The War of the Ring - The Calm Before The Storm

[@specialnewb9821]

It's fascinating to see how Tolkien worked it out. Sauron thinks Saruman has the hobbit and the ring. Nazgul reports to him someone crushed Isengard. Aragorn reveals himself in Saruman's palantir and wrenches it away from Sauron. Sauron logically concludes the Heir of Isildur has defeated Saruman and taken the Ring for himself. Panic button. He has to crush Gondor before Aragorn arrives.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

Let's be thankful that the final battles of LOTR are well fulfilling, well written and well filmed, And Aragorn did not go mad at the sound of bells and burn down Minas Tirith. Unlike a certain battle of Winterfell and Dragon lady.

[@DarthGandalfYT]

I was personally hoping that the War of the Ring would end with Fatty Bolger assassinating Sauron.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@DarthGandalfYT Now that would be a real upset indeed for the fans. Thank god Peter Jackson understood when not to subvert expectations.

[@GirlNextGondor]

And even so it came to pass that Tolkien, nearing the poignant climax of the book he'd been writing for a decade, decided to split the action into at least 5 narrative strands, because confusing your readers while actively making them cry is the height of verisimilitude.

[@istari0]

Are you kidding me? That was the best part, keeping track of all the different things that were going on!

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

Let's just hope Sauron is not assassin by Merry and then the final fight is with some crazy queen.

[@tominiowa2513]

Tolkien surely would have read _The Way We Live Now_ which has multiple narratives.

[@jackolantern147]

"It's the deep breath, before the plunge."

[@sageofcaledor8188]

Great video!

[@jonystyles9473]

amazing man, once again answering what nobody does, congrtaz!

[@paolomesterom6899]

This was an amazing video!!

[@toddfeather5760]

It’s better in books the story as the films miss major details out but I still love both and can’t wait for next part

[@xaviermontesdeoca2440]

Great video as always dude, I cannot wait for the next part

[@MrNicoJac]

This was great! Thank you so much ^^

[@alphasierrazulu]

Love the content, dude

[@joshthomas-moore2656]

Rewatching this and i got to say i think a good video would be "Why did Gondor never rebuild their navy?" i know the original navy turned and became the Umbar Corsairs but given they were such a big threat and major issue it does seem strange they tried to build their navy back up again

[@DarthGandalfYT]

I have a video planned on Gondor's military planned for the future (the one on Rohan will be first), so I've put some thought into this. Gondor did rebuild their navy after Castamir's sons stole the fleet. King Telumehtar Umbardacil actually defeated them and conquered Umbar, which would've been impossible without a fleet. After that, I'd say the navy gradually declined as Gondor became increasingly focused on the threats from Mordor and the east. We know Gondor still had ships during the War of the Ring, but it evidently wasn't enough to stop the Corsairs.

[@Trigm]

@@DarthGandalfYT Well, I closed my tab on accident, so this post died, but I was writing a long bit on how I think the fleet was likey defending Dol Amroth. We don't hear about corsair attacks there (it is a great target) and the Prince doesn't seem worried about taking quite a large force to Minas Tirith. It makes sense that the Gondorian fleet was left to defend the important city that they might actually be able to save (assuming the main force went to Pelargir and the Anduin. If that worked, it explains why we don't hear of any attack on Dol Amroth and the Gondorian fleet. The fleet was off keeping western Gondor safe, (and Aragorn's flank) while Aragorn and the Dead cleaned up the central regions.

[@elliotcrossan6290]

Love this channel

[@Miami-jt2jp]

Great video

[@brethilnen]

Great video as always

[@oliveremmettknox7776]

What would happen if Pippin did not look into the Palantír of Orthanc in the first place?

[@jackolantern147]

I believe that the same thing would happen. Only both sides would be better prepared.

[@morgant.dulaman8733]

For the overall players, its hard to say. Though for Frodo's sake, it's worth noting that this action likely made Sauron even more focused on looking outward, especially when he convinced himself that Saruman, then Aragorn, had the ring. If Aragorn had challenged him and Sauron just took him for a ranger from the line of Isildur with no ring, he probably would have taken that as a reason to have the ranger assassinated or maybe attacked by the Nazgul. With the possibility that Aragorn was about to take power in Gondor and attack him with his own ring, Sauron's attack on Minas Tirith was probably a means of keeping the ranger from gaining a larger power base. With this in mind, if Pippin hadn't looked into the Palantír, chances are Sauron would have focused more seriously on his own territory, and with no immediate assault, the forces of Minas Morgul (including the Nazgul and the Witch King, who I'm sure would have been happy to finish what he started with Frodo months prior) would have all been in the same area, patrolling while Frodo, Sam and Smeagol tried getting to the staircase. You can guess where I'm going from this point. It may be, by Eru's providence, the fool of a Took saved his cousin and Middle Earth by accident. And all it cost was that he probably saw the Master of Mordor in his dreams for a long time afterwards.

[@phoule76]

What's the frequency, Henneth?

[@untitled568]

Are there any canon details on wars in 4th age? Against easterlings that refused to give up after destruction of the ring?

[@jonasb104]

It is said that Aragorn and Eomer continued to be brothers in arms, so it seems that there still were wars to wage. Umbar for example I would asume. The corsairs are chased away in terror by the Army of the Dead, and many do drown, but many other actually get to return home and I would asume that they then tried to put up resistance again after a while and had to be subdued.

[@untitled568]

@@jonasb104 exactly.. it seems to me that those wars would take years and years, but especially movies make it look like War ended with destroying the ring Wish there would be one chapter about that in Appendix

[@jessesturgeon5327]

How did Denethor plan to use the Rohirrim? Sorties? They wouldn't be very useful if they're besieged in Minas Tirith.

[@Trigm]

More men is always useful. Even if their strength is cavalry, the Rohirrim have proven to be good foot solider, and you don't have to be too good to defend something like Minas Tirith.

[@jessesturgeon5327]

@@Trigm What a coincidence I just made a post on r/tolkienfans asking the same question and here you are giving me an answer. Thank you

[@oliveremmettknox7776]

I still find it more fulfilling by having the Oathbreakers fulfill their broken oath by having them actually fight in the Battle of Pelennor Fields and kill off Sauron's entire army in The Return of the King movie

[@DarthGandalfYT]

I think the issue with that is that it makes the sacrifice of Theoden and the Rohirrim rather pointless. If the Oathbreakers could just rock up and kill everyone, then there was no need for the Rohirrim.

[@untitled568]

@@DarthGandalfYT if I’m not mistaken, Oathbreakers aren’t invincible ghosts in books, they just scare the opponents

[@elliotcrossan6290]

The battle is so much cooler with the Gondorians and Rohirrim beating the hordes of Mordor on merit

[@istari0]

@@DarthGandalfYT Agreed. It was kind of like being able to nuke Sauron remaining forces.

[@jackolantern147]

@@DarthGandalfYT I feel like the Rohirim bought enough time for the Oathbreakers to arrive. The Witch king had broken through the gates and with their attention focused solely on the city, it likely would have fallen by the time Aragorn arrived. It is unlikely that the Witch King could defeat Gandalf, but with countless creatures of evil backing him, the white wizard would have been overwhelmed. Theodens charge halted the force that would have overwhelmed Minas Tirith, and Eowyn killed the Witch King. Dealing a far more devastating blow than the loss of any army. The Rohirim were the heroes of the battle, but the Oathbreakers wiping out the remaining forces feels like they earned their reprieve more. Essentially fulfilling their oath and fighting Sauron directly rather than making one of his allies flee then calling it a day.