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Witch-king of Angmar

CHARACTER · THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

Witch-king of Angmar

Appears in
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Played by
Lawrence Makoare

10 archived facts 4 topics

Witch-king of Angmar is a character in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), played by Lawrence Makoare.

10 Interesting Facts About Witch-king of Angmar

Interesting Facts (1)

  1. #001
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    Merry's stab with a cursed blade left the Witch-king open for Éowyn to deliver the killing blow, fulfilling the prophecy that no man would slay him.

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  1. #002

    The Witch-king of Angmar's first design had a bucket-like helmet topped with a crown of spikes. After viewing test footage, the producers found it too close to Sauron's helmet in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and worried viewers would wonder why Sauron had suddenly joined the battle. The redesign was made as a nod to the Ringwraith designs. The Witch-king's flail was also reworked. Peter Jackson said the first flail was fine but wanted it larger. Weta Workshop enlarged it, Jackson asked for more, and they kept scaling it up until they thought it was absurdly big, though in the end they agreed it looked perfect on screen. Even so, the flail grew so large and heavy that it was unusable in the fight scenes, where a digital version replaced it.

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  2. #003

    Gothmog was one of the film's significant new designs. After watching assembly cuts, Peter Jackson judged the Mordor Orcs "pathetic" next to the Uruk-hai of the second film, so Weta Workshop built grotesque new "über Orcs" for audiences to focus on as antagonists. Christian Rivers also redesigned the Witch-king, and all of that character's scenes were re-shot, since viewers unfamiliar with the books were confused about whether Sauron was present on the battlefield.

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  3. #004

    According to the cast commentary, Lawrence Makoare wore the Witch-king's costume, but Andy Serkis performed his voice.

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  4. #005

    The Witch-king of Angmar chose his own title; it was not bestowed by Sauron. He took the name after founding the kingdom of Angmar and waging war on the Dúnedain of Arnor.

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  5. #006

    No record survives of who the Witch-king was before he became a Nazgûl. His original name and his life before the wraith state are forgotten, even by him.

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  6. #007

    Minas Morgul, the Witch-king's stronghold of glowing green ringed by menacing gargoyles, was once a Gondorian city called Minas Ithil; he seized it and corrupted it with evil sorcery.

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  7. #008

    The Witch-king's war on Arnor brought down the tower of Amon Sûl, later known as Weathertop, where the nine Nazgûl surround the Hobbits.

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  8. #009

    Gondor came to be ruled by stewards because of the Witch-king: King Eärnur entered the gates of Minas Morgul to duel him and was never seen again.

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  9. #010

    In the books, it is Gandalf, not Aragorn, who arrives to save the Hobbits when the nine Nazgûl surround them at Weathertop.

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