Battle of Helm's Deep

The **Battle of the Hornburg**, known in various adaptations as the **Battle of Helm's Deep,** was the first grand-scale battle of the War of the Ring, where the Rohirrim under King Théoden defended the Hornburg from Saruman's army of Men and Uruk-hai.

## History

### Prelude

After being freed by Gandalf from Gríma Wormtongue's influence, Théoden rode for the Fords of Isen where Erkenbrand was battling Saruman's orcs. As Théoden rode west, he met Ceorl, who informed him of Erkenbrand's defeat, unable to meet Saruman's force head-on with his small force, Gandalf advised him to ride straight to the Hornburg where many of the people of Westfold were taking refuge in the Glittering Caves. A local captain called Gamling the Old led the garrison of about a thousand men. With the arrival of Théoden, the defenders' strength was just under three thousand men, allowing the defenses to be fully manned.

### The battle

Proceeding the battle, the entire city of Edoras is evacuated to Helm's Deep, along with all the people of Rohan, rather than merely the refugees of the Westfold, and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli accompany King Théoden and his people there. Along the way they are attacked by Saruman's Warg-Riders. During this fight, Éowyn leads the evacuees on to Helm's Deep while the Riders of Rohan fought off the attack. Aragorn becomes entangled with the harness of a Warg and is dragged off the side of a cliff. Upon arrival at Helm's Deep, the Rohirrim begin belated siege preparations, during which Aragorn, found by the horse Brego, arrives with news of 10,000 Uruk-hai coming from Isengard, news which leads Théoden to order conscription of mature boys and old men for the impending battle. Aragorn suggests calling for aid to the downtrodden Théoden, and Legolas argues with him about the Rohirrim defenders' fighting odds. All are surprised at a sudden arrival of Haldir and an army of Elves from Lórien. They had been sent by Elrond to support the Rohirrim, in honor of the ancient alliance between Men and Elves. Aragorn, Legolas, and Haldir's Elves station on the Deeping Wall, ensuring that every fortification of the Hornburg is manned.

The battle begins once the Uruk host of 10,000 has formed fully in front of the castle - an accidental bow shot by an old man called Aldor kills an Uruk at the front, followed by a volley of arrows from all defenders once the Uruks begin to charge forward. The events are similar to those in the book, as Uruk-hai pour over ladders on the Deeping wall to be met with a brave but shifting defence by the Rohirrim; however, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn's roles are greatly expanded, and the device responsible for destroying the wall is revealed as a form of gunpowder. Once the wall is blown, the Uruk-hai pour into Helm's Deep through the great gap.

The battle slowly turns from here; Aragorn is briefly incapacitated and the Elves begin to wither, and Haldir himself is slain. The Rohirrim begin to suffer casualties of their own, their already-sparse forces thinning and loosing their weakest members, and the Uruk-hai begin to besiege the keep by using a battering ram against main gate. Théoden is injured in this chaos, and Aragorn offers aid, to which he requests *"Time, as much you can get me."* To do this, Aragorn and Gimli stealthily circle the fortress to ambush the Uruk-hai on the causeway. Gimli and Aragorn earn time for the Rohirrim to refortify the entrance, but soon the defenses breakdown as Uruks fully breach the area behind the Deeping Wall, and all remaining Rohirrim retreat to the keep. Once inside where they are trapped, Théoden falls further into despair while his soldiers brace the doors, as Aragorn and Gamling deliberate on sending the women and children further into the caves.

As the Orcs break down the doors to the keep, Gimli notes that the sun is rising, allowing Aragorn to remember the arrival of Gandalf, and convinced Théoden to ride out with him. Gimli sounds the horn of Helm Hammerhand as Théoden, Aragorn, and the remaining Rohirrim upon horses charge out of the keep, through the Hornburg and out its gates, breaking the front line of the host at the causeway. From a vantage point, Théoden and Aragorn see Gandalf arrive upon Shadowfax on a high hill in the east, and with him Éomer and the horsemen he had gathered, who collectively plunge into the valley towards the Hornburg. The Uruk host which is still great in number forms up a massive phalanx of spears to meet Gandalf and Éomer's sortie from above. The sun rises over this high point and shines on the battlefield, blinding many of the Uruk-hai and breaking their cohesive formation, and as the newly arrived forces charge into them, causing the Uruks to break and flee.

In a deleted scene that is included in the Extented Edition, the Uruks escape into a nearly arrived "forest" of Huorns at their north, who had slowly moved there from Fangorn Forest. Éomer ordered that the pursuit be halted and Rohimrrim watch from afar, as the mass of Huorns is seen stirring followed by the death throes of the Uruk-hai as they are slain.

### Immediate aftermath

One of the Rohirrim dead was Háma, a captain of Théoden's personal guard and doorman of Meduseld, whose body the Orcs hewed after he died. Nonetheless the refugees in the Glittering Caves were safe in their entirety, and thus returned to their homes. Gimli had lost his helmet in the battle and was wounded badly on the head, but he had killed forty-two orcs to Legolas' forty-one.

The surrendering Dunlendings were spared and given amnesty by Erkenbrand, much to their surprise as Saruman had claimed that the men of Rohan would burn all survivors alive. The Dunlendings would be required to retreat behind the River Isen again and never re-cross it bearing arms. At Erkenbrand's orders the Dunlending prisoners were put to work repairing the damage to the Hornburg before being sent home. The slain Dunlendings were buried in a communal mound, while the orc carcasses were simply piled off to the side of the battlefield and left to rot.

Less than half of the 10,000 Uruk-hai who had survived the main battle had fled into the strange forest, where they were never be seen again, as this was actually the newly arrived Huorns from Fangorn. At night, unseen by the Rohirrim, the Huorns slew all remaining Uruks and buried them in a hill later known as the Death Down.

### Later aftermath

The Battle of the Hornburg was critical to the survival of Rohan and to its participation in the War of the Ring as a whole; had the Rohirrim lost the battle, their people as a whole would have been obliterated by the rampaging legions of Saruman's Uruk-hai and would not have been able to aid Gondor at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Merry and Pippin's persuasion of Treebeard to attack Isengard was critical as well, guaranteeing Rohan's survival for a time.