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Mumak

Mumak

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, an oliphaunt, or mûmak, is an animal similar to but larger than the elephant.

The animal

Oliphaunts lived in the southern land of Harad, and were notably used in the siege of Gondor and the subsequent Battle of the Pelennor Fields on March 15th, 3018 of the Third Age. They are said to be (according to the Middle-Earth world) an ancestor of today's elephants although many times their size. Standing at least 55 feet high or more, they were able to carry structures similar to towers on their backs. These beasts had skin so thick it was almost impenetrable making them almost invulnerable to arrow shots. The only known way to kill an Oliphaunt was to shoot it in the eye, which typically meant standing in front of it as it charged the archer, and thus a very difficult task to perform. In the film version they are much, much bigger than today's elephants with 2 sets of big tusks and one set of smaller tusks.

The word

The word Oliphaunt is a variant spelling of the archaic word oliphant meaning "elephant", "ivory", "elephant-tusk", "musical horn made of an elephant tusk", or "a musical instrument resembling such a horn". It appears in Middle English as olifant or olifaunt, and was borrowed from Medieval French olifanz. The French word owes something to both Old High German olbenta "camel", and to Latin elephantus "elephant", a word of Greek origin. OHG olbenta is a word of old Germanic origin; cf. Gothic ulbandus also meaning "camel". But the form of the OHG and Gothic words suggests it is also a borrowing, perhaps indeed directly or indirectly from Greek elephas, though apparently with some confusion as to the animal the word referred to. The word survives as the surname Oliphant found throughout the English speaking world. The most famous use of the oliphant is in The Song of Roland "The oliphant is set to Roland's Lips;" Roland fails to call for help at the Battle of Roncevaux in 778 until it is too late for him and his comrades. The oliphant is echoed in The Lord of the Rings by Boromir's horn and conterposed by Helm's horn and the horns of Buckland. In Middle-earth an oliphaunt was called a mûmak (plural mûmakil) by the Men of Gondor. The word "Oliphaunt" is only used by hobbits.

The poem

Oliphaunt is also the title of a short comic poem about the beast quoted by the hobbit Samwise Gamgee, based on traditional bestiary lore. Oliphaunt :Grey as a mouse, :Big as a house, :Nose like a snake, :I make the earth shake, :As I tramp through the grass; :Trees crack as I pass. :With horns in my mouth :I walk in the South, :Flapping big ears. :Beyond count of years :I stump round and round, :Never lie on the ground, :Not even to die. :Oliphaunt am I, :Biggest of all, :Huge, old, and tall. :If ever you'd met me :You wouldn't forget me. :If you never do, :You won't think I'm true; :But old Oliphaunt am I, :And I never lie.

Bibliography

- The Lord of the Rings,J. R. R. Tolkien, 1952, Unwin
- Oliphaunt,J. R. R. Tolkien, 1989, Contemporary Books/Calico, illus. Hank Hinton
- The Song of Roland (Oxford text,1972,Trans Douglas David Roy Owen, George Allen and Unwin, ISBN 0048410039
- Oxford English Dictionary OUP Category:Middle-earth races Category:Fictional elephants

Middle Earth

Middle-earth is the name used for the inhabitable parts of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional Arda (ancient Earth) where the (canonical) stories in his legendarium take place. "Middle-earth" is a literal translation of the Old English term middangeard, referring to this world, the habitable lands of men. Tolkien translated 'Middle Earth' as Endor (or sometimes Endóre) and Ennor in the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin, respectively. Mythologically, the north of Endor became the Eurasian land-mass after the primitive Earth was transformed into the round world of today. Middle-earth's setting is in a fictional period in Earth's own past. Tolkien insisted that Middle-earth is Earth in several of his letters, in one of them (no. 211) estimating the end of the Third Age to about 6,000 years before his own time. The action of the books is largely confined to the north-west of the Endor continent, implicitly corresponding to modern-day Europe. The history of Middle-earth is divided into several Ages: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings deal exclusively with events towards the end of the Third Age and conclude at the dawn of the Fourth Age, while The Silmarillion deals mainly with the First Age. The world (Arda) was originally flat but was made round near the end of the Second Age by Eru Ilúvatar, the Creator. Much of the knowledge of Middle-earth is based on writings that Tolkien did not finish for publication during his lifetime. In these cases, this article is based on the version of the Middle-earth legendarium that is considered canonical by most Tolkien fans, as discussed under Middle-earth canon.

The name

The term "Middle-earth" was not invented by Tolkien, rather it existed in Old English as middanġeard, in Middle English as midden-erd or middel-erd; in Old Norse it was called Midgard. It is English for what the Greeks called the οικουμένη (oikoumenē) or "the abiding place of men", the physical world as opposed to the unseen worlds (The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 151). The word Mediterranean comes from two Latin stems, medi, middle, and terra, earth. Middangeard occurs half-a-dozen times in Beowulf, which Tolkien translated and on which he was arguably the world's foremost authority. (See also J. R. R. Tolkien for discussion of his inspirations and sources). See Midgard and Norse mythology for the older use. Tolkien was also inspired by this fragment: :Eala earendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended. :Hail Earendel, brightest of angels / above the middle-earth sent unto men. in the Crist poem of Cynewulf. The name earendel (which may mean the 'morning-star' but in some contexts was a name for Christ) was the inspiration for Tolkien's mariner Eärendil. The name was consciously used by Tolkien to place The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and related writings. Tolkien began to use the term "Middle-earth" in the early 1930s in place of the earlier terms "Great Lands", "Outer Lands", and "Hither Lands" to describe the same region in his stories. "Middle-earth" is specifically intended to describe the lands east of the Great Sea (Belegaer), thus excluding Aman, but including Harad and other mortal lands not visited in Tolkien's stories. Many people apply the name to the entirety of Tolkien's world or exclusively to the lands described in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. In ancient Germanic and Old Norse mythology, the universe was believed to consist of nine physical worlds joined together. The world of Men, the Middle-earth, lay in the centre of this universe. The lands of Elves, Gods, and Giants lay across an encircling sea. The land of the Dead lay beneath the Middle-earth. A rainbow bridge, Bifrost Bridge, extended from Middle-earth to Asgard across the sea. An outer sea encircled the seven other worlds (Vanaheim, Asgard, Alfheim, SvartAlfheim, Muspellheim, Nidavellir, and Jotunheim). In this conception, a "world" was more equivalent to a racial homeland than a physically separate world.

The world

Main article: Arda Arda Tolkien stated that the geography of Middle Earth was intended to align with that of our real Earth in several particulars. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Letters_of_J._R._R._Tolkien Letters] #294) Expanding upon this idea some suggest that [http://people.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~lalaith/Tolkien/Grid.html if the map of Middle Earth is projected on our real Earth], and some of the most obvious climatological, botanical, and zoological similarities are aligned, the Hobbits' Shire might lie in the temperate climate of England, Gondor might lie in the Mediterranean Italy and Greece, Mordor in the arid Turkey and Middle East, South Gondor and Near Harad in the deserts of Northern Africa, Rhovanion in the forests of Germany and the steppes of Western and Southern Russia, and the Ice Bay of Forochel in the fjords of Norway. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are presented as Tolkien's retelling of events depicted in the Red Book of Westmarch, which was written by Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, and other Hobbits, and corrected and annotated by one or more Gondorian scholars. Like Shakespeare's King Lear or Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories, the tales occupy a historical period that could not have actually existed. Dates for the length of the year and the phases of the moon, along with descriptions of constellations, firmly fix the world as Earth, no longer than several thousand years ago. Years after publication, Tolkien 'postulated' in a letter that the action of the books takes place roughly 6,000 years ago, though he was not certain. Tolkien wrote extensively about the linguistics, mythology and history of the world, which provide back-story for these stories. Many of these writings were edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher. Notable among them is The Silmarillion, which provides a Bible-like creation story and description of the cosmology which includes Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the primary source of information about Valinor, Númenor, and other lands. Also notable are Unfinished Tales and the multiple volumes of The History of Middle-earth, which includes many incomplete stories and essays as well as numerous drafts of Tolkien's Middle Earth mythology, from the earliest forms down through the last writings of his life.

Cosmology

Main article: Ainulindalë The supreme deity of Tolkien's universe is called Eru Ilúvatar. In the beginning, Ilúvatar created spirits named the Ainur and he taught them to make music. After the Ainur had become proficient in their skills, Ilúvatar commanded them to make a great music based on a theme of his own design. The most powerful Ainu, Melkor (later called Morgoth or "Dark Enemy" by the elves), Tolkien's equivalent of Satan, disrupted the theme, and in response Ilúvatar introduced new themes that enhanced the music beyond the comprehension of the Ainur. The movements of their song laid the seeds of much of the history of the as yet unmade universe and the people who were to dwell therein. Then Ilúvatar stopped the music and he revealed its meaning to the Ainur through a Vision. Moved by the Vision, many of the Ainur felt a compelling urge to experience its events directly. Ilúvatar therefore created Eä, the universe itself, and some of the Ainur went down into the universe to share in its experience. But upon arriving in Eä, the Ainur found it was shapeless because they had entered at the beginning of Time. The Ainur undertook great labours in these unnamed "ages of the stars", in which they shaped the universe and filled it with many things far beyond the reach of Men. In time, however, the Ainur formed Arda, the abiding place of the Children of Ilúvatar, Elves and Men. The fifteen most powerful Ainur are called the Valar, of whom Melkor was the most powerful, but Manwë was the leader. The Valar settled in Arda to watch over it and help prepare it for the awakening of the Children. Arda began as a single flat world, which the Valar gave light to through two immense lamps. Melkor destroyed the lamps and brought darkness to the world. The Valar retreated to the extreme western regions of Arda, where they created the Two Trees to give light to their new homeland. After many ages, the Valar imprisoned Melkor to punish and rehabilitate him, and to protect the awakening Children. But when Melkor was released on parole he poisoned the Two Trees. The Valar took the last two living fruit of the Two Trees and used them to create the Moon and Sun, which remained a part of Arda but were separate from Ambar (the world). Before the end of the Second Age, when the Men of Númenor rebelled against the Valar, Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor, separated Valinor from the rest of Arda, and formed new lands, making the world round. Only Endor remained of the original world, and Endor had now become Eurasia.

Geography

J.R.R. Tolkien never finalized the geography for the entire world associated with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In The Shaping of Middle-earth, volume IV of The History of Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien published several remarkable maps, of both the original flat earth and round world, which his father had created in the latter part of the 1930s. Karen Wynn Fonstad drew from these maps to develop detailed, but non-canonical, "whole world maps" reflecting a world consistent with the historical ages depicted in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. Maps prepared by Christopher Tolkien and/or J.R.R. Tolkien for the world encompassing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were published as foldouts or illustrations in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Early conceptions of the maps provided in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings were included in several volumes, including "The First Silmarillion Map" in The Shaping of Middle-earth, "The First Map of the Lord of the Rings" in The Treason of Isengard, "The Second Map (West)" and "The Second Map (East)" in The War of the Ring, and "The Second Map of Middle-earth west of the Blue Mountains" (also known as "The Second Silmarillion Map") in The War of the Jewels. Endor, the Quenya term for Middle-earth, was originally conceived of as conforming to a largely symmetrical scheme which was marred by Melkor. The symmetry was defined by two large sub-continents, one in the north and one in the south, with each of them boasting two long chains of mountains in the eastward and westward regions. The mountain chains were given names based on colours (White Mountains, Blue Mountains, Grey Mountains, and Red Mountains). The various conflicts with Melkor resulted in the shapes of the lands being distorted. Originally, there was a single inland body of water, in the midst of which was set the island of Almaren where the Valar lived. When Melkor destroyed the lamps of the Valar which gave light to the world, two vast seas were created, but Almaren and its lake were destroyed. The northern sea became the Sea of Helcar (Helkar). The lands west of the Blue Mountains became Beleriand (meaning, "the land of the Valar"). Melkor raised the Misty Mountains to impede the progress of the Vala Orome as he hunted Melkor's beasts during the period of darkness prior to the awakening of the Elves. The violent struggles during the War of Wrath between the Host of the Valar and the armies of Melkor at the end of the First Age brought about the destruction of Beleriand. It is also possible that during this time the inland sea of Helcar was drained. The world, not including associated celestial bodies, was identified by Tolkien as "Ambar" in several texts, but also identified as "Imbar", the Habitation, in later post-LoTR texts. From the time of the destruction of the two lamps until the time of the Downfall of Númenor, Ambar was supposed to be a "flat world", in that its habitable land-masses were all arranged on one side of the world. His sketches show a disk-like face for the world which looked up to the stars. A western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar (and the Eldar). The middle lands, Endor, were called "Middle-earth" and the site of most of Tolkien's stories. The eastern continent was not inhabited. When Melkor poisoned the Two Trees of the Valar and fled from Aman back to Endor, the Valar created the Sun and the Moon, which were separate bodies (from Ambar) but still parts of Arda (the Realm of the Children of Ilúvatar). A few years after publishing The Lord of the Rings, in a note associated with the unique narrative story "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" (which is said to occur in Beleriand during the War of the Jewels), Tolkien equated Arda with the Solar System; because Arda by this point consisted of more than one heavenly body. According to the accounts in both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, when Ar-Pharazôn invaded Aman to seize immortality from the Valar, they laid down their guardianship of the world and Ilúvatar intervened, destroying Númenor, removing Aman "from the circles of the world", and reshaping Ambar into the round world of today. Akallabêth says that the Númenóreans who survived the Downfall sailed as far west as they could in search of their ancient home, but their travels only brought them around the world back to their starting points. Hence, before the end of the Second Age, the transition from "flat Earth" to "round Earth" had been completed. The Endor continent became approximately equivalent to the Eurasian land-mass, but Tolkien's fictional geography does not provide any exact correlations between the narrative of The Lord of the Rings and Europe or near-by lands. It is therefore assumed that the reader understands the world underwent a subsequent undocumented transformation (which some people speculate Tolkien would have equated with the Biblical deluge) sometime after the end of the Third Age.

Peoples

Main article: List of Middle-earth peoples Middle-earth is home to several distinct intelligent species. First are the Ainur, angelic beings created by Ilúvatar. The Ainur sing for Ilúvatar, who creates Eä to give existence to their music in the cosmological myth called the Ainulindalë, or "Music of the Ainur". Some of the Ainur then enter Eä, and the greatest of these are called the Valar. Melkor (later called Morgoth), the chief personification of evil in Eä, is initially one of the Valar. The other Ainur who enter Eä are called the Maiar. In the First Age the most active Maia is Melian, wife of the Elven King Thingol; in the Third Age, during the War of the Ring, five of the Maiar have been embodied and sent to Endor to help the free peoples to overthrow Sauron. Those are the Istari (or Wise Ones) (called Wizards by Men), including Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, Alatar and Pallando. There were also evil Maiar, called Umaiar, including the Balrogs and the second Dark Lord Sauron. Later come the Children of Ilúvatar: Elves and Men, intelligent beings created by Ilúvatar alone. The Silmarillion tells how Elves and Men awaken and spread through the world. The Dwarves are said to have been made by the Vala Aulë, who offered to destroy them when Ilúvatar confronted him. Ilúvatar forgives Aulë's transgression and adopts the Dwarves. Three tribes of Men who ally themselves with the Elves of Beleriand in the First Age are called the Edain. As a reward for their loyalty and suffering in the Wars of Beleriand, the descendants of the Edain are given the island of Númenor to be their home. But as described in the section on Middle-earth's history, Númenor is eventually destroyed and a remnant of the Númenóreans establish realms in the northern lands of Endor. Those who remained faithful to the Valar found the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. They are then known as the Dúnedain, whereas other Númenórean survivors, still devoted to evil but living far to the south, become known as the Black Númenóreans. Tolkien identified Hobbits as an offshoot of the race of Men. Although their origins and ancient history are not known, Tolkien implied that they settled in the Vales of Anduin early in the Third Age, but after a thousand years the Hobbits began migrating west over the Misty Mountains into Eriador. Eventually, many Hobbits settled in the Shire. After they are granted true life by Ilúvatar, the Dwarves' creator Aulë lays them to sleep in hidden mountain locations. Ilúvatar awakens the Dwarves only after the Elves have awakened. The Dwarves spread throughout northern Endor and eventually found seven kingdoms. Two of these kingdoms, Nogrod and Belegost, befriend the Elves of Beleriand against Morgoth in the First Age. But the greatest Dwarf kingdom is Khazad-dum, later known as Moria. The Ents, shepherds of the trees, are created by Ilúvatar at the Vala Yavanna's request to protect trees from the deprivations of Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Orcs and Trolls are evil creatures bred by Morgoth. They are not original creations but rather "mockeries" of the Children of Ilúvatar and Ents, since only Ilúvatar has the ability to give being to things. The detailed origins of Orcs and Trolls are unclear (Tolkien considered many possibilities and frequently changed his mind). It seems most likely that the Orcs were bred largely from corrupted Elves or Men or both. Late in the Third Age, the Uruks or Uruk-hai appear: a race of Orcs of great size and strength. (Some claim that by the end of the Third Age, the only Uruks properly called Uruk-hai are those serving Saruman.) And Saruman breeds Orcs and Men together to produce "Men-orcs" and "Orc-men"; at times, some of these are called "half-orcs" or "goblin-men". (There is no consensus as to whether Saruman's Uruk-hai were among these. The books contain no hint of the "pod grown" Uruk-hai portrayed in Peter Jackson's recent movie trilogy.) Seemingly sapient animals also appear, such as the Eagles, Huan the Great Hound from Valinor, and the Wargs. The Eagles are created by Ilúvatar along with the Ents, but in general these animals' origins and nature are unclear. Some of them might be Maiar in animal form, or perhaps even the offspring of Maiar and normal animals.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Middle-earth Tolkien devised two main Elven languages which would later become known to us as Quenya, spoken by the Vanyar, Noldor, and some Teleri, and Sindarin, spoken by the Elves who stayed in Beleriand (see below). These languages were related, and a Common Eldarin form ancestral to them both is postulated. Other languages of the world include
- Adûnaic – spoken by the Númenóreans
- Black Speech – devised by Sauron for his slaves to speak
- Khuzdûl – spoken by the Dwarves
- Rohirric – spoken by the Rohirrim – represented in the Lord of the Rings by Old English
- Westron – the 'Common Speech' – represented by English
- Valarin – the language of the Ainur.

History of Middle-earth

Main article: History of Arda The history of Middle-earth is divided into three time periods, known as the Years of the Lamps, Years of the Trees and Years of the Sun. The Years of the Lamps began shortly after the Valar finished their labours in shaping Arda. The Valar created two lamps to illuminate the world, and the Vala Aulë forged great towers, one in the furthest north, and another in the deepest south. The Valar lived in the middle, at the island of Almaren. Melkor's destruction of the two Lamps marked the end of the Years of the Lamps. Melkor Then Yavanna made the Two Trees named Telperion and Laurelin in the land of Aman. The Trees illuminated Aman, leaving the rest of Arda in darkness, illuminated only by the stars. At the start of the First Age the Elves awoke beside Lake Cuiviénen in the east of Endor, and were soon approached by the Valar. Many of the Elves were persuaded to undertake the Great Journey westwards towards Aman, but not all of them completed the journey (see Sundering of the Elves). The Valar had imprisoned Melkor but he appeared to repent and was released on parole. He sowed great discord among the Elves and stirred up rivalry between the Elven princes Fëanor and Fingolfin. He then slew their father, king Finwë and stole the Silmarils, three gems crafted by Fëanor that contained light of the Two Trees, from his vault, and destroyed the Trees themselves. Fëanor persuaded most of his people, the Noldor, to leave Aman in pursuit of Melkor to Beleriand, cursing him with the name Morgoth. Fëanor led the first of two groups of Noldor. The larger group was led by Fingolfin. The Noldor stopped at the Teleri's port-city, Alqualondë, but the Teleri refused to give them ships to get to Middle-earth. The first Kinslaying thus ensued, Fëanor and many of his followers attacked the Teleri and stole their ships. Fëanor's host sailed on the stolen ships, leaving Fingolfin's behind to cross over to Middle-earth through the deadly Helcaraxë (or Grinding Ice) in the far north. Subsequently Fëanor was slain, but most of his sons survived and founded realms, as did Fingolfin and his heirs. Helcaraxë The Years of the Sun began when the Valar made the Sun and it rose over the world, Imbar. After several great battles, a Long Peace ensued for four hundred years, during which time the first Men entered Beleriand by crossing over the Blue Mountains. When Morgoth broke the siege of Angband, one by one the Elven kingdoms fell, even the hidden city of Gondolin. The only measurable success achieved by Elves and Men came when Beren of the Edain and Luthien, daughter of Thingol and Melian, retrieved a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. Afterward, Beren and Luthien died, and were restored to life by the Valar with the understanding that Luthien was to become mortal and Beren should never be seen by Men again. Thingol quarrelled with the Dwarves of Nogrod and they slew him, stealing the Silmaril. With the help of Ents, Beren waylaid the Dwarves and recovered the Silmaril, which he gave to Luthien. Soon afterwards, both Beren and Luthien died again. The Silmaril was given to their son Dior Half-Elven, who had restored the Kingdom of Doriath. The sons of Fëanor demanded that Dior surrender the Silmaril to them, and he refused. The Fëanorians destroyed Doriath and killed Dior in the second Kinslaying, but Dior's young daughter Elwing escaped with the jewel. Three sons of Fëanor – Celegorm, Curufin, and Caranthir – died trying to retake the jewel. By the end of the age, all that remained of the free Elves and Men in Beleriand was a settlement at the mouth of the River Sirion. Among them was Eärendil, who married Elwing. But the Fëanorians again demanded the Silmaril be returned to them, and after their demand was rejected they resolved to take the jewel by force, leading to the third Kinslaying. Eärendil and Elwing took the Silmaril across the Great Sea, to beg the Valar for pardon and aid. The Valar responded. Melkor was captured, most of his works were destroyed, and he was banished beyond the confines of the world into the Door of Night. The Silmarils were recovered at a terrible cost, as Beleriand itself was broken and began to sink under the sea. Feanor's remaining sons Maedhros and Maglor were ordered to return to Valinor. They proceeded to steal the Simarils from the victorious Valar. But the power of the Simarils was too great for them to hold. Each of the brothers met their fate, one falling into the chasm of fire and the other throwing the jewel into the sea. Thus began the Second Age. The Edain were given the island of Númenor toward the west of the Great Sea as their home, while many Elves were welcomed into the West. The Númenóreans became great seafarers, but also became increasingly jealous of the Elves for their immortality. But after a few centuries, Sauron, Morgoth's chief servant, began to organize evil creatures in the eastern lands. He persuaded Elven smiths in Eregion to create Rings of Power, and secretly forged the One Ring to control the other rings. But the Elves became aware of Sauron's plan as soon as he put the One Ring on his hand, and they removed their own Rings before he could master their wills. the One Ring The last Númenórean king Ar-Pharazôn, by the strength of his army, humbled even Sauron and brought him to Númenor as a hostage. But with the help of the One Ring, Sauron deceived Ar-Pharazôn and convinced the king to invade Aman, promising immortality for all those who set foot on the Undying Lands. Amandil, chief of those still faithful to the Valar, tried to sail west to seek their aid. His son Elendil and grandsons Isildur and Anárion prepared to flee east to Middle-earth. When the King's forces landed on Aman, the Valar called for Ilúvatar to intervene. The world was changed, and Aman was removed from Imbar. From that time onward, Men could no longer find Aman, but Elves seeking passage in specially hallowed ships received the grace of using the Straight Road, which led from Middle-earth's seas to the seas of Aman. Númenor was utterly destroyed, and with it the fair body of Sauron, but his spirit endured and fled back to Middle-Earth. Elendil and his sons escaped to Endor and founded the realms of Gondor and Arnor. Sauron soon rose again, but the Elves allied with the Men to form the Last Alliance and defeated him. His One Ring was taken from him by Isildur, but not destroyed. The Third Age saw the rise in power of the realms of Arnor and Gondor, and their decline. By the time of The Lord of the Rings, Sauron had recovered much of his former strength, and was seeking the One Ring. He discovered that it was in the possession of a Hobbit and sent out the nine Ringwraiths to retrieve it. The Ring-bearer, Frodo Baggins, travelled to Rivendell, where it was decided that the Ring had to be destroyed in the only way possible: casting it into the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo set out on the quest with eight companions—the Fellowship of the Ring. At the last moment he failed, but with the intervention of the creature Gollum—who was saved by the pity of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins—the Ring was nevertheless destroyed. Frodo with his companion Sam Gamgee were hailed as heroes. Sauron was destroyed forever and his spirit dissipated. The end of the Third Age marked the end of the dominion of the Elves and the beginning of the dominion of Men. As the Fourth Age began, many of the Elves who had lingered in Middle-earth left for Valinor, never to return; those who remained behind would "fade" and diminish. The Dwarves eventually dwindled away as well. The Dwarves eventually returned in large numbers and resettled Moria. Peace was restored between Gondor and the lands to the south and east. Eventually, the tales of the earlier Ages became legends, the truth behind them forgotten.

Books

Works by Tolkien

- 1937 The Hobbit
- The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins joins a company of Dwarves and the Wizard Gandalf in a quest to reclaim an old Dwarvish kingdom from the dragon Smaug.
- 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring, part 1 of The Lord of the Rings
- Bilbo's cousin and heir Frodo Baggins sets out on a quest to rid Middle-earth of the One Ring, joined by the Fellowship of the Ring.
- 1954 The Two Towers, part 2 of The Lord of the Rings
- The Fellowship is split apart: while Frodo and his servant Sam continue their quest, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas fight to rescue the hobbits Peregrin Took (Pippin) and Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) from Orcs and to save the Kingdom of Rohan.
- 1955 The Return of the King, part 3 of The Lord of the Rings
- Frodo and Sam reach Mordor, while Aragorn arrives in Gondor and reclaims his heritage.
- 1962 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book
- An assortment of poems, only loosely related to The Lord of the Rings
- 1967 The Road Goes Ever On
- A song cycle with the composer Donald Swann (long out of print but reprinted in 2002) Tolkien died in 1973. All further works were edited by Christopher Tolkien. Only The Silmarillion portrays itself as a finished work — the others are collections of notes and draft versions.
- 1977 The Silmarillion
- The history of the Elder Days, before the Lord of the Rings, including the Downfall of Númenor
- 1980 Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
- Stories and essays related to the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings, but many were never completed. The History of Middle-earth series:
- 1983 The Book of Lost Tales 1
- 1984 The Book of Lost Tales 2
- The earliest versions of the mythology, from start to finish
- 1985 The Lays of Beleriand
- Two long poems (the Lay of Leithian about Beren and Lúthien, and the Túrin saga)
- 1986 The Shaping of Middle-earth
- Start of rewriting the mythology from the beginning
- 1987 The Lost Road and Other Writings
- Introduction of Numenor to the mythology and continuation of rewriting
- 1988 The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.1)
- 1989 The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.2)
- 1990 The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.3)
- 1992 Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.4)
- The development of the Lord of the Rings, from 'The Hobbit 2' to what would become more a sequel for 'The Silmarillion'. Sauron Defeated also includes another version of the Numenor connection
- 1993 Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion, part one)
- 1994 The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion, part two)
- Post Lord of the Rings efforts to revise the mythology for publication. Includes the controversial 'Myths Transformed' section, which documents how Tolkien's thoughts changed radically in the last years of his life.
- 1996 The Peoples of Middle-earth
- Source material for the appendices in The Lord of the Rings and some more late writings related to The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.
- 2002 History of Middle-earth: Index
- This book has completely integrated all of the indices from the previous twelve volumes into one large index.

Works by others

A small selection of the dozens of books about Tolkien and his worlds:
- 1978 The Complete Guide to Middle-earth (ISBN 0345449762, Robert Foster, generally recognised as the best reference book on The Lord of the Rings. This guide does not include information from Unfinished Tales or the History of Middle-earth series, which leads to some errors by our choice of "canon" above.)
- 2004 The Annotated Hobbit, Douglas Anderson, a comprehensive study of the publication history of The Hobbit.
- 1981 The Atlas of Middle-earth (Karen Wynn Fonstad – an atlas of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and The Unfinished Tales; revised 1991)
- 1981 Journeys of Frodo (Barbara Strachey – an atlas of The Lord of the Rings)
- 1983 The Road to Middle-earth (Tom Shippey – literary analysis of Tolkien's stories from the perspective of a fellow philologist; last revised 2003)
- 2002 The Complete Tolkien Companion (ISBN 0330411659, J. E. A. Tyler – a reference, covers The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales; substantially improved over the two earlier editions.)

Adaptations

Films

In letter #202 to Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien set out his policy regarding film adaptations of his works: "Art or Cash". He sold the film rights for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to United Artists in 1969 after being faced with a sudden tax bill. They are currently in the hands of Tolkien Enterprises, which has no relation to the Tolkien Estate, which retains film rights to The Silmarillion and other works. The first adaptation to be shown was The Hobbit in 1977, made by Rankin-Bass studios. This was initially shown on United States television. The following year (1978), a movie entitled The Lord of the Rings was released, produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi; it was an adaptation of the first half of the story, using rotoscope animation. Although relatively faithful to the story, it was neither a commercial nor a critical success. In 1980, Rankin-Bass produced a TV special covering roughly the last half of The Lord of the Rings, called The Return of the King. However, this did not follow on directly from the end of the Bakshi film. Plans for a live-action version would wait until the late 1990s to be realised. These were directed by Peter Jackson and funded by New Line Cinema with backing from the New Zealand government and banking system.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) The films were a huge box office and critical success and together won seventeen Oscars (at least one in each applicable category for a fictional, English language, live-action feature film, except in the acting categories). However, in adapting the works to film, changes in the storyline and characters offended some fans of the books.

Games

The works of Tolkien have been a major influence on role-playing games along with others such as Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, and Michael Moorcock. Although the most famous game to be inspired partially by the setting was Dungeons & Dragons, there have been two specifically Middle-earth based and licensed games. These are the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game from Decipher Inc. and the Middle Earth Role Play game (MERP) from Iron Crown Enterprises. A Middle Earth play-by-mail game was originally run by Flying Buffalo and is now produced by Middle Earth Games; this game was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame in 1997. Simulations Publications created three war games based on Tolkien's work. War of the Ring covered most of the events in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gondor focused on the battle of Pelennor Fields, and Sauron covered the Second Age battle before the gates of Mordor. A war game based on the Lord of the Rings movies is currently being produced by Games Workshop. A board game also called War of the Ring is currently published by Fantasy Flight Games. The computer game Angband is a free roguelike D&D-style game that features many characters from Tolkien's works. The most complete list of Tolkien-inspired computer games can be found at http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/ EA Games has released games for the gaming consoles and the PC platform. These include The Two Towers, The Return of the King, The Battle for Middle Earth, and The Third Age. Vivendi released The Fellowship of the Ring while Sierra created The War of the Ring, both games that proved highly unsuccessful. Apart from this game, many commercial computer games have been released. Some of these derived their rights from the Estate, such as The Hobbit — others from the movie and merchandising rights.

External links

- [http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm Encyclopedia of Arda] – a large online source for the names from Tolkien's works. Many of the entries are incomplete, as it is constantly being updated, and some are incorrect. It has been used as a source.
- [http://www.lotrlibrary.com/ Lord of the Rings Library] – another online source for Middle Earth facts.
- [http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf Ardalambion] – This is a great site for anyone who wants to delve into the languages of Middle-earth. Recommended for anyone who wants to learn Quenya.
- [http://tolkien.slimy.com/ The Tolkien Meta-FAQ] – Summaries of common discussions about Tolkien and Middle-earth, from basic questions to expert debates.
- [http://www.merp.com/essays/MichaelMartinez/ Michael Martinez Tolkien Essays] – A large collection of essays on Tolkien and Middle-earth.
- [http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/ The Tolkien Wiki] – The first wikiweb dedicated to the literary works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Contains a compendium, book-descriptions, essays, FAQ, etc.
- [http://fan.theonering.net/ The One Ring.net] – A site with multiple examples of Tolkien Fanart, Fanwriting, and a little bit of facts.
- [http://www.lordoftherings.net/ The Lord of the Rings official movie site] – the official movie website. It contains information on the movie and the books.
- [http://www.tednasmith.com/tolkien.html Ted Nasmith – Tolkien Illustrations] – The website of Tolkien illustrator Ted Nasmith, which includes galleries of illustrations for several books.
- [http://tolkiengateway.net/ Tolkien Gateway] – Tolkien site with tons of information on the books, movies, music, games, languages, etc.
- [http://www.tuckborough.net/ An Encyclopedia of Middle Earth in the Third Age] Category:Fictional continents Category:Origins award winners ko:가운데땅 ja:中つ国 (トールキン)

Siege

For the Boston area punk band see Siege (band). For the James Mason book see Siege (book) A siege is a prolonged military blockade and assault of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition. A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that refuses to surrender and cannot be easily taken by a frontal assault. Sieges usually involve surrounding the target and blocking the provision of supplies, typically coupled with siege engines, artillery bombardment or sapping (also known as mining) to reduce fortifications. Sieges probably predate the development of cities as large population centers. Ancient cities in the Middle East show archeological evidence of having had fortified city walls. During the Renaissance and the Early Modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork. Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of ever more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In modern times, trenches replaced walls, and bunkers replaced castles. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined. With the advent of mobile warfare, one single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. While sieges do still occur, they are not as common as they once were due to changes in modes of battle, principally the ease by which huge volumes of destructive power can be directed onto a static target. A military siege can have four possible outcomes: #The defenders can repulse it without aid from the outside, in which case the position is said to have been held; #If the defenders prevail with outside aid the siege is deemed to have been relieved or raised; #When a siege results in the attackers taking control of the besieged city or fortress but the defensive forces are able to escape, the outcome is characterized as evacuated, and; #If the attacking force emerges victorious and also destroys and/or captures the defenders, the besieged entity is reckoned as having fallen.

Ancient and medieval siege warfare

Ancient sources contain many stories of siege, such as the siege of Jericho in the Old Testament or the Siege of Troy described by Homer in the Iliad. Alexander the Great's Macedonian army was involved in many sieges. There are two which are of particular note: Tyre and Sogdian Rock. Tyre was a Phoenician island-city about 1km from the mainland, and thought to be impregnable. The Macedonians built a mole (causeway) out to the island. It is said to have been at least 60m (200ft) wide. When the causeway was within artillery range of Tyre, Alexander brought up stone throwers and light catapults to bombard the city walls. The city fell to the Macedonians after a seven month siege. In complete contrast to Tyre, Sogdian Rock was captured by guile. The fortress was high up on cliffs. Alexander used commando like tactics to scale the cliffs and capture the high ground. The demoralised defenders surrendered. The importance of siege warfare in the ancient period should not be underestimated. One of the contributing causes of Hannibal's inability to defeat Rome was his lack of siege train; thus, while he was able to defeat Roman armies in the field, he was unable to capture Rome itself. The legionary armies of the Roman Republic and Empire are noted as being particularly skilled and determined in siege warfare. An astonishing number and variety of sieges, for example, formed the core of Julius Caesar's mid-1st century BCE conquest of Gaul (modern France). In his Gallic Wars, Caesar describes how at the Battle of Alesia the Roman legions created two huge fortified walls around the city. The inner circumvallation, 10 miles, held in Vercingetorix's forces, while the outer contravallation kept relief from reaching them. The Romans held the ground in between the two walls. The besieged Gauls, facing starvation, eventually surrendered after their relief force met defeat against Caesar's auxiliary cavalry. The Sicarii Zealots who defended Masada in 74 were defeated by the Roman Legions who built a ramp 100 meters high up to the fortress's west wall. The universal method for defending against siege is the use of fortifications, principally walls and ditches to supplement natural features. A sufficient supply of food and water is also important to defeat the simplest method of siege warfare: starvation. During a siege, a surrounding army would build earthworks (a line of circumvallation) to completely encircle their target, preventing food and water supplies from reaching the besieged city. If sufficiently desperate as the siege progressed, defenders and civilians might have been reduced to eating anything vaguely edible—horses, family pets, the leather from shoes, and even each other. On occasion, the defenders would drive 'surplus' civilians out to reduce the demands on stored food and water. Disease was another effective siege weapon, although the attackers were often as vulnerable as the defenders. In some instances, catapults or like weapons would fling diseased animals over city walls in an early example of biological warfare. biological warfare To end a siege more rapidly various methods were developed in ancient and medieval times to counter fortifications, and a large variety of siege engines were developed for use by besieging armies. Ladders could be used to escalade over the defenses. Battering rams and siege hooks could be used to force through gates or walls, while catapults, ballistae, trebuchets, mangonels, and onagers could be used to launch projectiles in order to break down a city's fortifications and kill its defenders. A siege tower could also be used: a substantial structure built as high, or higher than the walls, it allowed the attackers to fire down upon the defenders and also advance troops to the wall with less danger than using ladders. In addition to launching projectiles at the fortifications or defenders, it was also quite common to attempt to undermine the fortifications, causing them to collapse. This could be accomplished by digging a tunnel beneath the foundations of the walls, and then deliberately collapsing or exploding the tunnel. This process is known as sapping or mining. The defenders could dig counter-tunnels to cut into the attackers' works and collapse them prematurely. Fire was often used as a weapon when dealing with wooden fortifications. In ancient Japan, where buildings used to store supplies were mostly wooden, a fire could drive opponents to starvation. The Byzantine Empire invented Greek fire, which contained additives that made it hard to put out. Combined with a primitive flamethrower, it proved an effective offensive and defensive weapon. flamethrower by the Earl of Essex, in 1647 by Lord Inchiquin, and in 1650 by Oliver Cromwell.]] Advances in the prosecution of sieges in ancient and medieval times naturally encouraged the development of a variety of defensive counter-measures. In particular, medieval fortifications became progressively stronger—for example, the advent of the concentric castle from the period of the Crusades—and more dangerous to attackers—witness the increasing use of machicolations and murder-holes, as well the preparation of boiling oil, molten lead or hot sand. Arrow slits (also called arrow loops or loopholes), sally ports (concealed doors) for sallies, and deep water wells were also integral means of resisting siege at this time. Particular attention would be paid to defending entrances, with gates protected by drawbridges, portcullises and barbicans. Moats and other water defenses, whether natural or augmented, were also vital to defenders. In the European Middle Ages, virtually all large cities had city walls—Dubrovnik in Dalmatia is an impressive and well-preserved example—and more important cities had citadels, forts or castles. Great effort was expended to ensure a good water supply inside the city in case of siege. In some cases, long tunnels were constructed to carry water into the city. Complex systems of underground tunnels were used for storage and communications in medieval cities like Tábor in Bohemia (similar to those used much later in Vietnam during the Vietnam War). Until the invention of gunpowder-based weapons (and the resulting higher-velocity projectiles), the balance of power and logistics definitely favored the defender. With the invention of gunpowder, cannon and (in modern times) mortars and howitzers, the traditional methods of defense became less and less effective against a determined siege.

Mongol siege warfare

In the Middle Ages, the Mongol Empire's campaign against China by Genghis Khan and his army was extremely effective, allowing the Mongols to sweep through large areas. Even if they could not enter some of the more well-fortified cities, they used innovative battle tactics to grab hold of the land and the people: :"By concentrating on the field armies, the strongholds had to wait. Of course, smaller fortresses, or ones easily surprised, were taken as they came along. This had two effects. First, it cut off the principal city from communicating with other cities where they might expect aid. Secondly, refugees from these smaller cities would flee to the last stronghold. The reports from these cities and the streaming hordes of refugees not only reduced the morale of the inhabitants and garrison of the principle city, it also strained their resources. Food and water reserves were taxed by the sudden influx of refugees. Soon, what was once a formidable undertaking became easy. The Mongols were then free to lay siege without interference of the field army as it had been destroyed... At the siege of Aleppo, Hulegu used twenty catapults against the Bab al-Iraq (Gate of Iraq) alone. In Jûzjânî, there are several episodes in which the Mongols constructed hundreds of siege machines in order to surpass the number which the defending city possessed. While Jûzjânî surely exaggerated, the improbably high numbers which he used for both the Mongols and the defenders do give one a sense of the large numbers of machines used at a single siege." ¹ Another Mongol tactic was to use catapults to launch corpses of plague victims into besieged cities. The disease-carrying fleas from the person's body would then infest the city, and the plague would spread allowing the city to be easily captured, although this transmission mechanism was not known at the time. On the first night while sieging a city, the leader of the Mongol forces would lead from a white tent: if the city surrendered, all would be spared. On the second day, he would use a red tent: if the city surrendered, the men would all be killed, but the rest would be spared. On the third day, he would use a black tent: no quarter would be given. This attitude was common to most armies. A city that surrendered could expect to negotiate terms to avoid a sack. A city broken by siege or assault could suffer extreme retribution, even in the 19th century.

Sieges in the age of gunpowder

The introduction of gunpowder and the use of cannons brought about a new age in siege warfare. Cannons were first used in the early 13th century, but did not become significant weapons for another 150 years or so. By the 16th century, they were an essential and regularized part of any campaigning army, or castle's defences. The greatest advantage of cannons over other siege weapons was the ability to fire a heavier projectile, further, faster and more often than previous weapons. Thus, 'old fashioned' walls—that is high and, relatively, thin—were excellent targets and, over time, easily demolished. In 1453, the great walls of Constantinople were broken through in just six weeks by the 62 cannon of Mehmet II's army. However, new fortifications, designed to withstand gunpowder weapons, were soon constructed throughout Europe. During the Renaissance and the Early Modern period, siege warfare continued to dominate the conduct of war in Europe. Once siege guns were developed the techniques to assaulting a town or a fortress became well known and ritualised. The attacking army would surround a town. Then the town would be asked to surrender. If they did not comply the besieging army would surround the town with temporary fortifications to stop sallies from the stronghold or relief getting in. The attackers would then build a length of trenches parallel to the defences and just out of range of the defending artillery. They would then dig a trench towards the town in a zigzag pattern so that it could not be enfiladed by defending fire. Once within artillery range another parallel trench would be dug with gun emplacements. If necessary using the first artillery fire for cover this process would be repeated until guns were close enough to be laid accurately to make a breach in the fortifications. So that the forlorn hope and support troops could get close enough to exploit the breach more zigzag trenches could be dug even closer to the walls with more parallel trenches to protect and conceal the attacking troops. After each step in the process the besiegers would ask the besieged to surrender. If after the forlorn hope stormed the breach successfully the defenders could expect no mercy.

Emerging theories on improving fortifications

The castles that in earlier years had been formidable obstacles were easily breached by the new weapons. For example, in Spain, the newly equipped army of Ferdinand and Isabella was able to conquer Moorish strongholds in Granada in 1482–92 that had held out for centuries before the invention of cannons. Granada, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, for nearly two months in 1453. Other sieges lasted much longer.]] In the early 15th century, Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti wrote a treatise entitled De Re aedificatoria which theorized methods of building fortifications capable of withstanding the new guns. He proposed that walls be "built in uneven lines, like the teeth of a saw." He proposed star-shaped fortresses with low thick walls. However, few rulers paid any attention to his theories. A few towns in Italy began building in the new style late in the 1480s, but it was only with the French invasion of the Italian peninsula in 1494–95 that the new fortifications were built on a large scale. Charles VIII invaded Italy with an army of 18,000 men and a horse-drawn siege-train. As a result he could defeat virtually any city or state, no matter how well defended. In a panic, military strategy was completely rethought throughout the Italian states of the time, with a strong emphasis on the new fortifications that could withstand a modern siege.

New styles of fortresses employed

The most effective way to protect walls against cannon fire proved to be depth (increasing the width of the defences) and angles (ensuring that attackers could only fire on walls at an oblique angle, not square on). Initially walls were lowered and backed, in front and behind, with earth. Towers were reformed into triangular bastions. This design matured into the trace italienne. Star-shaped fortresses surrounding towns and even cities with outlying defenses proved very difficult to capture, even for a well equipped army. Fortresses built in this style throughout the 16th century did not become fully obsolete until the 19th century, and were still in use throughout World War I (though modified for 20th century warfare). However, the cost of building such vast modern fortifications was incredibly high, and was often too much for individual cities to undertake. Many were bankrupted in the process of building them; others, such as Siena, spent so much money on fortifications that they were unable to maintain their armies properly, and so lost their wars anyway. Nonetheless, innumerable large and impressive fortresses were built throughout northern Italy in the first decades of the 16th century to resist repeated French invasions that became known as the Wars of Italy. Many stand to this day. In the 1530s and 1540s, the new style of fortification began to spread out of Italy into the rest of Europe, particularly to France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Italian engineers were in enormous demand throughout Europe, especially in war-torn areas such as the Netherlands, which became dotted by towns encircled in modern fortifications. For many years, defensive and offensive tactics were well balanced leading to protracted and costly wars such as Europe had never known, involving more and more planning and government involvement. The new fortresses ensured that war rarely extended beyond a series of sieges. Because the new fortresses could easily hold 10,000 men, an attacking army could not ignore a powerfully fortified position without serious risk of counterattack. As a result, virtually all towns had to be taken, and that was usually a long, drawn-out affair, potentially lasting from several months to years, while the members of the town were starved to death. Most battles in this period were between besieging armies and relief columns sent to rescue the besieged.

Marshal Vauban

Netherlands At the end of the 17th century, Marshal Vauban, a French military engineer, developed modern fortification to its pinnacle, refining siege warfare without fundamentally altering it: ditches would be dug; walls would be protected by glacis; and bastions would enfilade an attacker. He was also a master of planning sieges himself. Before Vauban, sieges had been somewhat slapdash operations. Vauban refined besieging to a science with a methodical process that, if uninterrupted, would break even the strongest fortifications. Examples of Vauban-style fortresses in North America include Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, Fort Ticonderoga in New York State, and La Citadelle in Quebec City. Planning and maintaining a siege is just as difficult as fending one off. A besieging army must be prepared to repel both sorties from the besieged area and also any attack that may try to relieve the defenders. It was thus usual to construct lines of trenches and defenses facing in both directions. The outermost lines, known as the lines of contravallation, would surround the entire besieging army and protect it from attackers. This would be the first construction effort of a besieging army, built soon after a fortress or city had been invested. A line of circumvallation would also be constructed, facing in towards the besieged area, to protect against sorties by the defenders and to prevent the besieged from escaping. The next line, which Vauban usually placed at about 600 meters from the target, would contain the main batteries of heavy cannons so that they could hit the target without being vulnerable themselves. Once this line was established, work crews would move forward creating another line at 250 meters. This line contained smaller guns. The final line would be constructed only 30 to 60 meters from the fortress. This line would contain the mortars and would act as a staging area for attack parties once the walls were breached. It would also be from there that sappers working to undermine the fortress would operate. The trenches connecting the various lines of the besiegers could not be built perpendicular to the walls of the fortress, as the defenders would have a clear line of fire along the whole trench. Thus, these lines (known as saps) needed to be sharply jagged. Another element of a fortress was the citadel. Usually a citadel was a "mini fortress" within the larger fortress, sometimes designed as a last bastion of defense, but more often as a means of protecting the garrison from potential revolt in the city. The citadel was used in wartime and peacetime to keep the residents of the city in line. As in ages past, most sieges were decided with very little fighting between the opposing armies. An attacker's army was poorly served incurring the high casualties that a direct assault on a fortress would entail. Usually they would wait until supplies inside the fortifications were exhausted or disease had weakened the defenders to the point that they were willing to surrender. At the same time, diseases, especially typhus were a constant danger to the encamped armies outside the fortress, and often forced a premature retreat. Sieges were often won by the army that lasted the longest. An important element of strategy for the besieging army was whether or not to allow the encamped city to surrender. Usually it was preferable to graciously allow a surrender, both to save on casualties, and to set an example for future defending cities. A city that was allowed to surrender with minimal loss of life was much better off than a city that held out for a long time and was brutally butchered at the end. Moreover, if an attacking army had a reputation of killing and pillaging regardless of a surrender, then other cities' defensive efforts would be redoubled.

Advent of mobile warfare

Siege warfare dominated in Western Europe for most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. An entire campaign, or longer, could be used in a single siege (for example, Ostend in 1601–04; La Rochelle in 1627–28). This resulted in extremely elongated conflicts. The balance was that while siege warfare was extremely expensive and very slow, it was very successful—or, at least, more so than encounters in the field. Battles arose through clashes between besiegers and punative relieving armies, but the principle was a slow grinding victory by the greater economic power. The relatively rare attempts at forcing pitched battles (Gustavus Adolphus in 1630; the French against the Dutch in 1672 or 1688) were almost always expensive failures. Although during the English Civil War (1642–1651) there were many sieges the general maxim of the field armies was "Where is the enemy? Let us go and fight them. Or... if the enemy was coming... Why, what should be done! Draw out into the fields and fight them." This was very different from the siege of Nuremberg during the 30 Years' War and was demonstated to the contenental powers by regiments of the New Model Army at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) during the Anglo-Spanish War. However, this pattern was eradicated by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. New techniques stressed rapidly moving armies that would clash on the open field of battle, and one single fortified stronghold was no longer as decisive as it used to be. Advances in artillery made previously impregnable defenses useless. For example, the walls of Vienna that had held off the Turks in the mid-seventeenth century were no obstacle to Napoleon in the late eighteenth. Where sieges occurred, the attackers were usually able to defeat the defences within a matter of days or weeks, rather than weeks or months as previously. But Lines of Torres Vedras (1810–1811), which were built by the Portuguese under the direction of Royal Engineers of the British Army during the Peninsular war were able to stop a French Army and were the first example of Trench warfare. The Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) during the Crimean War and those of Petersburg (1864–1865) during the American Civil War showed that modern citadels could still resist an enemy for many months. This era of rapidly moving armies continued through the 19th century. For example, the great Swedish white-elephant fortress of Karlsborg was built in the tradition of Vauban and intended as a reserve capital for Sweden, but it was obsolete before it was completed in 1869. Advances in firearms technology without the necessary advances in battlefield communications gradually led to the defence again gaining the ascendacy. During the Franco-Prussian War, the battlefield front-lines moved rapidly through France. However, the Siege of Metz and the Siege of Paris held up German armies for months at a time due to the superior firepower of the Chassepot rifle and the principle of detached or semi-detached forts with heavy-caliber artillery. This resulted in the construction of fortress works across Europe such as the massive fortifications at Verdun.

Modern warfare

Verdun, Union soldiers laid siege against Confederate positions in the siege at Petersburg, Virginia during the American Civil War.]] Mainly as a result of the increasing firepower (such as machine guns) available to defensive forces, First World War trench warfare briefly revived a form of siege warfare. Although siege warfare had moved out from an urban setting because city walls had become ineffective against modern weapons, trench warfare was nonetheless able to utilize many of the techniques of siege warfare in its prosecution (sapping, mining, barrage and, of course, attrition) but on a much larger scale and on a greatly extended front. The development of the armoured tank and improved infantry tactics at the end of World War I swung the pendulum back in favour of maneuver. The Blitzkrieg of the Second World War truly showed that fixed fortifications are easily defeated by maneuver instead of frontal assault or long sieges. The great Maginot Line was bypassed and battles that would have taken weeks of siege could now be avoided with the careful application of air power (such as the German paratrooper capture of Fort Eben-Emael, Belgium, early in World War II). The most important 'sieges' of the Second World War were on the Eastern Front where bloody urban warfare marked the battles of Leningrad, Stalingrad and Berlin. In these battles, the ruins of an urban landscape proved to be just as effective an obstacle to an advancing army as any fortifications. In the west apart from the Battle of the Atlantic the sieges were not on the same scale as those on the European Eastern front; however, there were several notable or critical sieges: the island of Malta for which the population won the George Cross, Tobruk and Monte Cassino. In the South-East Asian Theatre there was the siege of Singapore and in the Burma Campaign sieges of Myitkyina, the Admin Box and the Battle of the Tennis Court which was the high water mark for the Japanese advance into India. The air supply methods which were developed and used extensively in the Burma Campaign for supplying the Chindits and other units, including those in sieges such as Imphal, as well as flying the Hump into China, allowed the western powers to develop air lift expertise which would prove vital during the Cold War Berlin Blockade. During the Vietnam War the battles of Dien Bien Phu (1954) and Khe Sanh (1968) possessed siege-like characteristics. In both cases, the Vietminh and Vietcong were able to cut off the opposing army by capturing the surrounding rugged terrain. At Dien Bien Phu, the French were unable to use air power to overcome the siege and were defeated. However, at Khe Sanh a mere 14 years later, advances in air power allowed the United States to withstand the siege. The resistance of US forces was assisted by the PAVN and PLAF forces' decision to use the Khe Sanh siege as strategic distraction to allow their mobile warfare offensive, the first Tet offensive to unfold securely. The Siege of Khe Sanh displays typical features of modern sieges, as the defender has greater capacity to withstand siege, the attacker's main aim is to bottle operational forces, or create a strategic distraction, rather than take a siege to conclusion.

Recent sieges

- From 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 the Siege of Sarajevo took place, where Sarajevo, then controlled by the Bosnian government, was besieged by Serb paramilitaries.
- In 2004, United States forces laid siege to the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

Police actions

Despite the overwhelming might of the modern state, siege tactics continue to be employed in police conflicts. This has been due to a number of factors, primarily risk to life, whether that of the police, the besieged, bystanders or hostages. Police make use of trained negotiators, psychologists and, if necessary, force, generally being able to rely on the support of their nation's armed forces if required. One of the complications facing police in a siege involving hostages is the Stockholm syndrome where sometimes hostages can develop a sympathetic rapport with their captors. If this helps keep them safe from harm this is considered to be a good thing, but there have been cases where hostages have tried to shield the captors during an assault or refused to co-operate with the authorities in bringing prosecutions. The 1993 police siege on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, lasted 51 days, an atypically long police siege. Unlike traditional military sieges, police sieges tend to last for hours or days rather than weeks, months or years. In Britain if the siege involves perpetrators who are considered by the British Government to be terrorists, then if an assault is to take place, the civilian authorities hand command and control over to the military. The threat of such an action ended the Balcombe Street Siege in 1975 but the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980 ended in a military assault and the death of all but one of the hostage takers.

References

- May, Timothy. "[http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/empsub2.html Mongol Arms]." Explorations in Empire, Pre-Modern Imperialism Tutorial: the Mongols. University of Wisconsin-Madison. 27 June 2004.

Bibliography

- Duffy, Christopher. Fire & Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare (1660–1860). 1975. 2nd ed. New York: Stackpole Books, 1996.
- Duffy, Christopher. Siege Warfare: Fortress in the Early Modern World, 1494–1660. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1996.
- Duffy, Christopher. Siege Warfare, Volume II: The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great. Routledge and Kegan Paul: London, 1985.
- Lynn, John A. The Wars of Louis XIV.

Notes

:See Wikipedia:Footnote3 # [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12259 Memoirs of a Cavalier] by Daniel Defoe at Project Gutenberg

External links

- [http://www.redstoneprojects.com/trebuchetstore/trebuchet_illustrations.html Scenes of Siege Warfare]
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/ Secrets of Lost Empires: Medieval Siege] (PBS) Informative and interactive webpages about medieval siege tactics.
- [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/siegewarfare.htm Siege Warfare in Ancient Egypt]
- [http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/weapons/siege_warfare.htm Three Ancient Egyptian Sieges: Megiddo, Dapur, Hermopolis]
- [http://www.keyway.ca/htm2003/20030411.htm The Siege Of The City] Biblical perspectives. Category:Fortification ko:공성전 ja:攻城戦

Gondor

Gondor is a fictional location from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.

History

Like Arnor to the north, Gondor is a human kingdom founded by Isildur and Anárion, the sons of Elendil, after the Downfall of Númenor. It was located to the south of Rohan and to the west of Mordor, on the Bay of Belfalas. Its name means "Land of Stone", from Sindarin gond (stone) + (n)dor (land), most likely given to it because of the Ered Nimrais and other mountain chains in the land (hypothetical Quenya name Ondonórë).

Early History

Before the Downfall of Númenor, Gondor was home to many Númenórean colonists, who either mixed blood with the indigenous Middle Men if they were friendly, or dispersed them into Ras Morthil, Dunland, and Drúadan Forest. Gondor, at a latitude comparable to Venice, was a more fertile region than Arnor to the north, and therefore it already had a larger population before the ships of Elendil's sons arrived, including a well-established city, Pelargir. The Elendili from Númenor proper were given a warm reception upon their arrival by those that had already colonized Middle-earth, including a colonial branch of Númenórean royalty at Dor~In~Ernil. The colonists north of Anduin accepted Elendil's claim to kingship over them. South of the Great River, however, the newly exiled Númenóreans did not recognize Elendil's claim. Gondor was being founded after Númenor's population had already split between the Elendili and King's Men, and all of the more southern colonies (such as Umbar) remained enemies of the Elendili. The newly founded kingdom of Gondor was then part of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men which overthrew Sauron for the first time at the very end of the Second Age.

Gondor Prospers

After the war Gondor's power and wealth grew steadily (only interrupted by an Easterling invasion in 492 Third Age). Its power would continue to grow into the 9th century of the Third Age. While the power of Gondor's sister kingdom Arnor peaked during the 9th century, when it broke into various successor states, Gondor's greatest glory was yet to come.

Gondor's Golden Age

Gondor's power reached its Golden Age under the four "Ship-kings": Tarannon Falastur r. 840–913. First of the Ship-Kings, died childless Eärnil I r. 913–936. Nephew of Tarannon Ciryandil r. 936–1015 Hyarmendacil I (Ciryaher) r. 1015–1149. Last of the Ship-Kings. In the reign of the powerful king Hyarmendacil I (c. 12th century T.A.) Gondor reached the height of its power. During Hyarmendacil's reign Gondor's borders reached their furthest extent. The Kingdom extended east to the Sea of Rhûn, south to the nearest lands of the Haradrim, as far north as Mirkwood and west towards the borders of Arnor. Such was Gondor's wealth during the period that men from other lands would say in envy: "In Gondor precious stones are but pebbles for the children to play with." Gondor would also enjoy several centuries of peace due to its military might.

The Decline of Gondor

But after his reign decadence spread under the kings of Gondor and a long period of decline began (although Gondor experienced several revivals). Three great calamities struck Gondor during the second millennium of the Third Age, which are held to be the chief reasons for its decline: the Kin-strife, the Great Plague, and the invasion of the Wainriders (a tribe of Easterlings).

The Kin-strife

In the 15th century a great civil war named the Kin-strife tore the nation apart. The current King Eldacar was of mixed blood: his mother was of the Northmen. Popular displeasure at this led to the overthrow of King Eldacar by Castamir, the admiral of all of Gondor's naval forces who possessed some royal blood. Eldacar's son was slain, and he fled north. Castamir was afterwards known as Castamir the Usurper. During his ten year rule he proved to be very cruel, and because of his love of his old fleet, he lavished attention on the coastal regions while the interior provinces were ignored and left to rot. Eldacar then returned with an army of his Northman kinsmen, and they were joined by armies of Gondor from interior provinces such as Anórien. Osgiliath was devastated during this conflict, its great bridge destroyed and its palantír lost. Eldacar slew Castamir and reclaimed his throne, but Castamir's sons and their forces were besieged in Pelargir, the great port of Gondor. They eventually retreated to Umbar, where they joined with the Corsairs, and troubled Gondor for many years, until their descendants died out.

The Great Plague

Later, the Great Plague struck and the White Tree died. This Plague was no localized event: the Plague swept through all of Middle-earth, reaching the successor states of Arnor and the Hobbits of the Shire in the North. King Tarondor found a sapling of the White Tree, and moved the capital from Osgiliath to Minas Anor, the City of Anárion. During this time, Gondor was so depopulated that the fortifications guarding against the re-entry of evil into Mordor were abandoned. It is believed that had the Haradrim or Easterlings been capable of attacking Gondor at this time, it would have fallen. However, the Plague left Gondor's enemies in no better condition than Gondor itself, and neither side was capable of mounting new offensives.

The Invasion of the Wainriders

Following the sapping of Gondor's strength by the plague, the Wainrider invasions devastated Gondor, and the conflict lasted for well over a century. The Wainriders destroyed the Northern Army of Gondor, but survivors linked up with the victorious Southern Army of Gondor, led by a general named Eärnil, and they destroyed the Wainriders as they celebrated their victory during the Battle of the Camp.

The Line of the Kings Fails

Reunification Rejected

In 1944 T.A. Gondor faced a constitutional crisis when King Ondoher was slain in battle with both his sons. Arvedui, Prince of Arthedain, Ondoher's son-in-law, and the victorious general Eärnil, who was a distant blood-relative of Ondoher, claimed the throne. Arvedui's claim lay mainly in the reintroduction of the old Nùmenorean law of accession, which stated the eldest (remaining) child should succeed the king. If the law was reintroduced, then Arvedui's wife Fíriel, Ondoher's daughter and last remaining child would become Ruling-Queen, making their descendants Kings of both Arnor and Gondor. Arvedui also tried to put weight behind his claim as he was Isildur's heir. The council of Gondor recognised that the name of Isildur was held in honour in Gondor, but they dictated that the South-Kingdom must be ruled by an Heir of Anarion. Due to his ancestry from Fíriel and Arvedui, more than a millennium later, Aragorn Elessar put forward his claim as the heir of both Isildur and Anarion. Eärnil lay his claim as being a direct descendant of King Telumehtar Umbardacil. His claim was also greatly bolstered by the popularity he had gained as the victorious general who saved Gondor from the Wainriders after winning the southern theatre of the war. Steward Pelendur who was temporarily ruling Gondor as serving as arbiter of succession, intervened in favour of Gondor's victorious general who would rule as Eärnil II.

The Last Heir of Anárion

During the Battle of Fornost, Eärnil II's heir Eärnur led Gondor's forces to victory over the Witch-king of Angmar, who was actually the Lord of the Nazgûl. Although Eärnur wished to fight him, Eärnur's horse was terrified and fled the battle against his wishes. By the time he mastered his horse and return, the Witch-king had fled. Glorfindel the Elf then prophesied to him that it was better that he not fight the Lord of the Nazgûl because "never by the hand of man shall he fall". Eärnur later ascende