Timeline Event
Fall of Minas Ithil — Third Age: Overview
Event Type: Military/Strategic
Age: 3rd Age - The Kings
Years: 2000 ~ 2002
Description:
Table of Contents:The Combatants
— Attacking Forces
— Defensive Forces
The Timeline
The Prelude
The Siege
The Aftermath
Notes
The Combatants
The Combatants: Attacking Forces
The Witch-king of Angmar arrived in Mordor twenty years earlier, and had built up a formidable power base by gathering all the Nazgûl to him.
The Combatants: Defensive Forces
The Gondorians had been seriously weakened by the Great Plague several centuries earlier. Few people remained in Ithilien to defend Minas Ithil, and Mordor was left unguarded.
The Timeline
1975
... The Witch-king defeated at the Battle of Fornost.... He vanishes from the North....
1980
The Witch-king comes to Mordor and there gathers the Nazgûl....
[See: Witch-king comes to Mordor and gathers the Nazgûl]
2000
The Nazgûl issue from Mordor and besiege Minas Ithil.
[See: Nazgûl besiege Minas Ithil]
2002
Fall of Minas Ithil, afterwards known as Minas Morgul. The palantír is captured.
[See: Minas Ithil falls to the Nazgûl]
[See: Palantír of Minas Ithil captured]
[See: Minas Ithil renamed Minas Morgul]
[See: Inhabitants flee Ithilien]
2043
Eärnur becomes King of Gondor. He is challenged by the Witch-king.
[See: Minas Anor renamed Minas Tirith]
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age
The Prelude
And in the days of Telemnar [1634-1636]..., a plague came..., and many of the people of Gondor perished. Then the forts on the borders of Mordor were deserted, and Minas Ithil was emptied of its people....
The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
It was thus in the reign of King Eärnil [1945-2043], as later became clear, that the Witch-king escaping from the North came to Mordor, and there gathered the other Ringwraiths, of whom he was the chief.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The Realms in Exile: The Southern Line: Heirs of Anárion
The Siege
[It] was not until 2000 that they issued from Mordor by the Pass of Cirith Ungol and laid siege to Minas Ithil. This they took in 2002, and captured the palantír of the tower.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion
The Aftermath
They were not expelled while the Third Age lasted; and Minas Ithil became a place of fear, and was renamed Minas Morgul. Many of the people that still remained in Ithilien deserted it.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion
Thereafter it was called Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery; and Minas Morgul was ever at war with Minas Anor in the west. Then Osgiliath, which in the waning of the people had long been deserted, became a place of ruins and a city of ghosts. But Minas Anor endured, and it was named anew Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard....
The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
Notes
The dates of this event are set to include the events Nazgûl besiege Minas Ithil through Minas Ithil falls to the Nazgûl.
Contributors:
Loquacious 29Jun03
Lyllyn 8Jun04
Elena Tiriel 15Dec04, 18Aug07
