In the Second Age of Middle Earth, when Sauron posed as Annatar and convinced the Elves of
Eregion to craft a set of rings, nine were given to great Kings of men who became corrupted.
Nine rings of power, which gave them wealth and powerful magics, granting them long life
and invisibility.
But over time the Nazgul as they came to be known, had their minds turned to darkness,
becoming permanently invisible, with their thoughts and actions guided by the will of
Sauron.
One of them rose to become the Dark Lord’s Second in Command and for 1200 years the Lord
of the Nazgul would lead their armies against the free people’s of middle Earth.
But a Last Alliance of Elves and men rose to fight back and finally achieved victory
in the Battle of Dagorlad, then laying siege to Barad Dur for 7 years, until Sauron himself
emerged and fought Gil galad and Elendil on the slopes of Mount Doom.
Although both the Elven and Human King died in the struggle, they were able to defeat
the Dark Lord, allowing for Elendil’s son Isildur to take up his father’s blade and
cut the One Ring of Power from Sauron’s hand, destroying his body and scattering his
armies.
With Sauron vanquished the nazghul disappeared from Middle Earth for a time, yet when Isildur
chose to keep the one ring, rather than destroy it, Sauron’s spirit survived, and re-emerged,
a thousand years into the Third Age.
Now known as the Necromancer, he establish his fortress at Dul’Guldur where the Lord
of The Nazgul returned to his service, now tasked with the destruction of Arthedain,
Rhudaur, and Cardolan which were once joined together as the Kingdom of Arnor.
To raise his armies and prepare for war the Servant of Sauron founded his own kingdom
in the far north of the Misty Mountains with Lord of the Nazghul given the title Witch
King, Lord of Angmar, raising mighty orc armies to invade the kingdoms of Men.
First Rhudaur fell, with their Dunedain King replaced by an ally of Angmar and then Cardolan,
which was destroyed and became haunted by barrow-wights, restless spirits which would
ensure the city was never rebuilt.
Yet when the Witch King marched against Arthedain, the Elves of lindon and Rivendell came to
their aid, defeating his dark armies.
But the assault was only beginning, as the Witch King would continue to send his forces
against the kingdom of Arthedain for hundreds of years, until the year 1974 of the Third
Age, when Fornost Erain, capital of Arthedain was captured, and the last remnants of Arnor
were destroyed.
However a year later, General Earnur of Gondor landed at Grey havens and led an army of elves
and men in the Battle of Fornost, where the Witch King was defeated and Arnor avenged.
Yet even in defeat Sauron was not displeased, as his servant had completed his mission,
and utterly vanquished the Northern Kingdoms of Men.
The Lord of the Ringwraiths then returned to Mordor and began raising armies to continue
their war, this time in the south, with the goal of destroying Gondor, the last great
kingdom of men in the west.
For centuries he would wage war against them, capturing the eastern half of Osgiliath and
even challenging King Eärnur to single combat, which he eventually accepted, riding off into
Mordor never to be heard from again, thereby breaking the line of kings, and leaving Gondor
under the rule of Stewards.
When Sauron at last returned to Mordor, the Nazghul were sent to find a young hobbit named
Frodo Baggins, who was in possession of the One Ring, needed by the Dark Lord to regain
his greater strength and complete his conquest of Middle Earth.
And so the Nazgul tracked the hobbit down to Amon Sûl also known as Weathertop where
the Witch Kiing stabbed Frodo with a morgul blade before being driven off by Aragorn son
of Ararthorn, heir to the throne of Gondor and Arnor.
Once again they attempted to capture Frodo at the River Bruinen, but here, Elrond the
Lord of Rivendell released a great flood which the wizard Gandalf formed into the shape of
horses, to wash away their pursuers, destroying their physical forms and sending their spirits
back to Mordor.
The Witch King of Angmar was then called to once again lead the armies of Sauron, as they
captured the rest of Osgiliath and engaged the forces of Gondor and Rohan in the battle
of the Pellenor Fields and Siege of Gondor.
For much of the fighting their victory seemed assured , butt when the Witch King saw a chance
to kill King Theoden of Rohan, he charged against him.
Theodens horse panicked and dropped the King, leaving him at the Nazgul’s mercy.
Yet Eowyn, the King’s niece and a small hobbit named Merry, stood in his way, prepared
to defend him with their lives.
Although they normally would stand no chance against him, Merry had been gifted a barrow-blade
by Tom Bombadil, after he helped Frodo flee from the Shire.
This weapon was specifically crafted many years earlier by a weaponsmith of Arthedain
to defeat the Witch King, and so when the creature stood ready to kill Eowyn, Merry
stabbed him in the back of the knee with the enchanted blade, breaking the spell which
protected his body and allowing for Eowyn to drive her sword through his head.
In this way the prophesy of Glorfindel was fulfilled, for the Witch King had died not
by the hand of a man but by those of a woman and hobbit.
Sauron’s defeat soon followed as did the destruction of the one ring, and so peace
at last returned to the lands of Middle Earth.