Gaunt Men

Gaunt Men or Gaunt-men are a species of Ancient Evil.

Description

Gaunt Men are one of the many creatures bred and twisted by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, in Angband during the First Age. They were once enslaved Men, twisted and made host to fell-spirits. After Morgoth's expulsion from the world, the remaining Gaunt-men went into hiding in the realm that later became Angmar. Their power was greatly diminished, and the White Council mistakenly believed them to have been destroyed. With the return of Sauron, their power has returned and they now walk the world again, along with the other forces of darkness.

As their name indicates, they resemble pale, emaciated mortal Men. They are clearly not alive in the same way mortals are, though unlike wights they seem to wither rather than decay.

Locations

Locations where Gaunt Men can be found include:

Landscape

• Angmar:
  • Imlad Balchorth
  • Nan Gurth
• Bree-land:
  • Southern Barrow-downs
• Lone-lands:
  • Agamaur
  • Haragmar
• Morgul Vale:
  • Minas Morgul
  • Thuringwath
• Mirkwood:
  • Dourstocks
  • The Scuttledells
• Trollshaws:
  • Nan Tornaeth

Quests and Instances

• Evendim:
  • Northcotton Farm
• Enedwaith:
  • Instance: Darkness Revealed
  • Ost Dunhoth
• Forochel:
  • Cold as Death
  • Sâri-surma
• Lone-lands:
  • Garth Agarwen: Barrows
• Minas Morgul
  • Bâr Nírnaeth
• Misty Mountains:
  • Helegrod: Dragon Wing
• Trollshaws:
  • Lost Temple

Tactics

Gaunt Men are always aggressive, and tend to be of Signature or higher difficulty. They are most vulnerable to Beleriand damage, and to a lesser degree to Ancient Dwarf-make damage, Light damage, and Westernesse damage. They are most resistant to Common damage and Tactical damage.

They commonly bestow a Lurking Sickness which renders the victim Knocked Down and drained of Power if not cured in time. Some Gaunt Men call forth a Summoned Servant to assist them in combat. Loyal servants of the Dark Lords, caring nothing for the lives of mortals, these ancient creatures are certainly Evil in alignment.

Gaunt Lords

The Gaunt-lords are the five mightiest Gaunt-men, chosen from among the lesser Gaunt-men by Morgoth for greater power. When the Five Wizards, sent by the Valar to aid in the fight against Sauron, arrived to lend wisdom to the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, the Witch-king summoned the Gaunt-men to his service at Ufurok, the Dreadfast, hidden in the Morgul Vale. Among them, these five gained yet greater power to match the five Wizards, embodying death, pestilence, famine, war, and purest evil. These creatures are among the most powerful of the Enemy’s servants.

The Gaunt-lords have powers beyond those of lesser Gaunt Men, perhaps foremost of which is the ability to summon fell spirits into the world. They are known to use distinctively marked sigils to do so, and these or similar sigils are also used by the subjects of the Gaunt-lords to indicate their allegiance. Gaunt-lords have also shown the ability to turn ethereal to escape, and to transfer themselves into inert bodies. The leader of the Gaunt-lords, Gortheron the Doom-caller, is capable of reviving his fellows and opening temporary gates to distant locations.

The Witch-king appears to have kept records on the five Gaunt-lords in Roz Dagalur, the Fiend-house in Minas Morgul. He may have been attempting to create a new set of Gaunt-lords, but his work remained unfinished.

The five Gaunt-lords are:

• Ivar the Blood-hand, Minion of Battle, the Gaunt-lord of War, made in mockery of Radagast the Brown. Ivar is first encountered in Skorgrím's Tomb in Ered Luin, where he appears to raise Skorgrím Dourhand from the dead. Two years later, he is seen in the Great Barrow with Skorgrím and the Witch-king of Angmar, who sends him east into the Lone-lands. There, in Garth Agarwen, Ivar seeks to control the Red-maid, but is defeated by Radagast the Brown and his allies. He is later brought back and leads an attack on Stoneheight to claim a helm that grants him great power. He is long gone before the town is reclaimed, however, and rejoins Gortheron at Ost Dunhoth in Enedwaith.
• Thadúr the Ravager, Minion of Misery, the Gaunt-lord of Famine. Thadúr is first encountered in his wing of the Great Barrow, in the Southern Barrow-downs of Bree-land. After his destruction, Thadúr is resurrected and takes over Northcotton Farm in Evendim in a plot to poison the Hobbits with his new poison, the Darkthorn.
• Ferndúr the Virulent, Minion of Plague, the Gaunt-lord of Pestilence. Ferndúr is first encountered at Ost Brandras in the Trollshaws, where he is spreading disease and raising wights in Nan Tornaeth. Glorfindel the Elf-lord drives him away, and Ferndúr retreats to Imlad Balchorth in Angmar, where he must be lured forth to be destroyed. He is later resurrected and returns to the Trollshaws at the Lost Temple, where he is preparing to release a plague known as the Red Cloud.
• Drugoth the Death-monger, Minion of Shadow, the Gaunt-lord of Death. Also called Drugoth the Black. Drugoth is first encountered in the Helegrod Treasury in the Misty Mountains, attempting to turn the carcass of the Dragon Thorog into a wight under his command. When the Dragon Wing of Helegrod is assaulted, he resorts to transferring his spirit into the dragon-wight to take direct control. After his defeat at Helegrod, Drugoth later resurfaces at Sâri-surma in the Ice-bay of Forochel, where he raises an army of frozen wights. Though defeated, some part of him at least survives thanks to his followers and students in Angmar, brought to trouble the peaks of Mount Gundabad.
• Gortheron the Doom-caller, greatest of the Gaunt-lords, the Gaunt-lord of Purest Evil. Gortheron is first encountered in Lhe Colvarn in the Lich Bluffs of Enedwaith, where he attempts to resurrect Ferndúr. Though the ritual is interrupted, Gortheron eventually succeeds in restoring his fallen brethren, and raises a mighty force of undead at Ost Dunhoth, where he must be ended once and for all.

Background

Gaunt Men were created for The Lord of the Rings Online, using lore surrounding the coming of the Wizards and the physical manifestation of spirits.

Index

The many Gaunt Men that have come forth and been reported are:

Gaunt Men‎ (63 P)

Gallery

• Images of Gaunt Men.
• 

  Fergandir, a scholarly Gaunt Man rumoured to have once been far more powerful, and perhaps responsible for leading the first fell spirits into the Barrow-downs.

• 

  The Master of Nan Dhelu, a servant of Ivar in Haragmar.

• 

  Goeolgúr, a Gaunt Man in Dolendath in Imlad Balchorth.

• 

  Brungúr, a Gaunt Man of Mirkwood, found at the Shrine of the Ancient One in the Scuttledells.

• 

  Bortharak, a gaunt Man found in Roz Dagalur, the Fiend-house, in Minas Morgul.

• 

  Dúrlin Black-Song, one of various Harbingers of the Dead found in skirmishes throughout Middle-earth.

• 

  Thadúr the Ravager, Gaunt-lord of Famine.

• 

  Ferndúr the Virulent, Gaunt-lord of Pestilence.

• 

  Drugoth the Death-monger, Gaunt-lord of Death.

• 

  Ivar the Blood-hand, Gaunt-lord of War.

• 

  Gortheron the Doom-caller, Gaunt-lord of Purest Evil.

• 

  Agath-kali, the Gaunt-woman, Mistress of Lamentation, and Keeper of Bâr Nírnaeth.