In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy fiction, the Battle of Pelennor Fields is the battle for the city of Minas Tirith between the forces of Gondor and its allies, and the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. Tolkien recounts this battle in The Return of the King , the third volume of his 1954-55 novel The Lord of the Rings as originally printed.
The battle was the largest and most important of the War of the Ring, the war in which the Third Age of Middle-earth comes to a close. It takes place on 15 March, T.A. 3019 in the Pelennor Fields, the townlands and fields between Minas Tirith and the River Anduin.
The concept and history of composition of the battle is detailed in the fourth volume of The History of the Lord of the Rings .
Background
The city of Minas Tirith was besieged following the fall of Osgiliath and the Rammas Echor, Gondor's final barriers against the forces of Mordor. In the retreat to the city, Faramir, son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, was severely wounded. Since the despairing Steward refused to leave his son's side, the Wizard Gandalf took command of the city's defences. Meanwhile, the enemy forces assembled before the city on the Pelennor Fields. The Great Darkness blotted out the sun. The Nazgûl, Sauron's most feared servants, flew over the battlefield on fell beasts, causing the defenders' morale to waver.
After repeated futile attacks by catapults and siege towers, Sauron's forces were able to breach the city gate using the giant battering ram Grond. The Witch-king entered alone at dawn and was confronted by Gandalf. However, at that moment the Rohirrim arrived and charged into battle.
Participants
Sauron's army from Minas Morgul, led by the Witch-king of Angmar (chief of the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths) greatly outnumbered the combined armies of Gondor and its allies. Sauron's forces included Southrons of Harad (or Haradrim), who brought elephantine beasts called mûmakil (or Oliphaunts ), Easterlings from Rhûn and Variags from Khand, as well as great numbers of Orcs and Trolls. Tolkien describes the army as the greatest to issue from that vale since the days of Isildur's might, no host so fell and strong in arms had yet assailed the fords of Anduin; and yet it was but one and not the greatest of the hosts that Mordor now sent forth.
The defenders' numbers were considerably less. Tolkien writes that Faramir was outnumbered by ten times at Osgiliath, where he lost one third of his men. Tolkien also gives a catalogue of companies from outlying provinces of Gondor, totalling somewhat less than 3,000 soldiers, that came to the aid of Minas Tirith. Prominent among them was a 700-strong contingent led by Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, Denethor's brother-in-law. The total contingent of allies was smaller than expected since Gondor's coastal towns were being attacked by the Corsairs of Umbar.
A 6,000-strong cavalry army from Rohan, Gondor's ally, arrived at dawn the next day - whereupon the battle proper began. The Men of Rohan (Rohirrim) were thrice outnumbered by the Haradrim alone .
Reinforcements from the coastal towns of Gondor later sailed on Corsair ships to the city. They had been relieved and were now led by Aragorn, a man with a claim to the throne of Gondor due to his descent from the Kings of Arnor. He also led a small force of Rangers of the North, representing Arnor.
The battle
The battle begins immediately following Gandalf's denying the Witch-king's entry into the city.
After breaking the gate with Grond, the Witch-king rode under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed. Gandalf, with Shadowfax, alone stood in his way. But before the two could fight, the Rohirrim arrived. Dawn broke, and the battle proper began. The Rohirrim had bypassed Sauron's lookouts thanks to the mysterious Wild Men (Drúedain) of Drúadan Forest.
Charging the ranks of Mordor, the Rohirrim split into two groups. The left group, including the van, broke the Witch-King's right wing. The right group secured the walls of Minas Tirith. They destroyed siege engines and camps, and drove off Haradrim cavalry. The Witch-king exchanged his horse for his winged steed and went straight for Théoden. The king's horse was killed by a dart, and it fell and crushed the king.
The King's niece Éowyn (disguised as a man and calling herself "Dernhelm") challenged the Witch-king to personal combat. She was the only member of the King's guard to oppose him. In the ensuing combat she slew the Witch-king's mount, but he then broke her shield and shield arm. The Hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck, who had accompanied "Dernhelm", intervened and stabbed the Witch-king behind his knee with his Barrow-blade, an enchanted sword. The Witch-king was bitterly wounded due to that particular sword's special magic. Éowyn then "drove her sword between crown and mantle", slaying him. This was a fulfilment of Glorfindel's prophecy following the fall of Arnor that the Witch-king would not die "by the hand of man". Both weapons that struck his undead flesh were destroyed as well.
Éowyn's brother Éomer arrived to find Théoden mortally wounded; he named Éomer king before dying. Éomer then saw his sister unconscious. Mistaking her for dead, he grew furious and led his entire army in a near-suicidal charge against the enemy forces. His vanguard broke out far beyond the rest of his forces and was in danger of being encircled. Meanwhile, Imrahil led Gondor's forces in a sortie from Minas Tirith. Imrahil rode up to Éowyn and found she still lived. She and Merry were sent to be healed in the city. The Ringwraith's Black Breath had made them both gravely ill, as with Faramir earlier. Their right arms were left numb and cold after striking the Witch-king, and Éowyn's left arm had been broken in the mêlée.
Before the Rohirrim arrived, Denethor prepared to burn himself and his son upon a funeral pyre, believing Faramir to be beyond cure. Only the intervention of the Hobbit Peregrin Took, a guard named Beregond, and Gandalf saved Faramir, but Denethor immolated himself before they could stop him. Tolkien indirectly states that Théoden's death could have been prevented if Gandalf had helped the Rohirrim instead, as he had intended.
Out on the Pelennor Fields, the battle was turning against Gondor and its allies. Though the Rohirrim had inflicted enormous damage on their enemies, Sauron's forces were still numerically superior, and Gothmog, the lieutenant of Minas Morgul, who had assumed field command on the death of the Witch-king, summoned reinforcements from nearby Osgiliath. The Rohirrim were now on the southern half of the Pelennor, with enemies between them and the Anduin, and Gothmog's reinforcements threatened to occupy the centre of the Pelennor, thus surrounding the Rohirrim and preventing the Gondorian troops from joining with them. Éomer was by this time only about a mile from the Harlond, so rather than cut his way through to the river, he prepared to make a last stand on a hill.
Meanwhile, a fleet of ships, apparently the navy of the Corsairs of Umbar, who were Sauron's allies, sailed up Anduin to the Harlond. Just before reaching the quays, the flagship unfurled the ancient banner of the Kings of Gondor. This sight alone put heart into the Rohirrim and Imrahil's forces and demoralised Sauron's armies. The ships indeed were manned by Aragorn and his Rangers of the North, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, the Half-elven brothers Elladan and Elrohir and many troops from south Gondor. (Later in the book, Legolas and Gimli relate how a ghostly host commanded by Aragorn, the Dead Men of Dunharrow, captured the ships from the Corsairs chiefly through fear.)
This proved the turning point of the battle. A large portion of Sauron's forces were now pinned between Aragorn's and Éomer's forces, while Imrahil's troops advanced from the direction of the city. Though the advantage now rested with Gondor, fighting continued throughout the day, until at sunset no living enemy remained on the Pelennor Fields. A brief respite was won until the Battle of the Black Gate.
Outcome
The battle was viewed by Sauron as a tactical defeat as he had committed only a small portion of his forces to the assault. Most grievous to him probably was the loss of the Witch-King, who was his chief lieutenant and an experienced and uniquely intimidating field commander.
The Captains of the West also understood that their victory would achieve only tactical significance if the Ring-Bearer was able to complete his task. Therefore, it was decided that the Host of the West should march to the Morannon without delay, in large part to draw Sauron's attention away from the interior of Mordor, where the Ring-Bearer was (hopefully) operating. The strength of the Host of the West's victory left them with sufficient strength to "challenge battle" and still leave Minas Tirith better defended than it had been during the siege. They were also able to send a significant force north into Anorien to fight another Mordor army which had been intended to intercept the Rohirrim. Additionally, the force that marched north was strong enough to send a detachment to liberate Cair Andros (even though the detachment was composed of young soldiers who's fear had disheartened them).
On the side of the Host of the West there had been significant losses. Denethor was dead, as was Halbarad, Theoden, and several other Gondorian and Rohirric senior officers. Additionally, Eowyn, Faramir, and Merry were incapacitated and were unable to participate in the remainder of the war.
Depictions
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