Battle of Minas Tirith

|prev=Battle of Ithilien
|conc=*Siege of Erebor
*Middle-Earth Sieges
|next=Battle of the Hornburg
|name=Battle of Minas Tirith
|image=
|conflict=War of the Ring
|date=March 13-15, 1984 (16:5:20)The Essential Atlas
|place=Minas Tirith, Middle-Earth
|result=*Pyrrhic Republic victory
*Death of Confederate White Wizard Darth Tyranus
*Rescue of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
|side1=*Galactic Republic
*Jedi Order
*Gondor
*Rohan
*Elves
*Dwarves
|side2=*Confederacy of Independent Systems
*Order of the Sith Lords
*Mordor
*Isengard
*Harad
|commanders1=*High General Bilbo Baggins
*High General King Aragorn
*High General Samwise Gamgee
*High General Tauriel
*General GimliLabyrinth of Evil
*General Gandalf
*King Theoden
*General Saesee Tiin
*General Stass Allie
*General Bard the Bowman
*General Legolas
*Captain Faramir
*General Fa Mulan
*General Frodo Baggins
*Lieutenant Commander Lorth NeedaThe Lord of the Rings: Episode III Revenge of the Sith novelization
*Advanced Recon Commando Alpha-77 (Captain Fordo)
*Senator Bail Prestor Organa
*Gilder VarthThe Traitor's Gambit
|commanders2=*Darth Sauron
*Saruman the White/Darth Tyranus†
*General The Mouth of Sauron
*Commander Jinx†
*Captain Lushros Dofine†
*Nas Ghent
|commanders3=
|forces1=
|forces2=
|casual1=*Much of the Republic fleet
**Impavid
**Mas Ramdar
*At least six JediUnknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous
**Roron Corobb
**Foul Moudama
**Pablo-Jill
**L'lacielo Sageon
**B'ink Utrila
**Roth-Del Masona
*R4-P17
*R4-M6
*Dyne
*Numerous clone troopers
*Numerous Gondorian troopers
*Many Rohirrim cavalry
*A few Elves
**Valiant
*At least one Senate Guard
|casual2=*Saruman the White
*Jinx
*Lushros Dofine
*Many Invisible Hand bridge crew members
*Many droids
*Many Orcs
*Many Uruk-Hai
*Many Goblins
*18 Nazguls
**IG-101
**IG-102
**7EX
*Much of the fleet
**Invisible Hand
**Vanguard Flare
|civilian=Large damage to buildings and propertyTwo members of Fire Team Three killed trying to extinguish the flames on the Invisible Hand.Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual DictionaryStar Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary}}
The Battle of Minas Tirith, also known as the Battle for Middle-Earth, was a crucial War of the Ring battle in 1984. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, knowing the Jedi were close to discovering his alter ego, Sith Lord Darth Sauron, ordered General The Mouth of Sauron, leader of the Military of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to kidnap him. Also he swept into the system and catching the Republic Coruscant Defense Fleet completely by surprise. The Confederate Navy hammered the few defending warships, destroying them, before assaulting the city itself.
Meanwhile, The Mouth of Sauron, along with his MagnaGuard, Nazguls, droid elite, used the battle above as a distraction, and landed on the white city, fighting their way towards Palpatine's bunker, as several Jedi and dozens of clone troopers protecting the Chancellor were killed. Mouth of Sauron succeeded in capturing Palpatine, before fleeing to his flagship in orbit, the Invisible Hand.
However, the fleet and the free peoples of Middle-Earth was unable to leave, as Republic and Rohan reinforcements had arrived and trapped the Separatists. The two fleets engaged each other, firing volleys back and forth. Jedi Generals Samwise Gamgee and Frodo Baggins arrived at the battle. They charged the Uruk-Hai's armies, and made their way to Minas Tirith to the Citadel of Gondor, where Palpatine was being held. Before the Jedi could rescue Palpatine, Saruman the White arrived with an escort of Jinx a former Sith assassin. After a brief duel, Frodo killed Saruman at Palpatine and Gandalf's behest. The Jedi, along with the now-freed Palpatine, were captured by The Mouth of Sauron before they could make their escape. Frodo and Sam were able to defeat his MagnaGuards and Nazguls, forcing the General to flee. With the loss of the flagship, the Separatist armies and fleet retreated, having suffered heavy losses. Chancellor Palpatine was safe in Republic hands.
Alas, neither the Republic nor the Jedi were aware that Palpatine had orchestrated the battle, and was also testing Frodo Baggins, whom he was grooming to be his new apprentice.
==Prelude==
Prior to the attack, the Middle-Earth Sieges had enmeshed millions of Republic and Separatist warships in vast campaigns in the galaxy's spiral arms. As a result of this, most of the Republic's Jedi were locked up in battles far away from the planet, Middle-Earth and the Core Worlds, and thanks to carefully controlled propaganda, the general populace believed that a total Republic victory was near.
With the Republic fleets spread throughout the Outer Rim Territories and the Coruscant Defense Fleet depleted and off guard, the Confederates had an opportunity to deal a mighty blow to the Republic by attacking Minas Tirith and Middle-Earth. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Republic, was aware that the Jedi were searching for a Darth Sauron, a mysterious Sith Lord who they believed had orchestrated the war. Unknown to them was that Palpatine was Sauron, and he was controlling both sides, in hopes of obtaining his true goal—complete galactic control. Palpatine planned a lightning raid on the white city led by General The Mouth of Sauron, Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies. Mouth of Sauron assembled an armada of thousands of destroyers and frigates—led by the Providence-class destroyer Invisible Hand—for a strike on Middle-Earth.
Meanwhile, the Republic Group, an anti-Palpatine, pro-Galactic Republic group, decided to retrieve and unveil the Insignia of Unity, which had earlier been stolen by them. They then sent a request for the spacers Tobb Jadak and Reeze Duurmun to come to Minas Tirith to discuss retrieving it.
==The battle==
===The Separatist invasion of Minas Tirith===
The Mouth of Sauron timed the strike to coincide with Chancellor Palpatine's State of the Republic address. Thousands of delegates, including Padmé Amidala and Bail Organa, who would otherwise not have been on Minas Tirith, remained planetside for post-speech celebrations, and would be there when the Separatists struck. Through the use of a secret hyperspace passage through the Mid Rim Territories supplied to them by Darth Sauron, the Separatists managed to jump right on top of the Coruscant Home Fleet, catching them completely by surprise. Most of the Republic ships, caught off-guard with their shields down, were destroyed instantly, but at least a thousand Venator-class Star Destroyers remained intact and functional. Using a jamming signal similar to the one deployed at the Battle of Praesitlyn, the Confederate Navy managed to disrupt all HoloNet transmissions throughout the planet Middle-Earth.
While the attack was taking place, an investigation conducted by a team consisting of Jedi Masters Aragorn and Tauriel, Captain Dyne of Republic Intelligence, ARC commander Valiant, and his clone troopers was taking place within Darth Sauron' hideout in the Works. Inside the building, they were able to track Sauron' path from the building by his pawprints; following the trail, the team ended up in the sub-basements of 500 Republica, where they were temporarily halted by security. After being cleared by the building personnel, they continued to follow the trail, but found it to disappear in the middle of an unremarkable ferrocrete floor, and numerous other footprints covering the floor masked where it might have picked up again. It was at this point that a group of ships surrounding the Republica plummeted to the ground. Alarmed, Aragorn and Tauriel took half of Dyne's soldiers and left the building through one of its skydock tunnels. Outside, they realized that Minas Tirith was under attack, and Tauriel was dispatched to find Palpatine while Aragorn put the clones on crowd control and left to get backup.
Dyne and Valiant, meanwhile, remained in the Republica to continue the search. After scanning the basement, Dyne realized that transmissions on regular frequencies were jammed, and sent a group of probe droids to search for more unusual frequencies; they found one, emanating from the very spot Sidious' trail had disappeared. After discovering a hydraulic turbolift, the two rode it into the depths of 500 Republica. There, they discovered a large metal doorway, behind which, the probe droids said, was one organic and several droids. Dyne and Valiant moved to advance on the door, but upon hearing someone speaking Geonosian, they turned around to find a pair of Geonosian guards aiming at them with sonic blasters. The Geonosians opened fire instantly, and their blasts sent Valiant and his soldiers' mangled bodies flying into the door. Dyne slammed into a wall, his insides liquefied. As he lay there, the door opened and Sauron stepped through, observing the scene. In his dying moment, Dyne recognized him as Palpatine.
Outside, the Republic fleet closed in on the Confederate ships and positioned themselves in a defensive screen around the planet. Mouth of Saruon tried to create the impression that his strike was borne of desperation, as he haphazardly dispersed his warships to target communications satellites, orbital mirrors, and random targets on the surface. Numerically inferior due to half the home fleet being reassigned to the Middle-Earth Sieges, the Republic naval commanders fought conservatively while they waited for reinforcements to arrive from the distant battlefields. Anticipating this, Mouth of Sauron positioned warships at key hyperspace reversion points and deployed mass-shadow mines to delay the arrival of any additional Republic ships.
The Republic quickly figured that the Confederacy was using the same jamming device as they did on Praesitlyn and were able to eventually return transmissions to normal. Thousands of new ships that had been secretly constructed by Kuat Drive Yards for Palpatine, along with many clone troops secretly bred on Centax-2 made their combat debut and entered the battle. They began inflicting some losses on the CIS fleet, even managing to destroy several battleships. In retaliation, Mouth of Sauron ordered Vulture droid fighters to perform suicide attacks on landing platforms, skyways, and pedestrian plazas in Minas Tirith's Senate District, causing many military and civilian casualties. Separatist landing craft were deployed onto the surface of the Pelennor Fields, unloading hundreds of thousands of battle droids, Orcs, Uruk-Hai and Goblins to create an elaborate diversion while Mouth of Sauron prepared a raiding party intent on capturing the Supreme Chancellor. Chaos ensued throughout the white city, with much collateral damage inflicted in the fighting.
===Republic actions===
Desperate to repel the Confederacy, the Jedi sprung into action alongside the Grand Army of the Republic. After Aragorn alerted Jedi Masters Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf of the attack, he joined fellow Jedi pilot Saesee Tiin in boarding their interceptors and engaging enemy starfighters in the skies above Minas Tirith. Aragorn's starfighter was eventually overwhelmed by a swarm of Separatist ships; though his wings were rammed off, sending his fighter plunging down, he managed to jump out and take control of an enemy Vulture droid, which he used to assist ARC-170 squadrons.
Elsewhere, Bilbo and Gandalf, leading the clone security forces on the surface in the defense of the besieged Senate District, used the Forces to throw droidekas into enemy fighters and pull enemy landing craft into one another. Afterward, they moved to help clone forces being overrun by Separatist battle droids and super battle droids in Sector Four. The clone troopers were aided by Aragorn, who crash-landed his Vulture droid in the middle of the battle droid formation. Hoping to gain reinforcements, Bilbo contacted the Jedi Aayla Secura, located on the Elven city of Lothlórien, but Secura determined that she was too far away and so instead put in motion a plan to capture Shu Mai, one of members of the Separatist Council.Reversal of Fortune
The Republic's Special Operations Brigade began to mobilize and Yayax Squad was sent to defend HNE headquarters in support of an artillery division based near there, to ensure that it could continue to broadcast. Jedi Master Arligan Zey, the brigade commander, retreated to a secure command center and sent out a Code Five signal to all Special Operations Brigade personnel with the Mid Rim, recalling them to Minas Tirith. Omega Squad soon responded and arrived in a GAR rapid assault vessel. They contacted Zey, who ordered them to make their way to the White City's main utility stations and give ground support to mobile anti-aircraft batteries. However, before they could do this, they were attacked by a Separatist fightercraft and were forced to crash land. They received new orders to make their way to the tactical control center of GAR HQ and were able to hitch a ride there in a passing Coruscant Security Force assault ship.
The assault ship had been deployed as part of a Coruscant Security Force operation to keep civilians away from the battlefield. They were eventually deployed at HNE HQ and fought alongside Yayax Squad there, under the command of the ARC trooper, Lieutenant Aven. The Separatists were trying to capture it intact, so had sent in ground troops, which they had to fight off. A wave of super battle droids attacked them, but were easily defeated as some were weakened due to the sabotage of the factories where they were produced, to make them produce inferior droids. They also received air support, in the form of two Low Altitude Assault Transports, which finished off most of the droids. Afterward, the center's civilian staff prepared a mobile transmitter to move to a more safe location, while Aven received word over his comlink that the Separatist blocking of the system had been bypassed and thousands more Republic ships had joined the battle.
The Mandalorian Kal Skirata decided to use the battle as an opportunity to break the captured Separatist scientist Doctor Ovolot Qail Uthan out of the Valorum Center. Skirata wanted Uthan, because he believed that he wanted her help to develop a cure to stop the accelerated aging in clone troopers. He entered the center along with Bardan Jusik, Ordo Skirata and Fi Skirata; Kal and Jusik masqueraded as officials from the Chancellor's office, while Fi and Ordo dressed as regular clone troopers. They persuaded the center's staff that they had been authorized to take Uthan to a more secure location, to prevent the Separatists from freeing her. They also took with them Arla Fett, who they unexpectedly found in the facility. They left in an LAAT/i flown by Walon Vau and retreated to a safe house in the lower levels.
Meanwhile, on Minas Tirith, Amidala was leading the evacuation of the Senate Apartment Complex with Captain Typho and her droid C-3PO when she met up with fellow senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma. On their way out, the three ran into the Jedi Tauriel, Fa Mulan and Stass Allie, who informed them that they were looking for the Supreme Chancellor. The Jedi lent the senators Allie's speeder to get them to a shelter. With Organa piloting, they fled for safety, but were shot down by Vulture droids and crash-landed in a public plaza. Unfortunately for them, the droids followed them and prepared to attack the three Humans. Amidala and Organa found blasters in a nearby crashed speeder and began to goad the droids into a position where Low Altitude Assault Transports could take them out. However, the droids suddenly stopped, and took off into the air.
In space, Jedi Master Saesee Tiin led a group of twenty-two Jedi in Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptors past the Separatist blockade in order to relay a distress signal through the Jedi's emergency HoloNet beacon. Tiin then proceeded to help lead the orbital defense of Middle-Earth. He landed in the hangar of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Impavid. The vessel was critically damaged by enemy turbolaser fire, and Tiin and his troops boarded the Providence-class carrier/destroyer Prosperous, commandeering it and using the ship's turrets to blast other enemy ships.
Despite these successes, the Jedi realized too late that the Republic had been lured into a feint and that The Mouth of Sauron had outmaneuvered them to reach his primary objective—Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
===The capture of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine===
Prior to the Separatist attack, Palpatine was awarding two Force-sensitive clone troopers, X1 and X2, for their courageous efforts at the recent Tatooine invasion. Upon hearing the first sounds of the battle, the troopers left to join the fray. Meanwhile, Tauriel returned to 500 Republica with fellow Jedi Stass Allie, Fa Mulan, Sunset Shimmer, Roron Corobb, and Foul Moudama, this time to Palpatine's suite. They were at first denied access by Palpatine's Red Guards, but when Palpatine completed his trip from the basement, the guards let the Jedi in just short of Tauriel forcing her way through. Palpatine, along with his adviser Sate Pestage and Director of Republic Intelligence Armand Isard, met with the Jedi inside. The Chancellor refused to evacuate to a secure bunker, insisting that he set an example by not hiding away, though Isard, Pestage, and even the captain of Palpatine's guards agreed with the Jedi that he needed to leave. Sensing a perturbation in the Force, Tauriel and Allie tackled Palpatine to the ground as the gunships outside the suite's window exploded, and a Separatist craft carrying Mouth of Sauron and a band of battle droids and orcs rose into view. Mouth of Sauron blew open the window and, as the orcs poured into the room, Allie, Sunset and the Red Guards set up a defense while Tauriel hurried Palpatine deeper into the suite.
The skimmers, meanwhile, had taken up the attack on Mouth of Sauron' ship, and soon enough the general and his droids were forced to withdraw. As Isard alerted Homeworld Security that Mouth of Sauron had broken through Minas Tirith's defensive perimeter, Palpatine had decided it was indeed time to evacuate. Mouth of Sauron, however, quickly returned, bursting through the window. Palpatine stood his ground, facing down Mouth of Sauron, but Tauriel pulled him back with the Force and the group ran, with a squad of clone troopers and a Senate Guard remaining in an attempt to hold back Mouth of Sauron. Suspecting that the prepared escape routes had been compromised, Tauriel had the party hurry to one of Republica's private turbo lifts. Having defeated the troopers blocking him, Mouth of Sauron ambushed the Chancellor's party as they were waiting for the turbolift to arrive. Corobb, an Ithorian, used his four throats to emit a powerful blast that tore up the hallway and drove Mouth of Sauron back long enough for them to enter the lift. Mouth of Sauron attempted to catch up with the turbolift, but the Chancellor's clone trooper escort fired a rocket through the lift's wall, blowing Mouth of Sauron off the side of the building. At the bottom, Tauriel saw no sign of Dyne and Valiant, and the group made their way through the tunnel to the east skydock. They had not escaped the Separatist forces yet, though; Mouth of Sauron was waiting with an army of B2 super battle droids outside. Corobb used his trick yet again, buying them the time they needed to escape.
During his search, one of Mouth of Sauron's Magnaguards faced off against X2, who destroyed it. The clone trooper soon spotted the Mordor General himself and began following him through the battle-torn Minas Tirith; X2 eventually tracked Mouth of Sauron to a Skylane transportation hub. Tired of X2's persistence, Mouth of Sauron ambushed the trooper there and attacked him. X2, however, used explosives against Mouth of Sauron that threw him into the city's traffic and injured him. Having faced with a challenging enemy, Mouth of Sauron decided to retreat and continued his search for Palpatine. Rejoining with X1, X2 took an ARC-170 starfighter and joined the space battle. Meanwhile, the Jedi hurried through the city, leaping from platform to platform with two MagnaGuards and six Nazguls closely in pursuit. They jumped onto a floating barge, but were shortly joined by four MagnaGuards and Mouth of Sauron himself, who disabled the barge's repulsorlift generators. The Jedi fled into a subway station, leaping over trains and narrowly avoiding death as they fought the MagnaGuards and the Ringwraiths on the tracks. Tauriel and Sunset Shimmer finally managed to destroy three of the droids, and Corobb destroyed another. As Mouth of Sauron appeared and backed the Jedi into a tunnel, Mulan used the Force to wrap his cape around a pipe on a train carriage. She activated the train, and Mouth of Sauron was yanked down one of the tunnels. The Jedi decided that air vehicles would be too risky, and, meeting with Aragorn and Legolas, boarded a maglev train that would get them near the bunker.
However, Mouth of Sauron's gunboat retrieved the General and he caught up with the Jedi's train. Battle droids boarded the train, followed by Mouth of Sauron himself; Legolas took on two of the General's Nazguls, while Aragorn dueled the General atop the train. The duel ended with Mouth of Sauron being pushed off the train, although he was saved by a hijacked LAAT/i gunship, unbeknownst to the Jedi. Once the train reached a repulsorlift platform, Tauriel, Mulan, Sunset Shimmer, Allie and Palpatine, accompanied by Corobb, Moudama, Roth-Del Masona, and B'ink Utrila, rode a gunboat to Sah'c Town, where the secure bunker was waiting. Legolas and Aragorn split from the group and went in pursuit of Mouth of Sauron' droid gunboat. However, upon destroying it, they found nothing more than a super battle droid, and returned to the bunker, realizing this had been a diversion that would lead to the Chancellor's kidnapping. Outside the bunker, Corobb, Moudama, Sunset, Masona, and Utrila led the Chancellor inside while Tauriel, Mulan and Allie stayed outside to assist in defense. Mouth of Sauron's hijacked LAAT/i gunship suddenly appeared, successfully penetrating the bunker's shield and crashing in the process. He then made his way inside, with six Nazguls in tow. Tauriel, realizing the Chancellor's safety had been compromised, split off from Allie and joined the six Jedi Knights in protecting the Chancellor.
Inside the bunker, Mouth of Sauron and his Ringwraiths cut a bloody path of destruction throughout, defeating a number of clone troopers and security personnel. Using a code provided by Sauron, he made his way into the central room of the bunker. Meanwhile, the Chancellor and the Jedi found a turbolift that would lead them to the central room. Tauriel and Mulan insisted that they stay behind to hold off any of their pursuers; Palpatine and the Jedi felt unsure in abandoning Tauriel, but she claimed it was to assure the Chancellor's safety. As the turbolift hurried off, Tauriel and Mulan engaged in combat with a large number of MagnaGuards that emerged from the darkness. Tauriel was temporarily deprived of her lightsaber and nearly overwhelmed, but managed to obtain an electrostaff from one of the MagnaGuards, reclaiming her lightsaber and using both weapons to fight her enemies off.
Once the five Jedi escorted the Chancellor to the center of the bunker, they were confronted by Mouth of Sauron, who engaged them in a lightsaber duel. In the early stages of the fight, Corobb and Moudama managed to get the General into a saber-lock, but it was at this point that his arms split into four, grabbing the lightsabers on his waist and provoking the general to lunge forward at the Jedi. He toyed with his foes for a time before knocking Sunset to the pile of boxes, knocking her unconscious and decapitating Masona first. Corobb, who accidentally kicked Masona's head across the room during the fight, lost his focus and became distracted long enough for Mouth of Sauron to kill with a stab to the heart. Putting forth his best effort, Moudama charged the General but lost his lightsaber arm and then his left leg before being disemboweled. He then toyed with Utrila, letting her gain a slight advantage by striking the General in the arm. Finally, Mouth of Sauron put his enemy out of her misery with a stab to the heart.
Meanwhile, Tauriel finished off the last of Mouth of Sauron's MagnaGuards, just as the droids retreated back into the shadows. Realizing they were a diversion for Mouth of Sauron to reach the center of the bunker, she raced to the scene, just as Mouth of Sauron was threatening Palpatine. As Tauriel ran into the room, she saw Mouth of Sauron holding the Chancellor by the neck collar, the latter of which remarked dryly how she had come to his rescue. She charged at Mouth of Sauron, but she was too exhausted from her engagement with the MagnaGuards. Mouth of Sauron was aware of this, so he quickly subdued her by the neck with one split hand, confiscated her lightsaber for his "collection" and trussed her into a stun-net as to warn the Jedi of the Chancellor's capture.
As Mouth of Sauron fled with his captor to a tri-wing shuttle stationed nearby, Aragorn and Legolas arrived in their gunship. The General, equipping his four lightsabers, prepared to confront the King of Gondor; however, Aragorn Force crushed the plates covering Mouth of Sauron's internal organ sac, injuring his lungs and aggravating the General's already irritating wheezing and coughing problems; a result of his organic form not taking well to his armor implants. As the General coughed violently, the shuttle lifted off; Aragorn leaped upward in an attempt to board it, but the shuttle's laser canons fired at him, knocking him back down to the landing platform and leaving him fuming. Aragorn and Legolas, meeting up with Stass Allie, Sunset Shimmer and Corrob's Padawan Drake Lo'gaan, entered the bunker, searching for the occupants. Once at the central room, they found Tauriel incapacitated, with the four Jedi slain. Neither Mouth of Sauron nor Palpatine were in sight, and Lo'gaan, distraught, cradled the body of his dead master while Allie collapsed at the sight of the slain Jedi Knights. Tauriel, lamenting her failure, showed Aragorn and Legolas a security recording of Mouth of Sauron's escape, while a clone trooper explained that the General had exited through way of the south tunnels. Although the two were astounded by the general's audacious move, Aragorn ordered the troopers to recall any Jedi pilots as to help them pursue Mouth of Sauron.
===A failed rescue===
As Mouth of Sauron piloted the tri-wing shuttle into orbit, a number of Jedi pilots including Tiin, Bard the Bowman, L'lacielo Sageon and Pablo-Jill joined Aragorn and Legolas in their pursuit of the General. As the shuttle carrying Palpatine and Mouth of Sauron neared the Invisible Hand, several Republic frigates and corvettes diverted from the main battle and joined the Jedi in their pursuit. Aragorn and the Jedi were right behind Mouth of Sauron when a swarm of five hundred droid fighters, launched from a Trade Federation battleship, enveloped the shuttle in a defensive screen. As the shuttle neared its destination, the flagship opened fire on the pursuing Jedi fighters. While one of their comrades was killed, Pablo-Jill and Sageon were captured by the Invisible Hand tractor beams and brought into hangar bay. The two Jedi attempted to defeat Mouth of Sauron and rescue the Chancellor, but were killed by the droid general in a lightsaber duel. Their bodies were jettisoned into space for the Republic's citizens to see.
Safely aboard his command ship, Mouth of Sauron broadcast a message across the HoloNet, revealing the capture of the Chancellor, and proclaiming an end to the Republic's corrupt reign, inciting panic and fear among the Republic populace. However, before he could flee, thousands of Republic warships from the Open Circle Fleet arrived in system and engaged the Separatist fleet. The reinforcements and the beleaguered Home Fleet trapped the Separatist ships in Coruscant's upper atmosphere, under the planetary shields. Falling ships from both sides struck the planet's surface, the impacts destroying large sections of the city.
Meanwhile, after meeting with Eowyn, Theoden and Kryze on the Henneth Annun and hearing their request, Samwise Gamgee insisted on waiting for the approval of the Jedi High Council before committing to the operation. Kryze told Eowyn she had known this would be a waste of time, but Frodo Baggins had a surprise for his former apprentice, taking her to meet Rex and a unit of the 501st who had repainted their helmets after her facial markings in her honor once they knew she was coming back. The reunion was interrupted, however, by the alarms going off. When Samwise arrived at the scene, Frodo asked if the attack on Erebor had been approved as the clone troopers ran off to prepare for battle, but the Jedi Master explained that Sauron had attacked Minas Tirith and the Supreme Chancellor was in danger. Eowyn was upset, pointing out that the Jedi playing politics instead of helping people who really needed them was why the general public had lost faith in the Order. Frodo proposed splitting the 501st and creating a new unit under Eowyn and Merry's command, but Gamgee pointed out that as she was no longer a member of the Republic Military, she could not officially command anyone. Frodo's solution to this was to promote Rex to Commander so he could lead the new unit, with Eowyn officially designated as his advisor, which she was amenable to.
As Samwise, Theoden, Faramir, Frodo and their forces headed for the capital of the Gondor to stop Sauron, Eowyn, Merry, Rex, and Kryze set out for Erebor with their forces, beginning a siege to draw Gollum out of hiding.
===Arrival of Frodo Baggins and the Rohirrim===
Unable to escape Middle-Earth, the Invisible Hand had sustained heavy damage from the guns of Republic Star Destroyers over the course of a final day of battle. A screen of Separatist battleships, destroyers, and frigates sheltered the flagship from further harm, but after hours of sustained fighting, the craft's deflector shields were failing.
The 501st Legion was immediately given mission objectives to board their starfighters in a Venator-class Star Destroyer's hangar and head out to counter the Separatist fighters, engaging them in fierce dogfights. Their goal was to clear a path for Frodo, King Theoden and Samwise. The pilots proceeded to destroy a number of Vulture droids and a Munificent-class star frigate, as well as the shields and communications array of a Providence-class carrier/destroyer. Several 501st fighters then landed in the enemy cruiser hangar, exited their vehicles, and manually blew up the inner engine cooling tanks and auto turret defense system. Jumping back into their fighters, the pilots circled the Providence cruiser, destroying its bridge.
At that instant, Samwise Gamgee, Frodo Baggins and the Rohirrim, with 60,000 fully armed horsemen, arrived at daybreak fresh and ready. Taking advantage of the opportunity the 501st had created, they piloted their fighters towards the white city. As they approached, they found hundreds of Vulture fighters and tri-fighters swarming protectively around the burning city, and the Jedi engaged the fighters with the help of Clone Flight Squad Seven. After a stirring call-to-battle by King Théoden and a series of horn blasts, the legion of horsemen rode out as one towards Sauron and Saruman's forces with the king at the apex. The Orcs and the Uruk-Hai hastily reorganised themselves, setting up their pikemen in front and their archers behind them. As the Rohirrim closed in, the Orcs opened fire with three volleys of arrows, killing several of the horsemen but it was all for naught as the barrage had little effect on the Rohirrim's momentum. The Orc Chief could only look on in horror as the Rohirrim smashed headlong into the orc ranks with all the power and fury of a force ten times their actual size, slicing through and mowing down thousands of the panicking Orcs and Uruk-Hai with shocking ease. The orc lines buckled, splintered and then shattered completely, causing them to rout the field; yet the Rohirrim pursued them still, slaughtering the Orcs by the hundreds. The two Jedi were also assisted by X2, who served as their escort and dispatched many Vulture droids. The clones took heavy casualties, and Frodo was ready to go back and help them.
Gamgee, however, would not let him, insisting they stick to the mission. As the duo closed in on the Invisible Hand, they noticed that another destroyer was moving in to assist the Separatist armies. Gamgee dispatched X2 to hijack that ship. When the clone infiltrated the destroyer, Gamgee sent two more troopers to assist him. The clones successfully reached the starship's bridge and took control of the vessel, and X2 used its weaponry to destroy the Invisible Hand turbolaser defenses, as well as some Vulture droids that were attacking the approaching Jedi.
Soon, Gamgee and Baggins were attacked by a swarm of Vulture droids. The droids fired missiles at them, but Frodo managed to evade them by barrel rolling, which caused the missiles' flight paths to intersect. Gamgee, however, could not avoid the missiles targeting him, and they finally exploded, releasing buzz droids that attached themselves to his ship's hull. His astromech droid R4-P17 was destroyed, and the droids were rapidly disabling Gamgee's Jedi interceptor as well. Frodo saved his friend by firing on the buzz droids as well as smashing into Gamgee's ship and crushing them, but he also destroyed the port dorsal radiator on Gamgee's interceptor in the process. One surviving buzz droids also managed to climb aboard Frodo's Jedi interceptor, although R2-D2, at the guidance of Gamgee and Frodo, managed to deactivate it by zapping it in the center eye with its lightning gun.
As they hurtled toward Minas Tirith's broken gates, which was smashed by Grond, Sauron's mighty battering ram, Frodo, after being narrowly reminded by Gamgee and R2 that the white city gates were down, took advantage of the fact that the gates's main deflector shields had been partially compromised and destroyed the atmospheric containment shield protecting the entrance. With Gamgee's ship's engines failing, the two fighters breached the CIS's defenses and crash-landed in the gates of Minas Tirith, where the Jedi quickly eliminated all Uruk-Hai resistance. After R2-D2 located Palpatine's homing beacon, they headed towards the signal emanating from the Citadel of Gondor.
But Mouth of Sauron knew that the Hobbits would come to the White City, which Saruman had predicted beforehand. He was requested on the white city via the ship's captain Lushros Dofine and heard that the Jedi hobbits were now being tracked.
As the two Jedi headed towards Palpatine, they were confronted by more droids in the hall along with wreckage and locked doors, but were able to overcome these obstacles. After boarding a turbolift upon evading destroyer droids, Gamgee and Frodo were held up by a battalion of B1-Series battle droids, although their request for the Jedi Knights to drop their weapons backfired when it caused them to drop their own guard instead, giving the Jedi Knights an opportunity to cut them all down. After a brief misadventure when the lift they were using was stopped, Gamgee and Baggins were assisted by R2-D2 in getting to the top of the Citadel of Gondor—the location of the throne room—where Palpatine was being held captive. Likewise, R2-D2 was briefly captured by two patrolling B2 super battle droids shortly thereafter, although R2-D2 managed to escape by spraying them with oil, and then igniting the oil when activating his thrusters to fly off, burning them.
====The Duel on the White City====
Before the Jedi, Theoden, and Gandalf could release Palpatine, however, Saruman arrived, flanked by Jinx a former Sith assassin. Arriving from the throne room whence he came, he spoke to the Jedi. Referring to their earlier failure to stop him on Isengard, Gandalf told Frodo and Sam that they're to talk to him together, with Frodo mentioning he was about to suggest the same. Saruman says to King Théoden and Frodo Baggins that they could be allies once more, but Frodo explains that they shall both have peace when Rohan avenges all the people killed at Edoras and Dol Guldur by executing Saruman on a gibbet. Saruman mentions to Gandalf that Frodo himself is heading towards immediate turn and that Aragorn still being King of Gondor. He reveals to the hobbits the Palantír which he kept in secret, and knows all the ways of the enemy. Then, they are informed by Saruman the White that Darth Sauron is readying himself for his identity, and his final strike. Gandalf makes an offer with Saruman to surrender and be spared, but Saruman kicked Frodo aside and quickly incapacitated Gamgee, slamming him into one of the walls with the Force. In order to ensure Gamgee could not rejoin the fight, Saruman then used the Force to cause various debris to fall right on top of Gamgee, leaving him unconscious and pinned down. Saruman sensed through the Force that the situation had instilled fear in Baggins. Seeking to exploit this, he then taunted Frodo, and attacks him with a cloud of fire instead. Luckily, Frodo protects himself and he shatters Saruman's lightsaber and staff, cuting off one of his hands. Before Saruman can give them more information, Jinx stood beside him. Théoden says that Jinx is freed of Saruman, and that she can surrender and be a witch of Dathomir as she once was. Jinx happily bows to Théoden; however, Saruman insults the witch of Dathomir and claims that Jinx will never be free and slaps her to the floor. In her anger, Jinx attacks Saruman, stabbing him in the back. Legolas quickly fires an arrow into Jinx, killing her. Catching Jinx's lightsaber, he held both blades in a scissor arc toward the Wizard's abdomen.
The shackled Palpatine commended the Jedi's victory and encouraged Frodo to kill Saruman. Frodo initially said are you sure, claiming that it was right the Ringbearer's way to execute a mortal enemy. With Gandalf's behalf and with Palpatine guiding him on, Frodo gave in to his power and desire for revenge and cutting Saruman in half, who plummets from Minas Tirith's tower and is impaled on a watermill, bringing an end to the Separatist wizard. Treebeard informs the group that the Ents will return to fill up Isengard as they once did. As the watermill spins and Saruman is submerged below the water, he drops the Palantír from his sleeve. Nonetheless, Frodo immediately regarding the decision, with Palpatine feigning sympathy regarding Frodo's desire, and also acknowledged it wasn't the first time Frodo gave in to the One Ring's power, alluding to Frodo's slaughter of the Goblins after they tortured the latter's mother, Shmi Skywalker Lars, to death.
===Continuing battle===
As the confrontation between the Jedi and Sith ended, the Invisible Hand entered a direct engagement with the Venator-class Star Destroyer Guarlara, exchanging broadsides with the warship. Both sides fired at the other with heavy turbolasers. The Republic destroyer managed to damage the Invisible Hand systems, causing it to lose control. Sustaining crippling damage, the Separatist command ship temporarily fell toward Minas Tirith before regaining control. However, with artificial gravity, tensor fields, and inertial compensators failing, the ship had become a rapidly decaying space wreck.
Escape was now Frodo's priority. He gathered up the unconscious Gamgee, despite Palpatine's demand to leave him and headed back for the bank of turbolifts. However, due to damage sustained during its battle with the Guarlara, the turbolift system was rendered non-functional, and with the Invisible Hand accelerating a descent down to Minas Tirith, Frodo and Palpatine were forced to travel directly down the shaft. Before they could reach their destination, however, the ship, due to the bridge crew activating the ship's emergency booster engines at Mouth of Sauron's order, righted itself, thus causing Frodo and Palpatine hang onto a ledge, the jolt of which also resulted in Gamgee regaining consciousness. To make matters worse, the turbolift Frodo called for earlier also descended to their location due to miscommunication with R2-D2, nearly crushing them. Frodo attempted to call R2-D2 to stop it, but Gamgee told him to jump, realizing there was no time for that. They eventually ducked inside an open elevator door, narrowly evading the speeding elevator.
The Jedi then headed for the Mouth of Sauron's flagship with the Chancellor. As they arrived at the hangar, the Jedi were confronted by battle droids, which they dispatched. They then received word that a Republic cruiser was being attacked by a Separatist cruiser, and its systems were failing fast. Frodo took control of a laser turret nearby, and fired on the Separatist cruiser, eventually destroying it. After this, the Jedi continued on to the main hangar bay. Before they could reach it, however, Mouth of Sauron learned that they were in Hallway 328 of the Invisible Hand and ordered that the ray shields be activated; likewise, the shields dropped on the Jedi and Palpatine. Frodo was sure that R2-D2 would arrive and release the shields, but as the astromech came screeching in, droidekas unfolded and aimed at him; a super battle droid even kicked him down to his back after being zapped in the blaster arm. The Jedi, along with the Chancellor and R2-D2, were captured and taken to the bridge and brought before Mouth of Sauron.
====Confrontation with The Mouth of Sauron====
The Mordor general took Gamgee and Baggins's lightsabers, boasting about adding them to his collection, but the Jedi, after warning him that he will escape "this time," were able to recover them with the help of R2-D2, who used beams of electricity to distract the guards. The Jedi were able to summon their lightsabers back as Mouth of Sauron ordered his MagnaGuards and two Nazguls to dispose of the Jedi and make sure they suffered. After a quick battle, the Jedi defeated the droid and Ringwraiths warriors (with Sam initially having difficulty due to beheading the droid not destroying it) and closed in on Mouth of Sauron, intent on capturing him. The Mouth of Sauron, grabbed an overloaded electrostaff wielded by one of his MagnaGuards and threw it into the damaged bridge viewport, shattering it violently.
Mouth of Sauron allowed himself to be sucked out into space, and later re-entered the Pelennor Fields through an escape pod hatch. In an attempt to foil the Jedi's escape, he launched every escape pod on his flagship and fled to the Black Gate of Mordor. Simultaneously, a communications error between Republic forces led to Home Fleet Strike Group Five savagely attacking Invisible Hand, this time dealing fatal damage to the ship's systems. The Separatist command ship began a meteoric plunge toward Minas Tirith.
Taking control of the helm, Frodo attempted to pilot the wreck to a safe landing on the Pelennor Fields. Losing structural integrity, the entire rear end of the Invisible Hand tore off due to atmospheric stresses. Despite this, Frodo, in order to avoid adding to the already massive damage Minas Tirith had already sustained from the fighting, successfully crash-landed the ship on a long, seldomly-used landing platform at the industrial center in White City with the help of Fire Team Three (at the cost of two of its members), although the landing also resulted in the destruction of one of the observation towers on the platform in the process. With the loss of their flagship, the failure of their main objective, and the recovery of their supreme commander, The Mouth of Sauron, the surviving elements of the depleted Separatist armada retreated in disgrace to Mordor. A few pockets of fighting carried on among the anti-Republic elements of the Coruscanti population, who had risen up during the battle. However, they were eventually defeated.
==Aftermath==
Palpatine was quickly returned to the Republic, where he was greeted by various senators, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and King Aragorn. After arriving back on the capital, Samwise returned to the Jedi Temple to celebrate, and Frodo went with the group of politicians. Palpatine praised the heroics of the Jedi who had rescued him and mentioned how they had killed Saruman, but how Mouth of Sauron had once again escaped. Palpatine informed Aragorn that the Senate would continue the war as long as Mouth of Sauron and Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation lived since they are now the leader of the Separatist Alliance, so Aragorn made sure the Jedi's top priority would be finding the General. Frodo briefly talked with Senator Bail Organa, as Artoo reunited with C-3PO. Frodo then reunited with his wife, Padmé Amidala, and it was their first meeting in some time, as the Jedi Knight had been away fighting the Middle-Earth Sieges. There Padmé revealed that they celebrating his birthday and their wedding anniversary, and Frodo was most excited and very happy because this was the happiest day of his life.
Saruman's death at the hands of Frodo precluded the Jedi from learning more about Lord Sauron. When Eowyn informed Gamgee during the Siege of Erebor that Gollum had knowledge about his old master, Gamgee asked them to capture Gollum so he could reveal Sauron' public identity to the Jedi Council.
The Separatist were dealt a crippling loss from Minas Tirith, with an entire third of the Separatist Armada lost. Worse than that though was the loss of their leader, Saruman the White. After his death, Mouth of Sauron became the Confederacy's new Head of State, but it greatly destabilized the Separatist control structure. Without the assurances of victory from Saruman, the members of the Separatist Council, particularly Viceroy Nute Gunray, began to doubt the abilities of their new leader to keep them safe for much longer. Meanwhile, the Jedi High Council made tracking down Mouth of Sauron and the Viceroy and bringing them to justice their utmost priority in hope of finally ending the war. The Jedi Order would go on to track him to Black Gate, where they launched an assault in which Gamgee confronted and killed The Mouth of Sauron only just six days after the Battle of Minas Tirith.
During the Battle of the Black Gate, Palpatine successfully achieved his goal of converting Frodo to the dark side of the Force, and took the fallen Ringbearer as his new apprentice, thus replacing Saruman, in return to lure his wife to her death. The Chancellor dubbed Frodo as "Delightful Children from Down the Lane" and executed Order 66, branding the Jedi as traitors and creating media that the Jedi were behind the whole War of the Ring. With the Jedi Order almost destroyed, Palpatine transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire named himself as it’s Galactic Emperor.
The Battle of Minas Tirith had shown that dangers existed close to Coruscant, and this meant Palpatine faced almost no opposition to expanding the military and making a central authority. The War of the Ring had finally ended and while the galaxy had technically achieved peace, it was at the cost of freedom. As recounted in Hondo Ohnaka's Galactic Explorer's Guide, falling debris from the orbital combat left scars that marred Coruscant's cityscape for decades.Star Wars: The Galactic Explorer's Guide
==Behind the scenes==
The Battle of Minas Tirith was created for The Lord of the Rings: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, where it serves as part of the exposition. The Battle of Minas Tirith has also been described in other sources such as the novel Labyrinth of Evil, which is actually its first appearance, and the animated television series Star Wars: War of the Rings. In video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II and the Revenge of the Sith video game, portions of the battle are playable.
In the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas said that he wanted the Battle of Minas Tirith to serve as a bridge between the prequel and Musketeers trilogy, utilizing ARC-170s as the precursor to X-wings, and including vulture droids from The Fellowship of the Ring. The New Essential Chronology stated that the battle lasted for three. However, the Revenge of the Sith novelization stated it lasted only a "long, long day."
Accounts of this battle have been conflicting and which version is the canonical depiction is ambiguous. This discrepancy is primarily due to the fact that the Star Wars: War of the Ring series and the novel Labyrinth of Evil (published two months before the Battle of Coruscant War of the Ring episodes aired) gave differing versions of what happened. In the animated series, Aragorn, Gandalf and Bilbo together destroyed a small army of battle droids, whereas Labyrinth of Evil did not show Bilbo participating in the battle and depicted Aragorn helping to protect Palpatine, dueling Mouth of Sauron aboard a maglev train, which was mentioned in the Revenge of the Sith novelization. In Labyrinth of Evil, the Jedi defending Palpatine in the bunker (Roron Corobb, Foul Moudama, Roth-Del Masona, and B'ink Utrila) were defeated relatively quickly by Mouth of Sauron and did not join in protecting him until relatively late in the battle, whereas in the animated series Corobb and Moudama assisted Tauriel in protecting the Chancellor from the beginning, going on a long chase through the city before finally being defeated by their quarry—Utrila and Masona were never present. Also, in Labyrinth, Stass Allie assisted Tauriel in protecting Palpatine, while in War of the Ring, Allie never appears. The webstrip Reversal of Fortune attempted to reconcile the two accounts somewhat.
The battle was also featured in the video game Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron for the PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS. The two versions of the game are very different in their portrayal of the battle. This article currently describes the events as depicted in the Nintendo DS version. In the PSP edition, X1 and X2 participated in the battle and immediately engage Separatist forces in orbit around Middle-Earth. First, they fought enemy droid fighters, and eventually X2 and some clone troopers boarded a Providence-class carrier/destroyer. Inside the ship, X2 commandeered its orbital strike cannon and used it against Separatist ground forces that had been deployed onto Middle-Earth's surface. This provided the Republic support by hampering the Confederacy's ground invasion. Once complete, X2 and his clone brothers departed the ship in escape pods and reached the Pelennor Fields in order to support the Republic's forces against the Confederacy. X2 reached Jedi General Aragorn's location, and Aragorn tasked him with repairing a defense turret in order to blast Separatist barricades surrounding the Senate building. After X2 has completed the task, he and Aragorn reached the building and faced off against The Mouth of Sauron and his Magnaguards. After a short battle, the Mordor General retreated.
===Non-canon appearances===
The Battle of Minas Tirith also appeared in the non-canon video games LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. The first two functioned similar to the film and the Revenge of the Sith video game, with Gamgee and Baggins battling droid starfighters in space, and then fighting battle droids in the hallways of the Invisible Hand. The latter resembled the space portion of the Battle of Minas Tirith.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: Battlefront II
*Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
*Obsession 1 
*Reversal of Fortune
*Labyrinth of Evil 
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*The Lord of the Rings: Episode III Revenge of the Sith novelization
*The Lord of the Rings Episode III: Revenge of the Sith video game
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*Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel
*Dark Times 6 
*Star Wars: Republic: Hidden Enemy 
*Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight 
*Dark Lord: The Rise of Delightful Children 
*Eowyn 
*Lords of the Sith 
*A New Dawn 
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*The Rise and Fall of Delightful Children 
===Non-canon appearances===
*Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 
*LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
*LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:War of the Rings battles
Category:Duels