Summary — The Battle of the Pelennor Fields
Suddenly, a massive black beast swoops down upon Théoden,
hitting his horse with a poisoned dart. The steed rears up, and
the king falls beneath his horse, crushed. The Lord of the Nazgûl
looms above on the back of his flying steed. Terrified, Théoden’s
guards flee in panic—all but Dernhelm. Thrown from his horse but unharmed,
Dernhelm challenges the Black Captain. Merry, crawling on all fours
in a daze, hears Dernhelm speak, and he recognizes the warrior’s
voice. Dernhelm throws back his hood and reveals to the Nazgûl that
he is in fact Éowyn, the Lady of Rohan, in disguise.
The winged steed strikes at Éowyn, but she deals it a
fatal wound. The Black Captain leaps off his dead mount and shatters
Éowyn’s shield with a blow from his club, breaking her arm. He raises
his spiked club again, but just before he strikes, Merry sneaks
up behind him and stabs the Nazgûl through the leg. Bowed over,
the creature lets out a terrible shriek. Éowyn, with her final strength, slashes
at his face with her sword, the blade shattering upon impact. The
Black Captain’s armor falls shapeless at Éowyn’s feet, and his crown
rolls away. Éowyn collapses on top of the Nazgûl’s remains.
The dying King Théoden appoints Éomer as his heir. Éomer,
seeing his sister Éowyn’s fallen body, leads the Rohirrim in a furious attack.
The men of Minas Tirith, led by Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, emerge
from the city and drive the enemy from the gate. Théoden’s body
is taken to the city, along with Éowyn, but Imrahil alerts her rescuers
that she is not dead.
The allies of Mordor reassemble as new soldiers of Sauron
arrive from Osgiliath. The men of Rohan and Gondor dwindle. As the
tide turns against Gondor again, a fleet of black ships appears
on the Anduin River. The defenders of Gondor turn for the city at
the sight of the enemy ships. Éomer, though he realizes he is defeated,
continues to fight bravely, laughing in a mix of hope and despair.
Suddenly, the frontmost black ship unfurls a banner bearing
the white tree of Gondor and the seven stars and crown of Elendil—the symbols
of the ancient kingdom of Gondor. Aragorn has arrived in the black
ships, along with the Rangers of the North, Legolas, Gimli, and
reinforcements from the southern kingdoms. Wielding the legendary
sword Andúril, reforged and burning like a star, Aragorn leads a
fierce battle to save Gondor. The armies of Mordor are defeated,
and Aragorn, Éomer, and Imrahil return to the city.
Analysis
This chapter marks a turning point in The Lord
of the Rings. The conflict established in The Fellowship
of the Ring remains unresolved, but a great tension accumulated
over the second and third volumes of the novel finds some resolution
in these chapters. The forces of Men from the west have been slowly
gathering and moving steadily to the east, just as the armies and
allies of Sauron have equally organized and spread west, marked
by the ever-expanding cloud of Darkness over the land. Gandalf’s
earlier metaphor of the chess game is apt, for the opposing forces
have arrayed themselves and now make strategic moves in turn. In
terms of chess, the armies of Gondor successfully capture Mordor’s
queen by killing the Lord of the Nazgûl, the Black Captain. The
Darkness overhead dissipates as Mordor’s forces retreat to huddle
around their stationary king, Sauron.
