Battle of Fornost
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| Battle of Fornost | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Army of Gondor under Eärnur, Dúnedain of Arnor, Men of Rhovanion, Elves of Lindon, and (according to Hobbit lore) a company of Hobbit archers from The Shire. | Men of Angmar, Hillmen, Wargs, Orcs and Trolls | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Eärnur, Círdan, Glorfindel, Aranarth | Witch-king of Angmar and numerous unnamed chieftains | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown, large enough to quell the Witch-king's army | Unknown, (Huge) | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown, possibly very heavy. | Destruction of the Army of Angmar. | ||||||
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Battle of Fornost was the battle that defeated Angmar.
The Battle of Fornost was fought in the year 1975 of the Third Age by an army under Eärnur, Crown-Prince of Gondor, against Angmar, under its Witch-King, the Lord of the Ringwraiths.
While the battle was a success in that Angmar was defeated, it came too late for Gondor's sister-realm Arnor: the last remaining part of Arnor, Arthedain had been conquered a year before in 1974, and the last King of Arnor Arvedui had drowned in the Ice-Bay of Forochel.
The battle was named for Fornost the old capital of Arthedain, and was fought in the plains before the city. With Gondor came Men from Rhovanion, Elves from Lindon, and the remainder of the Dúnedain of Arnor (among them Aranarth the Crown-Prince of Arthedain), and, according to the Hobbits, a company of archers from the Shire.
Angmar rode west to meet the assault, and seeing this, the cavalry of Gondor under Eärnur rode north into the Hills of Evendim to wait in ambush. As the main army of Gondor met the enemy and the battle began, the cavalry of Gondor attacked Angmar in the rear. Realizing that his forces were getting destroyed completely, the Witch-king of Angmar fled away east. Eärnur rode after him, but his horse shied away. Then Glorfindel attacked, and the Witch-king fled east to escape Glorfindel's wrath, disappearing from the north. At this time Glorfindel made the prophesy that no man would slay the Witch-king.
Thus the north was freed from the evil of Angmar, but Arnor was no more: those that remained of its people became the Rangers of the North.
There is a small matter of discussion on the Witch-king's decision to ride out from Fornost instead of fighting in it. A reasonable explaination is that Fornost was too damaged from the Witch-king's siege to be an effective tool in the battle.
