Battle of the Pelennor Fields

Battle of the Pelennor Fields
Part of War of the Ring
Date14–15 March 3019
Location
Pelennor Fields
Result Gondor-Rohan victory
Belligerents
  • Gondor
  • Rohan
  • The Grey Company
Commanders and leaders
Strength
  • 3,000 Gondorians
  • 500 Guards of the Citadel
  • Less than 3,000 South Gondorians and men from outlying provinces
  • 6,000 Rohirrim cavalry soldiers
  • 30 Northern Dunedain
Total ~12,500

Tens of thousands of Orcs, Easterlings, Haradrim and Variags[a]

Several hundred oliphaunts and trolls
Casualties and losses
~3,000 killed Entire force destroyed

The Battle of the Pelennor Fields ([pɛˈlɛnnɔr]), in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, was the defence of the city of Minas Tirith by the forces of Gondor and the cavalry of its ally Rohan, against the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron from Mordor and its allies the Haradrim and the Easterlings. It was the largest battle in the War of the Ring. It took place at the end of the Third Age in the Pelennor Fields, the townlands and fields between Minas Tirith and the River Anduin.

In search of Tolkien's sources, scholars have compared the battle with the historic account of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields where King Theodoric I was trampled to death by his own men after he fell from his horse. Others have likened the death of the Witch-King of Angmar to the death of Macbeth, who was similarly prophesied not to die by the hand of man "of woman born"; and the crowing of a cockerel at the moment the Witch-King was about to enter the city has been said to recall the cock-crow heralding the resurrection of Jesus at the moment that Simon Peter denied knowing him.

Scholars analysing the story have commented on Tolkien's theory of Northern courage, which carries on even in the face of certain death. They have noted, too, the elegiac tone, echoing that of the Old English poem Beowulf, the use of alliterative verse, and the nature of the armour, which is mostly early medieval-style mail shirts with additions of plate armour. Others have commented on Tolkien's vivid descriptions of battle, noting that he served in the Battle of the Somme.

The battle formed a "spectacular"[4][5] centrepiece in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

  1. ^ Fonstad, Karen (1992). The atlas of Middle-earth. London: Grafton. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-261-10277-4.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Foster 1971 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Woosnam-Savage 2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hiscock 2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNN 2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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