Q: Why and How Did Sauron Attack Gil-galad and Elendil on Orodruin?
ANSWER: A reader submitted this question in May 2020. As with so many questions that I don’t answer quickly, it seeks my opinion on a detail about which J.R.R. Tolkien provided very little information.
Michael, do you know the circumstances of how Sauron came to be on the slopes of Orodruin for the final combat with Elendil and Gil-Galad? In the Council of Elrond and the SIlmarillion we learn that the “siege was so strait” that Sauron himself came out, but Barad-dûr is far away from Orodruin. Based on the most common map it is at least 50 miles away. So, I guess Sauron came out of his tower, broke through the siege lines, and then like ran 50 miles or more to Orodruin, while the Alliance forces chased after him? Why would he do that, instead of trying to escape? Was it that he was more powerful in close proximity to Orodruin, where the ring was forged, and wanted that advantageous position to fight his enemies?
To answer the first question directly, no I do not know “the circumstances of how Sauron came to be on the slopes of Orodruin for the final combat with Elendil and Gil-galad.” But I can speculate a bit.
Sauron still had the ability to change his shape. He couldn’t assume a “fair form” after his death in Númenor, but he was able to travel (as a spirit) from the depths of the ocean back to Mordor. So he could probably still shed his physical body and “fly” from Barad-dûr to the mountain where Gil-galad and Elendil (apparently) had their camp.
On the other hand, we know that Sauron was able to assume a bat-shape and fly away from his tower after fighting with Huan in the First Age. So it could also be that Bat-Sauron flew from Barad-dûr to Orodruin to seek out Gil-galad and Elendil. And I find that idea appealing, because I imagine there could have been many bats living in or near Barad-dûr. Sauron would have been able to slip past Gil-galad’s sentinels quite easily.
And in this way you need not imagine Sauron fighting his way through the siege lines. I think the assault on Gil-galad was an ambush. I always have. As for why Sauron chose that moment to attack, well, we can only guess. As I mention above, it would seem like Gil-galad had a camp on the mountain. But as you mention, that was a far way off from the fortress where Sauron was besieged. Would Gil-galad really have maintained a command post so far away?
Elrond might provide a clue as to what actually happened:
‘I was the herald of Gil-galad and marched with his host. I was at the Battle of Dagorlad before the Black Gate of Mordor, where we had the mastery: for the Spear of Gil-galad and the Sword of Elendil, Aiglos and Narsil, none could withstand. I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father’s sword, and took it for his own.’
At this the stranger, Boromir, broke in. ‘So that is what became of the Ring!’ he cried. ‘If ever such a tale was told in the South, it has long been forgotten. I have heard of the Great Ring of him that we do not name; but we believed that it perished from the world in the ruin of his first realm. Isildur took it! That is tidings indeed.’
‘Alas! yes,’ said Elrond. `Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin’s fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest; and by Gil-galad only Círdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel.
And while there is less detail in “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”, it doesn’t contradict what I’m about to suggest:
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. There in the valley of Gorgoroth Anárion son of Elendil was slain, and many others. But at the last the siege was so strait that Sauron himself came forth; and he wrestled with Gil-galad and Elendil, and they both were slain, and the sword of Elendil broke under him as he fell. But Sauron also was thrown down, and with the hilt-shard of Narsil Isildur cut the Ruling Ring from the hand of Sauron and took it for his own. Then Sauron was for that time vanquished, and he forsook his body, and his spirit fled far away and hid in waste places; and he took no visible shape again for many long years.
So what I think happened is that Gil-galad, Elendil, Cirdan, Elrond, and Isildur were drawn away from the siege. Maybe this was Sauron’s plan, or maybe something else drew their attention.
The fact they were on the slopes of Orodruin could mean that Tolkien imagined them gathering there to discuss a way to end the war, and perhaps defeat Sauron once and for all.
In my essay, “Shhh! It’s A Secret Ring!”, I suggested the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was formed at a meeting of kings and princes:
…I would say it’s most likely that Gil-galad had a second ‘white council’ at Imladris. It would have been as momentous as the Council of Elrond three thousand years later, perhaps more so. For there would have been kings in attendance, and many lords and princes. And it would have to be the first time ever that the Elves spoke openly about the Rings of Power to all their allies.
I don’t believe the Eldar would have told anyone about the Rings of Power prior to the destruction of Númenor (for reasons I gave in the essay). But since Isildur knew about the Ring and cut it from Sauron’s hand after he fell, the Elves must have explained everything to their allies prior to or during the war. My essay speculates that the confession would have been the persuasion Gil-galad needed to round up everyone for a final war against Sauron.
And that might explain why Gil-galad would leave the siege lines after 7 years and visit Orodruin. It could be that he and his allies were thinking of another way to end the war. Maybe they were visiting the scene of the crime to determine if they could somehow undermine Sauron’s power there, in the fires where he had forged the One Ring.
And while this is all speculation about a story that J.R.R. Tolkien never wrote nor implied he had in mind, it could explain why Sauron so desperately sought to stop Gil-galad. Of course, it could also explain why he chose that time to launch an attack. Gil-galad didn’t have his army with him. He was vulnerable.
One could also speculate that Sauron had called Gil-galad to Orodruin for a parlay. We can’t say there is conclusive evidence for any speculation but I think it unlikely that Tolkien would favor a story where the leader of the dominant side in the war would agree to a dangerous meeting. Gil-galad had thousands of years of experience in dealing with Sauron’s plots. He knew how dangerous an enemy Sauron was.
So I think the most likely explanation is that Sauron learned that Gil-galad had gone to Orodruin, and that Sauron saw both an opportunity to attack Gil-galad and a need to prevent Gil-galad from doing something there. If Orodruin (as the place where the Ring was forged) did indeed play a part in these decisions, then Sauron would have no way to escape from whatever threat Gil-galad’s presence there posed – and maybe as you suggest Sauron would have been at his most powerful (as well as most vulnerable) in close proximity to the fires.
We’ll never know, but if anyone wants to write fan fiction about the final struggle on the slopes of Orodruin, maybe there’s something there for you to work into your story.
See Also …
A History of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Part 1
A History of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Part 2
A History of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Part 3
How Did Gil-galad and Elendil Stand Against Sauron?
What Could Gil-galad and Elendil Have Done If They Captured Sauron?
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
Elrond mentioned Cirdan, himself and Isildur beside the corpses. Does that mean that we imagine the situation to be a very private one or were they surrounded by hosts of Men and Elves? Wouldn’t there have been tons of witnesses to that big fight? Shouldn’t that have inspired many songs, and if so, wouldn’t they remain quite popular?
I always felt it was a very private confrontation. After all, Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron’s finger and yet most people didn’t know what happened to the Ring.
I doubt there were any other witnesses. If Gil-Galad was burned alive just by Sauron’s mere presence, what chance did anyone lesser have? IMHO Elendil, Gil-Galad, Elrond, Cirdan, and Isildur were there alone, most likely because they were the only survivors of any sort of combat with Sauron.
I’d suspect that Sauron went there for some other purposes, and Gil-Galad, Elendil & co followed him to stop him; in other words the opposite of your suggestion. I agree that it’s not too difficult to imagine Sauron still being able to come and go as he pleases, even with Barad-Dur under siege, and Of the Rings of Power does mention that Sauron used the fires of Orodruin in sorceries and forging, long before and independent of making the Ring. That was actually the reason why he set himself up in Mordor in the first place – proximity to Orodruin.
So the way I see it happening is that during the siege Sauron plans some sorcery that he needs Orodruin for. The leaders of the Alliance get wind of this. Sauron goes to Orodruin to finish up whatever he’s doing, the Gil-Galad/etc follow him, then they have their final confrontation on the slopes.
I think this is on somewhat stronger grounds than your suggestion, but only slightly, and still needs a certain amount of supposition.
If Sauron used Orodruin for sorcery, then it is somewhat plausible that the Wise people thought the destruction/inactivation could also have an effect on the Ring and Sauron.
With the caveat that I am certainly no expert in siege warfare or geography…
We know that Elves are incredibly farseeing, especially when standing in high places. (Legolas thought he could perhaps see tiny glimmers of Minas Tirith and Mordor from as far away as Edoras!) Tolkien puts the height of Mount Doom at somewhere in the ballpark of 4500 feet. From a height of just 3000 feet, the visible horizon is almost 70 miles (per http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm); Barad-dûr and its environs would be well within that range. So being on the slopes of Orodruin would provide a sweeping overview of the siege, and indeed much of the landscape of Mordor, most especially to keen Elf eyes. Perhaps Gil-galad made temporary camp on the mountain in order to survey the siege from a loftier perspective, in the hopes of discovering some advantage that had eluded him. If that were the case, he might have brought his closest allies and counselors with him so that they could formulate their plans from that high vantage point.
And while I’m speculating along these lines, would it not make sense for Gil-galad to have dispatched teams of watchers to each side of the mountain, so that he could be swiftly informed of any approach from the Ephel Dúath or Núrn? Might he have set a guard at the Sammath Naur, knowing that it was a place of significance and power to Sauron? If he had effectively held possession of the mountain for years with no more than a token force, I suppose it might have increased his confidence in traveling there, whether periodically or just the once.
I think the biggest challenge Tolkien would have to explain is communication between a command post on the mountain and the siege lines around Barad-dûr. Although we know the Elves could communicate telepathically, we don’t know how far apart they could be while doing so. And, yes, the Númenóreans had the Palantíri, but they couldn’t have moved all of them around very easily. So it seems unlikely to me that Gil-galad would have wanted to set up a command post so far away from his forces.
We just don’t know what they were doing on the mountain, and any speculation is fair.
Oh, I agree that a long-term command post would have likely been impractical. I don’t see Gil-galad actively directing the siege from the mountain, per se. I’m only speculating that he might conceivably have wanted to travel to Orodruin to survey the whole of the landscape at once — maybe even beyond the walls of Barad-dûr, to a limited extent — and perhaps draw up some plans in council, before descending and returning to the front lines. It seems to me that this may have been advantageous even if they were unable to communicate instantaneously with the siege lines. As for leaving watchers on the mountain, these could still hypothetically function as an early warning system, since even messengers dispatched on foot would provide some advance notice of significant developments. (He could also theoretically have used signal fires at regular stations along the road between Barad-dûr and Orodruin — or perhaps flaming arrows — to convey basic messages such as “approach from the south.” I believe there are historical precedents for this sort of thing.)
Well, in my case… I tend to stick to the simpliest explanation for almost everything.
As for Gil-galad & Elendil command post on the slopes of Orodruin, It makes sense to me for three simple reasons: (1) a safety measure in order to keep them out of range from Barad-Dûr fire power (fire, arrows, bolts & so on); (2) top height to prevent ambushes and give the defenders advantage in combat if they were attacked; and (3) denying Sauron access to the fires of Orodruin.
As for Sauron leaving Barad-Dûr, I think the text from “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” heavily implies that it was a war party sortie, Sauron looked for the best time to rush out in a similar way to Morgoth breaking the siege of Angband. Relaying on his own Maiar power and surely backed by the best of what he still got among his servants, he went strait ahead to Orodruin (we can’t know if looking for the enemy leaders hoping to take them off guard or trying to reach Orodruin’s magical fire).
Last of all, the “private party” among Sauron, Gil-galad, Elrond, Círdan, Elendil & Isildur… I find it very unrealistic to take Elrond’s words in the Council of Elrond too literally… instead of imagining out-of-common reasons for them to be alone at Orodruin, I think it’s simply (again) more easy to accept that Elrond in his speech was only refering to the top leaders of the Last Alliance, disregarding the presence of common soldiers & lesser leaders around. The reason for that is that only those top leaders knew, as Michael has pointed out in his article, anything about the One Ring or the other Rings of Power so their presence was irrelevant in terms of noticing what was happening with the Ring.
But, of course, these are only (my) speculations…
No. I think he literally meant no one but the three of them saw Isildur take the ring. Remember, that after the war, that Sauron had a ruling ring appears to be widely known. Even Boromir, who knows almost no lore in comparison to his father and brother, immediately knows about the Ruling Ring. That is so even though it is apparent, that unlike them, he has no idea what Nazgûl are. That means the story of the rings must have been very widely known, and I would guess that the poem was known too. What wasn’t known is that Isildur kept the ring. But if anyone had seen him cut a ring from Sauron’s hand, they would instantly be able to connect it with his ring of power.
Well, your especulation is as good as any other, of course, and fits the text literally, no doubt.
I simply say that It is difficult for me to imagine that only the top leaders were there and no other. That might fit other fantasy worlds… but in Middle-Earth leaders and heroes are not Superheroes and do not survive where the rest do not (as Gil-Galad and Elendil’s deaths clearly show).
Furthermore, I don’t know what are your grounds to state that the existence of the One Ring was well-known at the end of the Second Age. I think most texts (including Michael’s comments) make me think the other way round.
Well, it was well known at the end of the third age. No one ever says “What is the ring?”. They all say “The ring survived?” or “Isildur took it?”. As I said, even Boromir. And Faramir was so secret about discussing Frodo’s errand in front of his men, as he was worried they’d figure it out.
If the fact that Sauron had a ring is still so well known, it must have been a common point of knowledge right after the War of the Last Alliance. Whether either the Akallabeth or the Ring Verse were meant to be well known in Gondor or whether they were both stuck in a library somewhere and never read is never made clear, but note that neither tells who actually had the three rings nor that the Ruling Ring survived Sauron (the things that we know are actually secret), but they both mention the rings and Sauron’s ruling ring. Both were written in Gondor at the end of the Second Age/start of the Third.
Another (more speculative) possibility is that Sauron spotted the leaders making for Orodruin and somehow got there ahead of them (flew across as a bat, or used a tunnel while they were climbing up the outside). Thus he was waiting for them in a cave near the top, or a workshop (we know that there was something of the kind near the Crack of Doom in the Third Age). As they finished their ascent, the leaders being in the vanguard, Sauron came forth for a showdown with his chief enemies.
Martin,
I want to thank you again for your great responses to our questions. I’ve written you several questions (the longest ones, probably!) over the years, and your answers have always been extremely thoughtful and great fun to read over a cup or two of Peet’s coffee!
This question truly confounds an easy answer–one question to confound them all! Before I read your answers and these comments, I couldn’t easily come up with a rationale or strategy to explain it, unless it was one of my observations/questions from a previous letter: Did Sauron concede that he couldn’t win conventionally, and so decided to emerge and uncloak his ultimate Maiaric power-blast (basically his nuclear option) to annihilate all his foes at once (that’s the opening scene in LOTR film #1, as I recall)? Your written answer to that question convinced me that he couldn’t really have done this, or he would no longer be playing by the established divine rules governing the world and binding him physically to it (bravo on that great answer, BTW).
I really think you’re onto something with Sauron’s rationale for venturing to Mt. Doom, even if we’ll probably never know the explicit reasons Tolkien had in mind. I think it must be a confluence of a dire need to “prevent” something coupled with an opportunity for a leadership-decapitation strike.
I think I’ll always be tantalized by what the former “something” truly was: Morgoth unleashes his newly created winged dragons as his final last-stand reserve; did Sauron, another” creative force (though more about inventions than life forms), have another doomsday weapon at his disposal? With his great command of all Mordorian topography, could he have effectively blown up the mountain, a la the Pompeiian volcanic disaster, and shower the Last Alliance with hot lava and ash from a great distance? Would he have spiritually (if not bodily) survived the volcanic fallout and hope to reincarnate and dominate Middle Earth again in a post-Alliance future?
We’ll probably never know, but it’s fun to speculate. In my fantasy vision, either at Mt. Doom or Barad-dur, I sort of imagined him using some palantiri-like relic of his own to place an SOS to any powerful, independent evil beings in Middle Earth to his aid (“Calling all remaining Balrogs and Dragons to Barad-dur…I’m besieged in my tower here and can’t seem to do much except hurl boulders at them from up here! How soon can you get over here and wreck some havoc? Got some great mithril and stolen gold to offer as remuneration.”).
Michael, I also really like the idea of him stealthing out his tower as bat-in-disguise. I’m really hoping we’ll see more of Sauron’s shape-shifting, evil persuasion, and devilish beguiling abilities in the LOTR second age series upcoming for fall. I love that he was almost exclusively a hidden figure in the books; the films, however, made him pretty one-dimensional in almost every way, especially backstory and motivations. There’s a famous quote about the best-drawn villains never actually believing what they’re doing is villainous…the classic “ends justify the means” mentality. I’m excited to see what kind of villain the series writers plan to design.
Cheers,
Haig
P.S. Between LOTR and Mad Max: Fury Road, is an essential part of the costume of evil now squarely a leering, dead-horse-skull helmet of some type or other? Again, in my fantasy vision, I imagine the post-Numenorean Sauron thinking, “Well, I’ll just don another fair form and charm those Elves with my majestic charisma again and, OH MAN I LOOK JUST HIDEOUS.” [Pauses] Well, if I can’t give them Annatar again, HERE’S a fashion statement that’ll make their teeth chatter.
Alas, it’s hard for me to imagine what the Sauronic sense of humor must have looked like!
Considering how Sauron seems to like irony and mockery, he has pretty cruel sense of humor (his idea of entertainment is listening to the reports how Shelob hunts the prisoners he send) or how he dealt with Gorlim:
“And Gorlim answered that he should find Eilinel again, and with her be set free; for he thought Eilinel also had been made captive.
Than Sauron smiled, saying: ‘That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!’
Now Gorlim would have drawn back, but daunted by the eyes of Sauron he told at last all that he would know. Then Sauron laughed; and he mocked Gorlim, and revealed to him that he had only seen a phantom devised by wizardry to entrap him; for Eilinel was dead. ‘Nonetheless I will grant thy prayer,’ said Sauron; ‘and thou shalt go to Eilinel, and be set free of my service.’ Then he put him cruelly to death.”
Then I guess Sauron is pretty vicious in this regard.
I’ve always envisaged it as follows:
The siege had gotten to a state where Sauron felt that military defeat was imminent and/or inevitable (e.g. because of food/supply shortages, or the progress of the Alliance’s siege-works) if he just left things to continue on as they were. And so he launches an all-or-nothing sortie (conceptually somewhat similar to Theodon’s thinking at Helm’s Deep, albeit both the timescale and force sizes are just a tad different in these two sieges!).
It would make sense for this sortie to have killing the Alliance’s leadership as its objective, as this is probably Sauron’s only hope of achieving military victory at this point. His forces were too badly outnumbered/outmatched to win in the field at the start of the siege, and I think we can reasonably assume those odds haven’t (meaningfully) improved for him since. Especially since he personally joins this sortie (it’s possible that it’s actually relatively small in numbers).
This sortie then manages to push back the besieging lines, likely achieving some degree of breakthrough (with the terror and power of Sauron playing an outsize role in its success). Whether through Sauron’s design, geographic influences, or simply the flow of battle, the sortie pushes towards Orodruin. Yes, it’s a fair way from Barad-dur to Orodruin, and pushing the Alliance forces back that far would likely take several days (possibly more). But we have multiple examples of long, fighting retreats across Ard-galen/Anfauglith in the First Age, so this is not unreasonable or unprecedented for Tolkien’s battles.
From the perspective of Gil-galad and Elendil, the slopes of Orodruin would be a good defensive position to then ‘make a stand’ to try to finally halt the sortie’s momentum – the best spot they’re going to get anywhere nearby (plus continual retreat is taxing and costly, and things are probably getting a bit desperate for everyone).
Despite what my earlier comments may have suggested, I think we could infer that to this point Sauron hadn’t directly fought much (if at all) during the sortie. That is, he was near enough to the fighting to have some influence, but not willing to risk actually committing himself too much until he could get a clear go at Gil-galad, Elendil, etc (perhaps concerned about getting ambushed or overwhelmed if he let himself get distracted by ‘lesser’ opponents, or else of wasting his strength prematurely).
But now’s his chance and there’s no holding back. And the terror of his presence causes almost all those nearby to flee (though there may not have been that many, on either side, nearby still in fighting condition at this point), such that only Gil-galad, Elrond, Cirdan, Elendil, and Isildur remain to face him. At which point we have our final showdown.
I must say that personally I always imagined it this way…Sauron does indeed fights through the lines of besieging soldiers, coming out with all he’s got, all his remaining forces leading them personally, breaks the siege and pushes back, and then due to the movements of the troops, either with small group or attendants or unit he becomes isolated and engages the isolated command center while the rest of the hosts are busy killing each other. In any case to me Sauron coming forth was always seeming a desperate attempt at turning the tide, he goes in full force in hope of surprising the Last Alliance that after all after 7 years of siege must have been pretty tired, and maybe lapsing into false sense of security, they contained the forces of Sauron to his fortress, but could not break in, and so this stalemate was going on and on and both sides could not make a decisive push for victory….until Sauron comes.
Elrond says:
“`Alas! yes,’ said Elrond. `Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin’s fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest; and by Gil-galad only Círdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel.
‘ “This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother,” he said; and therefore whether we would or no, he took it to treasure it. But soon he was betrayed by it to his death; and so it is named in the North Isildur’s Bane. Yet death maybe was better than what else might have befallen him.”