The King

The Men of Hithlum dwelt on the northern borderlands of Beleriand, close to the dark danger of Angband, the fortress of Morgoth. They had many names for their terrible enemy to the North, and would refer to Morgoth as the Dark King or the Black King. It was doubtless as a shortening of one of these titles that gave rise to the simple 'King' for the Dark Power of the North. Even when 'King' was used alone, it is recorded in a qualified form, describing Morgoth as the 'wicked King'.

There is only a single reference to the title 'King' being used in this particular way, but of course Morgoth was very far from being the only king in the history of the world. The title might more properly have been used of Manwë the Elder King of Arda, and there were countless other lesser kings among Elves, Men and Dwarves.

In a more abstract sense, the Hobbits of the Shire would speak of uncivilised lands and peoples as never having heard of the king. This was a historical reference to the Kings of Arthedain, within whose realm the Shire had originally lain, though by the end of the Third Age there had been no such King for more than a thousand years. In a similarly proverbial vein, the people of Gondor would speak of the return of their own Kings, with no real expectation that this would actually happen. As with the North-kingdom, the line of the Kings of Gondor had long been extinct by the time of the War of the Ring, but Aragorn's ascendancy to the throne after that War brought about the literal and unexpected return of a King in Gondor.