LAST ALLIANCE OF ELVES AND MEN

'The Last Alliance of Elves and Men' is an episode in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth. It was formed in the year 3430 of the Second Age in response to the threat of conquest by the Dark Lord Sauron.
The conflict at the end of the Second Age is often known as the 'War of the Last Alliance'. It includes the 'Battle of Dagorlad' and the 'Siege of Barad-dûr'.
In ''The Lord of the Rings'', Elrond describes the Last Alliance to Frodo Baggins, comparing it to the Host of Valinor that overthrew the Great Enemy Morgoth in the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age:

''"I remember well the splendour of their banners ... 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, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended for ever, and it was not so."'' ^[1]

Contents

Literature

The mustering of the Last Alliance

The Battle of Dagorlad

The Siege of Barad-dûr

Aftermath

Adaptations

References

See also

Literature

The mustering of the Last Alliance

Sauron had contended with the Elves and the Men of Númenor for mastery of Middle-earth and the Rings of Power in the War of the Elves and Sauron. He was defeated and driven out of Eriador in the year 1701 of the Second Age. During this war the Elves suffered great losses. Over the next 1500 years, Sauron extended his power eastward and the kingdom of Númenor on the island of Andor flourished, even receiving the submission of Sauron. It was eventually destroyed at the height of its military power due to the machinations of Sauron in the year 3319. The Dúnedain, survivors of the catastrophe, formed realms in exile in Middle-earth.
Sauron feared the kingdoms in exile, Arnor and Gondor and he attacked Gondor in 3429. Sauron took Minas Ithil in a sudden assault while Anárion managed to hold Osgiliath and halt Sauron's advance. In response, Elendil, High King of the Dúnedain and Isildur and Anárion's father, formed an alliance with Gil-galad, the last High King of the Noldor, and they raised a great host to contest Sauron.
The Elves of Lindon, lead by Gil-galad, and the Men of Arnor, lead by Elendil, built in the north the fortress and the watchtower of Amon Sûl, Weathertop, over two years while gathering their armies. Their great host then marched to Rivendell, and there made preparations and armaments for nearly three years.^[1] In the year 3434 they went over the Misty Mountains at the High Pass, through the lower pass of the Goblin Gate,^[3] and the Redhorn Pass, and were joined by the army of the Dwarves of Moria.^[4] The Alliance host then crossed the bridge^[1] over the river Anduin, meeting the armies of the Silvan Elves of Lórien and Greenwood the Great in the hosts of Amdír and Oropher,^[6] and marched south down the east bank until they met Sauron's forces before Mordor.^[7]

The Battle of Dagorlad

''"It was a great battle. Tall Men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plains for days and months at the Black Gates."'' - Gollum.^[1]

In 3434, the Alliance engaged and defeated Sauron's hosts in the Battle of Dagorlad, having fought over several months on the great plain of Dagorlad. However, the Silvan Elves would not place their armies under the supreme command of Gil-galad. Amdír's forces were cut and driven into the Dead Marshes, while Oropher led a reckless assault on Mordor in which he was slain. Rule of the Silvan Elves and field command of their remaining forces, barely a third of their original strength, passed to Oropher's son Thranduil. Alliance forces breached the Black Gate of Mordor, and besieged the Dark Lord's fortress of Barad-dûr.
The shapes of the fallen remained in the water of the Dead Marshes into the later Ages.

The Siege of Barad-dûr

The Siege of Barad-dûr lasted for 7 years, during which Anárion was killed by a stone cast from the tower. At the end Sauron emerged from his tower and engaged the Alliance forces personally. In a final confrontation near Mount Doom Sauron wrestled and killed both Gil-galad and Elendil, but was also overthrown and physically "killed". Isildur took the remains of his father's broken sword Narsil, and used it to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand.

Aftermath

Bereft of the power of the One Ring, Sauron's physical form was unbound and his dissipated spirit would not take form again in Middle-earth for two and a half thousand years. After the victory over Sauron, the death of Gil-galad and Elendil, and irreplaceable casualties to the Elves, the Last Alliance dissolved.
Many of the Eldar mourn the victory as bittersweet for the One Ring was kept by Isildur, who later perished and lost it in the Gladden Fields. Thus, despite the sacrifice of the Elves and Men, the Ring was not destroyed and the opportunity to defeat Sauron once and for all was missed. The war resulted in the first weakening of Lindon and Arnor. The Second Age ended with the war's conclusion and the Third Age of the World began.

Adaptations

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In Peter Jackson's '', the details of the war are not included and only the final "'Battle of Mount Doom'", as it is sometimes called, is shown.
Notable differences from the book are: Elrond, who calls himself a herald in the book, is shown giving orders; unidentified Gil-galad is briefly glimpsed, but his death is not shown; Sauron kills Elendil, also unnamed, with his mace; Narsil is broken under Sauron's foot into many pieces, instead of two; Isildur cuts off most of Sauron's fingers on his outstretched hand, instead of just one; Sauron eventually explodes; Anárion is omitted overall.

References

1.
2.
3. J.R.R. Tolkien, ''The Annotated Hobbit'', (1988), p. 105, "their main gate used to open on a different pass..."; see also map of the Wilderland. ''History of Middle-earth'', Vol. VI, p. 416.
4. It is told that few Dwarves fought in the war upon either side, but that Durin's Folk fought on the side of the Alliance. ''The Silmarillion'', in ''Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age''.
5.
6. ''Unfinished Tales'', p. 258.
7. ''Unfinished Tales'', p. 281.
8.

See also

★ Middle-earth warfare