Skirmish in Dol Baran

500 Rohirrim Riders
 35 Rohirrim Riders

The **Skirmish in Dol Baran** was a small battle that took place in Dol Baran during the War of the Ring. It was where King Théoden Ednew planned on leading his people to seek refuge in the old fortress of Helm's Deep. Saruman was aware of this and dispatched a force of Warg Riders led by Sharku to intercept. This led to an open skirmish in Dol Baran as Théoden leads as many riders to defend the Rohirrim villagers and farmers from been slaughtered and engage the enemy. During the fight, more than 35 Rohirrim riders were killed in the terrible onslaught while many were shooting down as many wargs and orcs they could see all around. The skirmish ended when Aragorn was dragged by a warg, and the two fell down a cliff, which also resulted the death of Sharku.

## History

### Prelude

Before the skirmish, Saruman, a former member of the White Council, betrayed the free folk and pledged his service to the Dark Lord Sauron at the beginning of the War of the Ring. During his service, Saruman fancied the wargs as his pets, and decided to rally as many orcs to use these beasts for special purposes. Gandalf the White, who had been resurrected after defeating Felagrog, accompanied Aragorn, Legolas Greenleaf, and Gimli Lockbearer towards Rohan's capital city of Edoras, and free King Théoden Ednew from Saruman's spell. Théoden was freed from Saruman's control, but the traitorous wizard was determined to give up.

Later on, when Gríma Wormtongue returned to Isengard to inform his master of what had happened, Saruman decided to dispatch his forces to Edoras and eliminate them, but Gríma knew that Théoden was wise and he would stay at Edoras since he was cautious of an attack. He informed that the King was planning to lead the rest of his people to the old fortress of Helm's Deep, a place for refuge. When he also found out about Aragorn been the last of Isildur Elendilion's bloodline, he left the tower of Orthanc and went down below to meet with Captain Sharku. Saruman ordered Sharku to lead a force of Warg riders to attack the Rohirrim and also kill Aragorn. Sharku grinned as a sign for wanting to take the mission and rallied about 400 Warg Riders to intercept the Rohirrim.

King Théoden had Háma and Gamling to order every villager in Edoras to take as many belongings or provisions to spare, and leaving the rest behind. Gandalf had to leave Edoras since he feared that Théoden was walking into a trap and that Saruman would have his chance to eliminate the people of Rohan in anyway necessary. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were given the task by their friend to stay behind and look after the Rohirrim since they were very important to have them unite with the other realms in Middle-Earth. He also promised that he would return on the fifth day at dawn.

### The Skirmish Begins

During the route towards Helm's Deep, Háma and Gamling rode ahead towards the hill of Dol Baran and checked for any activity in the area. Seeing that it was clear for the Rohirrim to take the way towards the fortress, Háma's horse suddenly began to act wild when it sensed the presence of something. Háma tried to calm his horse down and keep it restrain, but while not looking, he was attacked by one of Sharku's riders. The Orc scout had his warg kill Háma while he fought against an angry Gamling. Legolas came in and saved Gamling's life by shooting down the warg and finished off the orc scout just as it let out a scream. Legolas knew that the orc he slew wasn't alone and moved upwards to overlook. At the sight of shock, he sees Sharku leading his warg riders to attack. Legolas tries as much to slow them down, and shot a few.

Aragorn runs down and informs Théoden of an attack. The people of Edoras began to panic and scream in the sight of terror. Théoden quickly calls in a number of riders to accompany him and Aragorn to meet the enemy and give the Rohirrim to escape safely. He quickly has his niece Éowyn to lead the people of Edoras to Helm's Deep and make haste. Éowyn wanted to fight and prove her will as any other woman that fought to defend Rohan for many hundreds of years. Théoden rejected and told her to do this for him, in which hisn niece complied. Gimli and Aragorn quickly mount on their horses and ride along with 500 Rohirrim riders that follow their king to meet the enemy head on.

The skirmish began when Legolas continued to fire more arrows upon the warg riders. Just as Théoden arrives with his small cavalry, Legolas mounts in front of Gimli and begins to open fire. The two cavalries clash into each other, and several Rohirrim soldiers were slaughtered. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli proved their worth by leading as many riders to fight back and slew many warg riders all around. Gimli, however, fell of his horse while Legolas was riding to fast. Gimli quickly killed a warg from behind, but the dead animals falls on top of the dwarf. Just after he snapped Bugud's neck, another warg came and was about to kill the helpless dwarf. Aragorn oversaw this and grabbed a spear, and aimed at the warg. After saving Gimli's life, Aragorn continued to fight, but only for a warg to leap onto him. Aragorn fell, but he managed to get himself up in time where he jumped onto Sharku's warg.

Aragorn and Sharku fought each other, but he almost fell off and got strapped. Sharku tried to finish him off, but Aragorn managed to mortally wound the orc with his elven knife. Sharku fell off, but Aragorn was still strapped before toppling over a cliff and into a river below.

### Aftermath

Aragorn was presumed dead by Sharku's claim and dying breath. However, more than 35 Rohirrim riders were killed by a few dozen more were wounded. Knowing that the enemy would return with reinforcements, Théoden was forced to give the order to have the wounded on horses at once and leave the dead since there was no time to have his men buried. Later on after the Battle of Helm's Deep, Théoden returned to Dol Baran and decided to bury the soldiers that died in the skirmish and honor them for their bravery and sacrifice for saving the helpless Rohirrim.

## Appearances

* *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers* (First appearance)