The Big Bad Read

[Farael]

or three questions in one

My favourite LoTR Villain? That has to be the Witch King. When he speaks, it sends a shiver down your spine. He's outright rotten, even if he was not so once a long time ago. Yes, he is not completely his own Master, his will is bent to Sauron's, and yet he is much more real... Sauron in LoTR is too abstract to be scary.

But my favourite baddie in all of Tolkien's work? ah, when we add the Silmarillion to the equation then Sauron wins by a landslide. Morgoth is as bad as they get, but he's again too abstract (less abstract than Sauron in LoTR but still a bit too out there. Yet Sauron.... we get to learn a bit more about him on the Sil, so that when you read about his work in LoTR he is no longer a big red eye standing atop a mighty fortress... he's the same guy who ensnared the elves (elves! and he messed with them!) of Eregion, the same guy who fought with Beren and Luthien (and lost)... and the list goes on.

My favourite bad guy on that list? well, Sauron, 'cos I plain old don't really know any others. And no, Zaphoid is NOT a villian.