Attack on Dol Guldur

An attack on Dol Guldur was launched by the White Council in TA 2941 of the Third Age against the fortress of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, which was commanded by the Necromancer and the Nazgûl.
== History ==
=== Prelude ===
The stronghold of Dol Guldur was established in the year TA 1000, before which it was originally known as Amon Lanc (meaning "Bald Hill"), the former capital of Oropher's Woodland Realm. Long abandoned by the first millennium of the Third Age, a darkness took possession of the fortress, actually the Dark Lord Sauron, who disguised himself as the Necromancer of Dol Guldur to avoid suspicion. After Sauron took over control of Amon Lanc, Thranduil retreated northwards, first to the Mountains of Mirkwood and then to the Elvenking's Halls.
The Council of the Wise long feared the Necromancer might indeed be Sauron, and in the year TA 2063, Gandalf, the Grey Wizard among the Five Wizards, went to Dol Guldur to investigate, but Sauron, who was not yet powerful, fled east before Gandalf could discover the truth. After four centuries of the Watchful Peace, Sauron returned to Dol Guldur in the year TA 2460, the same year as the One Ring was found by Sméagol. However, the Ring disappeared with Sméagol under the Misty Mountains.
In TA 2845, Thráin II, father of Thorin Oakenshield and rightful king of Erebor, held the last of the Seven Rings of the Dwarves and was imprisoned in Dol Guldur's dungeons. Five years later, Gandalf returned to Dol Guldur, finding the dying Thráin, who entrusted him with Thrór's Map and the Key to the Side-door to give to Thorin. After Thráin's death, Gandalf confirmed that Sauron was the Necromancer of Dol Guldur.
Gandalf returned to the White Council and urged an attack on Dol Guldur. Saruman spoke against this, having fallen into corruption and was actively searching for the One Ring in the Gladden Fields by then. But later to his dismay, Saruman learned that Sauron was searching there too. Again Gandalf urged the Council to attack while Sauron was still regaining his power. Saruman now assented to this, feeling that Sauron should no longer be allowed to search the Gladden Fields for the Ring. In TA 2941, Saruman finally agreed to attack Dol Guldur, which occurred at the same time as the Quest of Erebor. This was carefully planned by Gandalf, so that Sauron and Smaug could not assist each other during this attack.The Lord of the Rings: Appendix BThe Atlas of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings, "Battles in the North"
=== The attack ===
Not much is known of the actual battle, whether it was simply a duel between great powers, or if it involved the use of conventional weapons. Some facts are mentioned, in that Sauron retreated before the Council due to the devices of Saruman, as stated by Gandalf. While Sauron was forced to retreat to the east, his plan to return to Mordor had long been prepared, as he had anticipated that the White Council would eventually drive him out and he returned there in secret only a year later.
=== Aftermath ===
After the attack's success, Gandalf immediately left the White Council for the Lonely Mountain, to again aid Thorin's company, where he would take part in the Battle of Five Armies.
== In adaptations ==
=== The Hobbit film trilogy ===
The Attack on Dol Guldur appears in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as one of the main plots, besides Smaug's attack on Lake-town and the gathering for battle at the Lonely Mountain. After Gandalf was defeated and captured after facing Sauron in The Desolation of Smaug, the White Council (Galadriel, Saruman, Elrond and Radagast the Brown) determined to come to his aid and face Sauron/The Necromancer and The Nine (Nazgûl).In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Gandalf is seen suffering in his prison cage and attempting to mutter a spell with Radagast also chanting spells in Rhosgobel to support his fellow wizard. But Gandalf is interrupted by an Orc chieftain, who scorns the wizard for using spells in his master's domain. He roughly tosses Gandalf out of his cage and demands to know the whereabouts of the Ring of Fire, which Sauron is somehow aware of. Gandalf lashes the Orc in the mouth with a chain. Unfazed, the Orc examines Gandalf's hand and discovers Narya. The Orc prepares to cut it off, but some other power stops him in his tracks. Galadriel emerges and commands the Orc to stand down or else be destroyed. When he roars in defiance, Galadriel raises her arm and unleashes a deadly light that dissolves the Orc and rents the sky for miles. She bears Gandalf away in her arms, and Sauron calls out to her in Black Speech. He specifically chants the verse referring to the rings of power, which Galadriel finishes in the Westron "Nine for mortal men doomed to die". She and the unconscious Gandalf are surrounded by the spectral forms of the Nazgûl. 
Seemingly startled, Galadriel retreats to a dais where she protects Gandalf. Sauron warns her that she cannot fight the darkness, especially if she is alone. Galadriel answers that she is not alone. Elrond and Saruman arrive on the scene and fight all of the Nine. Elrond seems to use his Ring of Power along with his Elven-sword in dueling the Nazgûl. Saruman uses ninja-like skills involving his staff and magical bursts to beat the Ringwraiths. The two of them attempt to dismember the Nazgûl and knock them off the fortress walls, although the wraiths keep regenerating. Amidst the fighting, Galadriel heals Gandalf by kissing him on the forehead, although doing so seems to take its toll on her. Radagast arrives on his rabbit sled and hastily escorts Gandalf out of the fortress. Gandalf begs her to join him, but after hesitating she willfully commands Radagast to take Gandalf away. Elrond and Saruman inflict enough damage against the wraiths that they are forced to retreat. Galadriel lies prone on the floor.
Sauron himself emerges as his silhouette erupts in the form of a flaming eye. He bears down on the Council and the Nine are summoned again, proclaiming the time of the Elves over and the Age of the Orc beginning with the fall of the East and the kingdom of Angmar restored. Saruman is alarmed at the sight of Sauron, while Elrond raises his sword to protect Galadriel. The Dark Lord declares their time is up and sends the Nazgûl forth to finish them off. Using her last ounce of strength, Galadriel rises and enters her spiritual/ethereal form, like she did in The Fellowship of the Ring when Frodo presented her with the Ring. She raises her hand with her Phial in hand, which instantly blazes with light from Nenya and the Nazgûl dissipate immediately.
Galadriel and Sauron engage in a short but heated battle of wills, trying to dominate each others mind. Sauron tries to sway her, but she defies him with scornful words, mocking him as a servant of Morgoth with no power. Sauron's silhouette begins to fluctuate, constantly revolving and reshaping as Galadriel assaults his spirit, calling him nameless, faceless, and formless. The outcome is that Galadriel is able to penetrate Sauron's mind and issues a single command "Go back to the void from whence you came!" Unable to resist her any longer, Sauron screams and flees with the Nine. But Galadriel is rendered weak after their strife and falls back; Elrond rushes in to support her. Once he is cast away, Elrond states that he must be permanently destroyed and Gondor should be warned to set up a watch on the walls of Mordor. But Saruman instructs him to take the severely weakened Galadriel to Lothlórien for healing and to leave Sauron to him, hinting at his downfall in The Lord of the Rings.
=== Extended version ===
In the extended cut, the Orc brute attempts to interrogate Gandalf about the whereabouts of the three Elven Rings, which Sauron is looking for. Gandalf however whips the Orc across the face with a chain, and the Orc grabs Gandalf's hand and examines it. Sure enough, Narya the ring of fire reveals itself on Gandalf's finger. The Orc prepares to cut it off, but he is forcibly stopped by Galadriel. As the Orc rounds on her, she gives him a verbal warning to stand down. The Orc snarls and Galadriel unleashes her magic, which brutally rips apart the Orc's body.
There is some further footage of Elrond and Saruman fighting the wraiths and of Radagast arriving at Dol Guldur.
=== Behind the Scenes ===
According to the Official Movie Guide to The Battle of the Five Armies, in coming to Gandalf's aid, Galadriel has to grapple with the seductive power of the Necromancer to draw other beings into a void of darkness, despair and decay. She has to summon every particle of her strength to resist and, in doing so, we see Galadriel’s incredible power and realize that — but for the finesse and strength of her spirit — how quickly power for goodness could be turned to evil.” Cate Blanchett also says Galadriel "uses the language of the enemy".
Galadriel's spectral form is revealed by designer Daniel Falconer to be a reference to "an Elf revealed in wrath". This is taken from a passage in The Fellowship of the Ring, Many meetings, where Gandalf tells Frodo about the power of the Eldar. Those Elves who have dwelt in the blessed realm have great power against the seen and unseen (the physical and spiritual realms). The ethereal form Galadriel takes is the film's representation of her wrath-form. Galadriel's duel with Sauron also alludes to another passage in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Mirror of Galadriel, where Galadriel states that she can perceive Sauron's mind, while he is unable to do the same because Galadriel states the door is still closed. This is given a visual representation in the film. Rather than cast magic at Sauron, Galadriel opts to challenge him on the spiritual plane; she resorts to her Wrath form to penetrate Sauron's mind and break his will. She obviously succeeds, as Sauron audibly cries aloud as he flees.
The commentary on the DVD suggests that both Elrond and Saruman must have spiritual power of their own in order to fight the wraiths. Since ghosts cannot by be harmed by conventional weapons, Elrond is clearly using some other power to supplement his sword.
It is expected that The Three Guardians of the Elven Rings run into some kind of fight with the Nazgûl. Galadriel and Saruman, until now, are expected to have an intense confrontation with Sauron. All three of the Elven rings can be spotted in the sequence, but only Nenya is given prominence.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Aanval op Dol Guldur
Albanian 	Sulmi ndaj Dol Guldur
Amharic 	በዶል ጉልዶር ላይ የተፈጸመ ጥቃት
Arabic 	هجوم على دول غولدور
Armenian 	Հարձակում Դոլ Գուլդուրի վրա
Assamese 	ডল গুল্ডোৰৰ ওপৰত আক্ৰমণ
Asturian 	Ataque a Dol Guldur
Azerbaijani 	Dol Guldura hücum
Basque 	Dol Guldurko erasoa
Belarusian Cyrillic	Атака на Дол Гулдур
Bengali 	দোল গুলদুর আক্রমণ
Breton 	Arsailh war Dol Guldur
Bosnian 	Napad na Dol Guldur
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Атака на Дол Гулдур
Burmese 	ဍောလ္ ငုလ္ဒုရ္ အပေါ်တိုက်ခိုက်
Catalan 	Atac a Dol Guldur
Cebuano 	Pag-atake kang Dol Guldor
Chinese 	多爾哥多攻击
Cornish 	Omsettyans en Dol Guldur
Corsican 	Attaccu di u Dol Guldur
Croatian 	Napad na Dol Guldur
Czech 	Útok na Dol Guldur
Danish 	Angrebet på Dol Guldur
Dari 	حمله به دول گلدور
Dutch 	Aanval op Dol Guldur
Esperanto 	Atako kontraŭ Dol Gulduro
Estonian 	Rünnak Dol Guldurile
Faroese 	Átak á Dol Guldor
Filipino 	Atake sa Dol Guldur
Finnish 	Dol Guldurin Hyökkäys
French 	Attaque de Dol Guldur
Frisian 	Oanfal op Dol Guldur (Western)
Galician 	Ataque a Dol Guldur
Georgian 	შეტევა დოლ გულდურზე
German 	Angriff auf Dol Guldur
Greek 	Επίθεση στο Ντολ Γκουλντούρ
Gujarati 	ડોલ ગુલ્ડર પર હુમલો
Haitian Creole 	Atak sou Dol Guldur
Hawaiian 	Hoouka ma Dol Guldur
Hebrew 	התקפה על דול גולדור
Hindi 	डॉल गुल्डोर पर हमला
Hmong 	Nres ntawm Dol Guldur
Hungarian 	Dol Guldur Támadása
Icelandic 	Árásin á Dol Guldur
Indonesian 	Pengeboman Dol Guldur
Irish Gaelic 	Ionsaí ar Dol Guldur
Italian 	Attacco a Dol Guldur
Japanese 	ドル・グルダールに対する攻撃
Javanese 	Panyerangan Dol Guldur
Kannada 	ಡಾಲ್ ಗುಲ್ಡರ್ ಮೇಲೆ ದಾಳಿ
Kazakh 	Дол Гұлдұр шабуыл (Cyrillic) Dol Guldur şabwıl (Latin)
Korean 	돌 굴 더르 에 공격
Kurdish 	هێرشکردنە سەر دۆل گۆلدۆر (Sorani) Êrîşek li ser Dol Guldur (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Дол Гулдурга кол салуу
Latvian 	Dol Guldur uzbrukums
Lithuanian 	Dol Gulduro užpuolimas
Luxembourgish 	Ugrëff op Dol Guldur
Macedonian Cyrillic	Напад на Дол Гулдур
Maori 	Whakaeke ki Dol Guldor
Marathi 	डोल गुल्दुरवरील हल्ला
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Дол Гулдорт халдлага
Norwegian 	Angrepet på Dol Guldur
Malagasy 	Fanafihana Dol Guldur
Malayalam 	ഡോൾ ഗുൽഡൂർ ആക്രമണം
Malaysian 	Serang ke atas Dol Guldur
Maltese 	Attakk fuq Dol Guldur
Nepalese 	डोल गुल्डोरमा आक्रमण
Occitan 	Ataca de Dol Guldur
Persian 	حمله دول گولدور
Polish 	Atak na Dol Guldur
Portuguese 	Ataque a Dol Guldur
Punjabi 	ਡੋਲ ਗੁਲ੍ਦੁਰ ਉੱਤੇ ਹਮਲਾ
Romanian 	Atacul de la Dol Guldur
Russian 	Атака на Дол Гулдур
Samoan 	Osofaiga o Dol Guldur
Sanskrit 	डोल् गुल्डोरस्य आक्रमणम्
Sardinian 	Atacu a Dol Guldor
Scottish Gaelic 	Ionnsaigh air a Dol Guldur
Serbian 	Напад на Дол Гулдур (Cyrillic) Napad na Dol Guldur (Latin)
Sesotho 	Tlhaselo ka Dol Guldur
Sicilian 	Attaccu a Dol Guldur
Sindhi 	ڊول گلڊور تي حملو
Sinhalese 	ඩොල් ගුල්දුර් පහර දෙනවා
Slovak 	Útok na Dol Guldur
Slovenian 	Napad na Dol Guldurju
Somali 	Weerarkii dul saaran Dol Guldur
Spanish 	Ataque a Dol Guldur
Sundanese 	Nyerang kana Dol Guldur
Swahili 	Mashambulizi ya Dol Guldur
Swedish 	Attacken mot Dol Guldur
Tajik Cyrillic 	Ҳамла ба Дол Гулдор
Tamil 	டோல் குலத்துர் தாக்குதல்
Tatar 	Дол Гулдорга һөҗүм
Telugu 	డోల్ గుల్దార్ మీద దాడి
Thai 	โจมตีโดลกุลดัวร์
Turkish 	Dol Guldur Saldırısı
Turkmen 	Dol Guldur Hüjümi
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Атака на Дол-Гулдур
Urdu 	داول گولڈور پر حملہ
Uzbek 	Дол Гулдур ҳужум (Cyrillic) Dol Guldur hujum (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Tấn công vào Dol Guldur
Welsh 	Ymosodiad ar Dol Guldur
Yiddish 	אַטאַק אויף דאָל גולדאָר
Yoruba 	Kolu lori Dol Guldur
== References ==
it:Attacco a Dol Guldur (2941 TE)
pl:Atak na Dol Guldur
Category:Battles