Siege of Barad-dûr

The Siege of Barad-dûr, also known as the Great Siege,The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book IV, chapter X: "The Choices of Master Samwise", pg. 349 was a key event of the War of the Last Alliance. Despite suffering severe losses, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men leveled Sauron's fortress of Barad-dûr and defeated his armies after a prolonged siege, at the end of which the One Ring was cut from Sauron's finger and taken by Isildur.
== History==
After the bloody Battle of Dagorlad, the Last Alliance began their invasion of Mordor. They captured the Black Gate but lost many as they passed through Udûn, a plateau north of Mordor, but they failed to break into the Dark Tower; and in their defeat, they laid siege to it.
The siege lasted for a total of seven years. Many Elves and Men were killed in the siege as seemingly endless numbers of arrows, rocks, flaming missiles, and Orc sorties emerged from the tower. On the sixth year of the siege, SA 3440, Anárion of Gondor was hit in the head by a stone and died. 
A year later, in the Last Battle, Gil-galad and Elendil dueled Sauron on the slopes of Mount Doom. Sauron, however, was much more powerful, and killed first Gil-galad with the heat of his hand, and then Elendil, as Elrond, Círdan, and Isildur helplessly watched. As Elendil fell, his great sword Narsil broke beneath him. But Sauron had been mortally wounded in the battle, and when Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's body, the Dark Lord's spirit fled. This ended the Second Age.
After the battle, Sauron's body was broken. Elrond and Círdan counseled that the One Ring be destroyed. However Isildur claimed it for his own, as weregild for the death of his father, which ultimately led to his death at the Disaster of the Gladden Fields. With the end of the siege, Barad-dûr was leveled down to its foundations, which could not be removed as they had been made with the power of the Ring.
Gondor had already reoccupied Minas Ithil and Ithilien, and early in the new Third Age built fortresses to guard Mordor and prevent evil from returning. However, years of neglect, and the Great Plague led these outposts to be captured by the Nazgûl, with Minas Ithil (later Minas Morgul), falling to the Witch-king in TA 2002, which lead to Sauron's eventual return and the rebuilding of Barad-dûr.The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Ch. II: "The Council of Elrond"The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
==In adaptations==
The siege is shown in the prologue sequence of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, though the film seems to condense the seven years described by Tolkien into a single pitched battle. 
== Gallery==
Dagorlad_And_Barad.jpg|Map showing both armies' movements before and during the battle
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Beleg van Barad-dûr
Albanian 	Rrethimi i Barad-dûr
Amharic 	የባራድ-ዱር ከበባ
Arabic 	حصار بارادءدور
Armenian 	Բարադ-դուր Սիեգե
Azerbaijani 	Barad-dûr mühasirəsi
Basque 	Baraden-dûreko Setioa
Belarusian Cyrillic	Аблога Барад-дура
Bengali 	বার্ড-দূর অবরোধ
Bosnian 	Opsada Barad-dûr
Breton 	Seziz Barad-dûr
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Обсада на Барад-дур
Catalan 	Setge de Bàrad-dûr
Cebuano 	Paglikos sa Barad-dûr
Chichewa 	Kuzinga Barad-dûr
Chinese 	围攻巴拉多
Corsican 	Assediu di Barad-dûr
Croatian 	Opsada Barad-dûra
Danish 	Belejringen af Barad-dûr
Dutch 	Belegering van Barad-dûr
Esperanto 	Sieĝo de Barad-dûr
Estonian 	Barad-dûri piiramine
Faroese 	Barad-dûr Stólur
Finnish 	Barad-dûrin Piiritys
French 	Siège de Barad-dûr
Frisian 	Belis fan Barad-dûr (Western)
Galician 	Sitio de Barad-dûr
Georgian 	ბარად-დურის ალყა
German 	Belagerung von Barad-dûr
Greek 	Πολιορκία του Bαραδ-δυρ
Gujarati 	બારડ-દુર ઘેરો
Haitian Creole 	Syèj la Barad-dûr
Hebrew 	מצור על באראד-דור
Hindi 	बराड़-ड्यूर की घेराबंदी
Hungarian 	Barad-dûr ostroma
Icelandic 	Barad-dûr Umsátrinu
Indonesian 	Pengepungan Barad-dûr
Irish Gaelic 	Ionsaí na Barad-dûr
Italian 	Assedio di Barad-dûr
Japanese 	バラド＝ドゥーアの包囲
Javanese 	Pangepungan Barad-dûr
Kazakh 	Барад-дұр шайқасы (Cyrillic) Barad-dûr şayqası (Latin)
Kannada 	ಬರದ-ದುರ್ ಮುತ್ತಿಗೆ
Kurdish 	Barad-dûr Dorpêçkirina (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Барад-дур сиэгэ
Latin 	Obsidione Barad-dûr
Latvian 	Aplenkuma Barad-dûr
Lithuanian 	Apgultis Barad-dûr
Lombard 	Assedi de Barad-dûr
Luxembourgish 	Belagerung vu Barad-dûr
Macedonian Cyrillic	Опсадата на Барад-дур
Malagasy 	Fahirano an'i Barad-dûr
Malaysian 	Pengepungan Barad-dûr
Maltese 	Assedju ta ' Barad-dûr
Marathi 	बरद-दुर वेढा
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Барад-дурын бүслэлт
Nepalese 	बरद्-दुर को कब्जाको
Norwegian 	Beleiringen av Barad-dûr (Bokmål)
Kringsetjinga av Leningrad (Nynorsk)
Occitan 	Sètge de Barad-dûr
Pashto 	باراد دريا محاصره
Persian 	محاصره باراد-دور
Polish 	Oblężenie Barad-dûr
Portuguese 	Cerco de Barad-dûr
Punjabi 	ਬਰਦ-ਦੁਰ ਘੇਰਾਬੰਦੀ
Romanian 	Asediul Barad-dûrului
Romansh 	Barad-dûr Nzi
Russian 	Осада Барад-дура
Samoan 	Vagaia o Barad-dûr
Sardinian 	Assìtiu de Barad-dûr
Scots 	Siege o Barad-dûr
Scottish Gaelic 	Sèist de Barad-dûr
Serbian 	Опсада Барад-дур (Cyrillic) Opsade Barad-dura (Latin)
Sesotho 	Thibelloa ha Barad-dûr
Slovak 	Obliehanie Barad-dûr
Slovenian 	Obleganje Barad-dûr
Spanish 	Sitio de Barad-dûr
Sundanese 	Dikepungna Barad-dûr
Swahili 	Kuzingirwa ya Barad-dûr
Swedish 	Belägringen av Barad-dûr
Tajik Cyrillic 	Барад-дур Муҳосира
Tamil 	பரத்-துர் முற்றுகை
Tatar 	Барад-дур камалышы
Telugu 	బరదదూరంగా ముట్టడి
Thai 	การปิดล้อมหอคอยบารัด-ดูร์
Turkish 	Barad-dûr Kuşatması
Turkmen 	Barad-dûr Gabaw
Urdu 	باراد دُور محاصرہ
Vietnamese 	Cuộc vây hãm Barad-dûr
Welsh 	Gwarchae Barad-dûr
Xhosa 	Singqingiwe Barad-dûr
Yiddish 	סיעגע פון באַראַד-דור
Yoruba 	Idoti ti Barad-dûr
Zulu 	Ukuvinjezelwa Barad-dûr
==References==
de:Belagerung von Barad-dûr
it:Assedio di Barad-dûr
pl:Oblężenie Barad-dûr
ru:Осада Барад-дура
Category:Sieges
Category:War of the Last Alliance