| “ | Not too soon came their aid to the Rohirrim; for fortune had turned against Éomer, and his fury had betrayed him. The great wrath of his onset had passed clear through the ranks of the Southrons, discomfiting their horsemen and riding their footmen to ruin. But wherever the Mûmakil came there the horses would not go, but blenched and served away; and the great monsters were unfought, and stood like towers of defense, and the Haradrim rallied about them. And if the Rohirrim at their onset were thrice outnumbered by the Haradrim alone, soon their case became worse; for new strength came now streaming to the field out of Osgiliath. There they had been mustered for the sack of the City and the rape of Gondor, waiting on the call of their Captain. He now was destroyed; but Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray. | „ |
| ~ J.R.R Tolkien's passage of Gothmog and the attack on Gondor. |
Gothmog is a minor antagonist in The Return of the King, the third book in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel trilogy The Lord of the Rings.
He was the high-ranking Mordor commander, Witch-King of Angmar's second-in-command and the ground leader of Sauron's forces during the Battle of Pelennor Fields. He never appeared in person during the events of the novel and was only mentioned briefly by Tolkien. It is also unknown to what race he belonged Orcs or Men.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- While he never appeared in person during the novel, but it's known that he served Sauron for the long time and so it could be assumed that he was responsible for the death of thousands of innocent individuals, such as men of Gondor. He was also willing to serve Sauron and Witch-King and help them with their plans of the world domination over Middle-Earth and the rest of the planet Arda and was willing to commit the genocide of the human race and mass enslavement of all Middle-Earth's races.
- He participates in the battle of the Pelennor Fields and likely slaughters multiple defenders of Minas-Tirith, albeit it's not confirmed.
- He remains loyal to Sauron and Witch-King and never redeems himself.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- He suffers from offscreen villainy and Fridge Horror, because his crimes were never shown on-screen and were only mentioned.
- He lacks a clear personality and motives and also possesses a vague personality, because he never appeared during the events of the novel.
- He fails the heinous standard to Morgoth, Sauron, Witch-King, Saruman and Smaug and so he can't qualify to the higher moral scale.
- While it's not confirmed, but he possibly can have genuine loyalty towards his masters Sauron and Nazgul, because he was willing to follow them to the end.
Trivia[]
- He is Villainous Benchmark, while his movie counterpart is a Pure Evil, being a ruthless orc commander, who has clear moral agency, appeared in person during the events of the movie and also because of much lower heinous standard in the movies.
- He shares the same name with Morgoth's Balrog general.
External Links[]
- Gothmog on the Villains Wiki