Battle of the Camp

From Tolkien Gateway
Battle of the Camp
Conflict: Battle of the Camp
Date: T.A. 1944
Place: Northern Ithilien
Outcome: Decisive Gondorian victory
Combatants

Gondor

Easterlings and Haradrim

Commanders

Unknown Easterling commanders

The Battle of the Camp was a battle fought in Dagorlad between Eärnil of Gondor and the northern coalition of Wainriders after the Disaster of the Morannon.

Events Prior to the Battle[edit | edit source]

In T.A. 1944, Wainriders from Rhûn made an alliance with the Haradrim, and a dual attack on Ithilien was launched. While the Wainriders assaulted Ithilien from the north, the armies of the Haradrim crossed the Poros and invaded South Ithilien.

The northern assault of the Wainriders was met by the King of Gondor himself, Ondoher, with his two sons Artamir and Faramir. The Easterlings swept through Gondor's defence, cutting down the King and his heirs and routing his army. Their victory complete and the Northern Army of Gondor in retreat, the Wainriders paused in North Ithilien to celebrate their conquest.

The Haradrim in the south had met with much less success. The Gondorian Captain Eärnil had led Gondor's inferior Southern Army to victory over the Haradrim, destroying their army in South Ithilien, to the north of the Poros. After his victory, Eärnil turned north.[1]

The Battle[edit | edit source]

The feasting Wainriders suddenly found their success reversed as Eärnil appeared with his Southern Army, reinforced by fleeing members of Ondoher's defeated northern troops. Eärnil's army descended on the camp of the unprepared Wainriders, burning their wains and driving many of them into the swamplands of the Dead Marshes.[1] The battle was named after where it had taken place: the Battle of the Camp.[2]

Aftermath[edit | edit source]

Because there was no heir apparent to the throne, Ondoher and his sons having been killed in the battle, Eärnil was crowned by Pelendur, the current Steward of Gondor (even though Arvedui of Arthedain had attempted to claim the crown and was rejected). Eärnil was a distant relative of Ondoher, and could trace his lineage back to Elendil and Anárion of old.[1] The Easterlings, for so long a dreaded enemy of Gondor, did not march against Gondor for hundreds of years afterwards.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion", p. 1049-50
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", p. 1086