In the first video in our series on the War of
the Ring, we described how the rings came to be, how the Dark lord Sauron corrupted the hearts of
men and led to the downfall of Numenor and how the alliance of free peoples defeated his forces
at Barad-Dur, but this was just the beginning of the War of the ring. In this episode, we will talk
about the successor states of Numenor - Gondor and Arnor, how they were continuously attacked
by the servants of Sauron, leading to the battles of Fornost and the Field of Celebrant.
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will get a free week of audio experiences! With the defeat of Sauron and his forces at
the siege of Barad-Dur came the end of the Second Age and the beginning of the Third
which would come to be dominated by the Men due to the waning power of the Elves following
the death of so many of them and the decision taken by some to sail to the Undying Lands.
At this stage however, the situation was far from ideal for the descendants of Númenor, even
with the apparent destruction of the Great Enemy. Even before the Last Alliance entered Mordor,
Sauron sent a contingent of Orcs to hold the passes in the Misty Mountains from the
oncoming host of Elendil and Gil-Galad. Seeing the strength of the Free Peoples of
Middle Earth before them the Orcs fled into the mountains, and were not pursued due to the
necessity of defeating the Dark Lord however. Following the successful siege of Barad-Dur,
Isildur who took the ring of Sauron as a weregild for the death of his father and brother, made his
way to Gondor. Isildur spent the first two years of the new – Third Age consolidating his rule
and reorganising the realm. He also replanted the sapling of the White Tree in Minas Ithil in
memory of his fallen brother. The Numenoreans, who remained true to Valar, began to also be known as
Dunedain and the “Men of the West” in that period. The greater part of his army was sent to
Arnor which needed it more at the moment, and the king himself set out for Rivendell
in order to seek the counsel of Elrond. Moving from Osgiliath, Isildur and his retinue
passed through the Vale of the Anduin making their way towards the Cirith Forn en Andrath
which was a high pass in the Misty Mountains inevitably bringing them to Rivendell. The
host made its way North to Lórien taking a path leading towards Thranduil’s domain of Greenwood.
The Anduin had however flooded forcing the group to take an alternative route along the
slopes of the eastern bank of the great river. To the left of the company were an imposing
set of cliffs overlooking the Anduin and to their right were hills and forested areas.
The Dunedain had been singing marching songs, however this ceased immediately as one of their
scouts had heard an oncoming horde of Orcs. Acting quickly, Isildur formed his men into a Thangail
which meant shield fence or wall in Numenorean. This formation was two men deep and flexible
on the flanks allowing for quick readjustments and would favour the Numenoreans who estimated
that they were outnumbered almost ten to one. Isildur begrudged the terrain for forcing him to
take such a defensive stance, as if the Orcs had attacked them earlier in the march, they could
have formed a Dírnaith which was a wedge-shaped formation that would have allowed the superior
martial prowess of his retinue to shatter the Orcish lines sending them into a quick rout.
The battle began with a volley of Orcish arrows, quickly followed up by an assault at
the very center of the shield wall. The disciplined Numenorians stood strong and
used their immense height of which they towered over even the largest orc to push back this
onslaught. Isildur was no fool however and seeing the overwhelming size of the Orcish horde sent
his squire with the shards of his father’s sword Narsil to Rivendell in order to entrust them with
lord Elrond, before continuing the fight himself. The battle restarted following this brief pause,
and piles of Orc corpses had begun to mount around the Numenorean lines, who utilising their superior
longbows drove the enemy from the pathway. Believing that the Orcs with their craven
nature had been sufficiently demoralised so as to flee the field, Isildur gave orders
to move to a lower more level ground. The Orcs however had greater numbers than the
estimation Isildur had given them and returned in force as the shield wall had begun to move.
During this secondary assault the Orcs attacked in a full crescent formation in order to place
immense pressure upon the entirety of the Dunedain defensive formation. With their massive numerical
advantage, the Orcish pressure began to pay off and men began to die, their formation beginning
to collapse. Isildur’s sons Ciryon and Aratan were slain in this assault, with the third son
to accompany him on the journey - Elevndur urging his father to wear the ring and flee across the
Anduin to make it to Rivendell using another road. Isildur said: “I cannot use it. I dread
the pain of touching it. And I have not yet found the strength to bend it to my will.
It needs one greater than I know myself to be. My pride has fallen. It should go to the Keepers
of the Three.” But he was convinced by his son. Isildur put on the ring of Sauron, which granted
invisibility to the wearer, and fled down the valley, as his retinue paid with their lives to
give their king a fighting chance at escape, dying almost to a man. That included Elendur who fought
a rearguard action to buy his father more time. Abandoning his arms and armour bar a short
sword, Isildur plunged into the Anduin, yet in its flooded state the strength of the river
began to overwhelm the High King and he was pulled further and further towards the marshes of the
Gladden Fields. He became tangled in the reeds and rushes, and the One Ring was pulled from Isildur’s
finger, who initially felt unmitigated loss at this but soon after a feeling of an immense burden
being taken from him. This feeling of absolution was not to last however, as emerging from the
river a group of Orcish archers spotted this imposing mountain of a man and feathered him
with arrows rather than meeting the unarmoured warrior in hand-to-hand combat. Isildur’s body
fell back into the river never to be recovered. His arms and armour were found in the aftermath
of the battle but the ring itself would not be discovered again until hobbit Déagol happened upon
it in TA 2463. In the meantime, a force of Woodmen who were friends of the Beornings and dwelt within
the Western part of Greenwood had come to relieve the Dunedain rearguard. They arrived too late
however and would only save three of the Dunedain. The Disaster at the Gladden Fields had led to the
death of Isildur and his three sons. Isildur’s youngest son Valandil was named King of Arnor,
however the most important decision taken during his reign was to refuse the Kingship of Gondor,
which caused a split between the two Kingdoms. The two Kingdoms however would continue to
prosper under the Kings of Númenorean blood, however following the death of King Eärendur in
TA 861 the Arnor was torn asunder by infighting and civil war: The Kingdoms of Arthedain,
Cardolan and Rhudaur emerged from this conflict, with the King of Arthedain claiming unrecognised
High Kingship over the latter. In the years that followed, the Kings of the respective
Northern Kingdoms wasted their strength in foolish and unnecessary conflicts which
left each nation weakened. In the meantime, enemies began to gather to the outskirts of these
nations eager to take advantage, presenting the greatest threat to the land once known as Arnor.
Meanwhile the Kingdom of Gondor began to prosper, becoming a wholly separate political entity and
prospered. Gondor had to deal with an invasion of the Easterlings, who were men corrupted
by Sauron and Morgoth. This initial invasion sparked a sixty-year conflict which was brought to
a conclusion by Turambar, the Ninth King of Gondor who successfully defeated the Easterlings and
annexed a large area from Rhovanion to Mordor. Gondor entered a Golden Age following this
victory, helmed by the four Ship Kings who ruled wisely beginning with the reign of Tarannon
Falastur in TA 830 and ending with the death of Hyarmendacil I in TA 1149. The latter expanded
Gondor to its greatest extent, ruling a nation which stretched from the fringes of Mirkwood in
the North to Umbar in the South. The military might of Gondor ensured this superiority,
with many visitors at the time remarking, “In Gondor precious stones are but pebbles for
the children to play with”. Yet this Golden Age was about to end, as the defeat of Sauron was not
as everlasting as the Great Alliance had hoped. During the reign of King Malvegil of Arthedain,
Sauron’s lieutenant the Witch King of Angmar, head of the Nazgul and bearer of a Ring of Power
had emerged at the head of a large host of Orcs and other creatures. He drove the Dwarves from
their holds and established a nation of Angmar. Malvegil’s successor Argeleb managed
to unite Arthedain and Cardolan, but was unable to sway Rhudaur which had
already fallen to the taint of the Witch King. Hostilities commenced when the men of Rhudaur were
forced to march on their kinsmen in Arthedain in TA 1356. In the Battle of Amon Sûl which decided
the conflict, many were slaughtered on both sides, chief among them the would-be
Uniter of the North, Argeleb. The following years were to prove utterly
devastating for the Northern realms. In TA 1409, Rhudaur was annexed by Angmar and with this
added strength the Witch-King attacked Cardolan. The country was devastated, with most of its
settlements being destroyed. Amon Sul was razed and the survivors fled westward. Arthedien was
invaded next and its capital Fornost was besieged, but the Elves of the Grey Havens, Lorien and
Rivendell relieved it. United armies of the Elves led by Elrond defeated Angmar, but not
completely, and the conflict left Arthedain as the last human Kingdom in the North locked in a
bitter struggle with Angmar for six hundred years. The matters to the South were also far from
idyllic: the Easterlings continued to be a threat, but Gondor’s military superiority allowed
Rómendacil I’ to utterly rout of the Easterling host in TA 1248, with the aid of the men of
Rhovanion who would later become the Rohirrim. Internal discord also played its part: the nobles
despised king Valacar for marrying a princess of Rhovanion and when he died in TA 1432, his
son King Eldacar was overthrown by Castimir the Captain of the ships. He proved an incapable
ruler who caused the decay of much of the Country. Eldacar returned in 1447 and with the
help of the Rhovanion horsemen and regained his throne, however Osgiliath was
sacked and its Palantír alongside its splendour forever lost. In the meantime, the sons of
Castimir following the death of their father fled to Umbar establishing their own Kingdom which
would trouble Gondor for centuries. These problems didn’t allow Gondor to help Arnor when itsaid
may have proved pivotal in stemming the tide. Both nations managed to recover some of
their former power, with King Telemnar even planning a conquest of Umbar, however the
Great Plague struck in 1636. In the North, Cardolan was finally left bereft of any human
population and Barrow Wights from Angmar, which were spirits of a malicious nature, were sent by
the enemy to take over the former settlements. Gondor’s cities were decimated and many tasked
with watching over Mordor were abandoned. The White Tree died in Osgiliath and
a sapling was brought to Minas Anor which became the capital in 1640. It was said
that had an enemy attacked at this point, all of Gondor would have fallen, yet said foes were in
as bad of a shape as Gondor following the plague. Arthedain with its sparser population
was not as badly affected by the Plague, however its population continued to decline
during this period with some of its best farmland being granted to the Hobbits in TA
1601 forming what would become the Shire. Gondor and Arthedain survived this dire situation,
however, with King Araval of Arthedain, alongside his Elven allies Lindon and Rivendell, defeating
the Witch King in Cardolan in TA 1851, earning his kingdom what was to be its final repireve.
Araval’s prowess as a diplomat allowed for increased ties with Gondor and had circumstances
not played their part could have brought about the salvation of his realm. However, the forces
of the Dark Lord had other contingencies in place it seemed and both nations were to
be forever changed by the conflict to come. In TA 1851 a confederation of Easterling
tribes called Wainriders began to raid Gondor and Rhovanion, enslaving many of the latter
and destroying much of what was their home. After five years of these raids the King Narmacil
II led a force alongside Marhari of Rhovanion to meet the Wainriders in the field and. The Battle
of the Plains was a complete disaster for Gondor as King Narmacil was slain and Marhari leading
a desperate rear-guard in order to save the remnants of the host was also killed,
effectively ending Rhovanion as a nation. The remnants of Marhari’s people fled into Gondor
where they would become known as the Éothéod under his son Marwhini. However, the majority of
Rhovanion was enslaved by the Wainriders, who had won a decisive yet pyrrhic victory with
their casualties being so severe so as to check their advance further into Gondor. The Wainriders
were to rule in Rhovanion for forty-five years, and weakened Gondor was unable
to turn its eyes to the North, where Angmar had gathered its forces
for one final push into Arthedain. During this period the Éothéod and Gondor
continued to grow in friendship through their opposition against the Wainriders. The
Éothéod in particular learned of the Wainriders’ plans to attack Gondor by TA 1899 through the
enslaved populace which still owed them loyalty. This led to a pre-emptive strike by
King Calimehtar from Northern Ithillien, disrupting Wainrider plans to assault the Éothéod
in Calenardhon. With this, Marwhini gathered his horsemen and marched to Gondor’s aid in what would
become known as the Second Battle of Dagorlad, where the allied armies defeated the Wainriders.
The King chose not to pursue them however, allowing for a slave revolt in Rhovanion to
further weaken them instead, however they were not fully defeated as the revolt was not fully
successful. The decision not to pursue the Wainriders’ would come back to haunt Gondor,
as they made alliances with the men of Khand and Harad. The Éothéod again warned Gondor of
this dual threat in both the North and South. King Ondoher alongside King Arvedui of Arthedain
realised that the attacks of Angmar and the Wainriders must have been coordinated by an
overwhelmingly menacing force and this led to the ties between nations renewed in TA 1940
as Arvedui married Ondoher’s daughter Fíriel. King Ondoher marched North while his most trusted
General Eärnil marched South. Ondoher hoped to fight in Dagorlad again, but was surprised outside
the Black Gate by a combined force of Wainriders and Rhûn who destroyed his army, killing him and
two of his sons. The Wainriders’ believed Gondor had been completely defeated and took their time
sacking lands along Ithilien, yet this was not the case as Eärnil’s smaller force had won to the
South. Accumulating the survivors of the Battle at the Black Gate Eärnil fell upon the Wainrider camp
utterly routing them. Those who survived drowned in the Dead Marshes, effectively ending the war.
Eärnil was named King of Gondor despite Arvedui’s claim to the Kingship which would have united
both nations under a common banner giving them the strength to resist this Northern advance by
the Witch King, as the Council of Gondor preferred the former’s claim. Rhovanion was freed with its
people mostly joining the Éothéod, however the War weakened Gondor at an absolutely critical
moment resulting in the loss of territory. Throughout the entirety of this period Angmar
continued to assault Arnor who resisted fiercely yet hopelessly, making their foes pay for every
inch. In TA 1974 the Kingdom was finally overrun with the Witch King sweeping across
the country driving all before him and taking the capital of Fornost, causing King
Arvedui and his remaining followers to flee. Arvedui drowned in the Icebay of Farochel during
the rout. He was the last King of Arthedain. The Witch King now seemed poised
to form his empire in the North. King of Gondor Eärnil sent a force commanded by
his son Eärnur with as many soldiers as he could spare to relieve Arvedui when the attack just
started. This army arrived a year too late as the Kingdom of Arthedain had already been destroyed.
With the Prince of Gondor came men of Rhovanion, Elves from Lindon and other such Northern
Elven Kingdoms, the survivors of Arthedain among them Prince Aranarth and according to Shire
Historians a company of their finest archers. Seeing that the burned-out shell of Fornost
would provide countless opportunities for ambush, Eärnur moved his forces to a plain to the
West of the city near Lake Evendim to meet the Witch King in open territory. The Armies
of Angmar rushed to meet them and seeing this the Prince of Gondor sent his cavalry North into
the Hills of Evendim to ambush the over confident foes. With this the battle began as the might
of Angmar crashed into the Gondorian centre. This assault could have proved catastrophic if it
was not for the battle-hardened lines of infantry who had repulsed the Wainriders in the
not-so-distant past. The fighting was brutal with casualties beginning to mount on both
sides, it is at this point the cavalry sensing the pivotal moment in the battle charged down from
the hills crashing into the rear of Angmar’s line. The battle shifted immediately with the surrounded
warriors of Angmar falling in swathes. Realising he was all but defeated the Witch King attempted
to retreat to the East. Yet he would earn no reprieve there, as the Elven hero Glorfindel led
a second host from Rivendell up from the South, so caught between the rock and a hard place the
army of the Witch King was utterly destroyed. Eärnur then challenged the Witch King to single
combat as the army of Angmar fell apart around him, his stalwart heart however was not matched
by that of his horse, as it panicked under the Witch King’s gaze and fled. The Witch King taunted
the young Prince before fleeing the field himself, it is at this point that Glorfindel uttered the
famous words to his young friend and ally that, “not by the hand of mortal man
would the Witch-king be slain”. Sauron was immensely pleased by this result
as the destruction of Arnor was of far greater import than the loss of Angmar, and as distracted
Gondor lost the pivotal fortress of Minas Ithil to the Ringwraiths as their forces were tied down in
the North. It would later be renamed Minas Morgul or the Tower of Sorcerers, while Minas Anor was
renamed Minas Tirith or the Tower of the Guard in the common tongue. In the North, Aranarth bearing
witness to how few of his people had survived declined to re-found Arthedain, instead becoming
the First Chieftain of the Dúnedain maintaining this rule for 131 years in the wilds of Eriador
in order to protect his people from Angmar’s evil. Following the death of his father Eärnur became
king in TA 2043. He was immensely capable, but his vanity soon got the better of him.
The Witch King played upon this fatal flaw, challenging the childless King to single combat.
Remembering the shame he had felt at Fornost, the King was going to accept it if it were not for
the wise counsel of his Steward Mardil Voronwë. The second challenge came in TA 2050 accusing
the King of cowardice, and this time Mardil was unable to sway the King from such a foolish
action. Leaving his crown on the tomb of his, Eärnur marched out with a small escort
of Knights in the plains of Minas Morgul, never to be heard from again.
With this ended the line of Anarion and Gondor was left Kingless in the hands of the Stewards
who ruled with varying degrees of competency. They were to rule, “Until the King Returned” as
Eärnur had never been confirmed as deceased nor had he named an heir, and the stewards refused
to claim the crown fearing another civil war. While Gondor persisted during this period, it came
extremely close to destruction when a group of Easterlings called Balchoth attacked, influenced
by Sauron. Seeing that Gondor could not prevail alone, Steward Cirion sent word to the Éothéod
and their ruler Eorl the Young, however hopes that the messengers might get through were slim.
Regardless, the army of Gondor prepared to meet the Balchoth on the Field of Celebrant even
without any true hope of victory. This battle took place in Calenardhon as Cirion knowing the
defences of the area knew that he had to fight or allow the Balchoth to put the populace of the
region to the sword. Six riders had been sent to Eorl. Five of them were killed on the way North,
with the sixth Borondir arriving just in time. Eorl realising that if Gondor fell his
people could soon return to the pitiful existence they were forced to endure under
the Wainriders, marched his seven thousand horsemen and hundreds of mounted archers along
the almost 500-mile road that led to Calenardhon. Unfortunately for Cirion his hopes that the
river Anduin will slow down the enemy didn’t come true. Before he could arrive, the Balchoth built
hundreds of boats and started crossing the river. The defenders of the fortifications guarding the
Western bank did their best to slow down the foe, but were killed and the fortification taken.
The Steward attempted to relieve the battered defenders, but his forces were easily
repelled. Cirion started retreating North, but here he was assaulted by a group of orcs
and his forces were pushed towards the Anduin. The situation looked extremely bleak as
the Balchoth and orcs descended upon the now hopeless Gondorians. A defence was mounted
but they were continuously pushed closer to the river. It was at this point that Eorl’s host
entered the fray. His army crossed the Undeeps and he led a massed cavalry charge right into the
rear of the enemy force. The prospect of victory urged the Gondorians on, who with renewed
vigor provided the anvil upon which the Éothéod could destroy the enemy host. Those who
fled from the field were pursued by the Éothéod who slaughtered as many as they could, forever
ending the threat posed by the Balchoth. Following on from the battle bonds between
the Éothéod and Gondor were formalised, as they were granted the almost deserted
province of Calenardhon which was soon to become Rohan and its people the Rohirrim or
Eorlingas in their own tongue. Eorl swore an eternal oath of friendship to Gondor, that if
Gondor called for aid the men of Rohan would answer. A relationship which would prove to be the
determining factor in the fate of both nations. The threat of the Dark Lord was not yet defeated
and our store of the War of the Ring will continue soon. More videos on the history
of Middle Earth are on the way and we are planning to cover the battles of many
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