Angmar

**Angmar** was a realm of Men in the northern Middle-earth, ruled by the Witch-King, a servant of Sauron.

## Geography

Angmar was located at the top of the Misty Mountains in a west fork. It was slightly west of Gundabad, the two strongholds serving as great strategical points for Sauron and his forces to hold in the North.

## History

### Early history

The evil Lord of Angmar, the Witch King established the evil city of Angmar in T.A. 1300 to terrorize Arnor, the Northern Kingdom of the Men of Númenor. Orcs came down to it from the North. At length, the Northern Kingdom and many of its cities and monuments, such as the Watch-tower of Amon Sul, were destroyed. Only the Dunedain, disguised as Rangers, were left of the Númenorians in the North.

### Gundabad

Angmar's main stronghold was the mountain range of Gundabad at the far north of the Misty Mountains. It terrorized the realms and people of Rhovanion, including the skin-changers (Beorn recalling it as a "great evil[...]powerful enough to rise the dead.") and the Woodland Realm.

### Conflict with the Elves

At one point, the Woodland Elves mounted an unsuccessful attack on Angmar, but they stopped when the Elven queen was captured and killed there. Grief-striken, Thranduil withdrew from the fight against Angmar and Legolas had painful memories, for there would be no grave for her son and husband to visit.

In T.A. 2340, an Orc raid from Gundabad cost the lives of the parents to the Silvan Elf Tauriel. The Orcs were killed, but Thranduil refused to march to war against Angmar again.

### Watchful Peace

In T.A. 1975, the joint forces of Rivendell, Gondor and the Dunedain Rangers drove the forces of Angmar back, but were unable to take its mountainous strongholds of Carn Dum and Gundabad. Only by T.A. 2540 was Angmar sacked, and the Witch King and the other eight Ringwraiths (since driven from Minas Morgul) were entombed in the High Fells of Rhudaur, ushering in the Watchful Peace.

The remnants of Angmar were the Troll, Orc and Goblin population of Ettenmoors and the Misty Mountains, namely the Orcs that infested Moria under Azog, and the Goblins of Goblin-town and Mount Gram. Its wars against Arnor are also the reason for the vacancy of Eriador, and the guarded borders of the Shire.

### Quest of Erebor

In 2940, Sauron's initial objective was to reclaim the lands of Angmar so as to defeat the Elven kingdoms of Greenwood, Lorien and Rivendell. He tried to stop a Dwarvish quest to reclaim Erebor, which he intended to capture in order to secure Angmar's eastern flank, and sent two armies from Moria and Gundabad to take it from the Dwarves. His endgame was to restore Angmar and gain dominance over the North of Middle-earth by conquering the Lonely Mountain due to its strategic position. With it, he intended to assault the realms of the North, such as Rivendell and Lothlórien. This intention was foiled in the Battle of the Five Armies. With the re-founding of the Kingdom under the Mountain and the Kingdom of Dale the Western Lands gained a bastion in the North, blocking the expansion of Sauron's power westwards. Had he succeeded, it would have assured his triumph in the War of the Ring.

His plan failed and the Dark Lord focused on Mordor and conquering Gondor. There were known to be some of Sauron's forces in Angmar during the War of the Ring but he never regained complete control in that region.