Great Plague

The Great Plague, or Dark Plague, was a disastrous pestilence in Middle-earth in the mid-Third Age.
== History ==
=== Beginning ===
The Great Plague began in the east beyond Mordor, reaching Osgiliath in TA 1636 just two years after King Minardil of Gondor had been killed at Pelargir by the Corsairs of Umbar, and two centuries after the Kin-strife of Gondor. The new king, Telemnar died along with his children, as well as many others of the Dúnedain. These losses served to greatly weaken the people of Gondor.
=== Movement of the plague ===
The Plague had first hit Rhûn and Rhovanion, and after the plague had passed, more than half the people had been killed. From Osgiliath, the plague spread west and then north. Minhiriath and Cardolan were especially hard hit and the remaining population in those regions mostly wiped out. The last prince of Cardolan died at the Barrow-downs, and evil spirits from Angmar entered the tombs there.
Thankfully, the Plague weakened as it passed north and Arthedain was scarcely affected, although the Shire was hit harder, with the Hobbits suffering great losses.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age"
In Gondor, the cities of Osgiliath and Minas Ithil were hit especially hard, suffering the highest casualties outside of Rhovanion. Many fled both cities and re-located to Ithilien and Anórien, and Minas Anor became the King's seat as Osgiliath was so depopulated it began to fall into ruin. After this time, the province of Calenardhon, never densely populated, was mostly empty.
=== Aftermath ===
The casualties were so high that the fortresses guarding Mordor were abandoned along with the garrisons in Enedwaith, as the surviving troops were recalled. For the next two centuries, Gondor, as well as its enemies, did little but try to regain strength. Gondor had begun to recover by the 19th century of the Third Age, but was then hit by the Wars of the Wainriders.
==In adaptations==
The Great Plague appears in The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king, in which the plague is planned by the Witch-king to weaken the Dunedain kingdoms even further. The plague is created by Angmar's sorcerers by corrupting the Barrow-downs of Cardolan, creating many Barrow-wights, including Karsh. Afterwards, the plague ravages Arnor, then spreads across the Misty Mountains, affecting Osgiliath, Rhovanion, and Rhûn, presumably in the same way as in the books.
In The Lord of the Rings Online, the Great Plague is revealed to be an evil of Sauron, created by his chief poisoner Lhaereth the Stained. Various versions of it were tested in Rhûn before a suitable variant was unleashed onto the lands in the west. However, despite the devastation it brought, the Plague was deemed a failure by Sauron for not being deadly enough, and Lhaereth fell out of his favor for many years hence. It is revealed that the Rangers of the North could heal those affected by the Plague with kingsfoil. After the downfall of Sauron, the player works with two Rangers to stop Lhaereth from unleashing a new, improved version of the Great Plague.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Groot Pes
Albanian 	murtajë e Madhe
Amharic 	ታላቅ ቸነፈር
Arabic 	العظيم طاعون
Armenian 	Մեծ ժանտախտը
Azerbaijani 	Böyük vəbası
Basque 	Izurri handia
Belarusian Cyrillic	Вялікая Чума
Bengali 	মহান প্লেগ
Bosnian 	Velika kuga
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Голямата чума
Burmese 	ဂရိတ်ဘေးကပ်ရောဂါ
Cambodian 	ជំងឺប៉េស្តដ៏អស្ចារ្យ
Catalan 	Gran plaga
Cebuano 	Dakong katalagman
Chinese 	大大瘟疫
Croatian 	Velika kuga
Corsican 	Grande Peste
Czech 	Velký mor
Danish 	Den Store Pest
Dutch 	Grote Plaag
Esperanto 	Granda pesto
Estonian 	Suur katk
Filipino 	Mahusay na Peste
Finnish 	Suuri rutto
French 	Grande Peste
Frisian 	Grutte pest
Galician 	Gran peste
Georgian 	დიდი ჭირი
German 	Große Pest
Greek 	Μεγάλη πληγή
Gujarati 	મહાન પ્લેગ
Hausa 	Babban annoba
Hebrew 	הגדול המגפה
Hindi 	महान प्लेग
Hungarian 	Nagy pestis
Icelandic 	Mikill plága
Indonesian 	Wabah Besar
Irish Gaelic 	An Phlá Mór
Italian 	Grande Epidemia
Japanese 	グレートペスト
Kannada 	ದೊಡ್ಡ ಪ್ಲೇಗ್
Kazakh 	Үлкен оба (Cyrillic) Ülken oba (Latin)
Konkani 	व्हड प्लेग
Korean 	그레이트 역병
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Улуу Чума
Laotian 	ໄພພິບັດທີ່ຍິ່ງໃຫຍ່
Latvian 	Liela nelaime
Lithuanian 	Didysis maras
Luxembourgish 	Grouss Pescht
Macedonian Cyrillic	Голема чума
Maithili 	महान प्लेग
Malagasy 	Pesta lehibe
Malaysian 	Wabak besar
Malayalam 	വലിയ പ്ലേഗ്
Maltese 	Pesta Kbira
Marathi 	ग्रेट प्लेग
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Агуу тахал
Nepalese 	ठूलो प्लेग
Norwegian 	Stor Pesten
Pashto 	لوی طاعون
Persian 	طاعون بزرگ
Polish 	Wielki Mór
Portuguese 	Grande Praga
Punjabi 	ਮਹਾਨ ਪਲੇਗ
Romanian 	Ciuma mare
Russian 	Великая Чума
Sanskrit 	महान् व्याधिः
Serbian 	Велика куга (Cyrillic) Velika kuga (Latin)
Sindhi 	وڏي وبا
Sinhalese 	මහා වසංගතය
Slovak 	Veľký mor
Slovenian 	Velika kuga
Spanish 	Gran Plaga
Sundanese 	Wabah Agung
Swahili 	Tauni Kubwa
Swedish 	Stor Pest
Tajik Cyrillic 	Бемории калон
Tamil 	பெரிய பிளேக்
Tatar 	Зур Чума
Telugu 	గొప్ప ప్లేగు
Thai 	โรคระบาดครั้งใหญ่
Turkish 	Büyük Veba
Turkmen 	Uly Gyrgyn
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Велика чума
Urdu 	عظیم طاعون
Uzbek 	Катта чума (Cyrillic) Katta chuma (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Đại dịch hạch
Welsh 	Pla mawr
Xhosa 	Kakhulu Isibetho
Yiddish 	גרויס פּלאָגן
== References ==
de:Große Pest
es:Gran Plaga
fr:Grande Peste
it:Grande Epidemia
nl:Grote Plaag
pl:Wielki Mór
ru:Великая Чума
Category:Events