Morgomir
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
Character from The Lord of the Rings | |
| Name | Morgomir |
|---|---|
| Other names | character_title = |
| Title | {{{character_title}}} |
| Race | {{{character_race}}} |
| Culture | Nazgul |
| Gender | Male |
| Realm | Angmar Carn Dûm |
| Lifespan | ? - TA 3019 |
| Weapon | |
| Peter Jackson's films
| |
One of The Nine and Lieutenant of Carn Dûm, this one-time Captain of the Black Númenóreans is the Witch-king’s right hand and rules over the corrupted Men of Angmar with an iron fist.
Contents |
[edit] The Dark Ages of Evil
In the time of the first defeat of Sauron, his minions were scattered, demoralised and leaderless. A minority of orcs, goblins, recruited by the Mouth of Sauron , and the Nazgul. It was in this dark time for the forces of evil, that the leader of the Nazgul the Witch King of Angmar, named his first in command in the Nazgul as Morogmir and moved his forces on Arnor in the North.
It was Morgomir who acted as the Dread Lord's chief Military strategist, he pointed out Arnor as being weaker than the men of Gondor. He also commanded many of the deciding battles of the war, not to mention being the first Nazgul to draw blood at the seige of Minas Tirith. Morogmir's fighting technique is derived from the ancient Kings of Númenór, in battle he would usually deliver his strikes in a downward swing, or several twirling upward ones. He was more common to finish of leaders with a straight lunge into the chest. This battle technique was only used by Morogmir in the Arnor-Angmar war, when the power of the Witch King allowed him to permenantly take his twighlight form.
[edit] The Rise of Angmar
When the Witch King's forces began their assault on Arnor, there were only two of them, Morogmir and the Dread Lord himself. They arrived in the frozen mountain range just north of Arnor in the winter of that year. It was here that Morgomir pointed out a valuable unit, the Troll of the North Rogash, a viciously intelligent troll with the skill to weild a giant blade. Morgomir advised the Witch King to coerce with the troll, and just as he had predicted, the troll and his legions of snow and hill trolls bowed to what was soon named The Iron Crown.
When the Witch King's stronghold in Angmar fell under attack by the natives of the area, the Black Númenóreans, the new troll army crushed them and the Witch King gave them a choice, either their wills or their lives would be forfeit. When they agreed to serve, the Witch King rewarded Morogmir by naming him Commander of the Dark Dunedain.
[edit] The Fall of Rhudaur
When Morogmir made links inside the hillmen of Rhudaur, his chief conspiritor, Hwaldar the Hill Chief, was arrested by the forces of Arnor. Morogmir convinced the Dread Lord that he was valuable, so the Witch King launched a deadly assault on Rhudaur to free the hill chief. It was Morogmir who cut down the royal guards and freed Hwaldar with a single stroke, again proving his worth as the Witch King's Right-Hand-Man. This act earned the hill chief's respect and alleigence, but landed Angmar in a very bad situation, their attack force was dwindling, and Arnor's fortresses to the east of the area had deployed the full army and was marching in their direction. Stumped, the Witch King once again turned to Morogmir.
Morogmir trained a select group of Black Númenóreans to develop their dark art skills. These warriors developed the ability to summon armies from the dust and before too long, the Witch King's army was replenished and a bloody battle ensued. With the fall of the two fortresses and the death of Prince Arthedain, the second in command of Arnor's royal house, Arnor abandoned the first kingdom and prepared for the Witch King's assault on the second, Cardolan and the ancient burial grounds of Arnor
[edit] Curse of the Barrow Downs
During the battle, the Witch King became weakened in his powers, so he commanded Morogmir to take his army of newly trained sorcerors to lead an attack on the burial grounds of Arnor, soon to be named the Barrow-downs. Morogmir knew that the desecration of these ancient soils would demoralise and anger the men of Arnor, pushing them into a hasty attack that would destroy them. But the Witch King had a better idea, using the new sorcerors, he commanded Morogmir to have the barrow tombs corrupted with a dark plague, that would kindle the spirits of the fallen Kings of Arnor in an ancient Necromancy Ritual, thus creating the Barrow-wights.
Morogmir's forces arrived at the barrow downs later that evening, and with darkness growing in the East as Sauron regained his strength, Morogmir decided that all the Barrows had to be corrupted by sunrise, to give their master enough energy to prepare for his return. When the armies and Captain of Cardolan discovered the activity in their burial grounds, they launched a massive counter attack wave, an attack that Morogmir had planned for. In a Black Ritual he performed himself, sacrificing five Avatars, he called upon a monstrous spiritual wolf, that arose from the depths of the earth and wrecked the army just as the rituals were completed. Out of every Barrow, arose twisted spirits that resembled Shades but had more of a form to them. The ghostly Barrow Wights.
It was in this moment, with the Dread Lord's victory over Cardolan, Captain Carthean of Cardolan was cornered by Barrow Wights and forced against the doors of a corrupted barrow. Out of the shadows, Morogmir strode towards him. The conversation between the two, occured like this; MOROGMIR: You have proven a worthy opponent, Captain of Cardolan. CARTHEAN: I do not fear you fiend! You can only kill me! Morgomir let out a shrill laugh and drew the Morgul blade, as he stabbed the captain, the valiant warrior began to twitch. His spirit waned and his strength failed him as he assumed the form of one of the Witch King's deadliest servants, the Whispering Wight Kharsh.
[edit] The Fall of Morogmir
After the destruction of Fornost and the final eradication of Arnor, the Witch King sat on the throne of Angmar, Morogmir at his side. And with Sauron's strength almost fully restored, the Dread Lord could see everything and hear everything. And what he heard amused him, the last leader of Arnor had fled to Rivendell, to the Council of Elrond. Men called for their last known leader to join the elves in a final struggle against the Witch King. The elves called for Glorfindel and Elrond to lead the army in the final battle, so the army moved on the Witch King and forced him out of Fornost. Before the Dread Lord knew it, he was retreating into Angmar's frozen hills to his last stronghold, with the final battle now before him.
Morgomir lead a strike force of Black Númenóreans to meet Elrond, Glorfindel and the King of Men. Karsh followed behind with barrow wights and sorcerers, whilst Rogash waited in ambush with his army of trolls. When Morogmir's troops met the alliance's, there was a vicious confrontation. The second in command of Angmar and the Nazgûl, dueled all three leaders at the same time, his skills pushed the king to the ground and he drew a morgul blade. Glorfindel crippled Morogmir by slashing his middle three fingers off and sent the blade to the ground. Morogmir kept fighting, but the overwhelming might of Elrond and Glorfindel pushed him to his limits. Elrond struck the blade from his hand and Glorfindel drove him through. That was the end of Morogmir.
The Witch King lost at the battle of the frozen plains and he retreated back to Mordor, where he was reunited with Morogmir's damaged spirit; he had returned to wraith form and had lost most of his acquired powers. He was just like the rest of the nine.
[edit] Morgomir or Khamul?
The post of Second in command of the Nazgûl is bestowed upon two of them. In the eyes of the Witch King, Morgomir is superior to most other Nazgûl with skills to rival his own. However, Sauron thinks differently. After the war of Arnor, Sauron was furious, he stripped Morogmir of his authority and named another Nazgûl, Khamul to take his place. But Sauron had always favoured Khamul, so the question is, who really does command the Nazgûl under the Witch King? Khamul or Morogmir?
In true Lord of the Rings canon; that is the canon that follows the novels, Khamul is the rightful second in command to the Witch-king, taking his place as leader of the Nazgûl after his death. Morgomir is not a name given to any Nazgûl outside of the Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle-earth II, and is generally considered to be a non-canon character to the novels made solely for the game. Why the designers did not simply use Khamul as a character in the game to act as the Witch-king's second in command is unknown.
[edit] Alternative Article
For a much more comprehensive article on Morgomir, with more emphasis on the books, then please visit The One Wiki to Rule them All's partner the Tolkien Gateway.
The following is a direct link to this page on the Tolkien Gateway: Morgomir
