Friday, April 08, 2011

The Mouth of Sauron



The Mouth of Sauron.

"At its head there rode a tall and evil shape, mounted upon a black horse, if horse it was; for it was huge and hideous, and its face a frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head, and in the sockets of its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame. The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dur he was, and his name is remembered in no tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said: 'I am the Mouth of Sauron.' But it is told that he was a renegade, who came of the race of those that are named Black Numenoreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and because of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord's favour; and he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron; and he was more cruel than any orc."


"He it was that now rode out, and with him came only a small company of black-harnessed soldiery, and a single banner, black but bearing on it in red the Evil Eye. Now halting a few paces before the Captains of the West he looked them up and down and laughed"


" 'Is there anyone in this rout with authority to treat with me?' he asked. 'Or indeed with wit to understand me? Not thou at least!' he mocked turning to Aragorn with scorn. 'It needs more to make a king than a piece of elvish glass, or a rabble such as this. Why any brigand of the hills can show as good a following!' "


"Aragorn said naught in answer, but he took the other's eye and held it, and for a moment they strove thus; but soon, though Aragorn did not move hand to weapon, the other quailed and gave back as if menaced with a blow. 'I am a herald and ambassador, and may not be assailed!' he cried"


"Where such laws hold,' said Gandalf, 'it is also the custom for ambassadors to use less insolence. But no one has threatened you. You have naught to fear from us, until your errand is done. But unless your master has come to new wisdom, then with all his servants you will be in great peril' "

From The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Five, The War of the Ring, The Black Gate opens.

A great scene and one of my favourites from the book. Sadly only in the extended version of the movies, and whilst I love the portrayal of this dread character, and his delightfully menacing voice, I am just a little saddened that he is so summarily executed by Aragorn. Still I guess Aragorn was a bit peeved at this point in the movie, and could hold his temper no longer!

The Mouth of Sauron also makes a very interesting and themed option for Mordor armies.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Scott, I like it.

    My son and I are big fans of that scene as well - though this is something I like him to not-mention around his mother!

    He is a handy Mordor hero, and sadly too often overshadowed by the Nazgul in WOTR. He is not too bad in his own right, and I think of him as an excellent template for evil spell casters more generally.

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  2. Thanks Jamie, Yeah he's certainly one of the more enigmatic characters in the book, enough only briefly touched upon.

    I know what you mean about young sons. Mine, Chris is 7 now, but was probably about 5 when I first introduced him to LOTR movies... Oddly enough the things I expected him to be scared of, he wasn't - the ringwraiths, Balrog, Shelob etc etc. The only thing that spooked him was Gollum, especially the talking to himself scenes, that seemed to unnerve him. Oh, and of course the troll from behind the pillar in Moria. It took us a while to get him back down from the ceiling... but we coaxed him down with milk an cookies... ;-)

    I'm intrigued to try MoS in a WOTR game, I'm just not sure what role would best suit him. Plus he is rather themed to Mordor/ Morannon based army.

    I may just use the model as a captain figure for my Morgul Knights...

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  3. He's right. I recently tried MoS with the Morgul Knights and he pretty much got sacked before getting to do much. (especially having only 1 epic action). Neat model though, and you did awesome making the colors screen accurate! By the way, what kind of black/mix did you use for his cloth areas?

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  4. "Painting Black"
    I use the following for black robes, so MoS, 'Wraiths, Morgul Knights and Stalkers, etc etc:
    Undercoat black, dry brush with very dark grey (like adeptus grey), then edge highlight with a mid grey like codex grey. Fine lines on raised material edges for this. Then wash with Badab black. Works a treat.

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  5. Amazing how many of GW´s figs are based on deleted scenes or simply from Extended edition material. The MoS, the Witchking´s fiery sword, some limited figures, etc.

    Cheers!

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  6. Nice! I've been using Codex for the first drybrushing and couldn't get it right. I'll try Adeptus this time. Thanks for the tip!

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