High Nazgûl

One of the many titles given to the powerful nameless Ringwraith more usually known as the Lord of the Nazgûl or the Witch-king. After the fall of his northern kingdom of Angmar in III 1975, the Witch-king retreated to the Dark Land of Mordor and rejoined his fellow Nazgûl there. Before long, he led a besieging force against Minas Ithil, the old city of Isildur on Mordor's western borders. After two years the city fell, and the High Nazgûl claimed it as his own. After this time the fortress city became known as Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery.

The Lord of the Nazgûl held Minas Morgul for more than a thousand years, until the time of the War of the Ring. During that War, Sauron placed him in command of a vast army intended to destroy his enemy's last great stronghold, Minas Tirith beyond the Great River. It is with this period that the term 'High Nazgûl' is especially associated, being used as a title by the Orcs under his command. The High Nazgûl led his army out from Minas Morgul and forced the crossing of Anduin, then began a siege of Minas Tirith.

Sauron had placed a force on the Great West Road to protect the flank of the besieging army by preventing any attempt by the Rohirrim to send aid to Gondor. The Rohirrim, however, found a secret way through the White Mountains and were able to skirt these defenders, driving into the High Nazgûl's armies on the Pelennor Fields. It had been prophesied that the Nazgûl Lord could not be slain by the hand of man, but on that field he encountered the Shieldmaiden Éowyn and the Hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck and, working together, they brought the High Nazgûl's long existence to an end.