies	Sauron † Gothmog
Powers / Skills	Magic/Sorcery Necromancy Swordsmanship Morgul blades Strength Flail Fellbeasts Intimidation
Goals	Destroy Arnor (originally). Recover the lost One Ring and bring it to Sauron. Destroy Gondor and wipe out the race of Men. Help Sauron conquer and rule Middle-earth (all failed).
Moral Event Horizon	Nearly wiping out Arnor for good. Nearly turning Frodo into a Ringwraith and wounding him for the rest of life. Leading an attack on Minas Tirith with the goal of slaughtering the entire population. Killing Theoden.
Kill Count	Tens of Thousands (indirectly) Millions (attempted)
Crimes	Aiding in genocide Aiding in populicide Attempted spiritual corruption Conspiracy Invasion Mass murder Mutilation Stalking Terrorism Usage of dark magic
Type of Villain	Hegemonic Specter

“	Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shriveled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.	„
	~ Witch-king of Angmar to Éowyn.

The Witch-king of Angmar is a major antagonist in the Middle-earth legendarium, serving as the main antagonist in The Fellowship of the Ring, a supporting antagonist in The Two Towers, and the secondary antagonist in The Return of the King.

In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he was portrayed by Lawrence Makoare and was voiced by Andy Serkis, who also played Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

His Evil Ranking

What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?

Both Versions

• He joined the side of the Dark Lord Sauron, making him complacent in Sauron’s crimes, eventually resulting in him losing his agency and sanity thanks to his greed.
• He led a campaign to destroy the kingdom of Arnor, which nearly lead to the extinction of the Arnorian people. He then created the Barrow-wights by taking the dead bodies of former Arnorian kings and infusing them with spirits, he then trapped them.
  • In a dream Merry has, an Arnorian soldier is killed by the witch king’s army suggesting that the witch king took the souls of Arnorian soldiers.
• He also declared war on Armor’s sibling realm of Gondor, taking the city of Minis Ithel he renamed it to Minas Morgul, and filling the city with so much evil that even after he and Sauron were gone, King Aragorn would be forced to destroy it forever robbing Gondor of its third most important city
• While he did spare Grima Wormtounge, he does so only because he predicts he will cause Saruman's fall.
• He stabs Frodo Baggins on Weathertop, almost transforming him into a Wraith like him.
• He mortally wounds King Théoden.
• When he confronts Éowyn who stands between him and the dying King Théoden of Rohan, he threatens the innocent young girl with psychological torture, and broke her left arm to imply he wasn't bluffing. He then attempts to kill her out of his hatred for the race of Men despite the high number of casualties on the battlefield. This ironically led to his undoing because it distracted him from Merry who attacked him with his Barrow-Blade, allowing Éowyn to finish him off once and for all.
• Although he went through 3,000 years of being a wraith, which Tolkien stated was a fate worse than death, it's not mitigating since he chose to join Sauron, who turned him into the monster he became; thus, he brought this fate upon himself due to his own greed.
• While Sauron technically does worse, he has more power due to being a Maia, as well as the dark lord of Middle-earth, having command over vast dark armies, which the Witch-king is among the ranks of.

Film version only

• He tries to dishonorably sneak up on Radagast the Brown and stab him in the head. Even if he was trespassing, it was only because his animals were dying from the black magic he caused.
• He tries to wipe out the White Council only for Galadriel to dissipate and banish him with her phial.
• He desires to exterminate the entire race of Men and establish an Orc age, simply to further establish Sauron's rule over Middle-earth.
• He orders Gothmog of Morgul to capture Osgiliath and slaughter everyone there, leading to the Orc personally killing Madril in cold blood while he was beaten and completely defenseless.
• He orders Gothmog to attack Minas Tirith and slaughter it's whole population.

What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?

• Despite being a calculating sadist, what remained of his moral agency was sapped away by Sauron who forcibly corrupted and twisted his mind as he turned him into a Ringwraith. But even this is a minor prevention since he was over-trusting of the Dark Lord in the first place.
• He is loyal to Sauron.

Trivia

• While the Witch-king is Near Pure Evil, his downfall was caused by a little Hobbit named Merry, who is, ironically, a Near Pure Good. Another ironic thing is that Theoden, whose murder is a moral event horizon for Witch-king, is also Near Pure Good.

External Links

• Witch-king of Angmar on the Villains Wiki.
• Witch-king of Angmar on the One Wiki To Rule Them All.
• Witch-king of Angmar on the Tolkien Gateway.