Speaker A
So this is a very common debate amongst fans of all things Middle-earth: who would win in a battle between one character and another, who is stronger, who is more powerful?
Explore the most powerful evil beings in Middle-earth, including Sauron, Balrogs, Nazgûl, dragons, and Saruman, based on Tolkien lore.
Key Takeaways
- Sauron is the most powerful evil being in Middle-earth due to his power, influence, and control.
- Balrogs and dragons are among the most formidable corrupted Maiar and creatures created by Morgoth.
- The Nazgûl are terrifying servants of Sauron with powers linked to his strength.
- Saruman's power as a Maia and his evil deeds earn him a place among Middle-earth's powerful evil beings.
- The video focuses on Middle-earth specifically, excluding more powerful beings from other parts of Tolkien's universe.
Summary
- The video discusses the most powerful evil beings specifically in Middle-earth, excluding the Valar and Melkor from the West of Arda.
- Sauron is highlighted as the most influential and powerful evil being due to his dominion over Orcs and men and his status as a Maia.
- Balrogs, particularly Durin's Bane and Gothmog, are powerful corrupted Maiar cloaked in shadow and flame, serving Morgoth in the First Age.
- The Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths, are nine men corrupted by Rings of Power, serving Sauron with immense magical abilities and fearsome presence.
- Dragons, bred by Morgoth, are mighty and malicious creatures with Glaurung as the father of dragons and Ancalagon the Black as the mightiest winged dragon.
- Saruman, a Maia and leader of the Istari, is included for his evil actions and potential power, despite not solely serving Morgoth or Sauron.
- The video emphasizes the long-lasting influence and fear these beings commanded across the ages in Middle-earth.
- It avoids ranking the characters to prevent debate, instead presenting them as a list of the most powerful evil beings.
- The video hints at future detailed content on specific characters like Gothmog and Glaurung.
- It clarifies that the power of the Wizards, including Saruman, is not fully known but potentially immense.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Well, in today's video, we are going to do our best to give you the information about who we would consider to be the most powerful evil beings in Middle-earth.
Speaker A
Now, please note that I have specifically said Middle-earth, meaning the east of Arda, the other side of the Great Sea, whereas the majority of the most powerful characters in Tolkien's universe exist to the West, so we won't be including any of the Valar in this video, including Melkor.
Speaker A
I do not want to go into great detail about the origins and backstory for each of these characters, as it's not a video on the history of their backgrounds, more just a list on who we classify as being the most powerful evil beings.
Speaker A
I also want to point out that this list is not in any order; I wouldn't dare attempt to rank these characters.
Speaker A
That will likely just cause arguments in the comments.
Speaker A
So these are, in no particular order, the most powerful evil beings in Middle-earth.
Speaker A
So let's start with the obvious, Sauron. Now Sauron's place on this list is not just justified by his actual capabilities and his amount of power, but his influence and control that he has over other beings.
Speaker A
Even if there were potentially other characters in Middle-earth that could give Sauron a run for his money in a one-on-one fight, his dominion over Orcs and men from the East means that he's not someone you would bet against.
Speaker A
Not only that, but he is, of course, a Maia; he is the greatest servant of Morgoth and he is a master manipulator.
Speaker A
After the downfall of Morgoth, Sauron continued to conquer pretty much all of Middle-earth throughout most of the Second and Third Ages.
Speaker A
Which is thousands of years worth of control, and even when he was not fully in control, he was still greatly feared.
Speaker A
It takes an extremely powerful being to have almost an entire world living in fear of his return.
Speaker A
Next, we are going to talk about Balrogs.
Speaker A
And here we're going to talk specifically about two: the one you are most likely familiar with, Durin's Bane.
Speaker A
But also the Lord of the Balrogs during the First Age, Gothmog.
Speaker A
Let's start with Durin's Bane.
Speaker A
He is, of course, a Balrog, one that likely survived the War of Wrath and fled East from the ruins of Angband, burying itself deep underground in the Misty Mountains beneath Khazad-dûm.
Speaker A
He was later awoken by the Dwarves in the Third Age and encountered the Fellowship.
Speaker A
He was, of course, killed by Gandalf soon after.
Speaker A
As Balrogs are fallen and corrupted Maiar that have said to have cloaked themselves in shadow and flame, it's safe to say that they are amongst the most powerful beings to ever step foot in Middle-earth.
Speaker A
Now let's look at Gothmog, the Lord of the Balrogs.
Speaker A
Not to be confused with Gothmog the Orc that was present during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Speaker A
This Gothmog was High Captain of Angband and one of the chief servants of Morgoth during the First Age.
Speaker A
He was one of the Maiar that followed Melkor against the other Valar, and because he had a brilliant mind and the ability to assume an immensely powerful form, he was made the Lord of Balrogs.
Speaker A
He actually played a huge role in many big wars during the First Age.
Speaker A
But was eventually slain during the fall of Gondolin by Ecthelion.
Speaker A
Gothmog is certainly a character that we are planning a full detailed video on soon, so keep an eye out for that one.
Speaker A
But to justify his place on this list, he was chosen by Morgoth to lead his armies.
Speaker A
That's enough of a justification for me.
Speaker A
Next up, we have the Nazgûl, also known as Ringwraiths or Black Riders, or simply as the Nine.
Speaker A
They were considered to be Sauron's most terrible servants in Middle-earth.
Speaker A
They were nine powerful men that were gifted Rings of Power by Sauron during the Second Age; they used these rings to gain much power, wealth, and prestige, and they became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old.
Speaker A
The rings that they wore gave them an unnatural long life until they eventually faded completely and became wraiths, servants of Sauron that had no will of their own.
Speaker A
Living only to serve their master.
Speaker A
As they exist only within the wraith world, they cannot be seen by most people, only when they wear their special black cloaks and armor given to them by Sauron.
Speaker A
This ability makes it near impossible for anyone to harm them.
Speaker A
Many of them also have magical abilities, but it's unknown if this was abilities they had in their previous lives, as I mentioned some of them were sorcerers.
Speaker A
Or whether it was dark magic that they learned from Sauron.
Speaker A
Either way, to be trusted as Sauron's chief servants during the War of the Ring gives them huge credibility for their level of power.
Speaker A
None more so than the Witch-king of Angmar himself.
Speaker A
Who would, of course, be considered the most powerful and the most feared amongst the Nine.
Speaker A
Ironically, the biggest strength of the Nazgûl is potentially also their biggest weakness.
Speaker A
Their power is connected directly to the power of Sauron.
Speaker A
So, when he is powerful, so are they.
Speaker A
But when he becomes weaker, they also lose strength.
Speaker A
But they're included in this list because of their potential when reaching full strength.
Speaker A
Now, we can't have a list about powerful beings in Middle-earth without talking about dragons.
Speaker A
Dragons were mighty creatures that had a reputation for being greedy, cunning, and malicious.
Speaker A
They were bred by Morgoth after he realized that Orcs alone were not sufficient enough to defeat his enemies.
Speaker A
So using some kind of fire and sorcery, he created them sometime in the First Age.
Speaker A
The father of the dragons was Glaurung.
Speaker A
A great worm who had fearful intelligence and a powerful hypnotic gaze.
Speaker A
He was also one of Morgoth's chief lieutenants during the First Age.
Speaker A
He had four legs and fiery breath, but could not fly, as this was before the introduction of winged dragons.
Speaker A
He could, however, talk and understand speech.
Speaker A
And the biggest mark he left upon Middle-earth was the destruction of the Elven realm of Nargothrond.
Speaker A
And the spell that he cast upon Niënor, which made her lose her memory, causing the tragic events of the Children of Húrin.
Speaker A
Again, if you want details on that, we have a video.
Speaker A
So Glaurung was eventually slain by Túrin, but he left some lasting damage on Middle-earth.
Speaker A
Then later, during the War of Wrath, Morgoth unleashed a new terror on Middle-earth, the winged dragons.
Speaker A
The mightiest amongst these winged dragons was Ancalagon the Black.
Speaker A
It was his entry into the War of Wrath that almost turned the tides in Morgoth's favor.
Speaker A
This is a war against the host of the Valar.
Speaker A
So that should tell you just how powerful he was.
Speaker A
Even by the late Third Age, he was still considered to be the mightiest amongst the dragons.
Speaker A
Gandalf actually points out that not even his fire could melt the One Ring.
Speaker A
He was eventually defeated during the War of Wrath, along with most of the other dragons by Eärendil.
Speaker A
Some dragons survived and fled the battle and survived deep into the later ages.
Speaker A
Explaining the existence of Smaug within the Third Age.
Speaker A
Next, we have to talk about Saruman.
Speaker A
Now, while he is not purely evil, as in, he does not solely serve either Morgoth or Sauron, he is in it for himself.
Speaker A
He does, however, commit many evil actions that have earned him a position on this list.
Speaker A
As a Maia, he was sent to Middle-earth as the leader of the Istari by the Valar to help against the fight with Sauron.
Speaker A
That shows just how powerful he is.
Speaker A
Now, we have discussed this before, but we don't actually know the true extent of the power of the Wizards.
Speaker A
But we know that when Gandalf takes Saruman's place as the White Wizard, he is more powerful than even the Witch-king.
Speaker A
Despite what the movies may lead you to believe.
Speaker A
And let's not forget that he defeated a Balrog as Gandalf the Grey.
Speaker A
So there is no telling just how powerful Saruman could have been as Saruman the White if he unleashed his true potential.
Speaker A
Finally then, we have to include one of the unknown entities of Middle-earth.
Speaker A
Ungoliant and Shelob and the other giant spiders.
Speaker A
Now, why do I call them unknown?
Speaker A
We know that Shelob is just a giant spider, right?
Speaker A
Well, yeah, sort of, but we know that she is a descendant of Ungoliant, and her origin is completely unknown.
Speaker A
All that we know is that she came from the darkness.
Speaker A
So how she came to be or how she has such great power is still a complete mystery.
Speaker A
Some believe that she is an incarnation of darkness and emptiness itself.
Speaker A
Super creepy.
Speaker A
Now we do know that she had the potential to be the most powerful being to ever live in Middle-earth.
Speaker A
At one time, after being deceived by Melkor, she wrapped him in her webs and was poised to devour him as punishment for his perceived betrayal.
Speaker A
She had grown far larger and far stronger after absorbing light.
Speaker A
At this point, specifically the light from the two trees.
Speaker A
Again, that's a story for another time.
Speaker A
And she would have killed Melkor if his cry of desperation had not been heard by his Balrogs, who came to their master's rescue.
Speaker A
It was after she fled from the Balrogs that she had many offspring, including Shelob.
Speaker A
Her eventual fate is not known, but many believe that she became so greedy that she ended up devouring herself.
Speaker A
So that's our list of some of the most evil beings in Middle-earth.
Speaker A
Is there anyone that we missed off that you would have included?
Speaker A
We would love to hear your thoughts on that in the comments down below.
Speaker A
Okay, time has come as always to thank our patrons and channel members.
Speaker A
An extra special shout-out goes to the members of our highest tiers: Lorenzo, Gregory, Nishith, John, Andrew, Denver Steele, and Pirate747.
Speaker A
And finally, we want to shout out our limited special tier on Patreon.
Speaker A
Kevin, Abram, Matt, and Glorfindel of Gondolin, as members of this tier, you, of course, are all executive producers on our short film.
Speaker A
And have been allowed to give feedback on the script.
Speaker A
I very much hope you've enjoyed it.
Speaker A
Thank you all so much for your continued support.
Speaker A
If you aren't aware, guys, 100% of support through Patreon is just going to the budget of our short film.
Speaker A
So if you want to support that project, that is how you can do so.
Speaker A
A very quick reminder before we go to check out our other channels.
Speaker A
The Sixth Ranger and History of Dragon Ball for some nostalgic Power Rangers lore and anime lore.
Speaker A
The links will be in the description down below if they are of any interest to you.
Speaker A
I'm also going to point out to those of you that are interested that we are currently moving our gym.
Speaker A
If you don't know, our office is actually inside a gym that we own.
Speaker A
And as we are moving, there's a lot of changes going to happen.
Speaker A
We will have a full-time filming setup and hopefully gaming table.
Speaker A
So that's super exciting.
Speaker A
If you would like to follow the move, you can check out our gym's YouTube page.
Speaker A
It's just titled Flawless Combat Club.
Speaker A
We've been documenting stuff on there, it's just a bit of fun.
Speaker A
But if you fancy taking a look, go over to there and subscribe.
Speaker A
Okay, thank you all so much for watching.
Speaker A
I hope you have a great day and I will see you next time on The Broken Sword.
Topics:Middle-earthSauronBalrogsNazgûlDragonsSarumanTolkien loreMorgothIstariMiddle-earth evil beings
