#within the realm of

[morgulscribe]

The Witch-king as Sauron's Emissary

Statue based on John Howe's paintings of the Witch-king

In one of Tolkien's earlier drafts, the Witch-king survives the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and serves as Sauron's emissary at the Black Gate.

The scene where Eowyn challenges the Nazgul at Pelennor is much the same: they spar verbally for a few moments, and then she cuts off the head of his fell beast. However, in this version, the Witch-king does not attempt to slay Eowyn for killing his fell beast, and Merry and his barrow blade are nowhere to be found. The Witch-king, now bereft of a mount, makes a hasty retreat. The implication is that he tears off his cloak and flees to safety… which means that he wore no armor to the battle, and that his physical body was naked beneath the cloak.

"She raised her shield, and with a swift and sudden stroke smote off the bird's head. It fell, its vast wings outspread crumpled and helpless on the earth. About Eowyn the light of day fell bright and clear. With a clamour of dismay the hosts of Harad turned and fled, and over the ground a headless thing crawled away, snarling and sniveling, tearing at the cloak. Soon the black cloak too lay formless and still, and a long thin wail rent the air and vanished in the distance." --"The Battle of the Pelennor Fields," The War of the Ring, p. 366

Perhaps the Witch-king mooned Eowyn before making his ungraceful retreat. Either way, the shieldmaiden - and everyone else on the battlefield - got flashed by a streaking Nazgul without ever realizing it…

The next scene of importance in the chronology of the story is the Parley Before the Black Gate. In this version, the Mouth of Sauron does not exist, and the Witch-king acts as Sauron's emissary.

Keep in mind that the Witch-king is called the Wizard King in these early drafts and outlines.

"Aragorn and Eomer wind horns before the Morannon, and summon Sauron to come forth. There is no answer at first, but Sauron had already laid his plans and an embassy was already coming to the Black Gate. The Wizard King? He bears the Mithril coat and says that Sauron has already captured the messenger - a hobbit." --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 36

The dialog which follows is much the same as in the published version, although the ambassador makes a dramatic exit:

"The ambassador laughs, and gives a dreadful cry. Flinging off his garments he vanishes; but at that cry the host prepared in ambush sally from the mountains on either side, and from the Teeth, and pour out of the Gate. The host of Gondor taken at unawares wavers, and the leaders are surrounded. [Added in pencil: All the Nine Nazgul remounted swoop down; but the Eagles come to give battle." --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 362

Christopher Tolkien writes the following note about this scene:

"Earlier in this outline my father had questioned whether the ambassador was not in fact the Wizard King himself, and he appears again at the end, dispatched by Sauron to Orodruin (his fate on the fields of the Pelennor was therefore not yet finally decided). Since at the end of the parley the ambassador casts off his garments and vanishes, he was certainly a Ringwraith; is this the meaning of 'All the Nine Nazgul remounted'?" --"The Story Foreseen From Forannest," The War of the Ring, 364

Again, the Witch-king has insulted his enemies by flashing them. That naughty Nazgul!

In the published version of Lord of the Rings, the Witch-king was defeated at Pelennor Fields, and it is heavily implied that he is now a houseless spirit. Therefore, the role of Sauron's ambassador is filled by the Mouth of Sauron, who seems to be a diplomat in the service of the Dark Lord. Some theorize that it was the Mouth of Sauron who came to the dwarves of Erebor, seeking information about the whereabouts of Bilbo Baggins and the One Ring, though this is another subject entirely. (I agree with Michael Martinez in this essay that it was a Nazgul, not the Mouth of Sauron, who served as the ambassador.)

From the text in "The Black Gate Opens," it seems that the Mouth of Sauron has been chosen by the Dark Lord to be the new lord of Isengard, where he would rule over a conquered Gondor and Rohan.

"These are the terms," said the Messenger, and smiled as he eyed them one by one. "The rabble of Gondor and its deluded allies shall withdraw at once beyond the Anduin, first taking oaths never again to assail Sauron the Great in arms, open or secret. All lands east of Anduin shall be Sauron's for ever, solely. West of the Anduin as far as the Misty Mountains and the Gap of Rohan shall be tributary to Mordor, and men there shall bear no weapons, but shall have leave to govern their own affairs. But they shall help to rebuild Isengard which they have wantonly destroyed, and that shall be Sauron's, and there his lieutenant shall dwell: not Saruman, but one more worthy of trust." Looking in the Messenger's eyes they read his thought. He was to be that lieutenant, and gather all that remained of the West under his sway; he would be their tyrant and they his slaves. --"The Black Gate Opens," The Return of the King

Why did Tolkien create an entirely new character to fulfill the Witch-king's original role as Sauron's ambassador, instead of giving the role to one of the other Nazgul? Some have theorized that the Nazgul are just too frightening to be ambassadors, but I think this reasoning is rather faulty, because there is fairly good evidence that Sauron's ambassador to the dwarves was one of the Nine. (See the above linked essay by Michael Martinez.)

It is an important point in the story that Sauron's ambassador is both an emissary and the would-be lord of Isengard. Being second-in-command to the Witch-king, Khamul seems a logical choice to be Sauron's ambassador, but he is the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur. The Witch-king's own lieutenant is Gothmog, who might be a Nazgul (Tolkien never specified if Gothmog was a Nazgul, human, or orc). However, since it is established that Sauron's ambassador will become the new lord of Isengard, Gothmog might not be the best choice, as someone would need to rule Minas Morgul as the Witch-king's regent. We know little about the other Nazgul. Perhaps Sauron had other purposes for them, so he chose the Black Numenorean who would become known as the Mouth of Sauron.

Now this begs the question… In a scenario in which the Witch-king survives Pelennor and the Mouth of Sauron also exists as a character, what role would the Mouth of Sauron play? Would the Mouth of Sauron be named as the new lord of Isengard… or would it be the Witch-king?

I personally believe that the Witch-king should become the overlord of Gondor and Rohan. After all, he has hundreds of years of ruling countries beneath his belt, having been the king of both Angmar and Minas Morgul. We know little about the Mouth of Sauron, but it seems unlikely that he has ever served as a king of a country (For Tolkien's own theories about the identity of the Mouth of Sauron, check out my post: What Could Have Been: The Mouth of Sauron's Backstory.)

In this scenario, the Mouth of Sauron would remain the Lieutenant of Barad-dur and Sauron's primary ambassador in non-Ring related matters.

The Witch-king would become the new lord of Isengard.

Or perhaps he would prefer to rule from Minas Tirith.

"Shall there be two cities of Minas Morgul, grinning at each other across a dead land filled with rottenness?" --Faramir, "The Forbidden Pool," The Two Towers

Although Faramir is speaking of the corruption that the One Ring would bring to Gondor, the same could be said for a Minas Tirith ruled by the Witch-king.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 261

“So is no one going to talk about the eldritch space child or…” 

“I mean, do you want to get between a child and Batman? I think the only one who could even get close right now is Superman…” 

“No you’re right, I think- oh my god the eldritch space child is playing with batman’s bat-ears and he’s not doing anything about it what the fuck I thought only Robins could get away with that-” 

[bluerosefox]

Bellatrix Star

A TaliaxDanny idea that came to me.

Damian, Bruce, and the rest of the bats discover the Talia al Ghul they had been fighting against, the one that cloned her own son, had the clone kill him, plant a control device in him when he broke his spine, etc etc was actually not the real Talia al Ghul.

Turned out Ra's had cloned her and killed the original when she discovered his little plans to take over Damain's body and she confronted him about it. Ra's had to make a clone when after tossing a dead Talia into the pits but never returned (he meant to kill her as a warning, as a "you may be my blood but will not hesitate to end you Talia.") It explains so much to Damian when remembers how out of nowhere his mother changed, her training him changed from harsh to deadly, the soft motherly love she would give him when behind closed doors suddenly stopped, the tales she would spin for him about his father no longer whispered to him for bed.

How this was find out?

Well it's hard to ignore the facts that when your foolish grandfather in his quest for immortality summons an eldritch being known as the Ghost King into the Mortal Realm and uses Damian as a sacrifice while his (not) mother watches emotionless.

When the being appeared, plunging the room from green glowing flames and the glow of the Lazarus Pits into darkness before a cosmos exploded to life, its glowing green eyes snapped open in the stars and stared at them all. Making every single one of them feel small, so very small.

It took a single glance around the room before stopping on the al Ghul's. It's eyes widen before a steel and firm look entered them. Just as quick as the cosmos sprang to life, it suddenly swirled away into a ball, putting them all back into the Lazarus room,and reformed in front of them to a more humanish height and body.

When the body, around the height and build of Batman, was done forming it took a step forward and suddenly as one blinked a man stood in front of them. Or rather floated. Snow white hair that flickered and wisped towards a crown made of fire and ice, glowing green eyes that held none of the madness but all of the power the Lazarus Pits could give. His clothing were tailored made that were tastefully a mixture of black and white with some silvers and greens, clothes fit for a King one would say. The cosmos that once engulfed the room had shifted into a cloak that hanged around his body, on one side more than the other (think like how CW wears his only the hood is down).

This, this was no doubt the Ghost King, he stood tall and regal and made everyone in the room feel the need to look down, to bow ones head for even just a moment. Even Ra's had trouble disobeying the urge to do so.

"Well..." the being said, his voice deep but not as gravely as Batman's was "What an interesting way to meet my In-Laws and Step-Son..."

He has said that as he looked towards the al Ghul's. Damian flinched back with a frown of confusion and disbelief while Ra's looked panicked for a second when the words registered into his mind, meanwhile Talia... looked emotionless and barely even twitched.

"What the fu-?" Someone began only to stop when the King lifted his hand and with a snap of his fingers a green portal appeared, it looked almost like the Lazarus Pits but it felt... cleaner? Less angry?

"My Bellatrix, my warrior star. I believe I've been summoned to your home dimension. And judging by the looks of it your father created a barely functioning Mirror of you and planned on using your son as a sacrifice to me." He spoke out towards the portal before holding his hand out.

A hand appeared from the portal, a slender hand and with green and black painted nails manicure to perfection before someone walked through it as they took hold of the Ghost King's offering hand.

Standing in front of them was another Talia, only this one looked a tad older than the one in the room. She wore clothing that matched the King to a T but even then, as always, Talia looked deadly in it. Beautiful but very deadly. From the heels she wore to the crown upon her head, a crown made of not ice and fire but of stars and black jewels. Her eyes were sharp as she stared at everyone in the room, frown on her painted lips, but her eyes lit with a small soft joy when she saw Damian only for them to turn poisonous when they landed on Ra's and the other Talia nearby.

"I should had know you would had created a Mirror of me instead of admitting to my son you killed me Father." Queen Talia spat out. "The least you could had done was not make my Mirror so cheaply, it doesn't even have a proper soul attached to it."

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - The World Within

[tanglepelt]

Dp x dc idea 62

Danny has been reaching out to the league for help.

He thought he had it handled but then got sucked into a different dimension, had his town almost fed to plants, the town had a sleepy time nap, and for crying out loud vortex literally messed with the weather all around the globe.

Out of everything he thought vortex would of made them realize he was serious.

being sick of it he starts researching. If they won’t help them by choice and keep ignoring him he is gonna force the matter.

Too bad he can’t figure out who any of the hero’s are. But he does find a newspaper that might take an interest in his information. Especially with the anti ecto acts being brought into the conversation.

Is showing up at a random reporters apartment without being announced that smart. No. But he is desperate.

Clark did not expect to have a random white haired teen show up at his building.

Now he has answers about the mysterious attacks and questions of why weren’t they alerted.

[koinotame]

quick apology fic to xiao for missing his bday </3 which doubles as a character study of xiao and an exploration of how you as the player interact with the self aware characters in self aware au

it’s been a couple of weeks since you last used him.

or has it only been several days? whether it’s days or years, it all feels like the blink of an eye to him. the flow of time is somewhat of a nebulous concept for someone like him, especially since you first appeared.

it doesn’t matter. however long you take to come back, xiao will wait dutifully for you.

he spends most of his time when you’re not making use of him subjugating threats around liyue and fighting off any unwanted foes. perhaps you’ll come back faster if the area is freer of enemies. you’re kind, after all. you seem much happier when it’s peaceful.

lately, when there’s no demons for him to quell, he’s found himself returning to the same spot on wangshu inn’s upper balcony. it’s the spot you always drop him off at before disappearing. it’s not the place at the top of the inn’s roof he’d pick on his own, though you do sometimes take him up there as well.

you’re not actually there, but if he closes his eyes it almost feels like you are.

his birthday was a couple days ago. as usual, the traveller had suggested he write you a letter. as usual, he wasn’t sure what he could possibly convey to you that you would be happy to receive.

the traveller insisted anything from him would make you happy, but xiao doubts that.

it’s easier when you’re here. it’s easier when you’re here and he can submit himself entirely to you and doesn’t have to think for himself.

he’s been dreaming more lately, particularly of you. he doesn’t know what you look like, and after he wakes up he can never quite remember what you looked like in his dreams.

waking up after dreaming of you is always hard for xiao. it’s shameful how badly he wants to go back to dreaming of doing such mundane things with you, and it’s disgraceful how long it takes him to pick himself back up afterwards.

he wonders if you’d like doing dull things like that with someone like him.

he wonders if he deserves that.

probably not.

he left the letter at the railing of that same—your—spot, along with a serving of his almond tofu (he might not like dreaming, but he hopes your dreams are as sweet as his have been lately), some dream solvent (the traveller had mentioned you seemed to want more) and a small bundle of qixing (you frequently go out of your way to collect it).

you never touch it.

…after a couple days, he decided to move the offering to his room. it stays there, on his windowsill where the sun touches it in a way that reminds him of your warmth, untouched.

it doesn’t matter, he tells himself. he’ll wait for you for as long as you want. even if another thousand years pass before you appear again, he’ll continue his duty and wait.

and then he blinks and suddenly finds himself in front of the adventurer’s guild in the court of fontaine.

another blink and he’s back at wangshu inn, this time heading towards the kitchen. the familiar aura of your possession fills him with a warmth he doesn’t think exists outside of you. he zones out for what feels no longer than a couple seconds, and suddenly there’s thirty servings of almond tofu in front of him.

your mood drops.

dissatisfaction seeps through you and into him. something deep in his gut squirms.

you set a large amount of sweet flowers to boil, then seem to fuss with something he can’t quite see or grasp. smiley yanxiao gives him a curious look, but doesn’t (cannot) comment any further.

in another couple of seconds—your teleportation hardly fazed him when you first started using him, let alone now when he’s so used to your presence—he’s in front of the liyuean general goods store. you buy up the entire stock of milk, and only milk.

your mood hasn’t improved. if anything, you seem even more downcast.

the milk dissipates as soon as it’s been bought, safely held in your near infinite storage.

he’s behind mondstadt’s hotel next, jumping down the railing and towards the local general goods store. again, you buy up all the milk. next you head for the good hunter (is that what it’s called? he thinks that’s what the traveller called it some time ago) and purchase as much of their sugar as you can.

tendrils of something truly unpleasant move upwards and wrap around his neck.

he finds himself in wangshu inn’s kitchen again. barely any of the sweet flowers have been processed, but you take the two packs of sugar anyway. you put him to work immediately.

usually, he finds the process of cooking much to tedious and drawn out. with you, he doesn’t mind.

you seem a bit more satisfied this time, and xiao finds himself ashamed of having made a few more of his specialty dish instead of only regular almond tofu like you’d wanted him to.

while you seem a bit happier now, he still finds himself in front of inazuma’s goods store. again, you buy all the milk. you talk to the restaurant owner up the stairs afterwards. some confusion creeps into him through you, but it doesn’t last long.

he’s in sumeru next. more milk makes its way into your inventory, and you visit the local tavern for good measure, though this time you don’t buy anything at all.

exiting the building, you seem to notice there’s a stove just outside of it and walk over in excitement… and straight into the clay oven.

a sharp pang of panic shoots through him and he jerks backwards. it takes him a second to realise it’s your panic.

immediately, you pull the astrologer from mondstadt out and have her set down her little hydro puppet. you then walk him through it, which does absolutely nothing except soak his clothes.

your panic doesn’t subside.

i’m sorry.

he blinks and finds himself in front of dihua marsh’s statue of the seven, the fire and the tinge it brought with it disappearing in seconds.

it’s rare to be able to make out what you’re actually saying as opposed to just feeling your vague emotions and intentions. are you that worried about him not performing up to standard with this little damage?

he’s yours to use. a little singe like that would never hold him back.

you don’t bother with fontaine.

something like shame curls up his body and makes a home near his ears.

soon after, he’s back at the inn’s kitchen again. yanxiao doesn’t even look in his direction this time as he gets back to work under your guidance, making even more almond tofu. he makes sure to take greater care to avoid displeasing you again.

your mood doesn’t pick up this time, but you seem to have calmed down a little. he’s not sure why (or what use you could possibly have for so much almond tofu), but it’s a small comfort.

part of him wishes he could be there with you properly to comfort you, but he knows better.

he might be your formidable weapon, but that’s all he is. he has no false illusions about his role or purpose to you, no matter how much he wishes he could be the one you turn to for comfort. he isn’t suited to something so delicate. he’s accepted that a long time ago.

your dejection doesn’t retract, even as you move him around a bit more.

then you sit him down at a table at the inn’s terrace and pull out a plate of his specialty.

your presence lingers for a bit, envelops him like a gentle dream, then falls through the cracks of his existence and disappears.

happy birthday, xiao.

he wonders if he deserves this much effort from you for something as inconsequential as his birthday.

probably not.

he hopes he’ll dream of this next.

[socksandbuttons]

so,, new episode

how we feeling. angst? yeah.

Oh we feeling Angst alright. I'm loving the potential of the angst they may give us. He's already got abandonment issues! One Bloodmoon... I have some ideas how they could go about this. Yknow.... But idk the first part of the episode I was like 'ehhhhhh' the latter half i was YEAH!!! Also i'm sure others also feel the same but

Jack and Bloodmoon Duo cause someone IS gonna get attached to handle their crippling loneliness that they will never escape.

[itsclydebitches]

I've been thinking about Astarion's lack of reflection combined with the, "Lol how can this idiot think he's hiding his vampire status his bite marks are RIGHT THERE" reaction from the fandom. Crazy thought but what if Astarion just... doesn't know? It's not like he can see the marks for himself. Would anyone ever mention that to him? Does every vampire scar so deeply? (I personally didn't catch any on his siblings.) Can he feel them? I have scars that look very raised but don't feel significantly different from the surrounding skin. Or at least, I may not have realized what I was feeling was a scar without having seen it first.

Really, I think it's difficult for those of us with sight to conceptualize just how much we take our appearance for granted—how often we see it throughout the day and how much subconscious info we glean from it. Does Astarion know how high a collar needs to be to hide potential scars? How wide he can open his mouth before his fangs show? That the white of his hair looks significantly different from someone who has aged? Sure, he'll pick up on some things from being around his siblings (oh look, everyone has glowy eyes. I must have those too) but even among the spawn there's a lot of diversity. It's not like seeing them truly gives Astarion a sense of what he looks like. Now, toss in the fact that he was enslaved within a community that likely wasn't offering up a lot of insight purely out of the goodness of their hearts (here, let me sketch you) and the fact that Astarion's job was seduction (obviously I still look 'normal' enough that people will trust/sleep with me) and I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that he doesn't quite Get™ how vamapire-y he looks.

[tomurakii]

Look Kristen is a kid so its understandable and Ally is great and I'm sure has a plan for this. But Kristen should not be a cleric lol. I hope that after the wizard synogue incident Cassandra takes the Archfey deal to keep herself safe and Kristen loses her powers because honestly based on her RP that girl has NO wisdom. She has NEGATIVE wisdom. If you don't like the gods currently on offer but can't take responsibility for keeping a new one alive (because you're a kid) then you should just respec. Pick a charisma-based spellcaster class that doesn't require a bunch of work like the Int classes or responsibility like the Wis classes. Give up your soul to Fig (or just give it back to newly-Archfey Cassandra) for Warlock spells idk.

[fairweathermyth]

Thinking about the triumvirate that makes the whole: Fitz, Nighteyes, the Fool. Thinking about how Fitz can never let go of the past. Constantly looking back, reliving his life's events, dwelling on regrets. A storyteller and a chronicler of histories. Thinking about Nighteyes and his wolf’s mindset of the Now. Always reminding Fitz that it’s useless to worry about things that are already done and can’t be changed, or about things yet to come that are out of reach. The only thing that matters is the moment you’re in. Thinking about the Fool, the literal White Prophet, reading the threads of all possible futures and guiding them onto the paths and patterns he desires. Eyes always fixed on the future, always focused on what comes next. Human, wolf, prophet. Past, present, future.

[doortotomorrow]

Murphy : You have to go! Emori : Shh! Shut up, John! My answer's yes...I will love you forever, even if we die today.

[soracities]

What is your stance on the insignificance of man versus the cosmos? Fear or solace?

the cosmos and i are not at war so i don't believe in "versus". it is and so i am. that is all. the thread is not separate from the tapestry etc.

[coffeebanana]

I’m not saying I want adrinette to break up in S6, I’m just saying that’s how we get ladrien

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

no okay i found 3-14 and??? did Howdy just sell fucking SOAP to Sally and tell her it's instant mashed potatoes??? oh my god someone stop him lmfao

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - Main Road

[jt1674]