Region
Angmar
The cold northern realm of the Witch-king, set where the Misty Mountains meet the Ettenmoors
Angmar sits at the top of the Misty Mountains on the Middle-earth map, where the main range meets a westward spur called the Mountains of Angmar. South of it are the Ettenmoors and the troll-country above Rivendell; west and south lie the old lands of Arthedain and Rhudaur; north the map fades into the Forodwaith and the Northern Waste, the cold belt left behind after Morgoth's fortress of Utumno was broken in the First Age. The Ice Bay of Forochel cuts into that northern coast far to the west.
The realm was made for a single purpose. Around TA 1300 a sorcerer-king appeared in the north and gathered Orcs, Men and evil creatures into a kingdom. He was in fact the chief of the Nazgul, and his task was to destroy the successor kingdoms of Arnor. His stronghold was Carn Dum, a fortress in the western arm of the mountains. Mount Gram to the south was a lesser Orc-hold, remembered because its king Golfimbul was killed at the Battle of Greenfields in TA 1147 by Bandobras Took.
Angmar's wars ran for nearly seven centuries. Rhudaur fell under its control, Cardolan was overrun in TA 1409, and Arthedain held out until TA 1974, when Fornost was stormed and the last king Arvedui fled north to Forochel and drowned. A year later a fleet from Gondor under Earnur landed at the Grey Havens, and the host of Angmar was broken at the Battle of Fornost. The Witch-king fled and reappeared in the south, where he took Minas Ithil and made it Minas Morgul.
Mount Gundabad, at the corner where the Grey Mountains join the Misty Mountains, is really its own place but is often grouped with this region. It was a holy mountain to the Dwarves, the site where Durin the Deathless awoke, and for most of the Third Age it was a great Orc-hold. The Orc armies that fought the Dwarves in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, and the goblins who came south to the Battle of Five Armies in TA 2941, mustered from these northern strongholds.
By the time of The Lord of the Rings, Angmar is an empty and haunted name, but its work survives in the Barrow-downs, where the wights it sent still lie, and in the Witch-king himself at Minas Morgul.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Angmar on the Middle-earth map?
Angmar is at the far northern end of the Misty Mountains, where the range meets an east-west spur. It lies north of the Ettenmoors and Rhudaur, with the Northern Waste beyond it.
Who ruled Angmar?
The Witch-king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgul, founded the realm around TA 1300 and ruled it from Carn Dum until his forces were destroyed at the Battle of Fornost in TA 1975.
What is Mount Gundabad?
A mountain at the meeting of the Misty Mountains and the Grey Mountains. Dwarves held it sacred as the place where Durin the Deathless awoke, but for most of the Third Age it was a major Orc stronghold.