Battle of The Morannon - Prelude

Prelude

This was the final major battle against Sauron in the War of the Ring, fought at the Black Gate of Mordor. The Army of the West, led by Aragorn, marched on the gate as a diversionary feint to distract Sauron's attention from Frodo and Sam, who were carrying the One Ring through Mordor. It was hoped that Sauron would think Aragorn had the Ring and was now trying to use it to overthrow Mordor. As the journey progressed, Aragorn was credited openly as "the King Elessar" by their heralds to challenge Sauron, though he was not yet formally crowned.

Aragorn and the other captains had around 7,000 soldiers of Gondor and Rohan available to fight; they left some in Minas Tirith to defend against assault, and sent 3,000 Rohirrim under Elfhelm to rout another army holding the west road to Anórien (which soon returned to Minas Tirith). Thus they marched with about 6,000 foot and 1,000 horse.

At the Crossroads, Aragorn and other captains left the main force for a while with a small company of troops and surveyed Minas Morgul from afar, finally setting fire to Morgul Vale. They also left some archers to guard the Crossroads.

They were also later ambushed by Orcs and Easterlings on the very spot where Faramir and the Rangers of Ithilien had ambushed a company of Haradrim some two weeks earlier (which was observed by Frodo and Sam), but the enemy was beaten back without much loss. However, it was realized that this was an intentionally weak feint, meant to try to lure them into thinking that Sauron's army was incapable of mounting a strong attack when in fact it was. Later, some whose fear overcame them were sent to retake and hold Cair Andros, an island in the River Anduin used as a fortress by Gondor which was the location of strategically important fords. Thus the Army of the West was less than 6,000 strong at the Black Gate.