🤔 Want more answers? 👉 Check out the full video on the History of the Balrog on my channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_Bptv18iWvc.html
Cool fact: Tolkien based this bit off of Macbeth, who "could not be killed of woman born" And then he gets killed by some dude born by a C-section so technically he wasn't woman born
Samburger, I totally agree. This was definitely the inspiration for the witch king prophecy. I haven't read Macbeth since school, but this was always one of the parts that stuck with me. (I'm personally more of a Shakespeare poetry guy than theater)
@paulallen9759, I never thought of it exactly this way before ┌( ಠ‿ಠ )┘. If women are 50% of the population, and elves and dwarves and hobbits are another 30%, and there are millions of orcs, plus you got eagles and ents and trolls and such.... So the prophecy only protects him from like 10% of the world :)
Agreed. Imagine how cool it would be to have some awesome elf make a prophecy about you. Man I would be sooooo excited. I can almost image the witch king writing a heart felt thank you card to Glorfy.
I didn’t like how in the movie they really downplayed the importance of Merry’s knife and what he did. It was his blow that turned the witch king back into flesh and made him mortal.
Yeah I sort of agree. Though if you dont have Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wight I guess what else can you do? If you are going to squarely make Merry the hero, I also wish they focused in on him a bit more there. Honestly it's something of a "blink and you miss it" kind of scene. I love the movies, and I think the scene is OK, but definitely a lot of missed opportunities to me 😑
@@thegreyhavens167Very true. Being a die hard fan I understood it was going to be hard watching the movies because of sacrifices that must be made. I embarrassed my family at the theater when the battering ram showed up and I started chanting “ GROND!” Lol. Overall I was happy with the movies, but being a Tolkien nerd I have to nitpick. Lol. I’m sure you understand.
🤣🤣 I saw Fellowship on opening night in a packed theater. And in front of me was a man that I'm pretty sure had never read the books... it became clear that he was really effected by the film and when Boromir died he started crying quietly yet uncontrollably. Then at the very end when Sam and Frodo walked down the hill towards Mordor and it just ended there was a brief moment of silence in the hall as everyone was processing what they saw, and this guy stood up in the silence and just yelled out "WHAT??? THEY CANT END IT THERE?"
@@thegreyhavens167My sister did the same thing, not the crying part, hadn't read any of the books and the sudden "The End" shocked her. I looked at her and said there's two more movies.
@@AngusT.McCraken”I started chanting ‘GROND!’” Well, I guess that’s better than nitpicking the movie apart verbally out loud during the middle of watching the movie.
This proves confidence is the best defence, the Witch King was so confident he survived countless battles for thousands of years, all because he was confident a Man wouldn't kill him
tbf, dude was a great king in life, had more experience than dozens of human duelist combined etc... ofc he'd be confident as hell like "bro i could kill you without a weapon"
I appreciate that Glorfindel was mostly just trying to tell the last king of Gondor (until Aragorn) not to throw his life away pursuing a single foe singlemindedly -- which of course he eventually did anyway -- and the people of Middle-Earth basically all went, "You know, that Glorfindel guy said it, and he killed a Balrog in single combat and went to Mandos and came back, so it's probably true." The dude had too much street cred. Respect.
He died killing that Balrog and was quickly resurrected because of his sacrifice. He also recieved a power up when he was brought back with is why the Witch King ran at the sight of him.
Pippin, can you imagine if Glorfindel was on the Fellowship? It seems like that was Elrond's plan, but then Merry and you took his place. Dude Glorfindel would have carried the whole Fellowship!
@@thegreyhavens167i dont Think that adding glorfindel to The fellowship would had Help. Glorfindel is like a beacon.. Sauron knows Where he is. And what would happen if The hobbits didnt come to fangorn
Love it! I made a whole video on "how did Merry really kill the witch king" that is focused on the history of the Daggers of Westerness. Super cool story love! Too bad they had to cut all of that out of the films 😞
If the prophecy was that he “would” not be killed by a man, and he believed the prophecy, then technically he “knows” he “could” not be killed by a man.
The problem lies with what conclusions he came to because of it. "Would", if taken that way, implies only happenstance. An extremely well placed, self-inflicted papercut, or head-on collision with, say, a duck, while riding his fell beast, are both possible "dooms" if you are just reading it as "would". "Could" not be killed by man implies a lack of some capacity of a man to kill him, and then likely similar incapacity by women or hobbits - since there are few things those can do to cause damage that "man" can't. In other words, he interpreted it as "no man is capable of killing me, because I am so darn mighty", not as "it so happens it won't be a man killing me, at least it's one less thing to worry about". Heck, it could have been that he got crushed under a horse in the middle of a fight like Theoden did. That prophecy gave him tons less cover than he thought.
Yeah, if an immortal, wise being prophesied that I Would Not die by drowning, I’d probably go swimming a lot pretty confidently. Fast forward, record scratch, freeze frame: Legs bitten off by a shark: “You’re probably wondering how half of me got here…”
In the book, Merry stabbed the Witch King behind his knee with an Elvish blade they had gotten from the Barrow Downs he was about to strike Eowyn. The blade was enchanted with Elvish spells against the Witch King from back in the 2nd Age. That plus him being a Hobbit fulfilled the prophecy
If i recall, those weapons found in the Barrows were made by folks of the long lost kingdom of Carldolan. They had a long conflict against the Witch King who created wraiths and wights that they made some sort of enchanted blades effective against enemies who can travel the shadow plane. The weapons sort of pins them to the real world and makes them incredibly vulnerable.
To be fair, he did not expect a blade Especially made to take down his defenses So he can be killed remember the first time they tried to stab in nasgual it did nothing
In retrospect, even if the Witch King couldn't be killed by a Man, in a world filled with Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits etc. The Witch King was really asking for it for hyping himself up when there are so many workarounds lol
Thanks! I appreciate that. I gotta whole video on that blade: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y3p7o5QyZ_Q.html I super understand why they took Tom Bombadil out of the movie. But so disappointed there was no Barrow wight and the Barrow Blades 😥😥
Yeah always bugged me they would not explain how the dagger/sword was magic. Movies basically get you to believe a simple arrow could have taken him out. No explanation.
I just want to point out that Eowyn is of the race of men. So technically yes Witch King was killed by a man but only because a hobbit lowered his defenses.
I see your point. Just hard to know what "man" means on this context. Could go either way. Also could consider Merry a man, maybe. I Hobbits are still "human" I think. But yeah, I actually interpret the story personally that Merry killed him and Eowyn's blow didn't land (in the book). Her sword shattered into a million pieces.... which is what always happened before when you attack the Witch King. But I think it's vague enough that all interpretations are valid 😅
Yeah in essence my theory was that he took it too literally and the fear factor kinda helped out and his ego was ultra boosted. Still one of the coolest villains even if he is merely a henchman
To be fair, if there was a prophecy like that about me... I would totally do the same thing!!! (⌐■_■) That would be so cool. I would puff out my chest and act like I was king of the world!!! 🤣🤣
Merry stabbed him in the leg with a magical sword made by the witch kings ancestoral enemies that broke the curse. The "i am no man" line was more to tell the reader who the characher was, bc in the book it wasnt revealed it wad her until that line. She was destribed as a small thin man that was riding with merry.
Also "men", general use, is the species. I don't think the prophesies are using technicalities when the language in LotR is so rigorously vetted. I think the prophesy perhaps refered to Merry. This isn't a MOBA(final blow credit), it's fair to say Merry doomed the witch king. The modern interpretation of "man" vs "woman" exists in LotR but an elven prophecy wouldn't use the mundane distinction. Elven/ancient prophecies are grand and final things in that universe.
Same. I saw the first movie on opening weekend, and it was one of my first takeaways. Bummed I missed such an epic scene, and really wondering how they were going to kill Witchy? I felt the exact same way.
Nazgul are hard to kill as they technically exist as long as Sauron exists, as they’re bound to him But the Witch-King’s circumstances that lead to his demise were special that lead to his misunderstood prophecy to he fulfilled
The blade the hobbit found in the Barrow Downs were made with sort of rare enchantments specifically to fight against wraiths and wights. It was made when the Witch King attacked Arnor, where he user lesser wraiths and wights(undead) in his army.
He wasnt fighting Glorfindel but was so scared when Glorfindel arrived that he fled on sight. Also before Glorfindel was reincarnated he fought a balrog one on one and while dying himself in the battle killed it. He is truly a chad. He also was the one who took Frodo to Rivendell in the books. So sad he didnt get included in the movies.
TBH, after reading Silmarillion, it sounds like if Glorfindel was in the Fellowship, they would just get to Mount Doom in no time. JRRT really gave him too much power. Imagine Gandalf and Glorfindel fighting the barlog together.
In fairness, I don't think anyone ever killed a balrog and didn't die for the trouble. Those things were fallen angels, mortals don't do that without paying a pretty hefty price. Even Gandalf, an angel himself, "died" in slaying Durin's Bane.
Lovin' that background music for the Witch King! _He's been spendin' most his life_ _Livin' in a Morgul Paradise!_ _Tell me why-y is he_ _So ha-a-ard to see?_ _His armor appears_ _To be e-e-empty!_
I agree. Seems to me the prophecy itself probably doesn't carry too much weight on its own. But in the book, Eowyn reveals herself *before* the fight starts. I think it got Witchy way off his game and led directly to Merry being able to sneak up in him (those sneaky Hobbit assassin terminators just kill everything in their path!)
‘i am no man’ is one of the most badass lines in the entire legendarium. it’s up there with gandalf saying to denethor how if trees still flower after the war he will not have failed, ‘for i [gandalf] am a steward too. did you not know?’
I love the idea that this dude spent thousands of years thinking he literally couldn't be killed by a man and everyone he fought simply failed to prove him wrong. Like it was some kind of magic feather bullshit and he could have been killed at any time, but he survived purely on unfounded confidence.
I always felt like it was some sort of a monkeys paw, making a deal with a devil like Sauron granting him power, but not knowing the loopholes sounds more better than him just being hubris.
I'm not sure what's confusing, tbh. "[N]ot by the hand of man will he fall." A real prophecy of "will not" _necessarily_ requires "could not." Fate cannot be changed.
I mean... only if you believe in fate. That's really the whole thing. It's copied from MacBeth. Pretty sure Tolkien just lifted it straight from Shakespeare. In it they ponder whether to believe a prophecy in a world of free will and choice. The exact same thing happens in that story, too. The person believes he cannot be hurt in certain circumstances and so changes his behavior accordingly, which brings about his death but in the way the prophecy foretold? So is fate real? Or do prophecies cause people to make weird choices that lead to the thing coming true? What do you think?
@@thegreyhavens167 Correct. That's not a "grammar typo" misunderstanding, though. A prophetic "cannot" and "will not" are both _identically impacted_ by the character's view of destiny: both are either fixed or avoidable. Put another way, if an event (absolutely) "will" happen, then an alternative "cannot"; if an event "cannot" happen, then something else "will." Within the story, the Witch-King understood his fate as fixed, since he used the prophecy as a shield against Eowyn. Because of this, his interpretation was entirely valid. "Will not" _necessarily_ implies "cannot" in this framework.
Not only that, but Merry's sword was specifically made to fight WK's undead army during the war in which WK and Glory Fiddle (lol) fought. I also like to think that he WK was permanently killed after that fight, poetically speaking.
I really wish they could have figured out a way to get the Barrow Wight into the movies so we could have experienced the crazy circumstances that brought that magically dagger to the battle field. Love that part of the story.
@@thegreyhavens167 And that was the point. Tolkien had a tremendous respect for the "little guy" and just what he could accomplish to protect those they loved. They were the heroes, not the mighty who just took all the credit.
The problem is that Tolkien stated that the barrow blade severed the spell thatbound the Witch King's body to his will. This is archaic language that means that Merry's dagger dealt the killing blow.
I think wraiths and wights cannot be permanently killed because their spirit just retreats into the Shadow plane (that place the Ring takes you when you wear it). The enchated blades sort of pins their spirit in the real world making them incredibly vulnerable to perma death
Another interesting tidbit: In the Rankin-Bass film, the Witch-King of Angmar was voiced by the late legendary voice actor John Stephenson, who also voiced the Goblin King and Bard in the Hobbit film by the same company. Stephenson is best known for his voiceover work in various Hannah Barbera cartoons, namely as Mr. Slate from the Flintstones, and various characters in the original Transformers series. Personally, my favorite performance of his was as Kup from the Transformers episode “Chaos.” Great episode.
Excellent summary. It makes a little more sense why the witch king thought he couldn't be killed when you remember he was basically an undead. When the ringwraiths were caught up in the turmoil of the greyflood, they would have died as mortal men. However they theoretically should have been immortal and unkillable as long as the one Ring was around. Tolkien never really explains why the spell on Merry's sword was able to make the witch king vulnerable. You'd think if the Northern kingdom had such powerful wraith killing weapons, that they wouldn't have been destroyed by Angmar.
The Witch King made the classic blunder of interpreting a prophetic vision too literally. There is also the fun detail of where Merry's dagger came from and whom it was forged by. The Witch King was undone by his own hubris on multiple levels.
Man in the biblical sense isn't gendered as well. Neither is brother; or they weren't until the yanks decided to rewrite the bible for a modern age a short while ago.
It became a self fulfilling prophecy. He had the confidence, which in turn helped him, but, when faced against a woman he doubted himself and hesitated, that being his undoing.
It was a dagger in a back that killed him, Aragorn gave each hobbit a blade that can hurt nasguls. Stabbing in the face was just like a spit in the face while he was dying.
True! Though in the book the Daggers come from a person called Tom Bombadil. No weapon could hurt Witchy... they just shattered when they hit him. Only the Barrow Blade dagger could hurt him 😎 Interesting note, in the book when Eowyn hits Witchy in the head, her blade shatters. So hard to know if it killed him, or shattered like all the rest while Merry's Barrow Blade did the killing? Either way. Both Eowyn and Merry were absolute LEGENDS!!!!!
It wasn't a grammatical error, but how prophecies and curses work in Middle-Earth. Magical being cursing promises carry permanent fortune. Glorfindel stated "Do not pursue him! He will not return to these lands. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall." Doom in lotr means "how one ends". It wasn't a true prophecy until the magical being The Witch King himself proclaimed "Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!" which sealed his 'doom' as fate. The literacy irony comes from the fact he could die, just not by a man and instead by a woman, but more specifically a sword created to kill him, the Barrow Blade, made by the magic-enchanting smiths of Arnor, later lost and found by Tom Bombadil and given to Merry. The sword would have never been made if the Witch King never attacked Arnor. This whole story of the Witch King sealing his own 'doom' is a double-triple layer of irony and fantastic writing.
Technically though, he wouldn't have even been killed on the Pelennor Fields by Merry and Eowyn because The Witch King is bound like all the other Ringwraiths to The One Ring and Sauron. So he essentially would've just respawned back in Minas Morgul or Mordor until the One Ring and Sauron were destroyed.
Love this. If it weren’t for Merry with the barrow-wight anti-Angmar blade, Eowyn’s strike would have done nothing. I think Glorfindel’s words are one of those examples of unknowing prophecy in Tolkien’s work. Words that will become manifest not because they have power, but simply because that is how it will come to pass pursuant to the musical score of creation set in motion by the Valar, the Maiar, and Elu Ilivatar’s creation song. Time is a flat circle.
I was under the impression that he was very much killable however difficult it might be. The saying that no man can kill him was first made by a demoralized ancient king who met him in single combat and lost. But you know what happened in the centuries or millennia after? His armies were defeated and driven back. He vanishes from the world for some time before the events of the hobbit and LOTR. I really think he took that statement, personified it to create even more fear and hopelessness, and convinced the race of men that it was true.
Well it's true for the book. But in the film canon Eowin was human so she was a man. And Merry was male so man again. The reason Lich-King was killed is that Eowin's sword was coated with her stew and she stabbed him in the mouth. So yeah the Eowin's stew killed Lich-King.
Well, here's the thing about that. If the prophecy is 100% correct, and we assume he could only ever die once, that means that he was perfectly safe around men because his death would never be at the hands of one. So, in truth, no man could kill him, because for some reason or other, every man with the oportunity must fail for the 100% accurate prophecy to still hold. Anything else would create a contradiction.
🤣🤣🤣🤣. I guess it depends on how much credence you put on prophecies. And that one is pretty vague, too. He will not "fall by the hand of man". Does man mean human, male, adult, etc?? I dunno? Like all s tier prophecies.... It's hard to say until after it happens.
Theres also the whole thing that by the time (and especially nowadays) it can easily be mistaken as "no man can kill me" as in, no dude can kill him. But with Tolkien, "The race of men/the race of man" was meant for humanity as a whole. So by that original logic, being stabbed by Merry, a Hobbit, not a human, the prophecy was fulfilled. Even if Merry did not deal the killing blow himself, it was Merry that allowed the killing blow to happen at all, for had he not done so, Eowyn's heroic thrust-to-the-face likely wouldve dont absolutely nothing to the lord of angmar
Wow, it would be so COOOOOLLLLLL to have a prophecy about yourself. You know how good you must feel waking up everyday and knowing you are important and awesome enough to have a full on prophecy around you. I best he loved it!
Im so glad I’ve decided to finally get into Tolkien. An actual storyline Im cookin up was inspired by Tolkien. You do the best at making the lore easy to understand. 😊
Aww yeah! ＼（〇◡ｏ）／ I appreciate that... thanks! Glad you like the vids :) I was lucky to get a copy of the Hobbit as a little kid, which was my fav book as a child, so I've kinda always been there. I'm kinda jealous! You get to read things and experience them for the first time! Have an awesome Friday ✌️
An important plot point left out of the films was the blade Merry used -- it was actually an enchanted blade of Westernesse, specifically made in Arnor and woven with spells to fight against the Witch-King of Angmar. Because the segments with Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-Wights were left out, this blade obviously was not used in the film. In the films he just picks up some crap blade and is told by Eowyn he won't kill many Orcs with it to go get it sharpened. Meh.
To be fair, Eowyn is def the hero of the scene (at least how I personally read it). Everything that Merry did was first inspired by her courage. And she totally threw Witchy off his game when she showed him that she was a woman. And she was the only one brave enough to stand up to death... Eowyn is EPIC!!! ... but... seems to me Merry did all the actual killing. Her sword hit's Witchy and shatters into a million pieces.... just like every other sword had done for hundreds of years. Any weapon that touches Witchy shatters and does no damage to him. Seems to me hers did the same. It's the ol barrow blade that does the killing (at least how I personally read it). What do you think?
Thanks! I appreciate that (ノ^_^)ノ. Glad you like the videos 😊 I love the chapters on Tommy B. I could listen to him talk for days on end! Haven't made any videos on him.... but that a great idea. Could maybe answer the question about who/what he is (at least from my point if view)
👋 Hope you liked the video ＼（〇◡ｏ）／ Yeah I agree. I like to pick on Witchy, but he is honestly super impressive. If I was as cool as him, I would walk around like a legend as well!!!
By technicality he is right he cannot be killed by a man considering in his universe fate has written for him to die by a woman’s/a non man’s hands on therefore no man can kill him
True - depending on how you read it I guess, like most of Tolkien 😅. He clearly stole this prophecy idea directly from Shakespear ("shall not be killed by a man born to a woman"). Pretty much the same thing happens and both characters feel they are invincible to a degree with it leading to their death. I guess the question is: do you think Glorfindel's prophecy really held any power, or relevance? In my mind it was not "real" per say. It was more of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because Witchy knew about it, when he saw Eowyn was a woman before the fight started he got all weirded out and attacked her with Maximum Effort and didn't see Merry "the Ninja" Brandybuck. What do you think? How do you read it?
Funny thing, Merry and Eowyn _are_ technically both Men. Merry isn't of the race of Man, but he is male. Eowyn isn't male, but she is of the race of Man.
Well said. Honestly, Glorfindel is just so vague! I guess that's just what the best prophets do ¯\(°_o)/¯ (man, how cool would it be to have an awesome prophecy about yourself. I would walk around like a rock star too! 🤣🤣)
@jeffrebornnow. Thanks for the question. It's definitely my personal view of the story, but it comes from two books. 1) ROTK: Gorfindel says would not be killed by a man in the appendices. Then on the battlefield we hear the WK's opinion when he speaks to Eowyn and calls her a fool because "no living man may hinder me". Sounds like he takes it way to seriously. 2) MacBeth. Same thing happens in Shakespeare, where it's explained in depth. Seems to me JRRT is playing with this famous example. Of course, I'm definitely have some fun with it 😁. Is this how you read the story? What's your take?
Fun fact: Glorfindel was not fighting Witchking personally. He just was in same fight in Battle of Fornost. He just stopped Earnur for not to chase Witchking to most surdain trap. Extra fact: Witchking was laughing at Earnur but suddenly was needing to flee away when Glorfindel showed up.
I think they both worked together, had it not been for Eowyn, Merry wouldn't have had the opportunity of stabbing the Witch King in the back. Remember that Eowyn severed the Hell-hawk's head, causing him to lose his mount, making him reachable by Merry.
Neither would've killed the Witch King by themselves. If Merry simply blitzes him in the open, mah man's folding him like Hobbit laundry. Eowyn was the diversion that gave him an opening, then finished the job. *(damn, they deadass jumped the Witch King!)*
Well said. I have a whole long firm video on this one that I'm pretty proud of! Merry's blade was a Dagger of Westerness.... Specifically designed to kill the witch king long ago by Aragorn's ancestors. So magic yes, but not elvish, Numenorean. Hard to say about Eowyn's sword. By my read, her shot didn't actually hurt Witchy, but hard to say. Either way, I read it that's it just a normal sword, it was Merry's blade that made him killable. How do you read it?
Love these, my question is why doesn't Gandalf have his own place? Radagast has a home in the woods and Saruman has an entire tower, where does Gandalf live?
Very true. Gandalf never had a home the entire time. He did spend a lot of time in Rivendell and some in Loth Lorien (with occasional vacations in the Shire) but never a home. He was more of a travel blogger. He also never owned anything save what he could carry in his backpack. It's honestly unknown. As far as I know, there was no strategy to it and he wasn't forbidden or anything. He is like a traveling ronin Samurai, wandering from place to place. One thing that is known, Valinor in the West was his home and he desperately missed it and longed to get back. So my personal opinion: Middle Earth was never a home for him I think. I suspect he always felt like a visitor that didn't quite belong... What do you think?
Becouse the wizards where not suppose to settle down somewhere they where suppose to go out and help the people of middle earth Gandolf is the only one who did thus being the only one to return to the non dieing lands
It's worth noting that Merry's Barrow-wight blade, which Eowyn just happened to pick up and fight the Witch-King with, was probably THE ONLY WEAPON IN THE WORLD that could have harmed him because the Witch-King created the Barrow-wights with dark sorcery, and their blades could harm wraiths. So the whole thing was just pure luck (or fate).
Tolkien never mentioned about the origin of Hobbits. And they are not man kind. Only Tolkien mentioned about origin of hobbits is they are from far east and they settled in many places. Once it was vales of anduin and they moved in to eriador and finally settle to shire.
It’s really fascinating how much stock the Witch King put into Glorfindel’s prophesy. He also was terrified of Glorfindel and fled at the sight of him because he is THAT powerful.
It is worth noting that Merry is a man (and a Man as well). Hobbits are Human, just with unique traits, in the same way that Numenoreans & Dunedain are Human, just with unique traits.
Or you could go with the books and it is because Merry ( and the other hobbits) had swords they took from the barrow downs whose magic was formed before the ring and so the ring wraith was vulnerable to it.
Personally, I preferred it when kid me thought this was true; that this powerful, sort of undead being, couldn't be killed by mortals, which added to the fear he inspired. If he wasn't invulnerable, then at least maybe he'd rise again, like Sauron, as he was more spirit than man. I even used to believe he had a curse where such mortal blows would instead be rebounded on his foe, and that all thus was what Merry's attack sundered, making the Watch Kingmomentarilyvulnerable. As is, I accept it's all a misunderstanding, but it tends to make me wonder what's really so fearsome about these creatures, that they aren't really harder to kill, or peerless warriors, and while some might have sone magic, we already know that Tolkien was very soft on how magic worked, in his world, and what it could do, so they weren't going to use it in combat. It's also kind of shocking that none of them ever succumbed to incident, and were destroyed.
Don't leave out the dagger that Merry struck the Witch-King with was given to him by Tom Bombadill. May not sound or seem significant, but if not for that, Eowyn wouldn't have delivered the killing blow.
Great comment. Well said! I made a whole video just about the Barrow Blade called "How did Merry really kill the Witch King"! It's honestly one of the coolest stories in the whole book to me. Tolkien only gives us 3 or 4 sentences, but something about that just stirs up a great mystery in my imagination. I love it!
