When Merry and Pippin enter Fangorn, Middle-earth is already running out of time. Saruman has armed Isengard. Rohan is under attack. Orcs have been cutting trees on the borders of Fangorn, and the two hobbits themselves have only just escaped a company carrying them toward the wizard’s stronghold. Yet when Treebeard finally gathers the Ents … Read more
The decisive weapon at the Battle of Bywater is not a sword, a bow, or even the famous horn Merry brought home from Rohan. It is a country road. When more than a hundred ruffians march toward Bywater to crush the Shire’s rebellion, they have an obvious advantage over hobbits in a direct fight. They … Read more
When Glaurung entered the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, ordinary armor was no longer enough. The Father of Dragons came against the eastern armies with fire, crushing strength, and a hide so formidable that conventional resistance was failing. Elves and Men were driven back. Yet one contingent did something extraordinary: the Dwarves of Belegost stood their … Read more
How Sauron’s Simultaneous Northern Wars Divided His Enemies’ Aid When the horns of Rohan sounded on the Pelennor Fields, the War of the Ring seemed to have reached its decisive battlefield. Minas Tirith stood beneath the Shadow, the Rohirrim charged into Sauron’s armies, and the fate of Gondor appeared to hang on a single day. … Read more
The Chamber of Mazarbul contains one of the most easily misunderstood tactical decisions in The Fellowship of the Ring. The drums begin. Orcs are approaching. The Fellowship has another door behind them. Yet instead of simply running through it, Aragorn orders the western door shut, and Boromir wedges it with broken blades and splintered wood. … Read more
At the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo Baggins has perhaps the best observation post available to anyone who is not commanding troops. He is on Ravenhill, above the valley before Erebor. He can see the battle developing below. Gandalf is nearby. The Elvenking’s forces occupy the same part of the battlefield. And because Bilbo is … Read more
One of the most memorable warnings in Middle-earth is also one of the easiest to misunderstand. As Gandalf and Pippin race through Anórien toward Minas Tirith, fires leap from hill to hill along the White Mountains: Amon Dîn, Eilenach, Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad, and finally Halifirien on the border of Rohan. Gondor is sounding the … Read more
When Gandalf and Pippin finally approached Minas Tirith, they did not ride straight from the open country to the White City's gate. First they crossed another boundary: the Rammas Echor, the great outer wall enclosing the Pelennor Fields. It was an enormous work. The wall ran for ten leagues or more, surrounding the fertile townlands … Read more
When Dáin Ironfoot finally appears before the Lonely Mountain, he does not arrive as a mediator. Five hundred Dwarves march out of the Iron Hills armed and equipped for battle. Before them stand the forces of Bard and the Elvenking. Behind the newly built wall at Erebor is Thorin Oakenshield, surrounded by treasure and refusing … Read more
When Aragorn’s desperate road through southern Gondor reached Linhir, the war was already waiting at the river. Men of Lamedon were fighting at the fords of the Gilrain against enemies from Umbar and Harad who had come inland by water. Beyond them lay Lebennin, Pelargir, the Corsair fleet, and ultimately the road to Minas Tirith. … Read more