A History of The Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Part 3

This is part three of a three-part article concerning the war of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. The article was originally written for the Tolkien journal Arda. Part 1 covered events leading up to the war. Part 2 covered events during the war. Special thanks to Rick House, who provided comments and suggestions when the article was written in 1996.

 


 

Notes

  1. The Silmarillion, p. 287. “Men he found the easiest to sway of all the peoples of the Earth; but long he sought to persuade the Elves to his service, for he knew that the Firstborn had the greater power; and he went far and wide among them, and his hue was still that of one both fair and wise.”
  2. Unfinished Tales, p. 254. “…The note goes on to say that Galadriel was not deceived, saying that this Aulendil was not in the train of Aule in Valinor….” This and all subsequent references to Galadriel and Celeborn make use of the essay “Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn”, provided in Unfinished Tales, which most closely fits with the events detailed in Tolkien’s other writings. However, this narrative stipulates that Amroth was their son, an idea Tolkien later abandoned, which decision is accepted by and incorporated into this work.
  3. Ibid., pp. 199-200. “A new shadow rises in the East….” The letter Gil-galad wrote to Tar-Meneldil was composed in SA 882. Since Tolkien elsewhere states that Sauron began stirring again around SA 500, it may be that Gil-galad was aware of some growing evil well before the end of the 9th Century.
  4. Ibid., p. 238. “…At last the attackers broke into Eregion with ruin and devastation, and captured the chief object of Sauron’s assault…Then Celebrimbor was put to torment…Concerning the Three Rings Sauron could learn nothing from Celebrimbor; and he had him put to death.”Although other parts of this history conflict with some of the sources, this much agrees with “Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age” in The Silmarillion (p. 288), which implies that Celebrimbor died there.
  5. The Return Of The King, p. 364. “The Tale Of Years” states only that the Numenoreans began making permanent havens around the year SA 1800. Unfinished Tales reveals something of Lond Daer (Vinyalonde) in the sections concerning Numenor and the History of Galadriel and Celeborn. Umbar and Pelargir are attested in various sources, and other, unnamed havens are said to have been built far to the south and east.
  6. The Silmarillion, p. 267. “Yet Sauron was ever guileful, and it is said that three were great lords of Numenorean race.” Since Sauron did not visit Numenor prior to his “imprisonment” there, he would have had to seduce the three Numenoreans in Middle-earth. It is interesting that he was able to do this relatively soon after the War of the Elves and Sauron. Perhaps they were already quite old for their race when they accepted the Rings.Unfinished Tales (p. 221) indicates that the Shadow first fell on Numenor in the days of Tar-Atanamir, but his father Tar-Ciryatan was the first “willful” king, and his entry in “The Line Of Elros” suggests the Shadow may have fallen on Numenor in his time. So, it may be that the Numenoreans were becoming uncomfortable with their mortality by the time of the War of the Elves and Sauron, and so three aging Numenorean lords could be easily seduced by Sauron.
  7. The Silmarillion., pp. 269-70. “…For Pharazon son of Gimilkhad…had fared often abroad, as a leader in the wars that the Numenoreans made then in the coastlands of Middle-earth…For he had learned in Middle-earth of the strength of the realm of Sauron, and of his hatred of Westernesse. And now there came to him the masters of ships and captains returning out of the East, and they reported that Sauron was putting forth his might, since Ar-Pharazon had gone back from Middle-earth, and he was pressing down upon the cities by the coasts….”
  8. Ibid., p. 290. “…There [Sauron] found that the power of Gil-galad had grown great in the years of his absence, and it was spread now over wide regions of the north and west, and had passed beyond the Misty Mountains and the Great River even to the borders of Greenwood the Great, and was drawing nigh to the strong places where once he had dwelt secure.”
  9. Unfinished Tales, p. 264. “…Later [the Glanduin], with the Gwathlo formed by its confluence with the Mitheithel, formed the southern boundary of the North Kingdom.”
  10. The Silmarillion says that Elendil’s “people dwelt in many places in Eriador about the courses of the Lhun and the Baranduin; but his chief city was at Annuminas beside the water of Lake Nenuial. At Fornost upon the North Downs also the Numenoreans dwelt, and in Cardolan, and in the hills of Rhudaur…” (pp. 290-1).
  11. Unfinished Tales, p. 264. “…Before the decay of the North Kingdom…both kingdoms shared an interest in [Enedwaith], and together built and maintained the Bridge of Tharbad and the long causeways that carried the road to it on either side of the Gwathlo and Mitheithel across the fens in the plains of Minhiriath and Enedwaith….”
  12. The Return Of The King, pp. 407-8. “…Alien, too, or only remotely akin, was the language of the Dunlendings. These were a remnant of the peoples that had dwelt in the vales of the White Mountains in ages past. The Dead Men of Dunharrow were of their kin. But in the Dark Years others had removed to the southern dales of the Misty Mountains; and thence some had passed into the empty lands as far north as the Barrow-downs. From them came the Men of Bree….”
  13. Ibid., p. 321. “These [Lossoth] are a strange, unfriendly people, remnant of the Forodwaith.” Where the Forodwaith actually dwelt at the end of the Second Age is a matter of speculation, as Tolkien really tells us nothing of their history. Cf. note 14 below.
  14. The War Of The Jewels, pp. 60-1. “It was after thought that the people of Ulfang were already secretly in the service of Morgoth ere they came to Beleriand. Not so the people of Bor, who were worthy folk and tillers of the earth. Of them, it is said, came the most ancient of the Men that dwelt in the north of Eriador in the Second Age and [? read in] after-days.”The connection between the Folk of Bor (and Ulfang) and the northernmost men of Eriador in the Second Age implies that the Lossoth (and, hence, the Forodwaith, of whom the Lossoth were a “remnant”) were in fact the descendants of these clans.
  15. The Return Of The King, p. 317. “…Elendil was the High King and dwelt in the North at Annuminas; and the rule in the South was committed to his sons, Isildur and Anarion. They founded there Osgiliath, between Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, not far from the confines of Mordor. For this good at least they believed had come out of ruin, that Sauron also had perished.”
  16. The Silmarillion, p. 291. “…The chief city of this southern realm was Osgiliath, through the midst of which the Great River flowed….” In fact, the narrative makes no such connection. But why would Isildur and Anarion build their cities north of Pelargir and Emyn Arnen? That the narrative makes mention of Herumor and Fuinur implies that they were significant in some way to the historians of Gondor.
  17. Ibid., p. 291. “…and to the westward Minas Anor…as a shield against the wild men of the dales….”Tolkien says very little about the constituent “tribes” of this race. The group who broke their vow to Isildur swore their oath at Erech but haunted Dunharrow on the northern side of the mountains. There probably was another tribe in what became Lamedon, one dwelling in the upper vales by the source of the Lefnui, another dwelling near the Adorn, another to the north of the Isen, and another tribe dwelling in Calenardhon itself. Obviously other groups lived north of that region as far as Bree.
  18. The Silmarillion says “other works marvellous and strong [the Numenoreans] built in the days of their power, at the Argonath, and at Aglarond, and at Erech; and in the circle of Angrenost…” (p. 291). No specific date is given for when these works were erected, though the context implies the early years of Gondor’s history.However, The Return Of The King says that Minalcar “built the pillars of the Argonath at the entrance to Nen Hithoel” (p. 326), whereas Isildur is said to have erected the stone at Erech (p. 55). We also know that one of the Palantiri, given to Amandil by the Eldar of Tol Eressea and taken to Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons, was placed at Orthanc in Angrenost, so the fortress must have been constructed no later than the beginning of the realm of Gondor.

    If Angrenost and Aglarond were older than Gondor then perhaps they were constructed as a defense against Mordor; but if Isildur and Anarion built the fortresses, they would have used them to guard Calenardhon against the Dunlendings, who had long been unfriendly to the Dunedain, since the Dunedain thought Sauron had perished in Numenor’s Downfall.

  19. The Silmarillion, p. 154. Tolkien says here only that (after Fingolfin’s death) “his young son Ereinion (who was after named Gil-galad) [Fingon] sent to the Havens.” “Young” implies that Ereinion was not yet a fully adult Elf. Morgoth’s Ring states that Elves required about fifty years (of the Sun) to achieve full maturity (p. 210). Hence, Ereinion was probably born sometime after the year FA 405 (given that the Dagor Bragollach and Fingolfin’s death occurred in FA 455).
  20. The Return Of The King, p. 364. This entry in “The Tale Of Years” agrees with the account given in Unfinished Tales in “Concerning Galadriel And Celeborn”, which describes the war in the fullest detail published to date.
  21. The Silmarillion, p. 113. At Mereth Aderthad, Tolkien writes, the Elves swore oaths of alliance. Cirdan was one of the lords who attended the feast. He subsequently aided the Noldor on several occasions (pp. 154, 160, & 190).
  22. Unfinished Tales., pp. 171, 175. “…But there were shipwrights among them who had been instructed by the Eldar…” and “…It is said that [Aldarion’s] delay was due to the eagerness he had to learn all that he could of Cirdan, both in the making and management of ships, and in the building of walls to withstand the hunger of the sea.”
  23. The Fellowship Of The Ring, p. 256. “‘…It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken….'”
  24. Unfinished Tales, p. 239. As with Celebrimbor’s fate, it seems reasonable to use “Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn” as a source concerning other individuals such as Elrond. The founding of Imladris is certainly confirmed in “The Tale Of Years”. Cf. note 20 above.
  25. Ibid, pp. 258. “…Oropher…had withdrawn northward beyond the Gladden Fields. This he did to be free from the power and encroachments of the Dwarves of Moria…and also he resented the intrusions of Celeborn and Galadriel into Lorien.” Oropher’s motives and history, like those of Galadriel and Celeborn, contain some inconsistencies. Cf. also pp. 280-1.
  26. Ibid. In fact the passage states that “the Silvan Elves were hardy and valiant, but ill-equipped with armour or weapons in comparison with the Eldar of the West; also they were independent, and not disposed to place themselves under the supreme command of Gil-galad.”
  27. The name of this Elf-king is in doubt. In one narrative he is called Amdir and in another Malgalad (Unfinished Tales, pp. 240, 243-4, 258). Christopher Tolkien is unable to establish which name his father preferred for this character; hence, I have adopted the convention of referring to him as Amdir Malgalad, or simply Amdir, which is used more frequently and matches the style of Amroth, his son’s name.
  28. The Silmarillion, p. 288-90. “From that time war never ceased between Sauron and the Elves….” Being closest of all Elven realms to Mordor, Amdir’s kingdom in Lorinand must have borne the brunt of this extended period of conflict, and the influx of Noldor and Sindar from Eregion after the fall of that Elven realm would have provided impetus to a friendship between Amdir’s people and the Dwarves, though certainly not one as close as had existed between Eregion and Khazad-dum.
  29. Ibid, p. 273. “…For [Isildur] passed in disguise to Armenelos and to the courts of the King, which were now forbidden to the Faithful; and he came to the place of the Tree, which was forbidden to all by the orders of Sauron, and the Tree was watched day and night by guards in his service…and Isildur passed through the guards and took from the Tree a fruit that hung upon it….”
  30. Ibid, p. 293. “When therefore Sauron saw his time he came with great force against the new realm of Gondor, and he took Minas Ithil…But Isildur escaped…and they sailed from the mouths of Anduin seeking Elendil. Meanwhile Anarion held Osgiliath against the Enemy, and for that time drove him back to the mountains….”
  31. Ibid, p. 294. Claiming that this king was actually named Durin may be erroneous. The passage says only: “Of the Dwarves few fought upon either side; but the kindred of Durin of Moria fought against Sauron.” If he was named Durin, then he could not have been Durin III, because that was the Durin who opposed Sauron in the War of the Elves and Sauron (Unfinished Tales, p. 238). So, he was either Durin IV or Durin V. I have elected to call him Durin IV for lack of any information concerning either. It is also strange that Tolkien says “…the kindred of Durin…” in referring to these Dwarves. Elsewhere he writes that most of the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost migrated to Khazad-dum early in the Second Age. They seem to have retained their distinctive lineages until the end of the Third Age as the Appendix to The Return Of The King says “Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur were descended from Dwarves of Moria but were not of Durin’s line” (p. 361).
  32. The Silmarillion, p. 293. Also, The Return Of The King, p. 365.
  33. The Silmarillion, p. 293. Cf. note 30 above.
  34. The Return Of The King, p. 55. “‘…For at Erech there stands yet a black stone…and it was set upon a hill, and upon it the King of the Mountains swore allegiance to [Isildur] in the beginning of the realm of Gondor. But when Sauron returned and grew in might again, Isildur summoned the Men of the Mountains to fulfil their oath, and they would not: for they had worshiped Sauron in the Dark Years.'”
  35. The Treason Of Isengard, p. 310. This pass was the source of the river Harnen in the southern mountains of Mordor.
  36. The Silmarillion, p. 293. The existence of such a council is speculative. The passage says only “now Elendil and Gil-galad took counsel together….” However, it’s unlikely so grave a decision would have been made by these two alone.
  37. I have inferred that Gildor and Glorfindel may have been involved in the Last Alliance. Gildor’s history is attested only from the Third Age year 3001, when Bilbo said farewell to Gildor’s folk in the Shire (The Fellowship Of The Ring, p. 92). However, he was the lord of a company of Noldor and his surname, Inglorion, means “scion of Inglor”. Inglor was the original name of Finrod Felagund. Gildor also said he was “of the House of Finrod”, and Finrod was the original name of Finarfin. It seems Tolkien originally intended a connection between Gildor and Galadriel’s family, but this connection was not maintained when revisions were made to The Lord Of The Rings. So Gildor is enigmatic, but given that he is weary of the mortal lands by the end of the story, I have concluded he must have been quite ancient at the end of the Third Age.Glorfindel is more probably a participant in the war. According to Christopher Tolkien, his father “came to the conclusion that Glorfindel of Gondolin, who fell to his death in combat with a Balrog after the sack of the city (II.192-4, IV.145), and Glorfindel of Rivendell were one and the same; he was released from Mandos and returned to Middle-earth in the Second Age” (The Return Of The Shadow, pp. 214-5). The profound implication of this conclusion is that Glorfindel played some role in the War of the Last Alliance, though perhaps not one so great as is hereafter postulated.
  38. The Silmarillion, p. 293. “…Therefore they made that League which is called the Last Alliance, and they marched east into Middle-earth gathering a great host of Elves and Men….”
  39. The Fellowship Of The Ring, p. 197. “‘…It is told that Elendil stood [upon the tower of Amon Sul] watching for the coming of Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance.'”
  40. The Return Of The King, p. 353. “The Tale Of Years” only indicates the length of the stay in Imladris. There is really no text which tells how Gil-galad persuaded Oropher and Amdir to join the Alliance.
  41. Sauron indeed sent troops north, for the Orcs who ambushed Isildur several years later were one such group. However, the army postulated here is assumed to be whatever force was driven south and engaged in the Battle of Dagorlad.
  42. At some point during the war Isildur sent his sons Aratan and Ciryon to hold Minas Ithil against Sauron’s flight: “All three [of Isildur’s sons] had fought in the War of the Alliance, but Aratan and Ciryon had not been in the invasion of Mordor and the siege of Barad-dur, for Isildur had sent them to man his fortress of Minas Ithil, lest Sauron escape Gil-galad and Elendil and seek to force a way through Cirith Duath…” (Unfinished Tales, pp. 279-80).
  43. The Letters Of J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 179. “I think that the Entwives had disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance…when Sauron pursued a scorched earth policy and burned their land against the advance of the Allies down the Anduin….”
  44. The Dunedain appear not to have used cavalry at this time. Unfinished Tales (pp. 278-9, Cf. note 7) says that most of the horses used by the Dunedain in the war were killed, but whether the animals were used for couriers or to move lighter archers, the Dunedain probably did not have an effective cavalry force.Lindon, on the other hand, represented the last great Noldorin country in Middle-earth and Gil-galad probably still had many Elven horses. It is possible the Elves living in and near Imladris also contributed to such a force.

    In The Hobbit the Elven-king rides out to hunt several times, but he does not uses horses in The Battle Of Five Armies, so it seems unlikely that Oropher possessed a cavalry. Amdir’s army was small but contained Noldor and Sindar from Eregion. Nonetheless, the few published facts about the war do not imply Lorinand had cavalry.

  45. Unfinished Tales, p. 258. “…Malgalad and more than half his following perished in the great battle of the Dagorlad, being cut off from the main host and driven into the Dead Marshes.” The survivors may subsequently have been absorbed into Oropher’s army, but perhaps were held back in reserve in the following battles.
  46. Ibid., p. 247. The inference of Edhellond’s participation in the war is supported only by one passage in “Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age”: “All living things were divided in that day, and some of every kind, even of beasts and birds, were found in either host, save the Elves only. They alone were undivided and followed Gil-galad” (The Silmarillion, p. 294).The implication that yet other Elven realms (i.e., Avari) were involved is vaguely supported by an earlier passage describing how Sauron eventually seduced the Elves of Eregion (Cf. note 1 above).
  47. The Silmarillion, p. 294. “Of the Dwarves few fought upon either side….” Tolkien offers no explanation of who these Dwarves were or why they fought for Sauron. It may be that he was able to influence one or two of their kings through a Ring of Power despite his inability to dominate them completely as he had dominated the Nazgul. Or it may be there was a rogue group of Dwarves who chose to side with the Dark Lord.
  48. The Two Towers, p. 235. Sam, Frodo, and Gollum saw the faces of dead Men, Orcs, and Elves in the marshes. The Orcs obviously served Sauron, but perhaps the Men did as well. Cf. note 45 above.
  49. The Fellowship Of The Ring, p. 256. “‘…I was at the Battle of Dagorlad before the Black Gate, where we had the mastery: for the Spear of Gil-galad and the Sword of Elendil, Aiglos and Narsil, none could withstand….'”
  50. Unfinished Tales, p. 258. “…Oropher was slain in the first assault upon Mordor, rushing forward at the head of his most doughty warriors before Gil-galad had given the signal for the advance.”
  51. Ibid. “Thranduil his son survived, but when the war ended…he led back home barely a third of the army that had marched to war.”
  52. The Silmarillion, p. 294. “Then Gil-galad and Elendil passed into Mordor and encompassed the stronghold of Sauron; and they laid siege to it for seven years, and suffered grievous loss by fire and by the darts and bolts of the Enemy, and Sauron sent many sorties against them.”
  53. Ibid. “…There in the valley of Gorgoroth Anarion son of Elendil was slain, and many others.”
  54. Morgoth’s Ring, p. 420. “Nonetheless Sauron in time managed to unite [all the Orcs] in unreasoning hatred of the Elves and of Men who associated with them; while the Orcs of his own trained armies were so completely under his will that they would sacrifice themselves without hesitation at his command.”The Return Of The King, p. 227. “…As when death smites the swollen brooding thing that inhabits their crawling hill and holds them all in sway, ants will wander witless and purposeless and then feebly die, so the creatures of Sauron, orc or troll or beast spell-enslaved, ran hither and thither mindless; and some slew themselves, or cast themselves in pits, or fled waiting back to hide in holes and dark lightless places far from hope.”
  55. Ibid., “…But the Men of Rhun and Harad, Easterling and Southron, saw the ruin of their war and the great majesty and glory of the Captains of the West. And those that were deepest and longest in evil servitude, hating the West, and yet were men proud and bold, in their turn now gathered themselves for a last stand of desperate battle.”
  56. The Silmarillion, p. 294. “The Dark Tower was levelled to the ground, yet its foundations remained, and it was not forgotten. The Numenoreans indeed set a guard upon the land of Mordor….”
  57. Ibid., p. 298. “In Eriador Imladris was the chief dwelling of the High Elves; but at the Grey Havens of Lindon there abode also a remnant of the people of Gil-galad the Elvenking.” Cirdan did in fact retain enough Elves, or their numbers recovered enough, to assist the Dunedain of Arnor on at least three occasions in the Third Age, but he was never able to raise an army like Gil-galad’s.

Literature
Carpenter, Humphrey. The Letters Of J.R.R. Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.

Tolkien, Christopher, ed.

  • Morgoth’s Ring, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
  • The Return Of The Shadow, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.
  • The Treason Of Isengard, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990.
  • The War Of The Jewels, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.
  • Unfinished Tales, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980.

The End

This article was originally published on June 1, 2001.

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