Gothmog (Third Age)
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Gothmog is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is featured in The Return of the King.
He served in Sauron's army during the War of the Ring. He was the lieutenant of Minas Morgul, second-in-command to the Witch-king of Angmar, lord of the Nazgûl. He commanded the forces of Morgul during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields after the Witch-king was slain by Éowyn and Merry. This is the only reference in The Lord of the Rings to Gothmog, and his fate is not recorded, although it is strongly implied that he and almost all of the servants of Sauron that fought before the gates of Minas Tirith were killed.
Gothmog shares his name with a much earlier character, Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, who is featured in The Silmarillion.
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[edit] Gothmog's race
Almost nothing is known of Gothmog — not even what race of beings he belonged to. Tolkienists speculate that he might have been an Orc, or a Man (in which case he was probably a Black Númenórean like the Mouth of Sauron, the lieutenant of Barad-dûr), and even one of the Nazgûl. The second most powerful Nazgûl is named by Tolkien in Unfinished Tales as Khamûl, the "Black Easterling", but he is also stated as being assigned to Dol Guldur — leaving open the possibility for another Ringwraith to be second in command at Minas Morgul. Also, Unfinished Tales is a collection of stories that do not necessarily have accurate and decisive standing in terms of Tolkien's later works; various names from these tales have been changed, and so have the course of the tales themselves when pertinent to characters remaining in his work. That an orc could command so complex an assault also seems unlikely, unless guided by one of the government of one of the Nazgûl, strengthening the theory for some that Gothmog was an evil man grown powerful in Sauron's service. It is even possible that while not a Ringwraith, Gothmog was an undead human, similar in some respects to the barrow-wights, although more powerful and with greater capacity for independent action.
The choice of name arguably indicates a Man other than a Nazgûl. If it was a Nazgûl, it would mean that he was given the name Gothmog, as that certainly would not have been his original name, being in Black Speech. There is no evidence at all that the bearers of the Nine Rings of Men were renamed upon truly becoming Nazgûl — the only one of them identified was Khamûl, second-in-command of Nazgûl Lord. It is possible, then, that since the Mouth of Sauron was a Black Númenórean who could not recall his own name, then the lieutenant of Minas Morgul was also of that lineage and been given his name. However, with no knowledge of whether Tolkien had any plan himself as to Gothmog's race, and because of Peter Jackson's depiction of the captain as an orc (see below article), many will assume that he was, in fact, an orc.
[edit] Adaptations
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King film, Gothmog is portrayed by Lawrence Makoare (who also portrays Lurtz) and voiced by Craig Parker (who also portrays Haldir).[1]
Gothmog is interpreted as a misshapen Orc. In the commentary track of the Special Extended DVD Edition of the film, Peter Jackson states that Gothmοg's affliction is an Elephantiasis-type disease, calling him "the Elephant Man Orc". When Peter Jackson asked the Weta Workshop designers to make Gothmog look diseased, knowing that Peter Jackson had a preference for outrageous creatures, they piled elephantiasis growths onto a model in such a way that they would hope even Jackson would say 'whoa, too much!'. However, to their surprise, when Jackson came to approve the design, he deemed it to be 'just about right', thus giving Gothmog his The Elephant Man's type appearance. It is likely that the resulting 'elephant man' design influenced Gothmog's movement and personality in the film as well.
In a sequence that was cut from the film but was included in the Extended Edition, Gothmog fights an even duel against Éowyn, but is temporarily incapacitated. While Éowyn lies injured at the hands of the Witch-king, Gothmog follows towards her ready to finish her off with a spiked mace, but his arm is cut off and stabbed three times by Aragorn and Gimli, who are, simply, just passing by and do not realize they have just saved Éowyn.
In the 1977 SPI board game War of the Ring, he is described as the second-most powerful Nazgûl and chief lieutenant of Minas Morgul (see Minas Ithil) from when the city was taken from Gondor in a two-year siege a millennium prior to the War of the Ring; he is one of only three Power Player characters (other than Saruman) who can lead armies in this game with a morale rating between that of the Lord of the Nazgûl and the Mouth of Sauron. This depiction of Gothmog as Second of the Nine contradicts the Khamûl version because, at the time, Unfinished Tales would only be published five years later.
He is also a playable Mordor hero in EA's "The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - The Rise of the Witch-king".
[edit] References
- ^ Craig Parker interview by SF-Radio. Craig Parker.net. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.
