The Complete Tolkien Companion (12 page)

The numbers of Dwarf-dead were almost beyond counting; and much to their grief (for it went against custom), the Dwarves were forced to heap the bodies of their fallen and burn them in a great fire, rather than leave them to wolf and worse. Accordingly, in Dwarf-lore, a ‘Burned Dwarf' was one of those warriors who fell at Azanulbizar. They were greatly honoured in memory.

Battle of Bywater
(November 3rd, 1419 Shire Reckoning/3019 Third Age) – The final battle of the War of the Ring, in which the agents of Saruman were defeated and driven out of the Shire by a Hobbit-force led by Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, and the first to be fought in the Shire for nearly three hundred years.

Battle of Dagorlad
(3434 Second Age) – The greatest battle of the Second Age, in which the forces of Sauron the Great were put to flight or utterly destroyed by the Last Alliance of Elves (led by Gilgalad son of Fingon) and Men (led by Elendil the Tall). It was a stupendous conflict: even a full Age later, the area north of the Black Gate was still widely known as ‘Battle Plain'. The many graves of Men, Elves and Orcs there were eventually swallowed up by marshland.

After the victory of Dagorlad, the armies of the Last Alliance passed through the Black Gate, entered Mordor and laid siege to the Barad-dûr for seven years – before Sauron finally emerged to be overthrown, in a deadly combat which cost the lives of both Gilgalad and Elendil.

Battle of Dale
(3019 Third Age) – More properly, the second Battle of Dale (the first being known as the Battle of Five Armies), in which Men of Dale and Dwarves of Erebor were initially defeated by Easterlings of Sauron's rule. Kings Dáin Ironfoot of Erebor and Brand of Dale were both slain; but their forces withstood the siege that followed – and their sons, Thorin (III) Stonehelm and Bard II, later drove the attackers away from Dale, which was subsequently rebuilt.

Battle of Five Armies
(2941 Third Age) – Sometimes referred to as the first Battle of Dale. Its more popular name stems from the fact that no less than five separate armies participated, though not, of course, on five separate sides. The Five Armies were: Elves, led by Thranduil of Mirkwood; Men, led by Bard of Esgaroth; Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield and Dáin Ironfoot; a Goblin-host, led by Bolg son of Azog; and a Wolf-horde which marched with the Orcs to plunder Erebor.

Having disturbed the dragon Smaug from his long sleep in the gutted halls of Erebor, the thirteen Dwarves of Thorin's party were able, in the Worm's absence, to re-enter the Lonely Mountain and take possession of its vast wealth. In the meantime, Smaug, angry with the lake-dwellers of Esgaroth for aiding the Dwarves, flew south to raze and burn their town; but was slain by Bard the Bowman, descendant of kings. Gathering the surviving Lake-men together, Bard then promptly marched north to Erebor to demand compensation for damage to the lake-town (and a reward for slaying the Dragon). His Men were soon joined by an Elf-host of Mirkwood, with other grievances against the Dwarves. But Thorin – who now called himself Thorin II – had secretly sent to the Iron Hills for aid: and he refused to parley with these armies at his Gate, biding his time till Dáin Ironfoot's forces arrived; as he knew they would, after hearing of his need (not to mention the unguarded wealth of Erebor). The Dwarves of the Iron Hills duly appeared and all seemed set for a tragic battle between the three armies when suddenly, from the North, appeared a vast Goblin-host in alliance with an army of Wolves. The Orcs had also heard of the death of the Dragon and had come to sack the Mountain. In the face of this new threat, Elves, Men and both Dwarf-forces joined together in a desperate alliance – and finally, with the aid of the Eagles and of Beorn the skin-changer, the Orcs and Wargs were defeated.

King Thorin II Oakenshield was mortally wounded and later buried with the Arkenstone on his breast and the elf-sword Orcrist at his side; his kinsman, Dáin Ironfoot, then became King under the Mountain. Less haughty than Thorin, he wisely gave the Men and Elves their just compensations and became a great and wise King, finally falling in the (second) Battle of Dale (3019 Third Age).

Battle of Fornost
(1974 Third Age) – The final battle of the Dúnedain and their allies against Angmar, in which the Elven forces of Círdan (of Lindon) and the host of Eärnur of Gondor defeated the Witch-king of Cam Dûm, destroying his army and the power of Angmar for ever. This victory was, however, too late to save King
ARVEDUI
or his kingdom of
ARTHEDAIN
.

Eärnur of Gondor was the son of King Eärnil, who had already promised to send to the aid of Arvedui if and when he could. So when word finally reached Eärnil that the Witch-king was about to assail Arthedain for the last time, the King kept his word – but before Gondor's expeditionary force could reach the North-kingdom, Arvedui had been defeated and was dead. Nonetheless, Eärnur's army arrived in due course at Lindon, where Círdan then assembled a host of Elves, together with the surviving Dúnedain of the North. When ready, this force crossed the Blue Mountains and marched east into Eriador. By this time, however, the Witch-king was already in occupation of Arthedain's chief city, Fornost Erain. When he advanced contemptuously to meet these new foes, the cavalry of Gondor circled round the Hills of Evendim to his north and fell upon his right flank. Frantically fleeing east and north, the retreating forces of Angmar were then attacked simultaneously by the pursuing cavalry and, simultaneously, by another host of Elves from Rivendell, led by Glorfindel. In this way, the forces of Angmar were so thoroughly routed that none of them survived. Angmar never arose again and the Witch-king was driven from the North.

Battle of Greenfields
(2747 Third Age) –
See
BANDOBRAS ‘BULLROARER' TOOK
.

Battle of Sudden Flame
– A translation of
Dagor Bragollach
(Sind.); a title applied to the Fourth Battle of Beleriand, in which Morgoth overthrew the Siege of Angband, slaying Fingolfin the High King and overrunning many leagues of territory. It took place in the 455th Year of the Sun, and was the foreshadow of the still greater defeats to follow. The name of the Battle refers to the unusual stratagem employed by Morgoth to wreak confusion amongst his foes: his first onslaught took the form of a great outpouring of fume and fire from Angband, which kindled the grass of Ard-galen and set the North literally ablaze. (Ard-galen was afterwards called
Anfauglith,
the Gasping Dust.)

Battle of the Camp
(1944 Third Age) – One of the many battles fought in defence of the realm of Gondor, after the waning of its power had led to repeated assaults from
EASTERLINGS
. The latest of these invaders, a confederation known as Wainriders, had already been waging war with Gondor for almost a century by the year 1944. Then King Ondoher fell in battle with them north of the Black Gate, and the northern wing of the Wainriders streamed into Ithilien (the lands of Gondor between the Great River and the Mountains of Shadow). There, believing Gondor defeated, they camped and feasted, before preparing to despoil the lands across the River, where Minas Anor lay virtually defenceless. But unknown to their chiefs the Captain of the Southern Army of Gondor, Eärnil, had meanwhile defeated the Haradrim, the Wainriders' southern allies. Force-marching north, Eärnil came against the camp where the Wainriders were revelling, and easily routed them. They were driven north in confusion and terror, and many of them were engulfed in the Dead Marshes.

As a reward for this victory, Pelendur, Steward of Gondor, offered the crown of Ondoher to Eärnil (although it had already been claimed by
ARVEDUI
of Arthedain). Eärnil accepted and became as great a ruler as he had been a warrior. He was not to know that his was the last line of Kings to be founded in Gondor while the Third Age lasted.

Battle of the Crossings of Erui
(1447 Third Age) – The decisive battle of Gondor's civil war, the Kin-strife, in which the hitherto-deposed King, Eldacar, defeated the forces of the usurper Castamir in a great fight at the fords of the river Erui, in Lebennin. Much of the valour of Gondor perished on that day, but Castamir also died at Eldacar's own hand, and the rightful Line was thus restored. However, the sons of Castamir escaped the disaster and later came to Umbar, where they established a lordship independent of Gondor; for ever after the Corsairs of Umbar were a peril to Gondor and a constant menace to her coastal provinces.

Battle of the Crossings of Poros
(2885 Third Age) – This crucial victory by the armies of Gondor against her ancient foes, the Haradrim of the South, was won with the timely aid of new-found allies, the Riders of Rohan. Folcwine of the Mark thus fulfilled the
OATH OF EORL
; though his twin sons, Fastred and Folcred, were slain in the battle. They were buried together upon the shores of the river Poros in a single mound.

Battle of the Field of Celebrant
(2510 Third Age) – An historic battle of Gondor, in which near defeat at the hands of an implacable enemy was exchanged for an overwhelming victory and a new ally. When a massive invasion of the
BALCHOTH
suddenly crossed the river Anduin in 2510, Cirion, twelfth Ruling Steward of Gondor, quickly moved to deploy his Northern Army into the area. But as this force marched up from the south, it was cut off, and pushed north in disarray over the river Limlight. There, it was assaulted by a host of Orcs of the Mountains and forced towards the Anduin. All hope seemed lost when the sound of ‘great horns of the North wildly blowing' was first heard in Gondor. Eorl the Young, of Éothéod, had answered an earlier summons for aid, late though it seemed. Seven thousand of his Riders broke like a storm on the flanks and rear of the Balchoth and harried them to destruction across the plains of Calenardhon, the northern province of Gondor they had so often raided prior to this invasion. As a reward to Eorl and his people, Cirion ceded them this sparsely peopled region; they re-named it the
Riddermark,
‘Mark-of-the-Riders' (although it became known in Gondor as Rohan).
3

Battle of the Gladden Fields
(Year 2, Third Age) – Following hard on the heels of the great victories at the end of the Second Age, when the Barad-dûr was cast down and Sauron overthrown, came this military disaster, where much of the royal blood of Arnor was spilled. Isildur, the only surviving son of Elendil, was marching north to take up the High-kingship of both Gondor and Arnor, having spent the two previous years in Gondor, instructing his nephew Meneldil, Anárion's son, in kingship. His party, which included his three eldest sons (the youngest Valandil had remained in Rivendell) was ambushed on the banks of the Anduin south of the river Gladden by a multitude of Orcs of the Mountains. When all was lost, Isildur jumped into the Great River, hoping to swim to safety, for the Ring on his finger had the power of rendering him invisible. And so he might have escaped – had not the Ring slipped from his finger, betraying him to the Orcs, who then saw him and killed him with arrows. The Great Ring then sank into the mud at the river-bottom, to lie undiscovered for more than two thousand years. Isildur's body was never found.
4

Battle of the Gwathló
(1700 Second Age) – The turning-point of the War of the Elves and Sauron, in which the Dark Lord, on the brink of victory over Gil-Galad and the Elves of Lindon, was heavily defeated when a large force from Númenor intervened on the side of the beleaguered Eldar. Routed first of all in open battle at Sarn Ford (on the Baranduin), Sauron's retreating army of Eriador was then taken in flank and rear by a further force of heavy Númenorean infantry landed from ships at the old harbour of Vinyalondë, at the mouth of the Gwathló (Greyflood). He was driven back to Mordor; but the Elves had survived only with the help of the Dúnedain, and Eriador had been devastated.

Battle of the Hornburg
(3019 Third Age) – Sometimes called the Battle of Helm's Deep, for this great clash of arms of the War of the Ring took place beneath and on the walls of that fortified place in Western Rohan known by the latter name. Helm's Deep – a narrow glen leading into the eastern faces of the White Mountains – was sealed off by the Deeping Wall, twenty feet high. On the south side the Deeping Tower stood tall; but the strongest of the bastions guarding the deep was against the northern wall: the Hornburg. It was held by King Théoden and his men throughout the battle, and from it was launched the dawn sortie which overthrew the siege.

Already weakened by internal subversion and treachery, Rohan was increasingly pinned between the rival powers of Mordor and the traitor Saruman, both inexorable foes. The more immediate threat came from the nearer neighbour: Isengard, fortress of Saruman the White, who, in his eagerness to destroy the power of the Riders and so extend his own dominion east and south, struck too soon. Saruman's first invasion came in February 3019, when his armies of Orcs and Dunlendings attempted to force the Fords of Isen, the river which bordered the Rohan's Westfold province. At that time his forces were driven back, but the Rohirrim themselves suffered great losses, including King Théoden's only son Théodred. Early in March Saruman again struck at the Fords – and this time the defenders, now led by Erkenbrand lord of Westfold, were beaten and scattered in the darkness. The Army of Isengard flooded into Westfold Vale, bringing fire and razing the countryside as it advanced south with terrible speed.

Earlier that same day a powerful force of Riders of the Mark, led by the aged King Théoden himself, had set out from Edoras, many leagues to the east, for the purpose of reinforcing Erkenbrand. This force was still urgently westbound late on the following day when news came of the defeat at the Isen. On Gandalf's advice, Théoden's squadrons then turned aside and rode for Helm's Gate, a fortress of Rohan which lay in the northern vales of the White Mountains, some thirty leagues south of Isengard. It was the strongest place in all Rohan (save Dunharrow), and accordingly Théoden hoped to gather there all that survived of the Westfoldmen and so withstand a siege. But although he indeed found a number of defenders already on the walls and in the Hornburg, the invading army that now followed him was numerous and ferocious beyond expectation.