When Merry Brandybuck returns to the Shire, he carries something that seems almost absurdly grand for a hobbit: a silver war-horn from Rohan, ancient enough to have passed through the treasure of a dragon. Yet the Horn of the Mark is not merely a souvenir of Merry’s adventures. At the decisive moment of the Scouring … Read more
When Sam Gamgee finally looked across the interior of Mordor, he noticed a problem that is easy to miss beneath the spectacle of Barad-dûr and Mount Doom. Where was the food? The northern heart of Sauron’s realm was filled with armies, camps, mines, forges, roads, fortifications, and countless servants of war. Yet the land Frodo … Read more
Frodo and Sam do not need a map covered in military symbols to understand what is happening below Minas Morgul. They have the road. From their hiding place above the Morgul Vale, they watch the gates of the corrupted city open. The Witch-king rides out. Cavalry follows. Behind them come ordered ranks of soldiers, pouring … Read more
Why the Final War Required a Host from Aman Rather Than the Beleriand Noldor Alone By the end of the First Age, Morgoth still possessed Angband, armies beyond counting, Balrogs, Orcs, and dragons. Yet the Elves who had once challenged him most fiercely were no longer capable of mounting another great offensive. That is one … Read more
The last battle of the War of the Ring does not take place beneath the walls of a fortress. There are no siege towers at Bywater, no cavalry charge across an open field, no vast host beneath black banners. Instead, the decisive fighting happens on an ordinary Shire road bordered by banks and hedges. That … Read more
For nearly four hundred years, the Noldor watched Angband. After their victory in the Dagor Aglareb, they tightened their guard around Morgoth’s fortress. The northern plain of Ard-galen lay beneath their eyes. The great approaches into Beleriand were defended. For generations, no great host of Morgoth could simply march south without meeting Elven resistance. It … Read more
When ships appear on the Anduin during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the defenders of Gondor do not wait to identify their crews. They see the sails. Black sails are moving north upon the river, and almost immediately men cry out that the Corsairs of Umbar have come. To those watching from Minas Tirith, … Read more
When Frodo and Sam awaken after the destruction of the Ring, they do not wake in Minas Tirith. They wake in Ithilien. That geographical detail is easy to overlook because “The Field of Cormallen” is remembered for reunion, celebration, and the extraordinary honour paid to two hobbits who expected to die on Mount Doom. But … Read more
The Front Gate of Erebor looks, at first, like the perfect defensive position. It opened from the southern face of the Lonely Mountain into the narrow valley between two great spurs. Behind it lay halls cut into living stone. An enemy approaching the restored kingdom could not simply surround a wooden town or climb an … Read more
At Rivendell, the fate of the One Ring produces an unusual military problem. Sauron cannot be defeated by sending a greater army against him. The Wise know that the Free Peoples do not possess the strength to overthrow Mordor by conventional force. Nor can the Ring simply be hidden forever. The only path to victory … Read more