Minas Tirith, originally named Minas Anor, is a fictional city and castle in
J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. It became the heavily
fortified capital of Gondor in the second half of the Third Age. It was
originally built to guard the former capital, Osgiliath, from attack from the
west, but became the capital when Osgiliath fell into ruin following the
Kin-strife and the Great Plague. It is often referred to as the White City and
the City of the Kings. The Rohirrim sometimes translated this into their own
language as "the Mundburg". In the climax of The Lord of the Rings the city
comes under a very large and determined attack by the allied forces of Mordor.
Description The name Minas Tirith means "The Tower
of Guard" or "The Tower of Watch" in the Elvish language Sindarin. It was
originally named Minas Anor, "The Tower of the Setting Sun", in connection with
Minas Ithil, "The Tower of the Rising Moon". Minas Ithil was later conquered
by orcs from Mordor and was renamed Minas Morgul, "The Tower of Black
Sorcery". Minas Tirith was built culminating in
the Citadel at the summit. Each of the seven levels stood 100 ft higher than
the one below it, each surrounded by a white wall, with the exception of the
wall of the First Circle, which was black. The outer face of this outer
wall, the lowest, was made of black stone, the same material used in
Orthanc; it was vulnerable only to earthquakes capable of rending the
ground where it stood. Each wall held a gate, and each gate
faced a different direction. = Great Gate=
The Great Gate was the main gate on the first level of the City of Minas Tirith.
It was in the City Wall — or Othram — facing eastward across the Pelennor
Fields toward the Anduin. In front of the Great Gate there was a
large paved area called the Gateway. The roads to Minas Tirith met here,
including the North-way that joined the Great West Road to Rohan, the South Road
to the southern provinces of Gondor, and the road to Osgiliath.
The Great Gate was very strong; constructed of iron and steel guarded by
stone towers and bastions. The iron doors of the Gate rolled back to open.
Passwords were required to enter the Great Gate and each of the six other
gates of Minas Tirith. The Great Gate was breached during the War of the Ring.
Sauron's forces under the command of the Witch-king of Angmar besieged the City
on 13th 'March'. Before dawn on 15th 'March', the battering ram Grond smashed
into the Great Gate three times while the Witch-king spoke words of power. "As
if stricken by some blasting spell it burst asunder: there was a flash of
searing lightning, and the doors tumbled in riven fragments to the ground." The
Witch-king rode through the Gate where Gandalf awaited him, but then the
Rohirrim arrived and the Witch-king went to fight them in the Battle of the
Pelennor Fields where he was slain. A temporary barricade was erected in
place of the Great Gate. After the War, on 1st 'May', Aragorn received the Crown
of Gondor in front of the gate and then entered the City.
The Great Gate was rebuilt of mithril and steel by Gimli and Dwarves of Erebor
from the Lonely Mountain who had settled in the Glittering Caves.
= Other gates= The gates of the Second Level through
the Sixth Level were staggered at different positions of the wall. The
Second Level gate faces south-east, that of the Third north-east, and so forth.
This measure was designed to make capture of the already heavily fortified
city even more difficult. Also, a spur of rock, the summit of which was level
with the city's uppermost tier, jutted out from the hill in an easterly
direction, dividing all but the first level into two parts. On the saddle
between the city and Mindolluin was Rath Dínen, where the tombs of the Kings of
Gondor and their Stewards were built. It was reached by a door in the Sixth
Level, which was almost always closed and hence called Fen Hollen. The Sixth
Level also contained stables for riders, and the famed Houses of Healing.
The Seventh Gate led to the Citadel. It faced eastward in line with the Great
Gate, which was 700 ft below. The Seventh Gate could be reached through a
sloping tunnel delved into the spur of rock that jutted out of the eastern face
of the Hill of Guard. The keystone of the tunnel's archway was carved with the
head of a crowned King. Guards of the Citadel manned the Seventh Gate.
= Pelennor Fields= The Pelennor Fields were the townlands
and fields of Minas Tirith. The name Pelennor means fenced land in Sindarin.
It is pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.
After Minas Ithil had fallen and been renamed Minas Morgul, the Pelennor
Fields were surrounded by the great wall of Rammas Echor, to prevent an invasion.
This wall was in disrepair shortly before the War of the Ring, but was
rebuilt in time on the orders of the Steward, Denethor II. The east gate and
accompanying watch-towers of Rammas Echor were known as the Causeway Forts
and were the strongest section of the entire wall. In total the wall consisted
of three main gates; north, east and south.
During the War of the Ring, the Pelennor Fields were the location of the largest
battle of the Third Age, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, when Sauron's Orcs
and evil Men overran the Rammas Echor by blasting through it and besieged the
city. The siege was broken by the arrival of the Rohirrim though their
King Théoden was slain in the battle. After the War of the Ring, the Rammas
Echor was rebuilt by the Dwarves of Aglarond, led by Gimli the Dwarf.
= Facts= The seventh wall contained the Citadel
with the white Tower of Ecthelion, which was 300 ft high, so that its pinnacle
was one thousand feet above the plain. The Seeing Stone of Minas Anor rested in
a secret chamber at the top of the Tower. In a court before the Tower grew
the White Tree, the symbol of Gondor. The topmost level also contained
lodgings for the Steward of Gondor, the King's House, Merethrond the Hall of
Feasts, barracks for the Guard of the Citadel, and other buildings for guests
and other workers. The first level included an inn, the Old
Guesthouse. It was on the wide paved street called Lampwrights' Street, which
led to the gate. Map #40 in Barbara Strachey's Journeys
of Frodo is a plan of Minas Tirith. Pages 138&139 in Karen Wynn Fonstad's
revised The Atlas of Middle-earth show a different plan of Minas Tirith. They are
at variance with each other, as the only authoritative maps by Tolkien are just
sketches. In the book The Return of the King, the
Guard of the Citadel, of whom Beregond was a member originally, was assigned to
the highest circle of Minas Tirith and protected the hall of the king and the
houses of the dead. Peregrin Took was eventually assigned to serve with the
Guard. History
= Early history= Originally known as Minas Anor, the
"Tower of the Sun", Minas Tirith was built in S.A. 3320 by Anárion, younger
brother of Isildur and second son of Elendil, High King of Arnor. Ostoher
rebuilt the city in T.A. 420 as a summer residence, and it became the capital of
Gondor in T.A. 1640, when King Tarondor moved the King's House from Osgiliath
following the Great Plague, which devastated the population of the much
larger and populous old capital. In T.A. 2002, the White City's companion
city, Minas Ithil, Tower of the Moon, on the borders of Mordor, was captured by
the Nazgûl and renamed Minas Morgul, Tower of Black Sorcery. Minas Anor was
renamed Minas Tirith, meaning "Tower of Guard", to indicate that since the fall
of Minas Ithil, Minas Tirith assumed the role of guarding Gondor against Mordor's
forces. For the next thousand years, the two cities were in a stalemate, with
neither able to topple the other. With the rebuilding of the Dark Tower and the
open return of Sauron, the forces of Mordor gathered their strength to topple
Minas Tirith in the upcoming War of the Ring.
= The War of the Ring= (T.A. 3018–3019), Minas Tirith is said
to have had less than half of the population which could have dwelt there
at ease. Many of the buildings had fallen into ruin and disrepair, a sad
yet fitting picture of Gondor in those latter days.
Rammas Echor In the latter part of the Third Age,
Minas Tirith and its lands were surrounded by the Rammas Echor, a
fortified wall encircling the Pelennor Fields and meeting up with Osgiliath,
where the Causeway Forts were built on the west bank of the Anduin and
garrisoned. As told in The Return of the King, the Rammas proved an ineffective
defence due to the overwhelming Orc legions of Mordor. After a defence
lasting less than a day, the orcs blasted breaches in the wall and laid
siege to the city before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. However this proved
to the detriment of the orcs when the forces of Rohan arrived; for, as noted
by King Théoden, they could have held the Rammas against Rohan's attack.
Siege Faramir and the garrison were unable to
hold Osgiliath and the Causeway Forts against the overwhelming forces of
Mordor and were driven back with heavy loss. Leading the rearguard against the
onslaught, he was wounded and nearly slain but the cavalry charge of Prince
Imrahil of Dol Amroth and Gandalf saved him and the counter-attack allowed the
rest of Gondor's soldiers to reach the safety of the city.
Minas Tirith was besieged by troops of Mordor, the Easterlings and the
Haradrim, and the land fell under the darkness generated by Mordor.
Significant damage was done to the first circle of the city but the Enemy was
unable to break through the wall — except in one place. The gate of the
city was broken by a combination of the battering ram Grond and the Witch-king's
sorcery. However, the Witch-king was halted at the entrance by Gandalf.
During the siege the House of the Stewards in Rath Dìnen was destroyed by
a fire lit by the Steward Denethor in suicidal despair at the illness of his
son Faramir. The timely arrival of the Rohirrim led
by King Théoden forced the armies of Mordor to face the newcomers instead of
assaulting the city. The resulting Battle of the Pelennor Fields took place
on 15 March 3019 in the fields surrounding the city. Despite heavy
losses, Minas Tirith itself was not seriously threatened again and the
battle was won by Gondor and its allies from Rohan and Gondor's fiefs.
= Later= On 1 May 3019 King Elessar's coronation
took place on the plain outside Minas Tirith; he then entered the city as
King. Minas Tirith is known to have stood firm
well into the Fourth Age. Gimli the Dwarf and some of Durin's folk used
mithril, a nigh-indestructible metal, to replace the gates that had been broken
in the War of the Ring. The Dwarves also improved the layout of the city's
streets. The elves planted trees in the city.
"In his time the City was made more fair than it had ever been, even in the days
of its first glory; and it was filled with trees and with fountains, and its
gates were wrought of mithril and steel, and its streets were paved with white
marble; and the Folk of the Mountain laboured in it, and the Folk of the Wood
rejoiced to come there; and all was healed and made good, and the houses
were filled with men and women and the laughter of children, and no window was
blind nor any courtyard empty; and after the ending of the Third Age of the world
into the new age it preserved the memory and the glory of the years that were
gone". Source: It remained the chief city of Gondor, as
it is not actually known whether Osgiliath was ever rebuilt. Minas Ithil,
however, was destroyed by Elessar, King of Gondor, soon after the War of the
Ring. The eagle who brings the news of
Sauron's defeat to Minas Tirith refers to the city as the Tower of Anor. The
eagle might have been speaking poetically, but as Of the Rings of Power
and the Third Age in The Silmarillion says, the city is referred to Minas Anor
again after Sauron's overthrow. Concept and Creation
Notes made by Tolkien on a map found in 2015 indicates that Minas Tirith was
inspired by the Italian city of Ravenna. Portrayal in adaptations
Tolkien's description of the physical layout of the city of Minas Tirith
itself is followed relatively faithfully in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King, Jackson's version interprets the top of the rock
as flattened and paved, and also the location for the coronation of Aragorn.
As with most other landmarks in the film, the city is portrayed as
relatively isolated; the absence of these features is mentioned on the
original DVD commentary. Portions of Minas Tirith were
constructed as full-scale sets, and the whole city as a very large, highly
detailed miniature or "bigature" by Weta Workshop. A remarkably detailed
three-dimensional digital model, for CGI shots, along with the whole of its
surrounding environment including the Pelennor Fields and Mindolluin was
created by Weta Digital. The set was built on the foundations of the
disassembled Helm's Deep set. Canonically, in total the city is about
1,000 ft tall - "[above the citadel] the banner of the Stewards floated a
thousand feet above the plain". The towering bastion of stone, shaped like
the keel of a ship, which rose from behind the Great Gates on the first
level to the citadel on the seventh, was 700 ft tall, and the Tower of Ecthelion
was 300 ft tall. According to the non-canonical New Line
book The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, the height of Minas Tirith to
the top of the Tower of Ecthelion, is about 1,000 ft, and the city is almost
0.75 mi across. In The Atlas of Middle-earth, predating the New Line
films by over a decade, Karen Wynn Fonstad estimates the diameter of the
city to be somewhat smaller - 3,100 ft for the First Circle of the City.
In "The Complete Tolkien Companion" Minas Tirith is described in the same
way, but is depicted without the rock jutting from the citadel.
In the novel, the outermost walls of Minas Tirith were black and virtually
indestructible, like the similar black surface of Orthanc, as they were built
by the Dúnedain before their craft waned in exile. Tolkien says only an
earthquake or similar seismic convulsion could cause them significant damage.
Jackson depicted all of the walls as white, and many of them were easily
destroyed. In the films, the towers of Minas Tirith
are equipped with trebuchets. However, this kind of siege engine is not
specifically mentioned in the book. The book also mentions that the engines in
the city had insufficient range to hinder the assembling of the enemy's
catapults, while in the movie at least one catapult was destroyed by a direct
hit. According to the "Making Of" featurettes
on the Extended Edition DVDs, the appearance and structure of the city was
based upon Mont Saint-Michel, France. In Popular Culture
On 1 August 2015, a group of Tolkien fans from Worcester, UK, created an
Indiegogo crowdfunding page with the aim of creating a real life version of Minas
Tirith. Entitled "Realise Minas Tirith", the group - led by project manager
Jonathan Wilson - sought pledges amounting to £1.85 billion.
Reception Roger Ebert referred to the city in his
review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as a "spectacular
achievement", and showcased the filmmakers' ability to blend digital and
real sets into one piece, and comparing it to the Emerald City from The Wizard
of Oz. In the video game Lord of the Rings: Conquest, players in the evil
campaign can destroy the city. References
External links Minas Tirith at the Encyclopedia of Arda