Timeline Event
Orcs from Isengard raid the Fellowship at Parth Galen
Event Type: Military/Strategic
Age: 3rd Age - Ring War
Date: February 26, 3019
Description:
An event in the Orc-raid at Parth Galen; see that entry for an overview:
'Here we will rest tonight,' said Aragorn. 'This is the lawn of Parth Galen.... Let us hope that no evil has yet come here.'....
[They] made their camp [and] set a watch.... Nonetheless as the night wore on Aragorn grew uneasy.... In the small hours he got up....
'Why are you waking?' asked Frodo. 'It is not your watch.'
'I do not know,' answered Aragorn; 'but a shadow and a threat has been growing in my sleep. It would be well to draw your sword.... Let us see what Sting may show'....
Frodo then drew the elf-blade from its sheath. To his dismay the edges gleamed dimly in the night. 'Orcs!' he said. 'Not very near, and yet too near, it seems.'
'I feared as much,' said Aragorn. 'But maybe they are not on this side of the River. The light of Sting is faint, and it may point to no more than spies of Mordor roaming on the slopes of Amon Lhaw. I have never heard before of Orcs upon Amon Hen.'
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 10, The Breaking of the Fellowship
[Aragorn's] quick ears caught sounds in the woodlands below, on the west side of the River.... There were cries, and among them, to his horror, he could distinguish the harsh voices of Orcs. Then suddenly with a deep-throated call a great horn blew, and the blasts of it smote the hills and echoed in the hollows, rising in a mighty shout above the roaring of the falls....
He sprang down the steps and away, leaping down the path....
As he ran the cries came louder... and suddenly the horn-calls ceased. Aragorn raced down the last slope, but before he could reach the hill's foot, the sounds died away; and as he turned to the left and ran towards them they retreated, until at last he could hear them no more. Drawing his bright sword and crying Elendil! Elendil! he crashed through the trees.
A mile, maybe, from Parth Galen... he found Boromir.... Aragorn saw that he was pierced with many black-feathered arrows....
The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 1, The Departure of Boromir
[Aragorn] knelt for a while, bent with weeping, still clasping Boromir's hand. So it was that Legolas and Gimli found him. They came from the western slopes of the hill, silently, creeping through the trees as if they were hunting. Gimli had his axe in hand, and Legolas his long knife: all his arrows were spent. When they came into the glade they halted in amazement; and then they stood a moment with heads bowed in grief....
'Alas!' said Legolas, coming to Aragorn's side. 'We have hunted and slain many Orcs in the woods, but we should have been of more use here. We came when we heard the horn — but too late, it seems. I fear you have taken deadly hurt.'
'Boromir is dead,' said Aragorn. 'I am unscathed, for I was not here with him. He fell defending the hobbits, while I was away upon the hill.'
'The hobbits!' cried Gimli 'Where are they then? Where is Frodo?'
'I do not know,' answered Aragorn wearily. 'Before he died Boromir told me that the Orcs had bound them; he did not think that they were dead. I sent him to follow Merry and Pippin; but I did not ask him if Frodo or Sam were with him: not until it was too late.... What is to be done now?'
'First we must tend the fallen,' said Legolas. 'We cannot leave him lying like carrion among these foul Orcs.'
The Two Towers, LoTR Book 3, Ch 1, The Departure of Boromir
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 31Dec04
