Battle of the Pelennor

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In the fiction of J.RR Tolkien , the battle on the Pelennor between the army of Gondor and its allies and the troops of the Dark Lord Sauron takes place at the gates of the city of Minas Tirith . Tolkien lets this battle take place in the third part of his novel The Lord of the Rings , The Return of the King . The Battle of Pelennor is the greatest armed conflict of the War of the Ring . It takes place on the field of Pelennor, a wide, fertile plain between the gates of Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor , and the Anduin River . The conception and various literary drafts of this battle are explained in the appendix to The Lord of the Rings .

Plot in the novel

After the fall of the border town of Osgiliath and the fortification wall around the Pelennor, Gondor's last protective wall, the town of Minas Tirith is besieged by Sauron's army. During the retreat to Minas Tirith, Faramir , son of the governor Denethor , is badly wounded. Denethor, on the verge of desperation, refuses to leave Faramir's side and so the wizard Gandalf takes over the defense of the city. Meanwhile, the enemy troops are taking position in front of Minas Tirith. A great darkness conjured up by Sauron darkens the sun. The Nazgûl , out of sight of all but Legolas , fly at beasts over the city, which further weakens the morale of the defenders.

In the end, Sauron's troops manage to break into the city gate with the help of the huge battering ram “Grond” and the help of the Witch King of Angmar , after having previously unsuccessfully attacked with catapults and siege equipment. At dawn the Witch King enters the city and is caught by Gandalf. At this moment, however, the Rohirrim army appears as a reinforcement army for Gondor.

Attendees

Sauron's army from the city of Minas Morgul, under the command of the Witch King, far exceeds the number of defenders from Gondor and their allies. Sauron's forces include, among other things, southerners from the land of Harad, the huge, elephant-like creatures that Mûmakil carry with them as fighting animals, Easterlings from Rhûn and troops from Khand near Mordor, as well as multitudes of trolls and orcs .

The defenders are clearly outnumbered. Tolkien writes that Faramir had to face ten times the odds in Osgiliath, losing a third of his men. Faramir also says that the enemy can more easily afford to lose an army than they can just afford to lose a company. In addition, Tolkien mentions a number of warriors from remote Gondorian provinces who came to defend the capital. The total defense force is smaller than expected, as the coastal provinces of Gondor are being attacked by corsairs from Umbar at the same time .

On the day after the siege began, a cavalry army of the Rohirrim appeared under their king Théoden , who were also among the allies of Gondor, whereupon the actual battle broke out. The riders of Rohan are outnumbered six times by the Haradrim alone.

Later reinforcements come from the southern coastal cities of Gondor on board captured corsair ships up the Anduin. These troops are led by Aragorn , who claims the throne of Gondor because of his ancestry. With him comes a small group of rangers from the north who represent the Land of Arnor .

Course of the battle

The battle begins immediately after Gandalf denies the Witch King access to the city. After the city gate of “Grond” has been rammed in with the help of the Witch King, the Witch King rides through the gate, which “no enemy has ever passed”. Before the two fight, the Rohirrim riders reach the battlefield and attack the besiegers. The Witch King exchanges his horse for a winged monster and attacks King Théoden in a targeted manner, killing his horse and burying the king under him.

Théoden's niece Éowyn has secretly joined the riders and disguised as a man bears the code name "Dernhelm". She now challenges the Witch King and kills his mount, but is injured herself. The hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck rushes to her aid and stabs the Witch King in the back of the knee with an enchanted sword. Éowyn then manages to stab the warlock, whereupon she faints. With the killing of the Witch King, she fulfills an old prophecy, according to which he would "fall from no man's hand".

Her brother Éomer arrives and finds that the king is mortally wounded and finds his sister unconscious. Believing that she is dead, he goes into a frenzy and leads his cavalry into a desperate attack against the enemy. Meanwhile, Lord Imrahil of Dol Amroth makes a sortie out of Minas Tirith and finds both Eowyn and the Hobbit. Since both are still alive, they are taken to the city to be healed.

In the meantime, luck turned against Gondor on the Pelennor field. Although the Rohirrim inflict great losses on the enemy, Gondor's forces and the allies are still vastly outnumbered. In addition, Gothmog, the commander of Minas Morgul, orders reinforcements from nearby Osgiliath. Éomer therefore decides to entrench himself with his men on a hill by the river.

A fleet of ships, apparently belonging to Sauron's allies, the corsairs, approaches on the river and enters Harlond harbor. At the last moment, however, the old banner of the kings of Gondor is unveiled on board one of the ships. This sight alone gives the defenders new courage and unsettles Sauron's forces. In fact, the ships are not manned by pirates, but Aragorn and his Rangers, the dwarf Gimli , Legolas the Elf , the halbelbischen brothers Elladan and Elrohir and numerous warriors from southern Gondor.

This becomes the turning point of the battle. Large numbers of Sauron's soldiers are now wedged between Aragorn and Éomer's riders, while Imrahil's troops advance from the city. Although the advantage is now with Gondor, the battle will drag on until the end of the day, until there is no living attacker left.

Realizations in reality

Illustrations

Various artists have dealt with motifs from the battle on the Pelennor, including Alan Lee , John Howe , the Hildebrandt brothers and Ted Nasmith .

radio

In the BBC series The Lord of the Rings from 1981, the battle is told from two perspectives, but mainly from Peregrin Tuks . He is heard arguing with Denethor and, as in the novel, he has to look for Gandalf to prevent Denethor from burning his own son Faramir. This part is very similar to the original. The second part deals with the battle itself: King Théoden's address before the attack by the Rohirrim, which is recited here, followed by music. A singer celebrates the Rohirrim's ride against the forces of darkness, followed by a dialogue between Théoden and Éomer, voiced by Jack May and Anthony Hyde. The chant starts again and tells how the Witch King attacks and defeats Théoden. Then you can hear Éowyn's fight and victory over the Witch King.

motion pictures

The battle represents the central part of Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King . The depiction of the actual battle focuses on the arrival of the Rohirrim, the fight with the Olifanten, the death of the Witch King and the added arrival of the " Army of the Dead ”under Aragorn.

Gothmog, the governor of Mordor, in the movie Commander, is interpreted as a grotesque, misshapen orc.

The siege of the city begins with Mordor's forces, as in the novel, catapulting the severed heads of Gondorian soldiers into the city. Gandalf acts as general of the troops of Gondor and organizes the defense. Unlike in the novel, the orcs approach the city with siege towers and Gandalf has to order their defense. Later, the Nazgul intervene in the action and destroy, for example, some of the trebuchets the defender. Finally the city gate breaks and, unlike in the book, the attackers break into the city to push the Gondorian troops back to the first level of the city built on a mountain slope.

At daybreak, the Rohirrim appear among Théoden and destroy a large part of the orcs. Deviating from the original, the film shows how Éowyn is secretly riding along to take part in the battle. The name Dernhelm is not used here either. The Rohirrim now face the Mûmakil and Théoden orders a second attack against them, which leads to heavy losses among the Rohirrim. Nevertheless, they manage to kill some Mûmakil with spears and arrows.

When Théoden gathers his riders for a third attack, the witch king appears on his flying monster and throws Théoden and his horse over the heap. Instead of a club as in the novel (translation by Wolfgang Krege ; in the original English text: "mace" ) the Witch King uses a huge flail and a sword as weapons in the film . Then Eowyn puts him to fight. As in the book, she rode together with Merry, who knows about her identity, and in the film, too, the hobbit helps her defeat the Witch King. In the film adaptation, she reveals herself to the Witch King as a woman shortly before she starts the fatal blow, while in the novel she reveals her true self before the fight with him. Shortly before Théoden dies, the two exchange a few last words while the king speaks to Merry in the novel.

Aragorn only reaches the battlefield in the company of Gimli and Legolas, but with reinforcements from the " Army of the Dead" , a term that Tolkien does not use) and goes on to attack. The (und) dead are invincible and unstoppable and destroy Sauron's army. In the original novel, however, where they do not take part in the battle, their ability to cause physical damage is only vaguely presented and instead their ability to arouse fear and terror is emphasized. After the battle, Aragorn releases the dead, but only after a moment's hesitation when Gimli remarks that they should be kept for their usefulness.

The battle was put on a list by CNN .com of the best and worst battle scenes in film history, with this Pelennor battle represented twice: once among the best scenes, for the moment just before the arrival of the Army of the Dead and once among the worst Scenes for the actual arrival of the undead in front of Minas Tirith, where this is scolded as a "far too simple lazy excuse" (quote: "oversimplified cop-out" ).

Concept and creation

Sauron Defeated , the fourth volume of The History of the Lord of the Rings from the series The History of Middle-earth , including early versions of the battle. The differences in some details are obvious, Théoden, for example, dies from an arrow in the heart instead of being crushed under his horse; when Éowyn reveals herself to be a woman, she cut her hair short, a detail that is missing in the final version. Tolkien also considered letting both Théoden and Éowyn die.

In the description of the battle by Tolkien there are several parallels to a report by Jordanes about the battle in the Catalaunian fields . Both battles take place between civilizations of the "East" and "West" and, like Jordanes, Tolkien describes his battle as a legendary event that shaped the memory of future generations. Another similarity can be found in the manner of the death of the Visigoth king Theodoric I in the Catalaunian fields and Theodens in the Lord of the Rings . Jordanes writes that Theodoric was thrown from his horse and trampled to death by his own army that stormed over him. Théoden also drives shortly before he falls on his fighters and is then crushed by his horse. Just like Theodoric, Théoden is then carried from the field by his knights, lamenting and singing, while the battle continues.

Literature analysis

According to Tom Shippey , the decisive moment of the battle, namely the attack by the Rohirrim, is shaped by panache (English: 'Elan', but also 'plume' or 'horse's tail on the helmet'). He relates this to the flowing, white horsehair on Eomer's helmet, but also to the advantage of the element of surprise, "the momentum that sweeps away the resistance". He writes that this allows Tolkien to present Rohan as English on the one hand, which is based on the Old English names and words such as éored ( equestrian troop), but also as "strange, to indicate how the country shapes the people."

The arrival of the Rohirrim in front of Minas Tirith is signaled by two shouts: A rooster crows, and "as if to answer ... great horns of the north that sound wildly." The cockcrow reflects many scenes from Western literature which, according to Shippey, tell of rekindled hope and an afterlife. For example, the rooster that crowed when Simon Peter denied Jesus Christ three times and there would still be a resurrection; the comforting cockcrow in the mask play Comus by John Milton ; the rooster in Old Norse Ódáinsakr , which is slaughtered and thrown over a wall, and yet still crows at King Hadding.

Michael DC Drout's article Tolkien's Prose Style and its Literary and Rhetorical Effects in the journal Tolkien Studies analyzes Tolkien's writing style based on the Pelennor Battle and derives similarities with and references to King Lear . Drout also describes the development of events within the narrative, using material from History of Middle-earth . He concludes that the complex literary aesthetic of the Lord of the Rings is in large part generated by Tolkien's use of Anglo-Saxon syntax and word choice.

The events of the Battle of Pelennor are also examined in Richard Matthews' book Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination . Mathews analyzes how fantasy literature makes use of the elements of enchantment and the supernatural to escape the reality of everyday life and provide deep insights into the essence of human beings.

In the winter semester 2003, the theme of "death in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields" was (Engl. Death in the Battle on the Pelennor Fields ) subject of debate within a series of seminars on the fantasy literature at Brown University . The focus was on the noticeably frequent use of the word "death" in Tolkien's portrayal of battle.

Blog culture

The subject of the Battle of Pelennor is taken up by some readers of Tolkien's literature in their blogs . Examples of this include the comparison of Hillary Clinton in her role as female foreign minister, which is sometimes controversial in the USA, with Éowyn, who disguised herself as a man joins the cavalry.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d J.RR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings . 10th edition. The return of the king. Klett-Cotta, 2002, ISBN 3-608-93222-4 , fifth book, chap. 5: "The Siege of Gondor".
  2. ↑ a b J.RR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings . 10th edition. The return of the king. Klett-Cotta, 2002, ISBN 3-608-93222-4 , fifth book, chap. 1: "Minas Tirith".
  3. ↑ a b J.RR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings . 10th edition. The return of the king. Klett-Cotta, 2002, ISBN 3-608-93222-4 , fifth book, chap. 6: "The Battle of Pelennor".
  4. ^ The best - and worst - movie battle scenes. CNN , April 2, 2007, accessed February 7, 2011 .
  5. ^ JRR Tolkien: Sauron Defeated . Ed .: Christopher Tolkien. The History of the Lord of the Rings. Houghton Mifflin , Boston / New York / London 1992, ISBN 0-395-60649-7 .
  6. ↑ Elizabeth Solopova: Languages, Myths and History: An Introduction to the Linguistic and Literary Background of JRR Tolkien's Fiction . North Landing Books, New York 2009, ISBN 0-9816607-1-1 , pp. 70-73 .
  7. ^ Tom Shippey : The Road to Middle-earth . Grafton (HarperCollins), 2005, ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0 , pp. 142-145 (English): “the virtue of sudden onset, the dash that sweeps away resistance. ... alien, to offer a glimpse of the way land shapes people. "
  8. ^ A b Tom Shippey : The Road to Middle-earth . Grafton (HarperCollins), 2005, ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0 , pp. 242–245 (English): “... as if in answer ... great horns of the North wildly blowing.”
  9. ↑ Michael DC Drout : Tolkien's Prose Style and its Literary and Rhetorical Effects . 1st edition. tape 1 . Tolkien Studies , 2004, pp. 137–163 , doi : 10.1353 / tks.2004.0006 (English, jhu.edu [accessed February 27, 2011]).
  10. ^ Richard Mathews: Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination . Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0-415-93890-2 .
  11. ^ Death in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. (No longer available online.) Brown University , archived from the original on February 12, 2011 ; accessed on February 7, 2011 .
  12. ^ Kriston Capps: Hillary Clinton, the Saxbe Fix, and the Battle of Pelennor Fields. (No longer available online.) DCist December 6, 2008, archived from the original on December 6, 2015 ; accessed on February 7, 2011 .