Quick Tolkien question.

[silver wolf009]

Hello Escapist, and before I begin forgive me if i'm just dense and didn't pick it out of a book of his, but in the tale of The Lord of The Rings, whatever became of the nazgul's kingdoms?

We were told they were kings of men who fell to evil, but I cannont figure out where their kingdoms were. Can anyone help?

 

[Serenegoose]

Can't help too much - but the leader of the Nazgul, the Witch-King of Angmar reigned over Angmar, obviously enough, which is far to the North. It's noted here on this map.

Spoiler

The full image is bigger so if you can't make it out open it up directly

 

[NeutralDrow]

Angmar was destroyed by the elves, hobbits, and Dunedain after the Witch-King's corruption. I think all nine kingdoms (plus others) were absorbed into the main kingdom before then, or they may have fallen concurrently and the inhabitants became independents.

 

[Latinidiot]

Angmar was destroyed by the elves, hobbits, and Dunedain after the Witch-King's corruption. I think all nine kingdoms (plus others) were absorbed into the main kingdom before then, or they may have fallen concurrently and the inhabitants became independents.

you really must tell me where you read the story of the witch king. I don't believe it's in the silmarillion.

 

[lazy_eight]

It's said that Sauron held a lot of sway among men who lived south of Gondor and east of Mordor; most of the humans in his army are described as Southrons and Easterlings. I would speculate, therefore, that many, perhaps all, of the Nazgul came from these regions, which are outside the map given in the Lord of the Rings. Even the Witch-King may have come from there originally, since (if I remember correctly) he wasn't king of Angmar until after he became a wraith.

EDIT: It also seems to me that when the Numenoreans returned to Middle-Earth in the second age, some of the natives welcomed them, but others distrusted them (partly because of Sauron's influence). The Nazgul may have been kings of nations that existed before Arnor and Gondor were established. I would have to look through the books to see where exactly I got that from, though.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Turns out, I made a bit of a mistake. What happened to those kingdoms? Presumably, they fell with the rest of Numenor.

Angmar was destroyed by the elves, hobbits, and Dunedain after the Witch-King's corruption. I think all nine kingdoms (plus others) were absorbed into the main kingdom before then, or they may have fallen concurrently and the inhabitants became independents.

you really must tell me where you read the story of the witch king. I don't believe it's in the silmarillion.

The fall of Angmar is in the Appendices of Return of the King. Oddly enough, the hobbits' involvement is brought up in the prologue to Fellowship of the Ring.

Actually, there's a bit of a mistake in the question, since not all of Nazgul were literal "kings." Some were just warriors and magicians badass enough to earn the title. And after the whole Numenor thing, they just became Sauron's personal troubleshooting squad (not to mention set up the evil kingdom of Angmar; Glorfindel was actually the leader of the army that destroyed that).

 

[lazy_eight]

Angmar was destroyed by the elves, hobbits, and Dunedain after the Witch-King's corruption. I think all nine kingdoms (plus others) were absorbed into the main kingdom before then, or they may have fallen concurrently and the inhabitants became independents.

you really must tell me where you read the story of the witch king. I don't believe it's in the silmarillion.

I've just done some checking, and you can find the story of Angmar in two different sections of Appendix A of the Lord of the Rings.

OT: Looking through Appendix A, I see that Arnor eventually split into three separate kingdoms, of which only one had a Dunedain king after a few generations. The other two could also have been sources of Nazgul, though not all of them, since at least some of the Nazgul already existed at the time (it doesn't say exactly).

EDIT: Ninja'd by NeutralDrow.

 

[Latinidiot]

Angmar was destroyed by the elves, hobbits, and Dunedain after the Witch-King's corruption. I think all nine kingdoms (plus others) were absorbed into the main kingdom before then, or they may have fallen concurrently and the inhabitants became independents.

you really must tell me where you read the story of the witch king. I don't believe it's in the silmarillion.

I've just done some checking, and you can find the story of Angmar in two different sections of Appendix A of the Lord of the Rings.

OT: Looking through Appendix A, I see that Arnor eventually split into three separate kingdoms, of which only one had a Dunedain king after a few generations. The other two could also have been sources of Nazgul, though not all of them, since at least some of the Nazgul already existed at the time (it doesn't say exactly).

EDIT: Ninja'd by NeutralDrow.

curse your lacking filing system, J.R.R. Tolkien!

And thank you so infinitely much for ever existing.

 

[lazy_eight]

curse your lacking filing system, J.R.R. Tolkien!

And thank you so infinitely much for ever existing.

Gotta love a man who said of himself, "I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size)." I feel much the same about myself.