Ya'll lets keep WK bad

I have a multi-season idea for a series about the division of Arnor with the marriage of Tarannon to Berúthiel playing a critical role in it (which results in Berúthiel's exile. I would make every character complex; not sympathetic per say, but complex in the way that "Aldarion and Erendis" is complex. Cardolan would succeed from Arnor to be more like Gondor (though manipulated by Tarciryan) while Rhudaur would succeed to act as a “haven” for Hill-men fleeing the mountains where Carn Dûm is (and more hostile Hill-men). Arthedain would succeed to avoid a civil war with Cardolan and Rhudaur.

All that would be a result of the High King being poisoned by Berúthiel's cats (who would all be sympathetic).

The end of the series would have a battle for the Tower of Amon Sûl between a Gondor-backed Cardolan (they would want the palantir just to possess it) and an Arthedain-backed Rhudaur (they would want the Palantir to investigate the Mountains of Angmar). The battle would end with the first king of Cardolan being killed needlessly by the first king of Rhudaur (though Amlaith would abandon Rhudaur to its endless war with Cardolan over the Tower of Amon Sûl because of the kinslaying).

In a follow up film adaptation involving Berúthiel, Tarannon, Tarciryan, and Eärnil, I would put in a reference to Tevildo by having that be a name of one of Berúthiel's cats (along with Oikeroi and Umuiyan and Miaulë).

Someone needs a review of what it means to have become an enslaved wraith. There's no three-dimensional character possible with them- they sold it away by taking the Nine Rings, as Sauron intended. They are most certainly reduced-to-2D, having lost their humanity, and represent one's own decline when enslaved to material things through greed.

But still, this war is definitely an exciting war to expand upon, as the campaign to Rise of the Witch-king does.

@HiddenVale Didn't Tolkien mention if the Witch King had got the Ring he would have just simply given it back to Sauron with no thoughts of his own power?

The honesty is that my opinion is also based on the fact that the Witch King of Angmar is an inherently evil entity. But there are some good ideas I see.Come to the LOTR Fanon Wiki and we can talk about them there. @Godzillavkk @Drour1234

But if they are slaves, they have no choice.

@Aiedaeil because he couldn't do anything else. The Witch King has no soul and very minimal independent thought if any. I doubt it can even take peasure in anything it does anymore. There's simply nothing human left there.

Let me guess, this idea is from playing The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king?

If I were to adapt the war, I would do it from the perspective of the lord of the Hill-men and Araphor, son of Arveleg I, who was a teenager at the start of the war. Maybe an 8 episode animated short series would be good with episodes ranging from 30 min to 45 min.

Like many of the peripheral stories of the early middle Third Age, there isn't much to go on, so there would have to be quite a few characters and stories that would need to be invented. If TRoP is any indication, this could be dangerous.

Similar to War in the North video game

@HiddenVale @Mitth'raw'nuruodo3 From my understanding, The Nazgul are enslaved by the Ring but have some freedom to make their own choices so long as they don't disobey Sauron. Reading the Readers Companion and Hunt for the Ring give away a lot of character that the books leave out. They display a lot of emotion in Hammond's and Scull's Reader's Companion in particular. (I LOVE THE READER'S CAMPANION!! READ THE NAZGUL PARTS OF IT! IT'S A MUST READ FOR NAZGUL FANS!)

But even in the books we see them have dialog like Khamul with Farmer Maggot.

This is a really good passage from one of Tolkien's writings saved at the Marquette archives and published in the Readers Companion:

The Nazgul are clearly shown plotting and planning. Khamul is even capable of making mistakes.

Witch King is uncertain about what to do and has to debate his choices.

There's also a lot of words related to emotions such as: desiring, elated, alarmed, angry, uncertain. They couldn't stop searching for the Ring but they have their own minds that can reason about the best way to do it.

TLDR; The Nazgul don't have a choice when it comes to following Sauron's will but they have a choice on how they actually carry will out.

I agree with keeping the Witch King bad. I think that he should be complex but I don't need Witch King tragic backstory.

There is some textual evidence that not all of the Nazgul had evil intentions at first:

"And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and under the domination of the One,"

'to the good or evil of their wills' is key here. So having a wraith or two with some tragedy to their story wouldn't be canon breaking.

The Witch King having a very tragic backstory isn't a choice I'm making in my stories about the Nazgul. (Some bad things happen to him but it's not why he became evil)