Battle of Helms Deep

The Battle Between Sarumans Uruk-Hai and Theodens Soldiers.

## The Battle

After being freed by Gandalf from Gríma
Wormtongue's influence, Théoden went to the Fords of Isenwhere Erkenbrand was battling Saruman's orcs.
When Théoden got there, he realized that the army was scattered, so Gandalf told Théoden to
help the refugees and send them to the Hornburg where many people
from Westfold were also taking refuge. Soon Gandalf brought
the Rohirrim to defend Helm's Deepfrom Saruman's attacking
forces. A local captain called Gamling the Old led the soldiers.
Unfortunately, according to Gamling, "The soldiers have seen either
too many winters, or too few."

The Battle

"So it begins..."

The army of Saruman was reinforced by the way due
to casualties in the battles of the Fords of Isen it was made up of Uruk-hai, Orcs, Wild
Men of Dunland and Half-Orcs and they arrived in the middle of the night.

The Orcs quickly overran the first defence of Helm's
Dike, but sustained many losses in it "filling up the dike to the
top". After moving past the Dike the orcs arpproached
the fortress of Hornburg they sent arrows into the fortress. However
they did not get any response. But when they got closer they were met with a
volley of arrows and rocks which made them break ranks. The Orcs soon got close
enough to Hornburg and attempted to break the gate down with tree trunks, but
were scattered by a small attack team led by Aragorn and Éomer from
a postern-door that ran between the brink of the cliff and the wall of the Hornburg.
After the team had driven back the Orcs with the ram, the team
retreated from the new assault upon the gate. While running back, two Orcs who
had faked their deaths knocked Éomer to the ground. As Aragorn ran
back to save him, a hidden Gimli hewed the Orc's heads saving Éomer and
giving Gimli his first two kills to Legolas's twenty (seventeen in
film version).

The attackers then raised hundreds of ladders to scale the Deeping
Wall; the worn-out defenders threw down the ladder attacks, but were attacked
from behind by Orcs who had crawled through the culvert at the base
of the wall. Gimli and Gamling the Old with a unit of men from the Westfold attacked
the orcswho got through the hole. Gimli, after getting twenty-one kills to Legolas's
twenty-four, helped block the culvert with stones flooding the stream.
Unfortunately, this blockage was destroyed along with a good portion of the Deeping
Wall by Saruman's devilry; 'the fire of Orthanc (most
likely gunpowder which theNúmenóreans probably knew about but their secret
was probably taken by Sauron, and then bySaruman).

Out from the new larger hole a huge host of Orcs poured
in, and after a desperate battle in the Deep, the defenders led by Éomer, Gimli and Gamling retreated
into the Glittering Caves while Aragorn and Legolas fought
their way into the keep via a large stairway from the Deep to the citadel.
During the retreat, Aragorn was overcome by Orcs; but was saved by Legolas and
a boulder that was cast down upon theOrcs from the wall. Aragorn called
for a parley and told the orcs that they would die if they didn't surrender,
but the Uruk-hai laughed at his threat and attempted to shoot Aragorn down,
almost killing him. The Orcs then made it to the gate and destroyed
the arch with the 'blasting-fire'. Suddenly, Théodenand Aragorn led a
vicious cavalry charge out of the keep to the blasts of the great horn of Helm,
followed by the defenders of the Hornburg, driving the Uruks away from the
remains of the gate. At the same time,Éomer and Gimli with the
men from the caves pushed the orcs out of the Deep. The army

of the Mark drove the Enemy behind the Dike into the
Deeping-Coomb.

Just then, Gandalf on his horse Shadowfax arrived
with Erkenbrand and a thousand swordsmen on foot, and they charged
the Orcs, trapping them between Erkenbrand's army, Theoden's
army and the Huorns ofFangorn and so Saruman's army was
defeated. After the orcs and Uruks were driven into the Huorns, the Dunlendings
surrendered and were spared, but were forced to take an oath never to attack
Rohan again. None of the Orcs driven into the Huorn forest were ever seen
again. The Orcs that survived, if any, made for the plains.

Immediate Aftermath

Less than half of the 10,000 Uruk-hai survived the main
battle, after being driven into Huorns at most one fourth managed to escape
into the plains of Rohan. The surviving Dunlendings were sent home and their
slain were buried in a communal mound. The orc carcasses were simply piled off
to the side of the battlefield and left to rot. One of the Rohirrim dead was Háma,
a captain of Théoden's personal guard and doorman of Meduseld. 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 (forty-three to forty-two in the
movie version).

Later Aftermath

The battle was critical to the survival of Rohan and their
participation in the War of the Ring as a whole; had the Rohirrim lost the
Battle of the Hornburg, their nation as a whole would have been obliterated by
the rampaging legions of Saruman's livid Uruk-hai. Merry and Pippin's
persuasion of Treebeard to attack Isengard was critical as well, and guaranteed
Rohan's survival for a time. Had the battle been lost, and the Ents refused to
attack Isengard, Saruman's forces would've opened up a two-front war with
Gondor and crush them. This battle also gave valuable, albeit painful, war
experience to the hitherto-lax Riders of Rohan that would prove to be
invaluable on the Pelennor Fields but a short while after.

Portrayal in Adaptations

In The Two Towers, the city of Edoras was
evacuated to Helm's Deep. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli accompanied
King Théoden and his people there. Along the way they were attacked
by Saruman's Warg-Riders. During this fight, Éowyn led the
evacuees on to Helm's Deep while the Riders of Rohan fought
off the attack. Aragorn became entangled with the harness of a Warg and
was dragged off the side of a cliff.

After reaching Helm's Deep, the Rohirrim began to
prepare for a siege. During these preparations, Aragorn, who had been
found by the horse Brego, arrived with news of 10,000 Uruk-hai coming
from Isengard. In response to this, Théoden ordered every male
able to bear arms, including some of the mature children and old men, to be
armed and ready to fight. Aragorn suggested calling for aid but Théoden didn't
believe anyone would come. Aragorn also tried lifting the morale of Haleth, one
of the boy soldiers.

The Rohirrim were surprised by the arrival of Haldir from Lórien and his
archers. They were sent by Elrond to support the Rohirrim, in honor
of the ancient treaty with the king of Gondor, represented by Aragorn.
Aragorn, Legolas, and Haldir's Elves were stationed on the Deeping Wall, which
ensured that every fortification of the Hornburg was manned.

"I bring word from Elrond of Rivendell. An alliance
once existed between Elves and Men. Long ago we fought and died together. We
come to honor that allegiance. We are proud to fight alongside men once more."

—Haldir speaking to Théoden and Aragorn

The battle began when an older man accidentally fired an
arrow at the Uruk-hai, killing one by hitting him in the neck. At first it
consisted primarily of volleys of arrows. The Elven Archers demonstrated their
unmatched proficiency of archery, as they loosened devastating hails of arrows
in seconds, felling many Uruk-Hai. Despite their fine bowmanship, and the
weight of fire being put out by the human and elf defenders, the Uruk hordes
moved steadily closer to the walls. At short range, the Uruk Crossbowmen could
finally hit back with their slow-loading, yet hard hitting crossbows,
killing several, one falling horribly into the mass of Uruks below. Then the Uruk-hai began
raising ladders, each with a berserker on top. Many elves were killed during
this stage of the battle as the pressure increased. Despite that, they and the
Rohirrim had managed to keep the Uruk-hai from getting a foothold on the wall.
While the elves were sword-fighting with the Uruk-hai on the wall, the sappers,
a group of four Uruk-hai, laid the charges that were prepared by Saruman in
the culvert under the wall. A berserker lit the blasting powder despite Legolas'
repeated attempts to bring him down. The ensuing explosion sent Uruks, Elves,
and huge chunks of rock high into the air. The falling debris brought great
casualties to both sides of the conflict.

Once the wall was blown, the Uruk-hai poured into Helm's
Deep through the large gap that was made from the explosion, while another
group of Uruk-hai brought a wooden battering ram to the main gate and attempted
to break it. Aragorn, having been thrown from the wall in the explosion, lay
dazed right in the path of the advancing Uruk-Hai. Gimli leapt from the wall amongst
the enemy, forcing them to deal with the dwarf in their midst. This bought
Aragorn time to regain his senses and rally the remaining elves for a counter
charge. The elves, despite being outnumbered, managed to stem the tide. Soon
afterwardsAragorn, Gimli and the elves were forced to retreat as the
battle became more desperate; Haldir, still fighting on the wall, was slain by
two Uruk-hai before Aragorn's eyes. Aragorn rushed to his side, but he was too
late.

The Uruk-hai shot grappling lines onto the walls and used
them to anchor massive ladders that carried dozens of Uruk-hai up to the main
Hornburg walls. Although Legolas shot one down, many more sprung up.
At the main gate, the Uruk-hai had broken a hole into the wood of the gate and
engaged the Rohan soldiers in a vicious struggle. King Theoden was injured in
this fight, but was able to fall back to a safer place to recover. Théoden,
when asked what he needed by Aragorn, requested "Time, as much
you can get me." To do this, Aragorn and Gimli sneaked out
the back of the fortress. To reach the crowd ofUruk-hai, they had to cross a
wide gap, which Aragorn had to throw Gimli across. Before he was thrown Gimli
said "Don't tell the Elf", referring to Legolasand what he
was likely to say about the incident. Aragorn and Gimli managed
to buy enough time for the Rohirrim to brace the door, though it did little to
slow the enemy's advance. Despite fighting ferociously, the Rohirrim defenders
were cut down quickly by the overwhelming Uruk numbers. With Helm's Deep being
quickly overrun, Theoden ordered a retreat to the keep. Aragorn and Gimli,
trapped outside the gate, were able to scale the wall up to the Hornburg, via a
rope cast down to them by Legolas. During the retreat, many Rohirrim were
killed.

Once inside the keep, Théoden fell into despair
while his men tried to brace the door. Aragorn sent word to evacuate
the caves.

At this point, Gimli noted that the sun was rising, and
Aragorn remembered Gandalf telling him that he would arrive at dawn
on the fifth day, and convincedThéoden to ride out with him. Gimli sounded
the horn of Helm Hammerhand and what remained of the Rohirrim
(amounting to barely nearly 10), along withAragorn and Legolas, mounted on
their horses and charged the Uruks just as they broke through the door, at the
command of 'Forth Eorlingas'. Théoden's cavalry drove out all of the orcs
from the Hornburg, killing and knocking out hundreds of Uruks and broke through
the gate and the causeway, with Saruman's main host now gathered outside the
fortress.

Outside the keep, Théoden and Aragorn saw Gandalf arrive
on Shadowfax. Alongside him was Éomer and his cavalry, and
together they charged down the valley. The Uruk-hai formed up a phalanx of
spears to repel Eomer’s horsemen; however, the Rohirrim charged down with the
sun behind them, and the Uruk-hai defense was thrown into disarray when the sun
crested the hill and blinded them. Between the combined forces, the Uruk-hai
were forced to retreat.

In the extended edition, the remaining Uruks were driven
into a Huorn forest that had appeared out of nowhere, and Éomer
ordered his men to stop pursuing them. The Rohirrim watched from a safe
distance as the Huorns slaughter the remaining Uruk-hai.

In the extended edition DVD, after the battle, Gimli is
sitting on a corpse nearby the gate and Legolas walks up to him, saying he
killed forty-two Uruk-Hai, while Gimli responds by saying he was on
forty-three. Legolas shoots the corpse Gimli is sitting on, startling Gimli,
and says he now has forty-three because the corpse was twitching. Gimli insists
the corpse was already dead, and that it was twitching because his axe was
embedded in its nervous system. He proves his point by jerking the axe shaft
twice, causing the corpse to twitch twice as well.

"He was twitching because he's got my axe embedded into
his nervous system!"

—Gimli speaking to Legolas (Extended Edition
Only)

Elves of Lórien

Haldir alongside his Elven army from Lorien on the Deeping
Wall.

The elves' involvement in the defense of the Hornburg proved
critical in delaying the enemy; as their superior archery and sword skills
enabled them to defend the Deeping Wall for a time. Around 200 Elves marched to
defend the Hornburg. Otherwise, the Rohirrim did not have sufficient manpower
to cover all of the Hornburg's fortifications and hold out long enough, being
forced to supplant their ranks with teenage boys and old men. The elves'
sacrifice bought enough time for Gandalf, Eomer and the two
thousand mounted Rohirrim horseman to arrive and turn the tide of the
battle.

But the price that the elves paid was high indeed: most of
them who left Lothlórien including Haldir were slain in the battle. They were
buried by the men of Rohan with honor in the land of their allies.

It is notable that the Elves are sent only in the film. The
Two Towers has no reference whatsoever to Elves being sent by Elrond and
Galadriel for the battle. It was made purely for the film, which has been known
to upset many "Tolkien purists".

Noteable Deaths

Rohirrim

Háma, Doorward of the Meduseld

Haleth (presumed), son of Háma (movie)

Haldir of Lórien (movie)

Isengard

Unnamed Uruk-hai commander (Helm's Deep) film only

Unnamed Uruk-Hai Warrior ( Helm's Deep) film film only