The War of the Ring was a conflict of huge proportions, wherein the very fate of Middle-Earth
hung in the balance, as the forces of good and evil clashed throughout the Third Age
with the One Ring providing the impetus for the hostilities.
Welcome to the Wizards and Warriors channel!
Allow us to present the first episode of our new series on the history of Middle-Earth.
The War of The Last Alliance is about to begin.
The War of the Ring finds its origin in the Second Age, as following the destruction of
Morgoth in the War of Wrath, his lieutenant Sauron assumed the mantle of Dark Lord.
Being a Maiar and thus lacking the sheer might of a true member of the Valar who had God-like
power, Sauron used his guile and innate ability for treachery to fulfill his ambition.
He changed his image, disguising himself as the benevolent servant of the Valar, Annatar.
In the year 1500 of the Second Age, he used his silver tongue, to trick the forge master
Celebrimbor and the other prominent members of the Noldor Elven community living in Middle-Earth
into forging the Rings of Power infused with magic.
There were twenty such rings, three bestowed upon the Elves, seven to the Dwarves, and
nine to the Kings of Men who would later become the Nazgul.
However, Sauron forged his own ring in secret, One Ring which would allow him to exert control
upon all others.
Upon learning of his treachery, the Ringbearers removed their Rings of Power, as when they
wore such items Sauron knew of their location and was able to wage war upon them.
The conflict called the War of the Elves began in 1693, and Sauron’s power proved to be
too much for the Elves.
Their Kingdoms were devastated and Sauron became the effective ruler of all of Middle-Earth.
It was at this time that Barad-Dur and the Black Gate in the region of Mordor were raised,
however, he failed to dominate the Dwarven Ringbearers due to their stubborn nature.
The Elven king Gil-Galad was pushed all the way to the river Lhûn, prompting him to request
the aid of the Men of Numenor in the year 1695.
This led to the Numenorean invasion of Middle-Earth, bringing an army of a scale that has never
been fielded by the race of Man in the past.
The allied forces won a great victory in 1701 at the battle of the Gwathló.
The forces of Sauron were driven from the field and he barely escaped to Mordor.
While he was gathering his strength, the Elves started rebuilding: Gil-Galad’s lieutenant
Elrond was appointed the regent of the easternmost stronghold of the Noldor Elves Rivendell.
Meanwhile, the Numenorians reveled in their victory, and over the next centuries colonized
the coast of Middle-Earth, oppressing the members of their race living on the continent
in the process.
At the same time, the sources mention their envy of the Elven immortality and the fact
that the Men were not allowed to sail the Undying Lands of Valinor to live an eternal
life.
This divided the Numenorian society into two factions: the Faithful, who remained true
to their friendship with the Elves and loyalty to the Valar, and the King’s men, who were
led by the ambitions of their monarchs slowly drifting towards evil.
Sauron used the animosity between the Men and the Elves to rally dark forces and assumed
the title of the Lord of the Earth and King of Men.
His armies attacked the Numenorian cities on the continent in the year 3260, drawing
the ire of the proud Numenorian king Ar-Pharazôn.
The latter strike back in 3261.
Numenorian forces were so overwhelmingly powerful, that Sauron’s minions seemingly abandoned
their lord.
The Numenorians walked to Barad-Dur unopposed and brought Sauron as a prisoner in chains
to the island of Numenor.
However, the latter soon worked his way into the court of the King of Numenor.
The foul machinations of Sauron would lead to the destruction of Numenor, as he acted
as an advisor poisoning the minds of the people and driving them to their own demise instigating
an invasion of the Undying Lands in 3319.
Ar-Pharazôn and his mighty host landed on Aman but were buried by mounds of dirt by
the Valar, who in their wrath sunk their island killing the majority of the Numenorean people.
Nine ships of the Numenorean Faithful were able to flee to Middle-Earth and they were
led by Elendil and his two sons Isildur and Anarion.
When their forces were separated the majority of the contingent landed in the South and
would form the Kingdom of Gondor, with the remaining ships landing in the North of the
continent to create the Kingdom of Arnor.
The survivors merged with the remaining Numenoreans who had colonised the regions in question
during the apex of Numenorean power.
Sauron also survived the Downfall of Numenor, although his strength was much reduced, he
was able to flee to Mordor and retain the One Ring.
The two Numenorean nations in exile were linked with the King of Arnor holding the title of
High King and maintaining ascendancy over their Gondorian counterparts.
Two fortresses were built in the region of Gondor to act as a bulwark against Mordor:
Minas Ithil and Minas Tirith In the meantime, Sauron had finally regained
enough of his strength in order to take physical form.
Becoming aware of the newly established Exile Kingdoms, he quickly took action to destroy
them.
In 3429 his armies attacked Gondor rapidly, besieging Minas Ithil and the capital of Gondor
Osgiliath.
Minas Ithil was lost soon after as the cities defenders were overwhelmed by the Orcish numbers
who took the city with relative ease.
While Anarion held the line in Osgiliath with the force that he had hastily assembled, Isildur
rushed North to inform his father Elendil of the attack.
Anarion was successful in repelling the invasion force and sending them fleeing into the woods
of Ithilien.
Taking counsel with the Elven leaders, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves was formed
with Elendil and Gil-Galad providing leadership for each of their races respectively.
Two years were spent raising sufficient forces in order to match the hordes of orcs that
the Dark Lord could bring to bear.
With their forces amassing at the watchtower of Amon Sul at Weathertop, before to Rivendell
and joining with the forces of Elrond there.
From here the Great Alliance crossed the Misty Mountains and were joined by contingents of
Elves from Mirkwood and Lorien, as well as an army of Dwarves of Khazad-Dum and the army
of Gondor led by Anarion fresh from pushing back the assault on Osgiliath.
With this, the war was joined and the Alliance seemed poised to end the influence of the
Dark Lord upon Middle-Earth for good and all.
The first pitched battle took place at the plains of Dagorlad outside of Mordor in the
year 3434, with supreme command of the Alliance forces being granted to Gil-Galad.
However, this grant of command triggered the arrogance of the Elves, namely that of the
Kings of Mirkwood and Lorien Oropher and Amdir respectively.
As both forces deployed their formations, one of the main advantages the Last Alliance
possessed was their cohesion and discipline, for which the Elven Swordsmen, in particular,
were famed far and wide.
Yet the two aforementioned kings angered by Gil-Galad’s command broke formation and
charged wildly at the immense force of Orcs and foul beasts, attempting to garner fame
and fortune by their exploits.
Despite making early gains and driving the Orcs back by the sheer force of their strength
at arms, the numbers and sheer brutality of their foe soon caused casualties led to the
casualties among the Elves.
Before long the Elves who had foolishly charged into the forces of the Dark Lord were pushed
back, leaving the fate of the battle on a knife’s edge.
His plan disrupted by the folly of his comrades, Gil-Galad acted decisively supporting the
errant Elven contingent with the weight of the entirety of what the free peoples of Middle-Earth
could muster.
The leadership of Gil-Galad ultimately saved the day and the war effort as a whole, as
the forces of Sauron were decisively beaten, leaving the Dark Lord on the backfoot for
the remainder of the war.
Yet this battle was as costly as they come, with Amdir, Oropher, and a vast contingent
of Mirkwood and Lorien forces lost due to the folly of the two kings.
This left the area permanently scarred by the mass of Human, Elven, Dwarven, and Orcish
causalities which now blighted the landscape, forever transforming the region into the Dead
Marshes, an area avoided by all but the most desperate.
Thranduil and Amroth would take the titles of Kings of Lorien and Mirkwood from their
slain fathers respectively.
Taking little time to regroup, Gil-Galad sensed the golden opportunity which now beckoned,
and following the Counsel of the other leaders of the Alliance, Elendil and Elrond chief
among them, a decision was taken.
The Black Gates were besieged and soon breached due to the sheer might of the force which
now moved even further into Mordor, defeating each force which Sauron sent to face them.
While ultimate success was not yet guaranteed, the forces of Man, Elf, and Dwarf were buoyed
by each victory, and with their morale soaring their greatest challenge now loomed before
them.
Despite severe losses, they maintained an advantage, which prevented this war of attrition
in a plateau to the North of Mordor called Udun, from halting their progress.
Initially, attempts were made to storm Barad-Dur, but this failed almost immediately due to
the immense fortifications which Sauron had erected in order to prepare for just such
a situation.
This fortress was created by the dark magic of Sauron which held it together and was composed
of battlement after battlement and had taken close to six hundred years to construct and
was without any shadow of a doubt the greatest fortress in Middle-Earth.
The sight of it drove fear into the besiegers and cast doubt upon their ability to seize
the victory they so desperately required to end the threat posed to all those who resided
within the free realms of Middle-Earth.
This fortress was also bound to the One Ring and as long as the Ring persisted it would
remain impossible to fully destroy it, adding to the mounting logistical complications which
such a siege could pose to Gil-Galad and Elendil.
The siege would go on for seven years, with massive casualties dealt to the forces of
the Last Alliance.
Countless sorties of Orcs were sent out to drive back the besiegers, which when combined
with the volleys of arrows, boulders, and missiles of the flaming variety that constantly
harassed the attackers threatened to decimate the Alliance forces.
In the Sixth year of the siege, tragedy struck the line of Elendil as Anarion was hit by
a missile fired from the walls of Barad-Dur in the head and was killed instantly.
His death caused many woes among the Numenoreans who mourned his valour and competent leadership.
This however increased the determination of the race of Men to secure their future in
those fiery plains.
A year later Sauron and his forces sallied forth in an attempt to bring an end to the
conflict and finish the siege and the Last Alliance with it.
Rows of Elven swordsmen who made up the flower of the host held the center alongside the
most experienced and battle-hardened of the Numenoreans.
With Dwarven contingents supporting the remaining warriors of Gondor and Arnor on the flanks.
Elrond and Gil-Galad held command of the center with Elendil and Isildur commanding their
own respective forces.
The blood of Numenor still flowed freely through the forces of man at this stage in the exile
and as such these warriors remained exceptionally competent and unyielding in the face of the
overwhelming Orcish onslaught.
Despite their prowess in battle, however, the forces of the Last Alliance remained outnumbered.
The forces of Mordor surged forward in a tide bereft of any true tactics, they attempted
to use the weight of their numerical advantage to overwhelm the organised and tactically
astute battle lines assembled before them.
While their weapons and armour were deficient in comparison to those of their opponents,
their ferocity and crazed devotion to their Dark Lord were not to be scoffed at.
The battle was joined when the Orcish host met the Elven swordsmen in the center, their
forces having been thinned out by the overwhelmingly accurate volleys of arrows unleashed by the
Elven archers.
The lines held as the warriors of the Last Alliance refused to grant their opponents
an inch, as the famed discipline of the Noldor was able to keep the Orcish host at bay.
Despite the increasing pressure which was placed upon their lines, this stalemate was
maintained, with massive casualties inflicted on both sides.
As the battle progressed the Last Alliance began to gain the advantage standing as a
cliff before the oncoming tide, the morale of the Orcish rabble began to falter and it
seemed that victory now was within the grasp of Gil-Galad and Elendil.
It was at this point that Sauron, in his physical form of a towering warrior clad in plate armour
from head to toe and wielding a mace alongside the One Ring, entered the fray.
Making for the center of the Alliance formation he soon made light work of the valiant warriors
who had held his servants at bay for so long.
Seeing that their lines might now break, Gil-Galad rushed into the gap and dueled the Dark Lord
on the broken slopes of Mount Doom.
Despite being the finest warrior of his age and the true embodiment of the nobility of
the Elves, Gil-Galad’s fate was sealed.
Sauron had regained the entirety of his strength during the siege and bearing the One Ring,
he was able to defeat the now exceptionally weary Gil-Galad, who was cast him down with
the heat of Sauron’s armoured hand.
Elendil rushed to Gil-Galad’s aid, but he was also no match to Sauron.
Due to the power of the Ring, two great leaders of the host were slain before the eyes of
Isildur and Elrond.
Just as all seemed lost Isildur scrambled forward to attempt to take up the great sword
Narsil, which his father had dropped following his death at the hands of the great enemy.
Their weapons clashed and Sauron broke Narsil in half, dropping.
The Dark Lord then reached downwards to end the last hope of Man using the immense heat
of the Ring, and at this point, the great defiance which Man had shown in their time
in Middle-Earth surged through Isildur.
Slashing wildly with his now broken sword almost by reflex, Isildur cut the One Ring
from the Dark Lord’s grasp.
With the sheer weight of the blow driving him from his physical form and causing him
to take on his ethereal aspect, Sauron was forced to flee the field, which sent his entire
army into a rout.
In the aftermath, Elrond, who was now the highest-ranking surviving member of the Elven
Host, counseled for the destruction of the Ring, bringing Isildur within the depths of
Mount Doom, the only place where it could be destroyed.
Yet Isildur had become entranced by its power and refused, claiming it as recompense for
the death of his father.
This ultimately sundered the Last Alliance, making Elves forever wary of the weakness
of man and making it impossible for Barad-Dur to be destroyed in its entirety or Sauron
to be vanquished forever.
Taking leave of the charred plains of Mordor, Isildur began the long journey home for he
was to be proclaimed High King of Arnor.
Yet this was not to be.
On the way, Isildur and his retinue were ambushed by a contingent of Orcs from the Misty Mountains.
Isildur and his three eldest sons were slain and the ring was lost in the River Anduin.
The defeat of Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance would usher in the Third Age of Middle-Earth
and set the scene for his ultimate return and The War of the Ring, which would forever
change the fate of Middle-Earth and all who resided within it, however, this is the story
for our next documentary on the history of Middle-Earth.
The next few videos in this series will be dedicated to the battles of the War of the
Ring, but we are planning to cover the battles of many other fantasy, sci-fi, and space opera
universes, so make sure you have subscribed and pressed the bell button!
Please, consider liking and sharing, as it helps immensely, and don’t forget to comment
- we will try to read and respond to every comment as we want to know what you think
about this video and which videos you hope to see in the future!
This is the Wizards and Warriors channel and we’ll catch you on the next one!