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The Battle of the Pelennor Fields was a battle for the city of Minas Tirith in J. R. R. Tolkien's '' The Lord Of The Rings ''. It was the greatest battle of the War Of The Ring , and indeed the largest of the entire Third Age . After the )'' as the Great Darkness blotted out the sun. Mordor's troops consisted of 18,000 Haradrim , thousands of Easterlings , numerous Oliphaunt s, Trolls , and Warg s, and a huge but unknown number of Orc s, including Uruk-hai and lesser breeds. The defenders' numbers were considerably less despite the addition of 2,000 to 3,000 Men from the provinces and Fiefs from southern Gondor in the days before the battle. THE SIEGE OF MINAS TIRITH The attackers used Catapult s to bombard the city with flaming missiles, which predictably set the First Circle on fire. They also showered the city with the heads of slain men from Osgiliath and other places that Mordor's armies had passed through, aiming to demoralize the defenders. However, they did not launch missiles on the walls itself, which, being the work of Númenorean master builders, were so strong that only a major earthquake could have damaged them. The enemy forces kept the defenders busy by sending siege towers and ground troops. They were repulsed, but at great cost. Gandalf , Prince Imrahil and the Swan Knights of Dol Amroth encouraged the defenders to fight on, for by this time the real ruler of the city, the Steward Denethor , was grieving for his gravely wounded son Faramir (who had been wounded by a poisoned dart and exposed to the Black Breath , in the earlier retreat from Osgiliath ), and, as he perceived through the covert use of his '' Palantír '', the impending defeat of Gondor. Later on, the great Battering Ram Grond (named after Morgoth 's weapon from the First Age) was put into action. Pulled by great beasts, manned by trolls, and endowed with dark spells by the Witch-king Of Angmar , before dawn Grond broke the city's main gate with four blows. The Witch-king rode into the city alone and unchallenged, save by Gandalf on Shadowfax . Before Gandalf's strength was put to the test, however, the cock crowed and the horns of Rohan were heard as 6,000 of their riders joined the battle. Mordor's strategy for keeping Rohan out of the battle had failed twice, both through the defeat at Helm's Deep (though it was Isengard's battle) and the blockade in Anórien , so the Witch-king was forced to ride out, mount his Fell Beast and attack them instead of fighting Gandalf and destroying the city. THE BATTLE PROPER King Théoden and the Rohirrim had passed undetected thanks to their guides, the mysterious Wild Men of Drúadan Forest , and to Sauron's Great Darkness itself, which shielded them from enemy eyes. Taking the troops at the Rammas Echor by surprise, they destroyed the enemy camps. After doing so, the Riders reformed their éoreds and charged, Théoden leading them. Before they did, however, Théoden exhorted them to battle in alliterative verse. Despite the king's orders, with them was the Hobbit Merry Brandybuck , riding with a young Rider named Dernhelm. Every last fighting man was sent out of Minas Tirith to Rohan's aid, Imrahil and the other local captains leading them. Théoden 's charge drove the Mordor forces from the northern half of the fields, and took out the siege engines; the Rohirrim sang songs fair and terrible as they slew. However, the Haradrim cavalry counter-attacked, led by their chieftain. Though the Rohirrim were thrice outnumbered, they prevailed, for Théoden slew the Southron leader and cut down his standard-bearer, and at their deaths the Haradrim retreated. However, the Witch-king of Angmar attacked Théoden, routing his troops with the terror of his presence. The king's horse Snowmane lost control, and was hit by a dart. Snowmane fell and crushed the king underneath his body, and the Witch-King's fell beast dug its beak into the horse's carcass. With his guard dead or fled and pinned down by his horse, Théoden was in a tight spot. However, the warrior Dernhelm came to his defense. The Witch-king mocked him, telling him that no living man might slay him. However, Dernhelm revealed himself to be Théoden's niece Éowyn and thus no ''man'' at all. She slew the fell beast, chopping off its head with one stroke. However, the Witch-King broke her shield and her shield-arm with one blow from his mace. As he was about to finish her, Merry wounded him with his barrow-blade in the leg. This sword had been forged centuries before during the war between Arnor and Angmar , and contained spells against the Witch-king himself. The spells finally found their target, for the Witch-king was distracted and possibly seriously weakened. He was then slain by Éowyn. Swooning from her injuries, Éowyn did not witness Théoden's final moments, where he bade farewell to Merry and entrusted command to her brother Éomer. She was discovered by the awestruck Riders, and thought dead. However, Imrahil rode up and discerned that she still lived. She was sent to the Houses Of Healing in the city, along with Merry. The Black Breath of the Ringwraith had made them both gravely ill, as it had done to Faramir. During this time, Denethor prepared to burn himself and his son upon a funeral pyre, despairing at the visions of defeat that Sauron had sent him via his '' Palantír '', and believing Faramir to be beyond aid. Only the intervention of Pippin Took and Gandalf saved Faramir, but Denethor immolated himself before they could prevent it. However, Gandalf's saving of Faramir quite possibly led to the death of Théoden, for he was going out to help the Rohirrim when Pippin sought his aid. Meanwhile, the battle turned against the Rohirrim. Gothmog , lieutenant of Minas Morgul , sent forth his reinforcements, and the Haradrim sent forth their footmen and their mûmakil ( Oliphaunt s). Wherever the latter beasts went, horses went wild with fear or were trampled underfoot, and the forces of Mordor rallied around them like islands of defense that the Rohirrim cavalry could not overtake. Éomer, grim after the death of Théoden but shocked by the unexpected (seeming) death of his sister Éowyn, the last living member of his family, flew into a wild rage and charged his cavalry headlong into the larger enemy forces, and the host of Rohan cried ''Death''. So great was the wrath of the outnumbered Rohirrim at the death of their King that they broke through the superior Mordor forces, hammering deep wedges into the Mordor legions' front lines. However, this soon turned against Éomer. His cavalry had pierced the enemy front lines so quickly that his company was now cut off from the other two, and surrounded between Mordor's front lines and their reserves. Fighting their way to the docks near the Harlond south of the city, Éomer desperately circled up his men on a hill, plannng to make a Shield Wall and fight to the death, when he saw enemy reinforcements sailing up the River Anduin , and let out a defiant cry at his approaching end. One of the visions that Denethor had seen was of a fleet of enemy ships with black sails arriving at the landings to the south of the Pelennor in the Rammas, but what he had not seen was that they were actually manned by Aragorn and other Rangers Of The North , Gimli , Legolas , Elladan , Elrohir and many reinforcements from southern fiefdoms of Gondor. As Aragorn's army drove north a great part of Mordor's forces were pinned between Aragorn and Eomer's cavalry, and were "caught between the hammer and the anvil". Aragorn's army then linked with Éomer's, and with their aid the tide of battle was finally turned, and a brief respite was won until the Last Battle before the Black Gate . However, the battle lasted until the end of the day, for the Easterlings and Haradrim gave and expected no quarter. They proudly fought to the death when the tide turned, even as the Orcs were cowardly running away. CASUALTIES There is no clearly stated final death toll for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. There is a definite figure for the cavalry of the Rohirrim that came to Gondor's defence; it consisted of 6,000 riders, and a full 2,000 were killed in the battle, including Théoden. Of the defenders of Minas Tirith from Gondor, and the large relief force of Gondor's southern provinces led by Aragorn, no definite figure remains. Two days after the battle, Aragorn led an army out to attack the Black Gate that consisted of 7,000 men (When he reached the Black Gate he had less than 6,000); 2,000 Rohirrim and 5,000 Gondorians. The size of Aragorn's relief force may have been over 10,000 or as little as 1,000, it is never stated. However, even a conservative estimate would place total Gondorian losses at 3,000, and more probably 5,000. As for enemy losses, again, the size of Sauron's great army is not definitely known. There were at the very least 60,000, and this is almost surely an overconservative estimation. It is known that there were some 18,000 Haradrim . (The Rohirrim, consisting of 6,000 riders, were "thrice outnumbered by the Haradrim alone".) The Enemy's army was utterly destroyed on the field: all Oliphaunts were killed, the leader of the Nazgûl was slain, numerous Trolls, and perhaps all of the Orcs (which composed the majority of the army) were killed, those that retreated drowning in the River Anduin. Few Men under Sauron's command escaped to send news of the power and wrath of Gondor to lands east and south. Aside from those already mentioned, people who perished in the battle include:
IN ADAPTATIONS The 1980 animated film The 1981 BBC radio series The live-action film The battle is the major centrepiece of '', although many of the events described above are simplified or altered for cinematic purposes. Importance is given to the charge of the Mûmakil, the death of Théoden and the Witch-king. There is no mention of the reinforcements from Gondor's allied territories, nor of the Rammas Echor. The main obstacle to the advance of Mordor's forces is the defence of Osgiliath, which is soon swept away, though Faramir, overseeing it, manages to escape. However, he is sent on a suicide charge to retake it by Denethor, which leads to his wounding and Denethor's eventual fall into insanity. The siege begins with Sauron's forces marching on the city and firing a volley of severed heads over the walls. They are led by Gothmog of Minas Morgul, who is here interpreted as a grotesquely misshapen, vaguely porcine Orc (in the book, his race is not stated). At first both Sauron's army and the defenders of Minas Tirith exchange fire by way of Catapult s and Trebuchet s. Unlike the book, here Minas Tirith suffers considerable damage to its walls. The flying Ringwraiths spread confusion throughout the city with their shrieks and destroy many trebuchets. Seeing the large army (over 200,000, which may be consistent with the number suggested in the book), Denethor goes mad with despair and Gandalf assumes command of the defenders. Siege towers then attack the city, and the defenders fight off the Orc boarding parties on the walls (in the book, they repulse them with arrows and other missiles; no enemy manages to get inside the city grounds until the gate is broken). Pippin saves Gandalf from an Uruk. Grond is used to break down the great gate of Minas Tirith with a single blow. As the gate shatters, hordes of orcs, trolls, and Easterlings pour into the city; the first enemies to enter the gate are possibly Olog-hai. The defenders retreat into the upper levels, while the enemy occupies the first circle of the city. In the Extended version, the Witch-King, who flies on his fell beast all throughout, faces Gandalf and breaks his staff, but Gandalf gets away. As dawn breaks, six thousand Rohirrim, led by King Théoden, arrive and rout the invading orcs; there is no mention of the securing of the outer wall, the Rammas. The writers rearrange some of the verses and dialogue found in the book. Théoden says Éomer's line, "''Ride now to ruin and the world's ending!'', which, in the book, the latter speaks in wrath after learning of his sister's "death". Also, the Rohirrim chant ''Death'' before the fighting starts. However, Sauron's reserves then arrive with several Oliphaunts who turn the tide against the Rohirrim. Théoden orders a great charge against them, which results in many casualties (Tolkien has men going on foot and trying to shoot them in the eyes, since horses fear the beasts; a cavalry charge would be ineffective). All the Orcs retreat to the riverside. Éowyn, disguised as a man, and Éomer each manage to kill one. The Witch-King attacks Théoden, bowling him and his horse over with his fell beast. Éowyn then fights him, as per the book, but here she reveals herself as a woman just before she gives the killing stroke. Also, the Ringwraith is armed with a huge flail and a sword, in contrast to the book's mace (in both versions he wields a flaming sword while facing Gandalf earlier). It is Aragorn's arrival with the "Army of the Dead" (a term Tolkien does not use) that seals the fate of Sauron's forces. This is a condensation: in the books the Dead Men Of Dunharrow depart after they defeat the Corsairs of Umbar and liberate Pelargir, after which Gondor's southern army is now free to rally to Aragorn. They kill every last enemy on the field, including the Oliphaunts. However, Legolas kills one beast by himself. Trivia
IN OTHER MEDIA The Led Zeppelin song "The Battle Of Evermore" , from ''Untitled'' (aka Led Zeppelin IV) was based upon this fictional event. |
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