King of the Witches: the World of Alex Sanders; with Photographs by Jack Smith

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The Witch-king appears as a boss in the Wii and PS3 versions of The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, which depict Aragorn directly confronting this powerful foe. However, to stay true to the source material, Aragorn is unable to actually kill the Witch-king.

The feaefull aboundinge at this time in this countrie, of these detestable slaves of the Devil, the Witches or enchanters, hath moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch in post, this following treatise of mine (...) to resolve the doubting (...) both that such assaults of Satan are most certainly practised, and that the instrument thereof merits most severely to be punished. Nazgûl: Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shriveled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye. In theatre, the witch of Endor figures in Laurence Housman's 1944 play Samuel the Kingmaker, and has a central role in Howard Nemerov's 1961 play Endor. [28] The character has been portrayed cinematically by Israeli actor Dov Reiser in the 1976 television film The Story of David, and by Belgian actress Lyne Renée in the 2016 series Of Kings and Prophets. Under torture Sampson confessed that she had tried to use witchcraft against the king. James VI asked her to prove it and according to Carmichael, “she declared unto him the very words which passed between the king’s majesty and his queen at Oslo in Norway the first night of their marriage”. James VI had her burned at the stake, not surprisingly. ONE of the men named by Duncan was Dr Fian, aka Cunningham, a school teacher who was dragged before the king himself. This tale of the extraordinary encounter between the accused and the monarch is most definitely as recorded by Carmichael because James VI later wrote about it in his infamous 1597 work Daemonologie, a piece of propaganda to convince the people of England, over whom he was soon to reign, that their future king was a witchfinder general of astonishing talents. The same man, don’t forget, would within a few years commission the Revised Version of the Bible in English. No wonder they called him the wisest fool in Christendom.The prophecy made by Glorfindel at the Battle of Fornost centuries before was fulfilled, as Éowyn was a woman. The Witch-king's death changed the tide of the battle, and ultimately the outcome of the war. Gillis Duncan caused the arrest of Barbara Naper for bewitching to death Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus. Archibald was reported to have died from a disease so strange there could be no cure or remedy. [5] He fell ill at Langhope and died at Smeaton near Dalkeith on 4 August 1588. [18] The Witch-king confronts Gandalf and Pippin at Minas Tirith Films The Lord of the Rings film trilogy " Do you not know death when you see it, old man? This is my hour! You have failed. The world of men will fall." — The Witch-king to Gandalf in the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King At which point they promise to conjure up a storm. This does seem a very unlikely coincidence; it is clear James’ disdain for witches had spread countywide. James had been King of Scotland after his mother Mary Queen of Scots abdicated in 1567, although regents ruled on his behalf until he came of age in 1576. James became King of England in 1603 on the death of Elizabeth 1 and appears to have continued to be fascinated by the dark arts: releasing his best-selling book, ‘Daemonologie’, which explored the areas of witchcraft and demonic magic, shortly after assuming the throne. Newes from Scotland (London, 1591), reprinted in Robert Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. 1, pt. 2 (Edinburgh, 1833), pp. 215-223.

Cramer, Maria (9 March 2022). "Scotland Apologizes for History of Witchcraft Persecution". The New York Times . Retrieved 9 March 2022. The Witch of Endor ( Hebrew: בַּעֲלַת־אֹוב בְּעֵין דּוֹר baʿălaṯ-ʾōḇ bəʿĒyn Dōr, "mistress of the ʾōḇ in Endor") is a woman who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was consulted by Saul to summon the spirit of the prophet Samuel. Saul wished to receive advice on defeating the Philistines in battle, after prior attempts to consult God through sacred lots and other means had failed. However, what is summoned, whether the actual ghost of Samuel or a spirit impersonating him, only delivers a prophecy of doom against Saul. This event occurs in the First Book of Samuel; [1] it is also mentioned in the deuterocanonical Book of Sirach. [2] Etymology [ edit ] Shakespeare adapted or was influenced by several concepts from the trials, including the rituals confessed by the witches and the Scottish setting, in his tragedy Macbeth. [26] Heavily influenced by the incidents made public, the play was published a few years after King James's Daemonologie. Borrowing many quotes from the treaties, the three witches cast their spells in the same manner: [27] "purposely to be cassin into the sea to raise winds for destruction of ships." [28] Tyson, Donald (2012). The Demonology of King James I: Includes the Original Text of Daemonologie and News from Scotland. Llewellyn Worldwide. pp.15–16. ISBN 978-0-7387-2994-7. There were no laws banning witchcraft in Britain until Henry VIII took to the throne – he was the first ruler to define witchcraft as an offence. In 1542, the Witchcraft Act was passed and the practice became a crime punishable by death. 7. There was a 17th-century “Witchfinder General”Johns, J (1969). King of the Witches: The World of Alex Sanders. London: Peter Davies. p.63; 66-68. David Reid, David Hume of Godscroft's History of the House of Angus, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 2005), p. 397. Since this passage states the witch made a loud cry in fear when she saw Samuel's spirit, some interpreters reject the suggestion that the witch was responsible for summoning Samuel's spirit, claiming instead that this was the work of God. [20] [21] Joyce Baldwin (1989) writes that Hoffner, Harry A. (1967). "Second millenium antecedents to the Hebrew 'Ôḇ". Journal of Biblical Literature. Atlanta, Georgia: Society of Biblical Literature. 86 (4): 385–401. doi: 10.2307/3262793. JSTOR 3262793.

The Witch-king appears in all The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King games as a boss, although in the PS2/Xbox/GameCube the player merely shoots his Nazgûl-bird a number of times until it dies and crashes on the battlefield, where the Witch-king is then battled and killed by Éowyn in a cutscene. He was also in the The Third Age PS2 game as a Pelennor Fields boss and in the GBA version as an optional Evil commander that focuses mainly on dealing out huge amounts of damage directly. a b "Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of History". The Witch Persecution in Scotland. Vol.3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania. Dept. of History. 1912. pp.19–23 . Retrieved 17 June 2016. He also reasons scholastically what kinds of things are possible in the performance of these arts, and the natural causes of the Devil's power with the use of philosophical reasoning. [A 1] King James sought to prove the existence of witchcraft to other Christians through biblical teachings. His work is separated into three books based on the different arguments the philosophers discuss, with citations of biblical scripture throughout the text.

7. There was a 17th-century “Witchfinder General”

Agnes Sampson the eldest witch of them all, dwelling in Haddington; Agnes Tompson of Edenbrough; Doctor Fian alias John Cuningham, master of the school at Saltpans in Lowthian, of whose life and strange acts you shal hear more largely in the end of this discourse. These were by the said Geillis Duncane accused, as also George Motts wife, dwelling in Lowthian; Robert Grierson, skipper; and Jannet Blandilands; with the potter's wife of Seaton: the smith at the Brigge Hallis, with innumerable others in those parts, and dwelling in those bounds aforesaid; of whom some are already executed, the rest remained in prison to receive the doome of judgment at the Kinges Majesties will and pleasure. [14] [15] Beyond the visual interpretations of the witches, there are some structural differences in the play, further separating them from the other characters. In an analysis conducted by the British Library, author Carol Atherton observed that the witches speak in a different meter than the other characters in the work. While other characters, including Macbeth, speak in iambic meter the witches speak in trochaic meter. What does this mean? It means that while other characters are speaking in alternating unstressed and stressed syllables, the witches are alternating stressed then unstressed syllables (Atherton). By starting their lines with stressed syllables, the witches come off as more aggressive and even foreboding, thus adding to their mysterious and somewhat terrifying image. This analysis also notes that there is a difference in number of syllables averaging in each line, the witches only average around four syllables while most of Shakespeare’s lines contain five syllables (Atherton). Lastly, Atherton notes that the witches speak in more rhymed couplets than other characters, making their dialogue sound more like a spell. These fundamental differences in speech are immediate ways to drive a barrier between the witches and the other characters, not only when people are reading the play but also seeing it performed are they able to notice right away there is a distinct difference in speech pattern between the “human” characters and these mysterious witches. King James wrote a dissertation titled Daemonologie that was first sold in 1597, several years prior to the first publication of the King James Authorized Version of the Bible. Within three short books James wrote a philosophical dissertation in the form of a Socratic dialogue for the purpose of making arguments and comparisons between magic, sorcery and witchcraft, but wrote also his classification of demons.