- "Shire... Baggins..."
- —Khamûl, to Farmer Maggot[1]
Khamûl was one of the nine Ringwraiths second to the Witch-king, in Middle-earth. During the Third Age, he held Dol Guldur as Sauron's lieutenant. After the Witch-king was slain, he became the Lord of Nazgûl for a short period.[2]
Biography[]
Second Age[]
Khamûl was once a mortal man, an Easterling who ruled in Rhûn. He received one of the nine Rings of Power from the Dark Lord Sauron and in time he was corrupted and became one of his servants.
He first appeared as one of the Nazgûl in SA 2251.[3]
Third Age[]
In TA 2951, Sauron sent three Nazgûl to abide in Dol Guldur, and Khamûl commanded the fortress thereafter.[2][3][4]
War of the Ring[]
Khamûl was the wraith who pursued the hobbits to Bucklebury Ferry in the Shire, and who asked Farmer Maggot for "Baggins" just before Frodo Baggins left Hobbiton.[1]
Khamûl also appeared in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields with the other Nazgûl, mounted on his Fellbeast and killing Gondor's soldiers at the beginning of the battle. After the Witch-king's demise, he and the other seven lesser Nazgûl retreated to Mordor.[5]
Afterwards, Khamûl became the leader of the Nazgûl. He led them to the Battle of the Black Gate riding his Fellbeast, before they were attacked by the Eagles. The Nazgûl retreated when Sauron sensed that Frodo claimed the One Ring for himself, and were dispatched to Mount Doom. He fell in the eruption's fire.[6]
Names[]
Khamûl was called the Shadow of the East, the Second Chief, and the Black Easterling.[4] He was the only Ringwraith whose name was given by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as one of the six Ringwraiths not of Númenórean descent.
In a brief note tracking the movements of the Nazgûl within the Shire, Khamûl is referred to as "E" alongside a Ringwraith referred to as "F".[7]
In other versions[]
In prior versions of the legendarium, Khamûl was stationed at Dol Guldur on March 6, when Aragorn revealed himself to Sauron and began marching on the Wood-elf realms on March 10. On March 11, his forces began assailing the nearby Lothlórien. After this failed, much of his force passed around the border of the woods and entered the Wold of Rohan. On March 12, they were met with Ents sent east from Fangorn and Isengard, and were routed. Lórien was then attacked twice more on March 15 and March 22, but was never entered. The forces of Dol Guldur also went north into Mirkwood, battling the forces of King Thranduil under Mirkwood's trees, the climax of these battles being on March 15, which after a "long battle... and great ruin and fire" was won by Thranduil's forces.
In adaptations[]
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy[]
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Khamûl is shown briefly, speaking to Farmer Maggot, who directs him onward to Hobbiton where one "Baggins" resides. Later, the Hobbits evade Farmer Maggot, but Frodo senses a presence and tells his friends to get off the road. Hiding behind a tree, the Hobbits hush as Khamûl approaches, catching their scent. As the four stay quiet, Merry throws a sack of vegetables behind the Rider's horse, distracting Khamûl and allowing the Hobbits to escape.
In The Return of the King, after the Ring is destroyed, Khamûl dies along with the seven other Ringwraiths in the eruption of Mount Doom, the Witch-king having perished earlier in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
In The Hobbit film trilogy[]
In the The Hobbit film trilogy, the nine Ringwraiths had been buried in the High Fells of Rhudaur, but emerged at the summons of the Necromancer, who is revealed to be Sauron. In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Khamûl and the other eight Ringwraiths engage the White Council in battle, with Khamûl wearing spectral Easterling armor.
In video games[]
- Though not named in the game, Khamûl was featured in The Lord of the Rings Online as the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur. He commands the forces of Sauron in Mirkwood and was the final boss of the 12-person raid on Barad Guldur, along with his fellbeast. He was once known as The Cursed Rider, as one of the Nine Nazgûl, he was the recipient of Orôm (Warmonger), one of the nine Rings of Power that were forged for Men. He was an Easterling King, but his name is lost in time, and he is now known by the most common of his many nicknames.
- In Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king, Khamûl is one of two named Ringwraith heroes of the Mordor faction who ride on fellbeasts.
Gallery[]
Translations[]
Foreign Language | Translated name |
Arabic | خمول |
Armenian | Խամոլ |
Belarusian Cyrillic | Кhамул |
Bengali | খামুল |
Bulgarian Cyrillic | Хамул |
Chinese (Hong Kong) | 克哈穆爾 |
Georgian | კჰამული |
Greek | Χαμούλ |
Gujarati | ખમુલ |
Hebrew | כאמול |
Hindi | खमुल |
Japanese | ハムール |
Kazakh | Кһамұл (Cyrillic) Khamul (Latin) |
Kannada | ಖಮುಲ |
Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Кhамул |
Macedonian Cyrillic | Кхамул |
Marathi | खमुल |
Mongolian Cyrillic | Кhамул |
Nepalese | खमुल |
Pashto | خمول |
Persian | خامول |
Punjabi | ਖਮੁਲ |
Russian | Кхамул |
Sanskrit | खमुल् |
Serbian | Камул (Cyrillic) Kamul (Latin) |
Sinhalese | ඛමුල් |
Tajik Cyrillic | Кҳамул |
Tamil | க்ஹமுல் |
Telugu | ఖముల |
Thai | คามูล |
Ukrainian Cyrillic | Кгамул |
Urdu | خمول |
Uzbek | Кҳамул (Cyrillic) Khamul (Latin) |
Yiddish | כאַמול |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. IV: "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three: The Third Age, IV: "The Hunt for the Ring"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Great Years"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three: The Third Age, IV: "The Hunt for the Ring", Notes
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Five, Ch. VI: "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Ch. III: "Mount Doom"
- ↑ The Nature of Middle-earth, Part Three: "The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants", XXI: "From The Hunt for the Ring", pg. 374