[CaptainofDespair]

The Darkness grows, and Mordor awakens. The end of Eregion draws nigh.

To give you all an idea of what you're up against, here is the bio for my cameo baddie.

NAME: He is known to the Elves as Angoroth, the Iron Terror. To all others, he was named only by his short-lived title, as The Hammer of Morgoth. However, his true name he has lost, having let it go unused for an age, or more. Thus, he does not name himself, as he feels he is already quite recognizable through the fear he instills with his brooding presence.

AGE: He does not care to remember how long he has resided in Ea.

RACE: Maiar, in the form of a Man.

GENDER: Male

WEAPONS: His preferred method of combat is with his broadsword, which he is often found gleefully dismembering his enemies with. Though he bears no other weapons, he is a formidable opponent without one. His large hands and strong arms are capable of exerting the force necessary to crush the skull of any creature, even if it leaves its helmet on.

APPEARANCE: Angoroth stands slightly taller than a Numenorean. His hair is black, like coal. His eyes are equally as dark, and they bear a peculiar glint of mischief, and a yearning for horrendous carnage and wanton destruction. His face, when he reveals it, is surprisingly unscathed by two ages of warfare. He is well ‘designed’, as he fondly describes himself. He wears a black, modified version of a Barbute helm upon his head, which is topped off by a cascade of black horse hair for a plume. Over his chest he wears black padded cloth, with blackened chain mail laid over that. The same color-scheme applies to the vambraces and greaves that he bears on his forearms and legs.

PERSONALITY/STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES: His most desirable quality, at least to Sauron, is his apparent ‘need’ for slaughter and mayhem. With a great lack of massive wars in this Second Age, his blade has gone without the stain of blood, to his disappointment, and he now craves it, as if addicted to bloodshed and the lust for it. But, unlike some of Sauron’s other minions and henchmen, he is patient enough to wait for his time. However, upon reaching that point, he becomes rather impetuous. Though most would consider his massive ego and temper a problem, Sauron does not, and has found that this particular egotistical, warmongering, volcano of a Maiar is quite useful to his purposes. His hatred of the Elves has also been something of great interest to the Dark Lord, who seeks to his him in his coming war against them.

Despite his ‘desirable’ qualities, the Dark Lord has found a few…traits…that are unwanted, and quite problematic. At any random moment, he wanders away from his duties, to brood and contemplate that which has long been forgotten by most. On one occasion, this led to a group of rebellious Easterlings crushing the troop of orcs under his command. He also displays a complete lack of sanity, normally just prior to, or just following, one his brooding moments. And, in the spirit of sport, he has shown mercy, if he feels bored and desires to ‘hunt’ his ‘prey’. His personality irregularities only grow more eccentric from there, leading some of Sauron’s more worthy minions to secretly question the choice of him as The Dark Lord’s “Hand”.

HISTORY: Angoroth, named by the Elves for the black cloth and armored garb he is fond of, as well as the death he afforded a good many of those who did not continue the march to The Blessed Realm. Their utter hatred of him, though miniscule in the larger sense, has caused him to be stricken from their memories, his name only mentioned in the darkest, most forgotten histories. And his true name was not to be uttered again, and was completely forgotten by all but a few. Just prior, he had fought for Morgoth, and tried in vain to break the siege of Utumno for his lord. This failure was his first. He was banished by the Dark Lord, and he fled into the wilderness of the East, to hunt anything unwary enough to travel beyond Beleriand. He hunted the Elves for a time, and then vanished. Well, at least until the Siege of Angband. Having seen his forces torn apart, Morgoth summoned back his “Hammer”, and allowed him to sow death in the ranks of the Elves and the Host of the Valar, and reap the joys of it. But, when Angband fell, before Morgoth could be captured, he banished his minion for the final time. Angoroth escaped the fall of the doomed fortress, and fled eastward, yet again. This time, however, he fled deeper into the East; farther than he had since his first banishment, near to the place where he first found the Elves. There, he settled down in mountains now unknown to him, and he hid his visage from all, waiting for a time when he could rise again.

That time would come well into the Second Age, though he knew it not as that. His sense of time had all but dissipated, leaving him ‘stuck’ in the past. The centuries that he waited in the darkness of the mountains left him with little to do. He brooded mostly, on his failures. At other times, he would create elaborate recreations of his past battles, failure or not, and strategize his plans for vengeance. Yet, when Sauron rose up in his might, and began terrorizing and manipulating the Easterling tribes into serving him as soldiers, Angoroth came down from his mountain abode, and began to seek blood. He hated Sauron, for the second Dark Lord had been Morgoth’s right hand, the place of honor that Angoroth felt should have been bestowed upon him instead. He fought against Sauron’s orcs, and the Easterlings, until Sauron summoned the rogue Maiar to him. The Dark Lord was preparing for a massive war, and he promised Angoroth the blood of the Noldor, those which he sought vengeance against. Though wary, and still wearing his contempt for Sauron on his sleeve, he accepted the offer, and became the Hand of Sauron, his champion. After that, he was given command of an eastern battalion, and sent to put down rebellions, to both keep him occupied, and keep him conditioned for the war. And now, that time has come, and Angoroth goes forth to achieve his redemption.