Nazgl - Tumblr Posts
my favourite reaction tonight was “shit she’s scary”
"Shadow of Despair"
2019
"The Wraith-lord"
2020
But the Black Captain established a camp at Andrath, where the Greenway passed in a defile between the Barrow-downs and the South Downs; and from there some others were sent to watch and patrol the eastern borders, while he himself visited the Barrow-downs. In notes of the movements of the Black Riders at that time it is said that the Black Captain stayed there for some days, and the Barrow-wights were roused, and all things of evil spirit, hostile to Elves and Men, were on the watch with malice in the Old Forest and on the Barrow-downs.
-"Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth", by J.R.R. Tolkien
"King of Angmar"
2020
"The Witch-king's Hour"
2020
"The Witch-king of Angmar"
2020
The lord of that land was known as the Witch-king, but it was not known until later that he was indeed the chief of the Ringwraiths, who came north with the purpose of destroying the Dúnedain in Arnor, seeing hope in their disunion, while Gondor was strong.
-"The Lord of the Rings: Appendices", by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Fell Beast of the Nazgûl"
2020
"The Nazgûl and his Prey"
2021
It's interesting to realize that the Witch-king was one of the main architects of the decline of the Dúnedain, not just in the North, but also in the South with his conquest of Minas Ithil and the killing of the last King of Gondor before Aragorn.
It's a sentiment I wanted to convey in this piece: the Lord of the Nazgûl as a scourge and bane of the Realms in Exile.
"The Black Captain"
2021
Mordor's Champion Extraordinaire.
"The Black Riders"
2021
As Frodo watched he saw something dark pass across the lighter space between two trees, and then halt.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", by J.R.R. Tolkien
Back when Fellowship of the Ring was about to come out, and the trailers were running on TV and my mom brought me that promo magazine I mentioned in an earlier post... the thing that appealed to me the most but at the same time made me the most scared to watch it, were the images of the towering, black robed, faceless Black Riders. I thought they were very cool looking and mysterious, but also some of the most terrifying characters I had ever seen, like right out from a horror movie.
Needless to say that, if you know anything about me, you'd know that the Nazgûl became (and remain) one of my absolute favorite things in Lord of the Rings. I just love them. Can't get enough of them. A significant part of my identity, my outward appearance, how I present online, etc, is fashioned to some extent around them. I love their aesthetic, the hellish, otherwordly music that plays when they enter the scene, I love their presence, their role in the narrative, I love what they represent thematically in the story.
The Nazgûl are fear, terror and despair personified. They grow from being a disquieting menace in the Shire to complete overwhelming terror of war and death in the battlefields of Gondor, with their Captain growing so powerful so as to match the might of Gandalf the White. The Dark Lord never actually comes forth himself, so it is through his Nine Servants that he chiefly enforces his will and his malice. We come to know Sauron through the Nazgûl.
Now, I could have drawn the iconic 'Shortcut to Mushrooms' scene, which is when the hobbits first encounter one of the Nine. But 1) I didn't want to draw a whole ton of characters, and 2) this scene, where they spot one in the moonlight as they head to Bucklebury Ferry, is one of my absolute favorite shots in the movie.
"A Knife in the Dark"
2021
Frodo thought that he heard a faint hiss as of venomous breath and felt a thin piercing chill. Then the shapes slowly advanced.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Flight to the Ford"
2021
At once the white horse sprang away and sped like the wind along the last gap of the Road. At the same moment the black horses leaped down the hill in pursuit and from the Riders came a terrible cry...
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", by J.R.R. Tolkien
Following up with my countdown of favorite Fellowship of the Ring scenes is the Chase Scene to Rule All Chase Scenes. Seriously, this scene puts all cheesy car chases in generic action movies to shame. It has high stakes, tension, emotion, beautiful scenery and camera work, very epic soundtrack, and just a touch of magic.
Flight to the Ford is such an epic, exhilarating, iconic sequence. Probably my favorite one out of the whole movie (together with another one, which should be fairly obvious). It's the first time that we've seen the Nine assemble all together since they've left Minas Morgul, which just adds to the sense of peril and urgency. I distinctly remember being completely nailed to my seat the first time I watched it, and flinching so hard at the part where one of the Nazgûl reaches out and almost snatches Frodo from Arwen. I remember also feeling disappointed when the Nazgûl where washed away by the flood, because I thought they had been destroyed, and already at my first watch I loved them so much. Fortunately for me there was a lot more Nazgûl to see in the next two films.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think one of the many strokes of genius in these films was to have Arwen do the rescuing. Glorfindel is a popular character, but the truth is that except for this scene his role in Lord of the Rings is fairly inconsequential. It makes sense to introduce Arwen this way. She is Elrond's daughter and Aragorn's betrothed... why shouldn't she go look for them? It also compensates a little for the lack of female representation these stories are known to suffer from.
"The Mexican Nazgûl"
2021
Self-portrait as a Nazgûl.
This was surprisingly difficult to make. It was a struggle to draw the face haggard and wraith-like and still make it recognizable as me. I am very happy with the result though.
"The Nazgûl's Crown"
2021
The dopest helmet befitting the dopest villain.
"The Captain of Despair"
2022
"...but it was not by numbers that we were defeated. A power was there that we have not felt before. Some said that it could be seen, like a great black horseman, a dark shadow under the moon."
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", by J.R.R. Tolkien
I had wanted to illustrate this scene for a while: the Witch-king's assault on Osgiliath that opened the War of the Ring and that enabled the Nazgûl passage across the river to start their search for the One Ring.
"Wraiths on Wings"
2022
...the shadow of horror wheeled and returned, passing lower now, right above them, sweeping the fen-reek with its ghastly wings. And then it was gone, flying back to Mordor with the speed of the wrath of Sauron; and behind it the wind roared away, leaving the Dead Marshes bare and bleak.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Siege of Gondor"
2023
The Nazgûl came again, and as their Dark Lord now grew and put forth his strength, so their voices, which uttered only his will and his malice, were filled with evil and horror.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", by J.R.R. Tolkien
We come to it at last! The Great Battle for Middle-earth!
The Siege of Gondor and subsequent Battle of Pelennor Fields comprise in my opinion not only THE Lord of the Rings battle, but also the greatest battle scene ever put to screen. It is so epic, so grand, so long, that counting this one, four of my top Return of the King moments happen while it rages on. And what better moment to start than one of my favorite sequences in the whole trilogy: the Nazgûl, all nine gathered together, swooping down upon Minas Tirith, accompanied as ever by an amazing, hellish chorus. It really gives the feeling that all hell has been set loose on the White City, last bastion of freedom and hope in Middle-earth.
"The Shadow of Despair"
2023
In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", by J.R.R. Tolkien
Behold! The Witch-king's moment of (near) triumph!
A notoriously, and unnecessarily, controversial scene. A lot of people don't like to see Gandalf the White being trounced by the Lord of the Nazgûl. Yet the reason why I say unnecessarily controversial is because we know from the texts that the Witch-king was vastly grown in strength at this point, and that Gandalf himself wasn't sure wether he could beat him. Thematically this represents a point of near defeat, where all the defences of Minas Tirith have been broken, and with the commander of the city, a character that in so many ways represents hope, about to fall to the enemy captain, a character that is the embodiment of despair. It therefore makes the subsequent arrival of the Rohirrim that much more powerful. So, and the detractors will have to forgive me, this scene works however you want to put it, and by rights should have been included in the theatrical release.
It's always a treat for me to see two opposing heavyweights of any fantasy story meet in battle. Granted, this was more of a brief clash than a battle; and the Witch-king isn't really the Big-bad from Lord of the Rings. But given that Sauron never comes forth from his tower, this is as good as we get; his second in command, there to enforce his Master's power and will on the battlefield. Gandalf and the Witch-king are also my two favorite LotR characters (and my favorites of any work of fiction, ever) so of course this scene was always going to be a favorite of mine.
"No Living Man"
2023
Out of the wreck rose the Black Rider, tall and threatening, towering above her. With a cry of hatred that stung the very ears like venom he let fall his mace.
-"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien's stories are teaming with examples of heroic characters who, against all odds, manage to triumph against foes far greater than they are: you see it in Bard and Smaug, in Sam and Shelob, and also in Éowyn and the Witch-king. Her immense courage in facing down an enemy that is terror and despair personified cannot be overstated; and it was her bravery, her love and devotion for Théoden, her bond with Merry, and a wee bit of help from prophecy that carried the day.
I much prefer the timing of the fall of the Witch-king in the movies than in the books. In the novel, the Witch-king is destroyed shortly after the arrival of the Rohirrim, with a lot more battle left to fight. Here he is destroyed almost at battle's end, at the very same moment that Aragorn's reinforcements arrive to turn the tide. Despair is vanquished at the very same moment that hope is restored.