#Siege of Gondor

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"GROND THEY NAMED IT, IN MEMORY OF THE HAMMER OF THE UNDERWORLD OF OLD."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on an illustration depicting Sauron's host during the Siege of Gondor, bringing up the hundred-foot long battering ram, Grond, to smash the Great Gate of Minas Tirith and burn the White City. March 3019 of the Third Age.

"Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on mighty chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it."

-- "The Siege of Gondor," Book IV of "THE LORD OF THE RINGS: The Return of the King," written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Source: www.instagram.com/tr.middlee_earth/p/CxtNQ_0Nknh.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

The Siege of Gondor by John Howe

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

When Pippin watches all the various companies from the Gondorian outlands arrive at Minas Tirith to help contest the siege, I always get hung up on one particular group that’s described. Along with Imrahil and his knights and Forlong and his axe-bearers and other proud regiments from all corners of the realm, there are “from Lamedon, a few grim hillmen without a captain.” And I always find these hillmen incredibly poignant and moving, and I’m not entirely sure why?

I imagine it’s got something to do with the fact that they have so much less than everyone else. The implication is that they are from somewhere that can spare only a few men total. Somewhere that has no great or charismatic leader to inspire them and ride at their front. Somewhere that the people endure conditions that have already made them grim, even before the siege has begun, because their lives are hard and not particularly joyful. But they don’t use any of that as an excuse not to come and contribute to the greater effort. They have less than everyone else and their contribution is smaller, but they still show up to do their part. They are few but not absent. Grim but not bitter. Leaderless but not without purpose.

I don’t know. Now I think I’m just rambling, but I love those guys and I really hope they made it out alive.

[lesbiansforboromir]

LO! My terrible little heckler @khazzman and the lovely Tori have once again dug me up from the swamp to talk about Denethor, and specifically the Siege of Gondor chapter in their Tolkien book club podcast! Much gandalf-derision and restrained faramir critique to be found within.

[edennill]

The Eagle's song in the Return of the King is so crazy when you look at it from the perspective of the people of Minas Tirith because -- that's an Eagle of Manwë right there, and this is decidedly not a common happening, and they're Gondorians, the know what it is. Like.

If Minas Tirith was my city and I wasn't there at the time I would be so very mad.

[madonnamadeofasphalt]

Like 80% of everything I hate about Peter Jackson's LotR always gets rebuked with "oh, well, those movies are already extremely long and costly, obviously they had to simplify, dumb down, give up, shorten (etc., etc.) some things in order to fit it into the constraints of the medium".

And like, yeah, that's all very true. Which is why it was always a terrible fucking idea, artistically speaking (clearly not financially speaking, but I don't give a flying shit about that), to adapt Lord of the Rings as a blockbuster live-action movie series. It's the wrong medium to tell that story, and if you force it into that medium anyway, no matter how much money you throw at the problems that arise, you're gonna end up creating neither a decent adaptation nor a valuable work of art that stands on its own, but the original story's shadow, perhaps similar in some superficial ways, but lacking its humanity and depth, a dark parody of the original story, crafted in the foul darkness of Utumno,

[3months2mordor]

October 20

The Return of the King, Book 5, Chapter 4: The Siege of Gondor

[beauzos]

so my family rewatched the LOTR films constantly when i was a kid and now reading LOTR i realize now that basically everything i was waiting for is at the end of the fucking book. i remember the Gollum stuff and Shelob really well and that's at the end of Two Towers, so like halfway to 2/3 of the way through. and like my favorite part of the whole trilogy was when the elephants showed up during one of the battles and the fucking mumakils show up 800+ pages into it. like at the very end of Return of the King. man had to sit through like 10 hours of Lord of the Rings to see the damn elephants.

[whyisaravenlike-awritingdesk]

Nothing like watching Lord of the Rings to get you amped up for writing a battle scene later

[corvidacryptida]

Fun Fact:

The siege of Gondor in Return of the King was inspired by the siege of Vienna in 1683. The ride of the Rohirrim is meant to parallel the arrival of the Winged Hussars (an elite Polish cavalry unit). Both Vienna and Gondor represent the last stronghold holding back an invading force.

[velvet4510]

Just think of how many times Faramir must’ve drawn attention to the fact that it was his wife who took down the Witch-king of Angmar. He never left a room until he was certain that its occupants knew and respected his wife for what she did. He was just the proudest husband in all of Middle-Earth.

He heard someone on the street telling the story of the great siege of Gondor. He stayed silent through all the parts with him in it. But when it got to the part where the Witch-king was finally killed, he interrupted the story to say to the listeners, “That was my wife. My wife did that. She did that and then she chose me, of all men.”

He told the story himself to their children and made sure they knew and remembered, “That was your mother. Your mother did that.”

He heard his adult children tell the story to their own children in his later years and called out from his lounge chair in front of the fireplace, “Your grandmother did that.”

He read Pippin’s copy of the Red Book that he brought to Gondor, skipped ahead to that part, pointed at the page, and said, no matter if he was with someone or alone in the room, “I’m married to that woman.”

And every time this happened, when they were in their prime, and when they were old and wrinkled, Eowyn always blushed the same blush and said “will you ever shut up about that and let me brag about how my husband resisted the Ring and saved the world?” And Faramir always kissed her and replied, “Never.” It was the only request he ever denied her.

[theglassofmiddleearth]

Imagine arriving to the siege of Gondor with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas.

Orc: 'Late as usual, Pirate-scum! There's knife-work here that needs doing.'

Orc: 'Come on, you sea rats! Get off your ships!'

Aragorn leaps over the side of the ship, brandishing his sword. Legolas and Gimli nimbly land on the ground while Y/N trips over a rope and lands on her behind.

Y/N: Uh... noone saw that.

Y/N scrambles up with the help of Legolas.

Aragorn draws his his sword, advancing towards the orcs.

Gimli: 'There's plenty for the four of us! May the best Dwarf win!'

The legions of ghost men charge the orcs, over running them. They storm the area with Aragorn leading them. Y/N begins to draw near the front lines.

Y/N: 'Fourteen!'

Legolas: 'Fifteen, Sixteen!'

Gimli: 'Seventeen!'

Y/N: 'ARE YOU GUYS CHEATING?'

Y/N dodges a sword before spinning around and slicing the Orc's head off. She draws an extra blade, advancing towards the Oliphaunts.

Y/N spots Gothmog and a grin of malice appears on her lips.

Y/N: 'Hello there Lieutenant.'

She slices his axe wielding arm off before stabbing one blade through his chest. Y/N sneers.

Y/N: 'Seems like you need a hand.'

Y/N draws back both blades and slices his head off cleanly.

Y/N: 'Too Bad!'

Aragorn: 'Legolas!'

Y/N: 'Wanna go for a ride?'

Legolas and Y/N grin at each other, racing towards the tusk of the giant creature, scaling up it's ivory tusks and body.

Legolas: 'Thirty-three, thirty-four.'

Y/N: 'Thirty-five Thirty-six. I'm going to lose count..

She whips her head around to look for Legolas.

Y/N: 'Bring it down Legolas!'

Legolas swings to the rope holding the saddle up, slicing through it. The large saddle falls, along with the people riding the Oliphant.

Y/N: 'Those were mine too. I helped.'

Legolas laughs before running to the head of the Oliphant and shooting three arrows into its head, bringing the beast crashing down.

Gimli: 'That still only counts at one!'

Y/N bursts into laughter, a hand on her hip.

Slowly, Minas Tirith is taken back. The orcs are driven back and the city is swamped by the dead army. As the battle ends, The Dead King finds his way to Aragorn

The King of the Dead: 'Release us.'

Gimli: 'Bad idea. Very handy in a tight spot' these lads. Despite the fact they're dead.'

The King of the Dead: 'You gave us your word.'

Aragorn: 'That I did. I hold your oath fulfilled. Go. Be at peace.'

The wind wafts over the ghostly army, seemingly blowing away the men like dust.

Y/N grimaces and plops down. Drawing her hand away from her side.

Legolas: 'Y/N? What is wrong?'

Y/N: 'Nothing.'

She winces.

Y/N: 'Just got a nick.'

Legolas quickly kneels down, scooping her up.

Y/N: 'Wow look at you, ever princely, are you. I can walk y'know.

Legolas rolls his eyes, starting off to the city.

Legolas: 'I know.'

Y/N: 'Do you not have any questions for me?'

Legolas: 'No my lady. I have faith in you. You have led us thus far. Frodo and Sam must be fine for you to be here with us.'

Y/N sighs,

Y/N: 'I hope so, I don't know if I made the right decision.'

Legolas: 'Rest, you have done enough for today. Rest, my lady.'

Y/N:'If I didn't know any better, I'd say you held affection for me Ernil Nin (My prince.)'

Legolas: 'Rest.'

Legolas holds back a smile, continuing his pace to Minas Tirith.

[istaricelebelasse]

There is a horn. It is nothing special, made from the tusk of some beast that Aredhel barely even recalls felling.

There had been many such beasts on The Ice after all.

The horn had found its way into her luggage and over so many restless nights watching over little Idril she had made it.

It does not compare to those that The Hunt had used in Aman, bound as it is with scant strips of leather and metalwork repurposed from a necklace that she could not wear on The Ice.

But it is hers. And it is precious, in a strange way.

She does not take it when she leaves her brother’s city. It remains, untouched, in her rooms.

It watches as she slowly fades from a poison bestowed by her husband.

The horn is given to her son, yet he has no use for it. A love of hunting and the great outdoors was not anything she passed on to her only child.

It is gifted to another, to a child borne of his cousin, a more precious gift than perhaps his cousin realises.

(One of the few pieces he has of his mother. A wish and a warning and an apology all at once.)

Somehow it survives the Fall. Somehow it ends up in Sirion.

It does not burn in the destruction. Nor is it taken by the Sons of Feanor as they take their hostages.

It lies, abandoned on the floor, until the King comes (too late) to the aid of the city.

There are too few survivors, but they can ill afford to leave any supplies behind. And besides, Gil-Galad can recall his cousin placing a strange solemn honour upon the hunting horn.

It sits, unused, until the Sons of Earendil are returned to their king, whereupon it, aged and yet bearing a presence is returned to them.

There is little argument over which of them gets that piece of their father when it is time for them to separate. The elder twin takes it, as he took their foster father’s sword. The younger is content with a silver harp and the book of their mother’s herblore.

Elros takes it with him. A symbol of his House, and honour for his heir to bear.

Down it goes, down down down the generations until there is little but a drop of Numenorian blood left in its bearer.

It crosses oceans and continents and Ages of the World, survives battles and sieges and the falls of Great Cities and Great Kings until all that is left is a Steward upon his throne sending a son to find answers for a dream.

Finally, on the shores of a river, overlooked by statues of the Kings of Old, the horn is blown for the last time.

It is blown to summon aid, to draw attention, to allow those it’s bearer would protect the chance to escape.

It takes three arrows to take down the horn’s bearer, and the Falls of Rauros to finally grant the horn rest.

The Horn of Aredhel Maeglin Earendil Elros Numenor Gondor is no more.

[spockandawe]

Lord of the rings! Again! I'm fond enough of this story, but what this project definitely taught me in contrast to things like svsss is that I have I have basically no patience for repeating myself unless the thing I'm repeating was a passion project from the start, haha. But after I finished my first take last year as a gift for my cousin's wedding, like a fool, I told my brother he could pick what handmade gift he wanted for his wedding and he said... lord of the rings.

I wasn't going to give my brother a less extravagant version than I gave my cousin, so I went all in! And I really think i nailed it with the edge art. Watercolors are classic, but I was the type of sketchbook kid who stuck to pencils and pens. It was originally going to have watercolors also, until the lines turned out this detailed and I started worrying about making things muddy. And honestly, doing lines like this where you don't miss the watercolors worked out REALLY well, and I'm going to keep that strategy in mind going forward. I want to get good at watercolors, but I also know it's valuable to play to your own strengths!

I'm really pleased with how the elements of this came together! The last book was black and blue, so flipping the palette to reds was a lot of fun, and I really enjoy these endpapers. Leather endbands against a leather spine remain one of my fave effects. And as painstaking as drawing the siege of gondor was, and as hard as it was to scrape together references for a spread that 1) showed the cool stuff and 2) had the aspect ratio to cover an 18"x4" surface area, it was really rewarding to see it all come together. I'm really delighted with how this turned out! Two last indulgent pictures to show off the art without those covers getting in the way:

[sillylotrpolls]

(Context below poll)

It's mentioned a couple places that the Nazgûl/Ring-wraiths spent up to 949 years (!) preparing Mordor for Sauron's return.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Part 2: Chapter 2: The Council of Elrond

Sauron also had watched us, and had long prepared against our stroke, governing Mordor from afar through Minas Morgul, where his Nine servants dwelt, until all was ready. Then he gave way before us, but only feigned to flee, and soon after came to the Dark Tower and openly declared himself.

The Lord of the Rings Appendix IV: Gondor and the heirs of Anarion

Turgon followed Turin, but of his time it is chiefly remembered that two years ere his death, Sauron arose again, and declared himself openly; and he re-entered Mordor long prepared for him. Then the Barad-dûr was raised once more, and Mount Doom burst into flame, and the last of the folk of Ithilien fled far away.

[emmanuellececchi]

Defending the castle like a man...

I've just read this article : Defending the castle like a man: on belligerent medieval ladies.

One of my friend is practicing HEMA (historical european martial art) as well as forging. We speak often about it and I have many question, mostly because of my main character in my medieval romance. As in forging, strength is not all in fighting. Know how to do it and practicing is first and foremost (she is smaller and thinner than me. she can wield swords that I cannot lift).

She reads lots of things about medieval warfare and we have discussion about it, and more recently because of my main character in my medieval romance. She had send me this article. And while reading it, I thought about some of my mutuals and the quite recent discussion about Eowyn and Théoden. So this is for you : @torchwood-99 , @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras , @konartiste. @errruvande I thought about you as there is a good reference about Alfred's daughter.

Reading this, I thought about Théoden. Rohan seems to have a certain history of female fighters. Shieldmaiden is not a name coming out of nowhere. So... what led Rohan to, seemingly, forget about this role? When did it happen?

In this article, there are a lot of example of women who did fight in war and defend their territory. It seems there are more and more proof of that. Even more, it seems women were actually expected to know at least how to defend their castle and lands. "Do as their husband do". So they had to know how to fight or at least strategies and siege... And some knew how to use bows, crossbows and even swords. Still, they had been, most of the time, erased or played down.

It is not said if this erasing was all along or more recent, as it is noted that those women of war were common up until the 14th centuries. In any case, they existed, but in later ages, it was inconvenient for men to have their female kin show "men's virtue".

Did something equivalent happened in Rohan? Why would something like this would happen? I would be the first to say "Oh it's all Saruman/Grima's fault". But no. Theoden do not think of sending Eowyn to war. He does not even have the reflex to think about her as a leader for his people. if it had been Grima and/or Saruman, he would have think about it.

Could it be his gondorian upbringing? After all he grew up in Gondor, had a gondorian mother? Thengel did not seem to held his countries culture in high regard. So, could it be this? Or even before that?

In my glèomenn fanfic, Tirwald said it was legends and old story. Could it be even older? Something more recent, linked to another culture?

So... What do you think?