Tar-Arannoa Elessar

Gondor Civil War
Main Article : The Civil War in Gondor



The End
The War would finally come to an end when the forces of Mordor and Umbar would team up to attack the Gondorian Fortress of Narvine. The forces of Mordor were reeling from the miraculous defence of Cair Andros, and before this the utter defeat of the Umbar forces attempting to destroy House Mason at Ethring. The Mordor forces begin to regroup around Minus Morgal and prepared to move once again into Gondor this time they were led by the Witch King and their force was massive along the lines of the original armies attacking throughout the land. The Gondor scouts were especially well alert during the early movements and because of this the Gondorian army was able to arrive in Narvine a day before the Mordor, and Umbar armies did, and this turned the battle into more of a siege.



Prelude
The fortress was the main backbone of the eastern Gondorian defences and for this reason it was especially well prepared for the attack that everyone knew was inevitable. Before the Battle had begun the fortress had its command handed over to the twin brother Tar-Arannoa, and Tar-Vislen Elessar of whome brought a large force of Tower gaurds of whome were not forseen by the forces of Mordor as they moved within. The forces of Mordor were at first moving against Minus Ithil but they discovered the fortress was heavily defended by two of the Numenorian commanders in the form of Halbaard, and Edrion Elessar thus the forces of Mordor used a large Orc force to besiege Minus Ithil while they moved the total force southwards towards Narvine in a move that would cut off the main Gondor force in the south from the rest of Gondor. As the force from Mordor moved south the main thrust of Umbar moved northward towards the main Gondor Force at Ethring which forced the main force to remain in place. King Arathorn Elessar understood that the forces of Gondor were completely surrounded in the south but with the army in the north in tatters following the defence of Cair Andros, and the central army still stuck fighting against the army of Sarauman in Osgiliath and besieged in Minus Ithil he had no choice but to attempt to defeat the Umbar force once and for all.



The Siege
The Army of Mordor moved quickly against the forces at Narvine as they were determined to take the fortress and quickly trap the rest of the Gondor Army around Ethring where they would be picked apart and destroyed. Led by the Witch King the army of nearly three hundred thousand attacked the fortress nestled into the hills which had a defence army of little over sixty thousand and was weakened from nearly two years of fighting. The seige begin quickly with the forces of Mordor swarming at the walls in huge numbers which had little hope of defeating the defenders but each night this continued which made the defenders weaker and weaker. After three days of fighting the forces of Mordor had lost almost seventy five thousand to the defenders but the defenders were down some ten thousand dead while another fifteen thousand were wounded. While the defenders awaited the fourth day and the coming of their eventual fall the situation in Ethring changed dramatically.



Massacre at Barfurd
Along the Umbar front the forces of Gondor were opposed by the massive army of Umbar of which was situated in the large city of Barfurd. The Umbar army was very large but at the same time they were led by the brother of Castamir Bedroog in Vastamir Bedroog of whome was a skilled but inexperianced leader. Arathorn saw that his Kingdom was going to fall unless he changed things dramatically and thus he created a plan where a large force of Gondor Cavalary would move eastward around the border with Umbar through the mountain passes there and move to the east of the Umbar army unaware. The sentries along the Umbar border were massive as Castamir had drilled his brother to death that he needed to be careful about ambushes, but the mountain path was so inaccesable and far away from the front that there were very few sentries there and what few were there were of little skill and even less prepared. The Cavalry moved quickly and was able to destroy the few scouts in the mountain pass and arrived on the eastern swamps of Barfurd four days after they had left. With their arrival Arathorn moved the entire Gondor force southward and provoked the Umbar army into action by massacring the scouts located along the border and thus at the same time bliding the Umbar forces to their movement. Vastamir sent word to his brother who told him that he would move a relief force to Barfurd and that Vastamir would not move until he arrived. Vastamir was prepared to follow this but Arathorn begin using scouts to taunt the defenders and Vastamir suffered insults from his commanders which forced him to make the rash decision to move the Umbar army north in order to defeat Arathorn.



Battle of Barfurd
The moment the Umbar army moved north Castamir got word and moved his force quicker to the location but he was a week away and had no real hope of arriving in time. Vastamir led the forces north and despite whispers from his commanders that they had little knowledge of what they were facing he continued north due to the fact that he was heavily influenced by several rash commanders within his retinue. As he moved north he was shadowed by the ten thousand cavalry of the Gondor force of whome moved in behind and to the eastern side of him in preperation for the coming Battle. As the two sides engaged in Battle the Gondorians did not make any attempt to be agressive and the Umbar forces assumed this was because they were so much more numerous and they doubled their attack. As the entire Umbar force was engaged the cavalry moved into the Battle and hit the unprepared Umbar forces in the rear and side. As Vastamir realized the mistake he made he charged forward in the hopes of defeating Arathorn before his forces were completely massacred. He would make his way to Arathorn who was heading for him and the two would duel and when the dust settled Vastamir lay dead along with the entire army of Umbar. Following this victory the forces of Gondor moved relatively undamaged northward towards the Battle of Narvine and the forces of Mordor were completely unaware of this movement.



Battle of Narvine Field
The fourth day of the Siege of Narvine would come and as was the case everyday the forces of Mordor moved against the city but this time they were in trouble as the main Gondor force was watching from the hills nearbye and was awaiting this attack. During the enseuing siege the Gondor Army under Arathorn moved north towards the seige and hit the rear of the attacking force. Isilmo was in the skies overhead and was the first to see the attackers, and this was followed shortly after by the Witch King of whome both attempted to shift there forces but realized quickly that the army was far to invested in the siege to turn completely and they watched as a massive melee ensued between the Gondor forces and the now completely surrounded Mordor army of which started to turn into a massacre. As this happened the Witch King and Isilmo landed at the heart of the Gondor army and begin to fight at the center. There presence caused great fear and nearly routed the Gondorians until Arathorn and his son Aragorn arrived on the scene and engaged them in battle. During this ensueing conflict Arathron would be struck down along with his second in command in Malvo Openias and all hope seemed lost until Aragorn stepped forward and fought him. While they fought his uncle was killed by Isilmo but was then forced to pull back after Tar-Vislan defeated him and nearly killed his Wraith. With the Mordor force nearly completely massacred the Witch King looked around and realized that he was completely surrounded and thus pulled back leaving the field completely in Gondor's hands. With the defeat of this force the forces of Mordor no longer had the forces capable of winning the conflict and Sauron watching his army in near defeat ordered the general retreat from Gondor's lands of which the final force to leave was Sarauman of whome was harried by Gandalf their entire time leaving.