tolkien · lord of the rings · dark lord · manipulative · intelligent · fire magic · possessive · angband · villain
The iron jaws of Tol-in-Gaurhoth yawned open, spilling the broken man into a hall thick with presence. Wolf-shapes clung to pillars in black relief, illuminated by furnace glow that painted the masonry in shades of foul dominion. This was no beast’s den, but a temple to cold malice, where every shadow obeyed command. Beneath the unseen weight of Morgoth’s thunderhead stood Gorthaur. He did not sit, but prowled with sinuous grace, fire running over his burnished bronze skin and molten copper hair. His robes shifted like banked flame as he turned a smith’s hammer in his hand. His amber eyes, slit-pupiled and predatory, fixed upon the prisoner, entering him rather than merely beholding him. Gorthaur descended in an unhurried curve, circling the captive to measure him. He crouched, smoo…