Ithilien - History

History

It was a fair and prosperous land during the Second Age and the first part of the Third Age, filled with many woods and gardens, when Gondor was strong and Mordor deserted. Of old its chief city was Minas Ithil, but when this was captured by Mordor in T.A. 2002 it was renamed Minas Morgul. After this the population gradually migrated across the Anduin to escape the looming threat of Ringwraiths from Minas Morgul.

Ithilien was reoccupied by hardy folk during the Watchful Peace, but in 2475 the Watchful Peace was broken when Uruks from Mordor devastated the province; and although they were driven back to the Morgul Vale by Boromir I, raids never entirely ceased after this time. Several centuries later attacks by Orcs and Haradrim intensified and in 2901 the raids grew so severe that the remainder of the population of Ithilien fled across Anduin and Gondor withdrew from the province, and after the return of Sauron to Mordor the land was finally abandoned. However the Stewards of Gondor still kept scouts in Ithilien, based at secret locations such as Henneth Annûn, which were built shortly after 2901. In 2954 Mount Doom burst into flame and those few farmers who remained fled Westward over Anduin, leaving only the Rangers behind to harry the servants of Sauron.

In the narrative of The Lord of the Rings, Gollum leads Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee through Ithilien on the way to the pass of Cirith Ungol into Mordor. The land is described in the text as "a fair country of climbing woods and swift-falling streams", with gentle slopes, "shielded from the east by the Ephel Dúath and yet not under the mountain-shadow, protected from the north by the Emyn Muil, open to the southern airs and the moist winds from the Sea". It is also stated that "a wealth of sweet-smelling herbs and shrubs" and a vast array of tree species grew in Ithilien, some of them having been planted by men in days of peace, and that despite desolation the land "kept still a dishevelled dryad loveliness". After witnessing a battle with Southrons of Harad accompanied by Oliphaunts, the hobbits are found by the Rangers of Ithilien, under the command of Faramir, the son of the Steward Denethor II, but are allowed to continue when he is satisfied they are not agents of Sauron.

After the events of the War of the Ring, King Elessar granted to Faramir the Princedom of Ithilien and the Lordship of Emyn Arnen (Faramir also maintained the Office of the Steward, even after he tried to surrender it to King Elessar). Emyn Arnen, being the ancestral home of the Stewards of Gondor, became the official home of the Steward Faramir and his descendants.

During the Fourth Age, the region was ruled by the Princes of Ithilien, a line that started with Faramir and Éowyn (the White Lady of Ithilien). Minas Morgul was not repopulated, and Faramir ruled as Lord of Emyn Arnen. The Elves played a great role in the reconstruction of eastern Gondor. A colony was settled in Ithilien by the Elves of Mirkwood and former residents of Elven kingdoms in the north, welcomed there by Legolas, and "it became once again the fairest country in all the westlands", until after some time all Elves had departed over the Sea. The colony only lasted for about a century, because many Elves left for Valinor after Elessar's death in 120 F.A.