Wars of the Witch-King & Arnor | Hobbit Day 2020
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Check out the full Hobbit Day playlist here!!: • Hobbit Day 2020
This Hobbit Day, we are looking back at the history of the realm of Arnor and its wars with the Witch-King of Angmar. We find out how The Shire came to be inhabited with hobbits and how the rangers of the North are all that remains of the once mighty kingdom by the time of The Lord of the Rings.
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Arvedui - Steamey
Lossoth of Forochel - Arvid Hjorth
Captain of Gondor - Nordheimer
Minas Tirith - Ludovic Bourgeois
Meneldil of Gondor - Matej Cadil
Barrow-wights - John Howe
Umbar vs Minas Tirith - Angus McBride
Wainriders - Stefano Baldo
Various Kings - Dolldivine Azaleasdolls
#HobbitDay #witchking #LordoftheRings
Don't forget to check out all the other videos in the Hobbit Day 2020 Playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLLyHBx6FRJC0H9EnNSmkd-cMyTWhcC-aq
Love this and was wondering what Book of J. R. R. Tolkien is this from? I would love to read The Battle of the Witch King.
Dude Yes...
Please put english captions on your videos, I cannot decipher the tolkien lexicon without seeing how these names are spelt
You forgot the 7 Archers from the shire
@@vandemark3020 ))o]
I still can’t believe how detailed Tolkien’s work is. It’s literally insane how one man thought all of this
I tell this to anyone who isn't familiar with LotR. You could literally replace real world history with Tolkien's history/lore to someone living in a bubble with how detailed it is.
I unironically think he was divinely inspired as an author. And I am a pagan
@@thezephyrchronicles2383
yeah, you could also teach someone the "history" of a Song of Ice and Fire to someone living in a bubble and it would be just as believable as real world history due to how detailed it is.
And I'd tell lovers of linguist Tolkien to not use "literally" which means actually when all they want to do is emphasise :-)
Literally is such a useful word and unique in its meaning, its a shame it is widely used wrongly and to express the exact opposite, figuratively.
STM no you couldn’t. Not even close. Real history has far more detail and you know it. He’s still an insane world builder.
"WITCH-KING OF ANGMAR" is absolutely the most badass name/title ever.
No joke
Absolutely. Tolkien was a genious. These names and titles are out of this world impressive.
the best villain in the movie
I wouldn’t say the Witch-King’s victory over Arthedain was short lived. Ultimately he destroyed the last bastion of Arnor, he broke the back of one of the last great kingdoms of men leaving Gondor mostly alone in the wars to come.
Gondor would have been more weakened without Arnor.
@@Will.Flavell
Exactly. There’s a reason why the Rohirrim coming to the aid of Minas Tirith was a big deal.
What was short-lived was the Witch-King sitting on the throne of Arthedain.
"Where was Gondor" at 5:51 took me off guard xD xD
Glad I could keep you on your toes. :)
Well, it's a pretty important question after all . . .
I liked it
Great job. However a small detail was left out:
The Thain of the Shire sent a hobbit archer contingent to the battle of Fornost. It wasn't a big thing for any sides, but for the hobbits saw this as a major contribution and should have been mentioned.
the hobbits: it ain't much, but it's honest work.
I'm Impressed to be honest, great job smallbois!
A small batallion that, sadly, fell to Angmar. It was later confirmed none survived
@@Slayerofall21 They came of their own accord and laid down their lives to help drive the Witch-King out of Arnor. I'd say that's a worthwhile death.
@@HolaHola-jc7tothat could literally be the motto of the hobbits
The video explains super well why Arnor as we see in the movies is essentially "empty" by the time of the Fellowship. Many question that it's not realistic that wars lead to complete abandonment of entire regions but the difference here is that Tolkien wars are often "genocidal" in nature: the war between good and evil doesn't lead to prisoners. A city sacked by orcs is a city whose inhabitants are essentially fully exterminated or at best enslaved to work in some pit until they die. Every of Angmar's victories here erased those kingdoms rather than replacing them
Given Tolkien's experience in World War 1, I think the Zone Rouge in northeastern France was a partial inspiration for the devastated lands in parts of Middle Earth, such as Arnor.
Well very ancient wars sometimes led to abandonment of entire regions, just look at the Bronze Age collapse.
It's just like what Mongols did to the area in which I live. province of khorasan had entire cities massacred and deserted. you can still find ruins of them to this day
The Mongol invasions of the Middle East have led to over 1/3 population loss.
The Three Kingdoms era in China, the population loss is some areas was over 80%.
The Assyrian invasions have led Elam to disappear for good.
I won't even bring up the Omlec, Maya, Aztecs and Incas.
There are whole regions of central Asia where civilization has flourished and then disappeared so hard that until laser and radar scans became available no one though people even lived there.
And now imagine a Tolkien world where there is a whole subspecies of sentient humanoids that were selectively bred and developed for destructive and deviant behaviors.
You are seriously sheltered if you think it was uncommon for wars in history to be genocidal in nature. Genocide was the end goal of many ancient conflicts.
That "where was Gondor" around the 6:00 mark was gold
That’s gold jerry! GOLD! (kenny bania)
the split of Arnor in 3 petty kingdoms reminds me of the fate of Charlemagnes realm after his sons death
That was my immediate thought after I saw it split
I read somewhere that he took the initial inspiration for Gondor from the Eastern Roman Empire. Certainly there are many similarities with Minas Tirith/ Constantinople with its great walls, Corsairs of Umbar/Arab & Avar fleets, Easterlings/Persians or Turks and so on.
Tolkien was a medieval historian so it makes sense thats where he drew inspiration from.
In that context, the Western Roman Empire being the inital inspiration of Arnor makes sense with some similarities being Charlemagne's realm splitting (as you pointed out), Rhudaur possibly influenced by Goth being allies and later enemies with Rome and so on. In that context Rohan being an amalgamation of Goths (some were vassals of the Huns which rebelled later) and Saxons may be a possibility as well. Ofcourse there are many other themes & inspirations in Tolkien's stories but thats a topic for another day. :D
Same Happend in Poland's history
@@GeoGyf Rhan was confirmed inspired by Beowulf, which i believe was said to be JRRT favorite book
It now makes sense why Denethor called Aragorn “last of a ragged house long-bereft of lordship”
That said, Aragorn's claim to the crown of Gondor was also well supported.
So Aragorns ancestors ruled Arnor through Isildur while Isildurs younger brother Anarion ruled Gondor until his line died out so Aragorn being the last descendent of the great kings inherited both Gondor and Arnor imagine during the fourth age how powerful Aragorns Reunited Kingdom would of been.
@@Will.Flavell you also have to consider that it reconquest all of the numanorian cities around umbar, dagorlad, and most of Rhovanion. On top of that Harad, Khand, Nur, Rhun, Elves, Dale, Dwarves, and Hobbits were friendly or Allie’s. The plains of Gorgoroth and Dol Guldor were both destroyed so it’s all just OP
Great job Matt! I love the tales of Arnor, and its downfall is sad (but interesting)! Cheers, and Happy Hobbit Day!
Thanks, mellon! Can't wait to watch your vid on Bilbo as well! I think he might be my favorite hobbit!
It’s great to see that the big Lord Of The Rings RUclipsrs support each other
Absolutely! It’s a pretty great group of people. Quite the fellowship! 😁
@@NerdoftheRings yeah I prefer bilbo to frodo frodo runs around with the ring gets corrupted and gets his finger eaten off bilbo goes to erebor faces a dragon fights azog the defiler(fails miserably but he still tries) and then fights the battle of 5 armies
I wanna be friends with you guys!!
ive been trying to figure out exactly what a barrow Wight is for years and FINALLY this video has explained it. Cheers.
Yeah I thought they were just ghost
It's worth noting that Cardolan smiths crafted magical weapons to fight them. The dagger Tom Bombadil gifted to Merry was of Cardolan make and that's what he stabbed the witch-king with, effectively weakening him for Eowyn to finish. She wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
@@brohanfromrohan5771 It's a pun on Men the race and men the gender. A woman and Hobbit killing him was just fate. Macbeth style doom.
@@brohanfromrohan5771 Where do you find that information? I mean the source of the origins of the Barrow Witghts? The other is mentioned in the FotR.
The Witch-King was a military genius!
We always get the impression that Sauron, Morgoth, Saruman were really bad military leaders...
Their Orcs have a 10 to 1 Übermacht and they still loose.
The witch King starts a tiny realm from scratch, on very poor soil and difficult territory...
And he brought down three mighty Kingdoms!
Mighty? No weakened splinters of a once mighty kingdom.
Orcs are much weaker than men and elves though. And I always get the feeling that outnumbering doesn't have the same factor in Arda like in real-life :'D
@@jones95jb I have to agree with the original comment, The Witch King was an amazing strategist, and you are right his army mostly comprised of orcs were much weaker then man and elf. But to be able to win more than lose with those odds took strategic skill nonetheless.
The literal host of the Valar was required to defeat Morgoth both times he was defeated.
Sauron was defeated first by the sudden massive invasion of Numenoreans, then by the sudden massive reinforcements of Elves and Dwarves while he was plowing through Arnor. He still inflicted massive casualties to the enemy forces and killed their commanders.
Sauron technically *won* the War of the Ring in a military sense, as the Battle of the Morannon was guaranteed to obliterate the allied military forces of Gondor and Rohan, leaving only sparsely-populated pockets of resistance against the overwhelming military might of Mordor.
Saruman was defeated at the Hornburg because a sudden massive relief force appeared to lift the siege.
They were only ever defeated when massive surges of troops appeared to reinforce the people they were already fighting and beating.
Incidentally the same thing that spelled the end of Angmar.
If Cardolan was weak like Rhudaur, would it not been better for the Witch king to try and take control of cardolan by placing one of his men as ruler? Then he’d have more men and territory for the witch king to use to go to war with Arthedain and Rivendell?
One interesting thing to note is that Hobbits apparently maintain that they sent a troop of archers to aid the Men of Arthedain in the battle of Fornost, but it was apparently not recorded elsewhere in the history of Arthedain. Great video, it explains things very well!
Of course no one saw them, they're sneaky remember.
@@judeconnor-macintyre9874 and filthy! 🤣
They actually did appear in Battle for Middle-earth II's expansion Rise of the Witch-king, as backup.
Terrific job as always Matt! Happy Hobbit day my friend! :)
Happy Hobbit Day to you as well, mellon! Glad to be collaborating with you again!
Since I played BfME: RotWK and "learned" about the story of Arnor and Angmar as a child, I always wanted it to get filmed or like nowadays a series of it. Would fit so damn well
That would be epic!
God that was a great addition to the game
Maybe the Amazon series will cover it at some point, though it is a long ways off from the 2nd age.
Ahh Battle for Middle Earth II Rise of the Witch King. A favourite of mine, and that's also how I first "learned" about Arnor and Angmar, and has since become one of my favourite Tolkien topics. Unfortunately the series seems to be about the Second Age, but a few years ago when the series was first announced, this is what I hoped it would be about
@@gandalf3236 yes! I was so hyped at first when there were rumours about an Amazon series to be about anor and the witchking. I hope the best for the Amazon series but I would have prefered that 100 times to be honest!
If Angmar was destroyed by a coalition of Gondor, Lindon and the remaining dunedain of Arnor the so called “last alliance of men and elves” was in fact not “the last alliance of men and elves”. It’s just bullshit branding.
Right?! Such fake news. 😂
i guess “elves” in the phrase means “noldor” especially. Otherwise you’re right.
They may have honestly thought it would be, sort of like how some believed WWI would be the war to end all wars.
Or it's just the same alliance, like, they didn't sign a separate treaty. It's just been the same alliance all along.
It was called the Last Alliance in the sense that should they have lost to Sauron, they wouldn't have been able to muster such a great army again. During the Council at Rivendell, Elrond mentions that he'd never seen such a huge force assembled ever since.
Couldn't help but go "YEAH!" every time I saw that orc icon.
This era is my favorite time on Middle-Earth role playing game (aka MERP). War, turmoil, evil forces and men trying to scrape by. Books like Dark Mage of Rhudaur, Lost Realm of Cardolan and Thieves of Tharbad were my childhood. Thanks for bringing me back there!
is thieves of tharbad good?
@@d26k164 Yes! I like it.
@@GH050 thanks for the reply
It really makes you appreciate all the work the devs did in the early LOTRO days for the whole Fornost/angmar and even Forochel
Awesome topic, awesome video! Nicely done! Happy Hobbit day!
Thanks, guys! Likewise! Love your vid on the Hobbits' origins!
Always fascinated me how the forces of sauron, witch king, etc can build armies so quickly, move massive armies so quickly and apparently never suffer the same infighting or plagues that affect man and elves.
Mind control over your minions sure is a handy littly trick
they ARE the plague
Orcs breed quickly and follow orders well when commanded by a dark lord. This is balanced out by the fact that most of them aren't very strong and most of them aren't good fighters. Also, they aren't very disciplined without a dark lord keeping them in line with fear, and they absolutely do fight each other quite a bit.
Happy Hobbit Day, one and all! May the hair on your toes never fall out!
Haha! Same to you! Keep those feet warm!
I never knew that Battle for Middle Earth stayed so true to the source material. I was sure that they made up most of that story, because that's what usually happens to license games. Turns out most of that is actually canon. Apart from those plague shenanigans.
This also seriously surprised me. it's almost more faithful to the story than the OG Battle for Middle Earth was.
They invented heroes for the various forces at Angmar's command, but that was more for gameplay. Plus, Rogash and Hwaldar were fun new villains to play as.
Most of these LotR channels here inspired me to make my channel. Thanks to all of you, and it is great to be in on all the Hobbit Day fun!
Great to meet you!
I’ve always disliked the Watchful peace lasting almost 400 years, because it felt too long for the Dunédain of the North not to have rebuilt a Kingdom. Especially with Chief Aranarth having lived to the age of 168. He was the Crown Prince of Arnor before its fall and it just feels out of character for a lord of such a noble line to be content with his people remaining scattered and his Kingdom in ruins
They were too few in number so they become nomadic rangers wondering the wild lands that was once Arnor plus their enemies would have been patrolling their lands greater in number they also needed to keep the last line of Isildur alive so it was too risky to rebuild Arnor with Saurons power growing.
It's worth noting that Arnor didn't just have enemies among the orcs of Angmar. Dunlendings and Rhudaur hill men hated them with a passion. Also, those who survived the fall of Arnor had far better chances evacuating to Gondor. Those who remained behind were few and stubborn, only enough to populate a fortress or two - and being that static would only make them targets.
It wasn't as much about contentment to remain scattered, as a deliberate policy that kept them alive.
"WHERE WAS GONDOR?!?" that's a great question
Lots of inspiration taken from the fall of Western Roman Empire
Great work as always. I love how despite the kinstrife and the plague, the army that Gondor sent to help was so large and magnificent, that even amazes the Elves on Lindon. For me it's a great show of how powerful Gondor was, and it's mind-blowing to think about the might of Gondor during the Ships Kings period.
I already subscribed, greetings from Uruguay.
This is probably your best video to introduce your channel to friends. It explains a lot of the circumstances in Lord of the Rings and gives awesome insight in a lot of important plot lines (e.g. the prophecy about the witch-king). Another one I usually recommend is Aragorn's deeds before the events of LotR. Any other suggestions in the comments??
4:44 another plague comes out from east...oh geez
The most incredible mythos ever created - AMAZING!
I honestly wish that these events were being made into a series rather than the Silmarillion, Witch King is just the best villain
Dude you did a real good job. Quite a complicated topic but you made it quite clear and easy to understand. Clearly see the effort you put in.
Thank you! And thanks for watching! Arnor has always been an interesting topic for me. Since the moment I first saw the Argonath in FOTR, I was dying to know where they came from!
6 mins in and you got me subbed, I love lord of the rings, but don't have time to read all about the long history. I always wondered how the kingdoms were split. Thank you Nerd of the rings
That’s great! Thanks for subscribing! Glad I could be a resource for you.
I got the greatest gift on hobbit day. . . Baby nephew. Now my brother and his wife promise lord of the rings party’s along with his bday every year! Woot woot!
Too bad Earnur didn't heed Glorfindel's counsel as he was lured by the witch king into Minas Morgul in his later years. He could never shake the fact that he was unable to take down the witch king earlier. Boromir II is also quite similar to Earnur in his love for war and arms.
That "Minas Arnor" tho hahaha
The Shire is huge, wtf i always thought it were just some village area O.o
Well it was made way too large in this video. The shire did not go as far north as Annúminas, and not nearly as far south either.
The villages of Hobbiton, Michel Delving, Tuckborough, and a few others were found in the Shire. It took Frodo, Sam, and Pippin two nights to walk from Hobbiton to Buckleberry Ferry.
You're thinking of Hobbiton :P
So, why did the Nazgul have such a hard time later finding the Shire if the Witch King's armies marched within spitting distance of it several times?
Why should he pay attention to where everywhere in ME Hobbits live?
Also in 1409 [3:28] three knives forged in Cardolan
to kill the Witch King, are lost
but find their way into the hands
of Merry, Pippin and Sam.
I used to watch you long ago but then I stopped watching you as I wasn't that interested in Tolkien mythology But yesterday I started watching you once again And this is my favorite video posted by you
Need a trilogy on this !! Men, elves, hobbits and witch king...sounds perfect.
I agree
That was really well done. It's like a Kings & Generals video. You really gotta admire how Tolkien wrote all this. It's complete with historical events and mythology. Damn.
Great video! Always enjoyed hearing about Arnor it’s got such a sad and rich history.
This was the video I needed to tie it all together, I wondered how the hobbits lived in peace separate from most everyone for so long.
Always thought this would make for a great television series
It totally would! The witch king would make a pretty compelling villain IMO.
Happy Hobbit day my friend and thank you for setting this up for the community!
Glad you could join in the fun!
Damn Gondor looking like a whole empire at the beginning
My own Middle Earth history is a bit rusty, especially compared to yours, but I'm pretty sure more than a few hobbits were also involved in driving the Witch-King away from the West.
Great video's anyhow, love this series!
The hobbits sent a contingent of archers, none of whom returned.
One of my favourite Tolkien history topics
I find it funny how during all the fighting North of the Shire, the Hobbits are all just chilling getting drinking, smoking, and just flat out having a good time. Meanwhile to the north good and evil are duking it out killing each other xD
However, there were some report of a company of hobbit archers taking part near the end of the conflicts.
It gladdens me to see all these great Lotr creators cooperating and supporting each other, truly something Tolkien would be proud of
Probably one of the best sections of Tolkien history, by far. Imagine this story animated by Ralph Bakshi, script by Michael Moorcock.
I wish Tolkien had written novels about these exciting periods of Middle Earth's History. He didn't know what to do with the 4th Age but the ages prior were full of good stuff.
I have to admit that the early 3rd age conflicts are my weaker areas of Tolkien lore. Thank you so much for the great video of this time.
Arnor has become more and more interesting each year for me. Excellent video, I am sure I'll be back at it many times over!
This was great! found you through Hobbit Day from HoME; I literally laughed out loud when you put the WHERE WAS GONDOR clip in suddenly, wasn't expecting it rofl. Kepp it up!
Haha! Glad I could surprise you with it. 😂
Thanks for watching!
I have always wondered what were the Istari doing when Arnor fell? Maybe in Gondor? Saruman was probably still in the East. But what about Mithrandir? Is there anything written about his role (if any) in the resistance of Arthedain?
Great question! Saruman was still in the East, as he didn't return until about 2500 TA - around the same time Sauron's power grows again in Dol Guldur. I believe we know that Gandalf spent some time in Lothlorien, so its possible he was there. He was never mentioned as being in Arnor during this time in my research.
This is why I always admired Sauron. He was far deadlier than Morgoth in patience and cunning. He was fine with taking his time, corrupting and chipping away over centuries if need be, or pretending supplication only to rot his enemies from within. He could feign defeat for eons only to emerge when it best suited him, using servants as catspaws.
the Witch had the potential to be the 3rd dark lord. which I would love so much
I love stories about Witch king of Angmar. And destruction of Arnor is my favorite, because it opened my eyes. Let me explain, when i was a kid i loved Hobit - it was the first book i ever read by myself, then The Lord of the Rings and i loved it even more - i read it when films were released. And after that i played Battle for Middle Earth with my friends, then second one and than expansion The Rise of the Witch king. And holy mother of god, i loved it. You were the bad guy, you were the one who destroy Arnor. After that i was hooked, it was like - wait a minute, there must be more. And i discovered Silmarilion, Unfinished tales, Hurin´s children and more. And i loved Tolkiens work to this day. So that is the story, why is this part of Middle Earth history my favorite story :)
Wow, I am amazed ! I thougth I knew a lot about LOTR lore and this kind of video pops up and a whole new epic and sad chain of event is brougth to light ! Loved it.
Glad you came across the channel! Thanks for watching! Plenty more on the way. 😊
@@NerdoftheRings Awesome ! :D
"No man can kill me". wow mind blown
And so a *woman* and a *hobbit not yet 33 years old* changed things.
Either way, thank goodness Tolkien wanted to do a fix fic against some flaws on Shakespeare's Macbeth.
rewatched this and the where was gondor just killed me!
Damn this story and world created by j.r tolkien is crazy level but most beautiful and interesting to hear, read... With every minute when first lotr movie came out i was deep in love with this story and lore... And hearing this night before sleep and tomorrow work relaxes me completely..
The movie scene of the Witch-King’s demise is a missed opportutiny, since Tolkiens words gave much, much more awe and grandour to this moment: The Witch-King does not say "No man can kill me" but rather “Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!" And Eowyn responds: «No living man am I. You look upon a woman.» … One of LOTR’s most important antagonists deserved a better death scene than in the movie.
Rivendel was sieged by the witch king? I looked all over my tolkien books but i saw no word about it. But i now i think this story is more beliebeable. Good job
6:11 Angus McBride's art! Lovely to see! Thank you!
Arnor is probably the most interesting piece of Tolkien lotr history. It's fascinating
I admit that was a pretty sad story, a once great kingdom reduced to nothing but wandering warriors.
Meanwhile in the mountains the dwarves are like: "oh no!anyways."
I always regretted that Cirdan had such an 'in-the-background" role. But Glorfindel! He was incredible but Jackson replaced him with Arwen! I remember feeling distinctly cheated. I thought before the movie came out that Daniel Day-Lewis would have been perfect or Joseph Morgan. Beautiful, deadly and calmly ferocious, like an Amur tiger - and a little less is-my-hair-ok' than Orlando Bloomers.
this was sugested to me in a playlist. So my binge watch will continue.
I mean...the biggest hole in any of this is arguably the way entire regions get populated and depopulated seemingly in line with political events, or maybe the power of these kingdoms is relatively independent of their overall population and productivity.
if Arnor is this great and hugely powerful Kingdom, it would presumably have a significant urbanized population in line with that (since it clearly isn‘t an empire that just happens to rule over it‘s neighbors and is powerful because of that), and certainly a lot of arable land to feed all those people. But all those people are apparently mostly gone by the time LotR starts, which means not only did they all somehow die, the land never got repopulated and no significant polity seems to have arisen in it‘s place.
Angmar, on the other hand, seems to materialize as an equally advanced and (relatively) urbanized state seemingly out of nowhere, presumably at the Witch Kings behest. Like suddenly these disparate Orc and human tribes have centralized kingdom with a big capital for the Witch King and armies that can threaten Arnor? Also, pretty multicultural, what with consisting of humans and orcs...
I personally find the wars against Angmar most interesting of all the lore.
I finally understand what the berrow wights are,.thanks
Happy Hobbit Day Matt! 🙌🏻❤️😀 this is one of my favorite topics ever, thanks for the amazing video!!!
Happy Hobbit Day to you as well! Glad you were able to join the fun!
I just found out this channel yesterday and I'm obsessed!! Great content!! :)
Happy Hobbit day love your vids
Thanks so much!
Great Video!
Thanks!!
Many great battles happen at this time They should make a movie of this
Just now found this channel. Might literally be the best one in the entire RUclips. Good work man!
Terrific video. One of your best 'history' videos. Lord of the Rings Online does a great job of presenting 'the ruins of Arnor' and the Dunedain 'hanging around' their old homes. Fascinating topic. You nailed it!
The best video about angmar and arnor
Nice one bro.. For bringing back ancient history. Best education ever
Glad you are enjoying the channel!
5:48 I wheezed here. I was exactly wondering that and the way you pulled that joke at the exact moment was amazing
Awesome job on a complicated subject! You made it sound easy to understand...which lets me know just how much work you had to do. Keep it up
Thanks so much! I really appreciate it! And thanks for watching!
So glad I found this channel
Just found this channel last week but awesome I love it
Now THIS was interesting. 💯
Imagine if the war was made a movie
I would be on board for that! Would be EPIC!
To long. It takes place across generations and over hundreds of years. Plus, it has a tragic ending.
A movie would be to short it would be better off presented as an anthology series
Perhaps...a trilogy?
There's a good reason why primogeniture (the firstborn and legitimate child inherets everything) has been practiced much more successfully than the practice of splitting the inheretence between all heirs. Siblings will typically start fighting over the whole cake and not be content with their assigned slice. Charlemagne split his Empire into three pieces and before you could say "civil war" his three sons were at war with each other. I suspect that Tolkien, being a lover of history and language, took inspiration from this.
Thank you, excellent video to watch before reading the lord of the rings as it set up the story so well
This is cool and I really appreciate the maps to help visualise it. While it got a ton of slack at the time I really enjoy playing war in the north to visit some of these locations. There’s so many references to this history in the dialog trees and be weapons you find in the ruins of Fortnost etc.
I really like playing War in the North as well! It can be a bit clunky at times, but it’s totally underrated. My brother and I still play it sometimes when he’s in town for a visit.
Nerd of the Rings so clunky, I think they went bust as they realised it so it never got any patches! It has a special place in my heart as my partner loves it but she doesn’t massively enjoy the films so it’s something we can do together.
So why didn't Sauron know where the Shire was when told by Gollum? Why didn't the Witch King just go "oh ya, that place that I essentially ruled over"? Never understood why the Shire was somehow seemingly spared from all the Arnor stuff as soon as it was gifted to the Hobbits...
My guess would be that perhaps the witch king didn’t know that’s what it was called. Doing a bit of research here - I also found it mentioned that it’s small size and relative lack of importance made it “too modest an objective for conquest”. Basically, it wasn’t worth the trouble for the Witch King to bother with. Plus, it looks like the farthest West he conquered was the capital of Fornost, which was far more important to Arnor.
@@NerdoftheRings great points, I guess the Witch King wasn't a fan of that pipe-weed! haha. There are probably also some thematic benefits of leaving the Shire historically isolated, for example the Reckoning would have been far less impactful if there was just another historical example of the Shire overcoming a conquest.
For sure. It definitely gives more weight to the battle of bywater. The only other Shire battle is the Battle of Green Fields, which I think I’ll do a video on soon. 😁
@@NerdoftheRings About its name - both the Westron name is Sûzat and its English translation the Shire are pretty anonymous. Back in the day of Arnor it would have been just a shire of the kingdom. Centuries later, if someone told you they come from the Shire, would you make the connection "oh, that one particular shire in that one particular kingdom that vanished long ago!" Even the fact this shire was inhabited by Hobbits doesn't mean that much, because as we know Hobbits used to live in many places across the western Middle-earth, such as the Anduin valley and near Dunland.
@@AnnaMarianne But by the time that the Witch King took over Angmar, they were all relocated to the Shire. Maybe by this point the Hobbits were already extremely insular and xenophobic, though Hobbits were located in Bree by the time of LOTR. The Witch King must've had terrible reconnaissance. Still, it wouldn't be hard to find a "shire" among many former shires, especially with the help of 8 other wraith buddies. I suppose with a huge stretch of the imagination, I could believe that the Witch King wouldn't know about the Shire.
I watched another video explaining this, but yours is much clearer
May I mention, I quite like how you do the rings around the characters when you talk about them and how it lines with with their alinement (Good, evil, neutral, etc), personally, it makes it easier to keep track of who is on what side, so thank you for that!
God, there is so much material that I'd love to see put the film. I love the Witch King lore and these wars. Its just so cool.
Glorfindel dropping his hot-blooded one liner and the Witch King taking it as a literal prophecy is now my head canon.
"Wait... He thought I was talking about some prophecy? Loool nah dude I just wanted to kill him myself."
With all the connections to this war in The Hobbit movie trilogy, I really think that at some point early on there was a plan, or at least an idea, to possibly make another trilogy afterward about this war as well. It really just seems that they were laying the set up pieces for a reason, to me at least. I might be very wrong but this would have made for a logical third trilogy to set up the other two, even if it probably would've been the most disjointed of the three because how little info there is about in the LotR appendices and the amount of time it spans (though the films do make it clear they're not aginast changing the timeline up frequently). Still could've made interesting movies if done right.