Battle of The Black Gate

The Battle of the Black Gate is also called the Battle of Morannon. It was the last significant encounter in the Wars related to the Ring. It was in this battle that Sauron met his end, and the free people have their freedom. The battle ended from a means that Sauron had never anticipated – the One Ring’s destruction. He thought that no soul could bear to destroy the One Ring. Sauron though the Ring was on the battlefield with the leader of the free people. Sauron planned that he would seize his Ring there, but he was undone from the unlikely hands of two Hobbits.

The forces of Sauron retreated to Mordor after having failed to conquer the free people in the Battle of Pelennor Fields. But even though Sauron was fallen by the free people, he had a massive number of orcs in Mordor as reserves ready for battle. Sauron sensed his One Ring’s presence, but he is unaware of the presence of the two Hobbits, Froddo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, in Mordor. Sauron was also over-confident that no one could destroy the Ring by his will.

The Last Debate occurred, and the Western army gathered a host of 10,000 soldiers. Aragorn II, son of Arathorn, led them. Together, they marched towards the Black Gate. Aragorn and the soldiers, though high in number, were only a mere distraction for Sauron. The plan was to divert Sauron’s attention from Sam and Frodo. Sauron was made to think the Ring was with the leader of the army that had confronted him. Little did he know that the primary foe was the two Hobbits that had made their way into Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring and destroy the Dark Lord’s long thought plan to overcome the whole of Middle Earth.

The initial plan was to head towards the Black Gate with 10,000 men. However, Aragorn directed 3,000 soldiers of Rohan to the crossroads to guard them, leaving him with 7,000 soldiers. As Rohan’s soldiers made their way to Ithilien, they were ambushed by the Haradrim and Men of the East. The Rohirrim, being great warriors, were able to overcome the enemies without any casualty. Aragorn and his party reached Dagorland and were about to proceed to the Black Gate when a large number of them became overwhelmed by fear of the might of Sauron and refused to continue with the troop. Aragorn dismissed 1,000 farmers from Rohan and Lossarnach as the easily frightened and commanded them to go on to support Cain Andros when they reached river Andruin. Aragorn then proceeded to the Black Gates with the 6,000 brave men that remained.

While the army of free people was stationed in front of the Black Gate, Sauron sent out an embassy, led by the Mouth of Sauron. The embassy warned the free people of the expected outcome of a war with Sauron’s exceedingly powerful forces. The Mouth of Sauron, once a Black Numenorean, marched in front of the army of orcs and relayed Sauron’s message, saying that the leaders of the free people should surrender along with their troops. When the Mouth of Sauron saw that they refused to surrender, he showed them the items that belonged to the two Hobbits - the Mithril shirt of Frodo and the sword and Elven Cloak of Sam. Upon seeing this, Gandalf requested for the terms of surrender that Sauron had in mind. The Mouth of Sauron demanded that Sauron have dominion over Gondor’s vassalage, Rohan and Isengard. Gandalf refused vehemently. The servant of Sauron heard this with his small embassy and retreated to the gate in fear and disgust of the free people’s resolution to fight. The Mouth of Sauron signaled for the gates to open, and thousands of Orc armies marched forward from the gate and nearby hillsides.

A vast army of Orcs, Cave Trolls, and human allies from the Men of the East and Haradrim lined against the troops of the free people. Sauron’s force and allies had an unknown number, estimated to be over ten times more than the army of the free people that they faced altogether. The troops could be at least 100,000 soldiers from different beings. Sauron’s forces rounded the Men of the West from all sides. The men from the East attacked from the left, Orcs assaulted in the middle, and the Haradrim came from the right. Still, the free people’s army kept their ranks with cohesiveness.

When the war became intense, the Haradrim sought refuge within the hills. This helped the army of the West attack the orcs and forced them to retreat. In the heat of the battle, the Nazgûl arrived and attacked the free people’s army from their flying beasts. But shortly after their arrival, Gwaihir, the Windlord led a group of Great Eagles from the Misty Mountains to support the free people. This prevented the aerial assault on them. The great eagles were able to slay the fell-beasts.

Trolls also started to crash into the ranks of the army as Orcs and Men from the East made new assaults on the free people’s army. The free people became overpowered as they were surrounded by their enemies. It was at this moment that Frodo wore the Ring. Sauron immediately realized that Frodo had the Ring all this time and that he was in Mount Doom. Because of this, he ordered the Nazgûl to go to Mount Doom to attack the hobbits.

The Nazgûl left the battlefield to intercept the hobbits in Mount Doom. Before the Nazgûl got there, Gollum scuffled Frodo for the Ring and eventually bit it off from Frodo’s finger. Frodo was obsessed with the Ring himself and fought Gollum before they both slipped. Gollum was only concerned with the Ring staying with him. Therefore, he fell in the Crack to his doom, while Frodo stuck to the cliff of the hill. The fall of Gollum into the Crack of Doom led to the destruction of the Ring. When the Ring came in contact with the lava in Mount Doom, Sauron’s destruction had begun. Sauron’s eye, the Tower of Teeth that bore Sauron’s eye, and the gate of the fortress Barad-dur collapsed into ruins. Upon seeing the fall of Sauron, the army of Orcs, trolls, and other forces of Sauron scattered in confusion and fled out of reach, feeling that they had weakened. Some Men from the Haradrim and the Easterlings fought on as they were not created by Sauron, so they still had their strength. But without the evil forces, they grew tired and soon surrendered. They were made to return to their lands in peace.

In the version of the Return of the King from Rankin-Bass, [1] the leader of the free people, Aragorn II, assumed total command of Gondor’s armies and marched on to the Black Gate against all the odds. When Aragorn II reached the Black Gate, he called on to Sauron and asked him to come forward and take responsibility for his deeds and leave the lands. The Black Gate opened, and the emissary came out and refuted his demands. When Aragorn saw that it was an emissary, he refused to acknowledge him. He dismissed him as an ordinary slave of Sauron. The emissary rode away while laughing maliciously.

In Peter Jackson’s movies, The King of Slag Hills was absent, as well as Imrahil. The negotiation with the emissary was cut, although it was returned in the film’s extended edition. Aragorn cut off the emissary’s head in anger, and the negotiation ended. In the book, the Mouth of Sauron rode away from the army of the free people. In the film, Sauron’s Mouth was shown as a horrible-looking creature, not a soldier. He emerged from the Black Gate alone, and he recognized Aragorn immediately as Isildur’s son and belittled him. He began to negotiate with Gandalf and Aragorn on behalf of the host. The emissary soon got angry by Gandalf’s statements, but later mocked him and Aragorn in his scornful speaking manner. He then showed the Mithril vest of Frodo and lied about how the hobbit owner suffered to death in their hands. Aragorn sensed that he lied to them, and when he had enough of his insults, he beheaded him.

Aragorn then turned to his army and told them to not believe the emissary’s claims of Frodo’s death. The initial plan was for Aragorn to duel Sauron, who would appear in Annatar’s form and then change to the form with armor for the duel. The idea was later cut to ensure the film aligns with the book as much as possible. There were many differences in the movie and the book. In the film, Aragorn fought a troll, which was replaced with Sauron using CGI. Another difference that occurred was that Merry fought the battle in the movie, while in the book, he did not fight but stayed in Gondor. In the film, during the final debate, Gandalf clarified to the host that ten thousand orcs await them at Black Gate, and they were outnumbered.

After Aragorn slew the Mouth, he gave his speech to The Army of the free people and inspired them to charge fearlessly at the ravaging orcs. Aragorn had only sustained minor casualties despite the underpopulated army of soldiers from Gondor, Rohirrim, and their allies. But the bravery soon turned to worry when it became clear that they had been surrounded. Aragorn and his men desperately hoped that something would happen about the Ring. At this moment, the events between Frodo and Sam ensued, and Frodo was overwhelmed by the Ring and couldn’t destroy it. Gollum had trailed them in secret and therefore attacked while he could. Gollum finally had the Ring, but he fell into the fires of Mount Doom, which led to his death and the destruction of the One Ring. When all hope was lost at the battlefield and Aragorn was starting to feel weary, the One Ring’s destruction began, and Sauron lost all his power. All his creatures ran in disarray in defeat.

“Draw out Sauron’s armies. Empty his lands. Then we gather our full strength and march on the Black Gate.” —Aragorn

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“I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.” —Frodo, The Return of the King, “Mount Doom”

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“Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear good on this earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

“We have not the Ring. … Without it, we cannot by force defeat his force. But we must at all costs keep his eye from his true peril. We cannot achieve victory by arms, but by arms, we can give the Ring-bearer his only chance, frail though it be. … We must push Sauron to his last throw. We must call out his hidden strength so that he shall empty his land. We must march out to meet him at once. We must make ourselves the bait, though his jaws should close on us. … We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves.” —Gandalf, The Return of the King, “The Last Debate”

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1. ^The Return of the King (1980).