Battle of Pelennor Fields

The **Battle of the Pelennor Fields** was a battle for the city of Minas Tirith, and ultimately for Gondor, immediately following a large-scale siege of Minas Tirith by Sauron's army. It was the greatest battle of the War of the Ring, and indeed the largest of the entire Third Age. Major casualties resulted from the battle, including the deaths of King Théoden and the Witch-king of Angmar.

## History

### Prelude

With Gondor's setback in the Battle of Osgiliath and the impending assault from Sauron's forces, Denethor was dismayed that Théoden did not come as quickly as he had hoped. Soon, despite the efforts of Faramir, the Rammas Echor was overrun, and the city isolated. The enemy began preparations for its attack, which commenced shortly and quickly pressed Minas Tirith greatly.

#### Arrival of the Rohirrim

On the second day of the battle, with the forces of Gondor on the brink of defeat, the Rohirrim, with 6,000 fully armed horsemen, arrived at daybreak fresh and ready. After a stirring call-to-battle by King Theoden and a series of horn blasts, the legion of horsemen rode out as one towards Sauron's forces with the king at the apex. The orcs hastily reorganised themselves, setting up their pikemen in front and their archers behind them. As the Rohirrim closed in, the orcs opened fire with three volleys of arrows, killing several of the horsemen but it was all for naught as the barrage had no effect whatsoever on the Rohirrim's momentum. The Orc Chief could only look on in horror as the Rohirrim smashed headlong into the orc ranks with all the power and fury of a force ten times their actual size, slicing through and mowing down thousands of the panicking orcs with shocking ease. The orc lines buckled, splintered and then shattered completely, causing them to rout the field; yet the Rohirrim pursued them still, slaughtering the orcs by the hundreds.

Desperate to regain control of the battle, Sauron frantically deployed his reserve force; 20 Mûmakil each ridden by a force of 100 Haradrim. Though momentarily stunned by the sight of the intimidating animals, King Theoden reformed his forces and valiantly launched a counter-charge against the Haradrim. At first the Rohirrim suffered heavy losses from the tusks and trunks of the Mûmakil as well as the arrows and javelins of the Haradrim and floundered. Then, almost by accident, Eomer realised that the Mûmakil had a key weakness; their vulnerable drivers and confirmed this by killing the Haradrim king with a thrown spear, causing the Mûmakil he was controlling to swerve and crash into another Mûmakil, killing both animals. Using this, the Rohirrim were able to bring down several more Mûmakil but in the confusion, the orc forces regrouped and charged back into battle, threatening the Rohirrim even more.

As the battle raged on into the afternoon, The Witch-king joined the battle with his Fellbeast, attacking and mortally wounding King Theoden. Éowyn, who had ridden secretly into the battlefield as Dernhelm, threw herself in between her uncle and the black-clad wraith and retaliated with two mighty slashes on the Fell Beast's neck, decapitating the Fellbeast. Then the Witch-king and Éowyn engaged in a duel, with Éowyn narrowly evading two of his mace swings, and parrying one glancing blow. Spotting an opening, the Witch-King reversed his attack direction and countered with a devastating blow from his mace, shattering her shield and breaking all the bones in her arm. Just as Éowyn faced imminent death by the Witch-king, Merry stabbed the Witch-king in the back with his enchanted Barrow-blade, crippling the wraith and giving Éowyn an opportunity to plunge her blade into the center of the Witch-king's shrouded face, killing him. Back inside the walls of Minas Tirith, the forces of Gondor prepared to make their last stand against the encroaching orcs. Out on the Pelennor fields, the Rohirrim continued to fight hard but were still heavily outnumbered and assailed from all sides.

#### The final stage

Then, just as defeat seemed imminent for Gondor and Rohan, the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar arrived on the river bank. A detachment of orcs arrived to join up with them but were instead greeted by the sight of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli jumping off the lead ship. The trio then charged the orc ranks, followed immediately by the forces of the Dead Men of Dunharrow, who poured onto the field butchering every orc and Haradrim in their path before flooding into the city itself and massacring every orc within. The remaining orcs and Haradrim stood no chance against the dead and were quickly slaughtered. The battle ended with a grand albeit costly victory for the Free Peoples. Sauron meanwhile suffered his heaviest defeat to date; his primary orc armies had been completely annihilated, the Haradrim so badly mauled that they were no longer a threat and the Corsairs of Umbar were destroyed as a fighting force. Worst of all was the loss of his most powerful servant the Witch-King. Yet all was not lost for the Dark Lord, for though his Easterling allies were tied up in the Northern Theatre against the kingdoms of Erebor and Dale, Sauron still possessed large reserves of orcs in Mordor and was prepared to carry on the war for as long as was necessary. The Free Peoples meanwhile met to discuss a new strategy, giving way to the eventual march on the Black Gate.