In the meanwhile the Wainriders licked their wounds, and plotted their revenge. Beyond the reach of the
arms of Gondor in lands east of the Seat of Rhûn from which no tidings came to its Kings, their kinsfolk
spread and multiplied, and they were eager for conquests and booty and filled with hatred of Gondor
which stood in their way. It was long, however, before they moved. On
the one hand they feared the might
of Gondor, and knowing nothing of what passed west of Anduin they believed that its
realm was larger
and more populous than it was in truth at that time. On the other hand the eastern Wainriders had been
spreading southward, beyond
Mordor, and were in conflict with the peoples of Khand and their
neighbours further south. Eventually a peace and alliance was agreed between these enemies of Gondor,
and an attack was prepared that should be made at the same time from north and south.
Little or nothing, of course, was known of these designs an movements in Gondor. What is here said was
deduced from the
events long afterwards by historians, to whom it was also clear that the hatred of
Gondor, and the alliance of its enemies in concerted action (for which they themselves had neither the
will nor the wisdom) was due to the machinations of Sauron. Forthwini, son of Marhwini, indeed warned
King Ondoher (who succeeded his father Calimehtar in the year 1936) that the Wainriders of
Rhovanion
were recovering from their weakness and fear, and that he suspected that they were receiving new strength
from the East, for he was much troubled by raids into the south of his land that came both up the river and
through the Narrows of the Forest. 13 But Gondor could do no more at that time than gather and train as
great an army as it could find or afford. Thus when the assault came at last it did not find Gondor
unprepared, though its strength was less than it needed.
Ondoher was aware that his southern enemies were preparing for war, and he had the wisdom to divide
his forces into a northern army and a southern. The latter was the smaller, for the danger from that quarter
was held to be less. 14 It was under the command of Eärnil, a member of the Royal House, being a
descendant of King Telumehtar, father of Narmacil II. His base was at Pelargir. The northern army was
commanded by King Ondoher himself. This bad always been the custom of Gondor, that the King, if he
willed, should command his army in a major battle, provided that an heir with undisputed claim to the
throne was left behind. Ondoher came of a warlike line, and was loved and esteemed by his army, and he
had two sons, both of age to bear arms: Artamir the elder, and
Faramir some three years younger.
News of the oncoming of the enemy reached Pelargir on the ninth day of Cermië in the year 1944. Eärnil
had already made his dispositions: he had crossed the Anduin with half his force, and leaving by design
the Fords of the Poros undefended had encamped some forty miles north in South Ithilien. King Ondoher
had purposed to lead his host north through Ithilien and deploy it on the Dagorlad, a field of ill omen for
the enemies of Gondor. (At that time the forts upon the line of the Anduin north of Sarn Gebir that had
been built by Narmacil I were still in repair and manned by sufficient soldiers from Calenardhon to
prevent any attempt of an enemy to cross the river at the Undeeps.) But the news of the northern assault
did not reach Ondoher until the morning of the twelfth day of Cermië, by which time the enemy was
already drawing near, whereas the army of Gondor had been moving more slowly than it would if
Ondoher had received earlier warning, and its vanguard had not yet reached the Gates of Mordor. The
main force was leading with the King and his Guards, followed by the soldiers of the Right Wing and the
Left Wing which would take up their
places when they passed out of Ithilien and approached the
Dagorlad. There they expected the assault to come from the North or North-east, as it had before in the
Battle of the Plains and in the victory of Calimehtar on the Dagorlad.
But it was not so. The Wainriders had mustered a great host by the southern shores of the inland Sea of
Rhûn, strengthened by men of their kinsfolk in Rhovanion and from their new allies in Khand. When all
was ready they set out for Gondor from the East, moving with all the speed they could along the line of the
Ered Lithui, where their approach was not observed until too late. So it came to pass that the head of the
army of Gondor had only drawn level with the Gates of Mordor (the
Morannon) when a great dust borne
on a wind from the East announced the oncoming of the enemy vanguard. 15
This was composed not only
of the war-chariots of the Wainriders but also of a force of cavalry far greater than any that had been
expected. Ondoher had only time to turn and face the assault with his right flank close to the Morannon,
and to send word to Minohtar, Captain of the Right Wing behind, to cover his left flank as swiftly as he
could, when the chariots and horsemen crashed into his disordered line. Of the confusion of the disaster
that followed few clear reports were ever brought to Gondor.
Ondoher was utterly unprepared to meet a charge of horse men and chariots in great weight. With his
Guard and his banner he had hastily taken up a position on a low knoll, but this was of no avail. 16 The
main charge was buried against his banner, and it was captured, his Guard was almost annihilated, an he
himself was slain and his son Artamir at his side. The bodies were never recovered. The assault of the
enemy passed over them and about both sides of the knoll, driving deep into the disordered ranks of
Gondor, hurling them back in confusion upon those behind, and scattering and pursuing many others
westward into
the Dead Marshes.
Minohtar took command. He was a man both valiant an warwise. The first fury of the onslaught was spent,
with far less loss and greater success than the enemy had looked for. The cavalry and chariots now
withdrew, for the main host of the Wainriders was approaching. In such time as he had Minohtar raising
his own banner, rallied the remaining men of the Centre and those of his own command that were at hand.
He at once sent messengers to
Adrahil of
Dol Amroth, 17 the Captain of the Left Wing, commanding him
to withdraw with all the speed he could both his own command and those at the rear of the Right Wing
who had not yet been engaged. With these forces he was to take up a defensive position between Cair
Andros (which was manned) and the
mountains of Ephel Dúath, where owing to the great eastward loop
of the Anduin the land was at its narrowest, to cover as long as he could the approaches to
Minas Tirith.
Minohtar himself, to allow time for this retreat, would form a rearguard and attempt to stem the advance
of the main host of the Wainriders. Adrahil should at once send messengers to find Eärnil, if they could,
and inform him of the disaster of the Morannon and of the position of the retreating Northern Army.
When the main host of the Wainriders advanced to the attack it was then two hours after noon, and
Minohtar had withdrawn his line to the head of the great
North Road of Ithilien, half a mile beyond the
point where it turned east to the Watchtowers of the Morannon. The first triumph of the Wainriders was
now the beginning of their undoing. Ignorant of the numbers and ordering of the defending army they had
launched their first onslaught too soon, before the greater part of that army had time out of the narrow land
of Ithilien, and the charge of their chariots and cavalry had met with a success far swifter and more
overwhelming than they had expected. Their main onslaught as then too long delayed, and they could no
longer use their greater numbers with full effect according to the tactics they had intended, being
accustomed to warfare in open lands. It may well be supposed that elated by the fall of the King and the
rout of a large part of the opposing Centre, they believed that they had already overthrown the defending
army, and that their own main army had little more to do than advance to the invasion and occupation of
Gondor. If that were so, they were deceived.
The Wainriders came on in little order, still exultant and singing songs of victory, seeing as yet no signs of
any defenders to oppose them, until they found that the road into Gondor tamed south into a narrow land of
trees under the shadow of the dark Ephel Dúath, where an army could march, or ride, in good order only
down a great highway. Before them it ran on through a deep cutting...
Here the text abruptly breaks off, and the notes and jottings for its continuation are for the mostpart
illegible. It is possible to make out, however, that men of the Éothéod fought with Ondoher; and also that
Ondoher's second son Faramir was ordered to remain in Minas Tirith as regent, for it was not permitted
by the law that both his sons should go into battle at the same time (a similar observation is made earlier
in the narrative, p.305). But Faramir did not do so; be went to the war in disguise, and was slain. The
writing is here almost impossible to decipher, but it seems that Faramir joined the Éothéod and was
caught with a party of them as they retreated towards the Dead Marshes. The leader of the Éothéod
(whose name is indecipherable after the first element Marh-) came to their rescue, but Faramir died in his
arms, and it was only when he searched his body that he found tokens that showed that he was the Prince.
The leader of the Éothéod then went to join Minohtar at the head of the North Road in Ithilien, who at that
very moment was giving an order for a message to be taken to the Prince in Minas Tirith, who was now
the King. It was then that the leader of the Éothéod gave him the news that the Prince had gone disguised
to the battle, and had been slain.
The presence of the Éothéod and the part played by their leader may explain the inclusion in this
narrative, ostensibly to be an account of the beginnings of the friendship of Gondor and the
Rohirrim, of
this elaborate story of the battle between the army of Gondor and the Wainriders.
The concluding passage of the fully-written text gives the impression that the host of the Wainriders were
about to receive a check to their exaltation and elation as they came down the highway into the deep
cutting; but the notes at the end show that they were not long held up by the rearguard defence of Minohtar.
"The Wainriders poured relentlessly into Ithilien," and "late on the thirteenth day of Cermië they
overwhelmed Minohtar," who was slain by an
arrow. He is here said to have been King Ondoher's sister-
son. "His men carried him out of the fray, and all that remained of the rearguard fled southwards to find
Adrahil." The chief commander of the Wainriders then called a halt to the advance, and held a feast.
Nothing more can be made out; but the brief account in Appendix A to
The Lord of the Rings tells how
Eärnil came up from the south and routed them:
In 1944 King Ondoher and both his sons, Artamir and Faramir, fell in battle north of the Morannon, and
the enemy poured into Ithilien. But Eärnil, Captain of the Southern Army, won a great victory in South
Ithilien and destroyed the army of
Harad that had crossed the River Poros. Hastening north, he gathered to
him all that he could of the retreating Northern Army and came up against the main camp of the
Wainriders, while they were feasting and revelling, believing that Gondor was overthrown and that
nothing remained but to take the spoil. Eärnil stormed the camp and set fire to the wains, and drove the
enemy in a great rout out of Ithilien. A great part of those who fled before him perished in the Dead
Marshes.
In the Tale of Years the victory of Eärnil is called the Battle of the Camp. After the deaths of Ondoher and
both his sons at the Morannon Arvedui, last king of the northern realm, laid claim to the crown of Gondor;
but his claim was rejected, and in the year following the Battle of the Camp Eärnil became King. His son
was Eärnur, who died in
Minas Morgul after accepting the challenge of the Lord of the
Nazgûl, and was
the last of the Kings of the southern realm.
). It could be that the wains were dual-use, but needed some refitting to convert them from transport to warfare (even modern troop transporters, and never mind battle tanks, make lousy caravans / trailers). With then throws up the question what the non-warring population - and the Wainriders impress me as whole populations on the move, like the "Germanic" tribes that troubled the (western) Roman Empire right up to its demise, rather than purely war parties - used for accommodations while the wains were being used in warfare. Pitched tents, perhaps?
