We announced that a new plastic Witch-king of Angmar was on his way at Ardacon 2021. With the Lord of the Nazgûl primed to make his long-awaited arrival, it’s time for the man behind the design to tell all. Jay Clare, one of the Middle-earth team’s resident scribes, sat down with Gavin Newton to find out what went into sculpting one of the most terrifying characters in all of Middle-earth.
Jay Clare: The Witch-king is Sauron’s greatest servant – what was it like to work on such an iconic character?Gavin Newton: Up until now, I haven’t had many chances to create the Evil-doers in Middle-earth, so being able to sink my teeth into one of the most important bad guys of the whole story was a mouth-watering prospect.
Although Sauron is the ultimate Evil of the story, he spends the whole time as a big flaming eye in Mordor, so it’s the Witch-king who leads the Dark Lord’s armies in his stead. I wanted to ensure he was full of menace, and also looking as though he could command his minions into battle.
Jay: There are plenty of options in this kit – did you have any challenges to tackle during the design process?
Gavin: The main challenge was that the Crown of Morgul is an optional piece of wargear in the Strategy Battle Game. I wanted hobbyists to be able to build their Witch-king in any way they wanted – either as the shrouded version reminiscent of the Black Riders, or in his full war panoply as he was during the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
Of course, this presented its own challenges – the nature of the Crown of Morgul and the pauldrons he wears at Pelennor Fields means that it wasn’t quite as simple as just making two different heads. Tackling these challenges is often like a jigsaw in reverse, where the model is designed and then cut up into components afterwards. In the end, I separated the model below the shoulders and sculpted two versions from that point upwards – one armoured, and one hooded. I am really pleased with how it all turned out.
Jay: What part of the model are you most proud of?
Gavin: The horse. Usually when sculpting mounted models, we try to design them so that both rider and mount are in sync with each other, each part working together as they ride into battle – a kind of symbiosis, if you will.
That is absolutely not the case here. For the Witch-king, there is only one being in charge – and it’s not the horse! The Nazgûl is dominating the beast and it’s rearing up in a slightly less natural position to show this. It looks like one unhappy horse, and was a very different challenge to every other mounted model I’ve done so far.
Jay: How did you go about choosing the poses for the foot and mounted models?
Gavin: For the foot model, I wanted to recreate the scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King™ where the Witch-king effortlessly rises from the dust following the death of his Fell Beast. The silhouette of that pose is so menacing – sword in one hand and a huge flail in the other.
With the mounted model, it was all about making him look as though he’s driving his armies into battle. The Witch-king is a character that’s more likely to use fear to force the legions of Orcs to charge ahead of him, rather than to inspire them by leading from the front. The rearing horse and the Witch-king’s outstretched sword arm gives the impression of command.
Jay: Finally, now that the Witch-king is about to be released, how are you going to build yours?
Gavin: When I think of the Witch-king, it’s always the scene where he fights Éowyn that sticks in my mind, and so I think I’ll have both the foot and mounted versions with the Crown of Morgul so that I can play through those scenes at home. Maybe my Witch-king will have more luck than the one in the film – I mean, he was defeated on a technicality!
Thanks guys – sounds like the Witch-king was an absolute blast to work on. The Witch-king of Angmar will be available to pre-order soon, so until then, let us know which legions of the Dark Lord you’re planning to lead into battle with the Lord of the Nazgûl over on the Warhammer Official Facebook page.