Gondor Civil War

The Civil War in Gondor was a titanic fight between internal forces of the Kingdom of Gondor , and supported by numerous outside forces who used this as a chance to further many differing agendas. The two main forces were the forces of Gondor proper and the city province of Umbar .

The whole region was very tense, and both sides knew that a conflict was brewing between the two groups that disliked eachother so much. The final straw that would officially start the conflict was the assasination of the pro-Gondorian mayor of UmbarFastiv Bedroog by his rebelious son Castamir Bedroog.

The conflict would rage for over 3 years and at its end would lead to the seperation of Umbar and the province of Dol Amroth from Gondor proper. The conflict would cost Gondor over 60% of its land including almost all of its agriculture and fishing areas, along with this the population of Gondor would lose nearly 50% of itself to emigration as well as death.

Background

Numeron at its peak

When the Numenor's arrived in Europe the first cities that they founded were in modern day Gondor, and Arnor. This meant that for many in Gondor , and Arnor they were the chosen ones of the Numenor Kingdom and far more civilized then the barbarians they believed populated the rest of Numenor. This arrogance would lead them to act with an almost indeifference to the provinces outside of the Gondor region. This attitude was especially true towards the Gondorian province of Umbar.

The city of Umbar was built on the coast but was completely surrounded by swamps. This meant that through trade the city of Umbar became fabulously rich, but the city gained a reputation for being dirty and unkept. Whether the rumors and reputation were true do not matter as it began to build a resentment in the people of Umbar. The nobility of Umbar although paying their required taxes to the Kingdom, sent the fewest soilders for the army and took part in the least amount of events of any of the provinces.

It was this resentment that would lead to the eventual leader of Umbar's plan to sucede from Gondor, and rebuild the Kingdom in the image he though it deserved.

Prelude

Coruption of House Imrahil

Main Article : House Imrahil

Coruption of House Imrahil You know that your father was a good man once. You must remember him that way because if you do not then you will be forced to remember him as he is now. Evil works itself into the hearts of even the most brave of us. Hate not the corrupted. Hate not the man who carries the banner of evil. Pity him, but hate the one who whispered to him.

“My father was a good man hooked in by an even better liar.” — Balian Imrahil It was during Peter Imrahil's fourteenth birthday that Sauron launched his campaign to turn the leadership of Dol Amroth towards his sphere of influence as he wanted to eliminate one of the true military threats outside of Gondor itself that might assist during the invasion. Sauron had already silently pushed Umbar over to his sphere of influence and all he needed was for the vast armies of Dol Amroth to sit idle, as well as to make sure that the huge trading missions that Dol Amroth constantly sent into Gondor were stopped dead in their tracts less the Gondorians be reinforced. While this was happening Sauron had completed his corruption of Sauruman the Istari Magi of Gondor and while this was a massive coup for Mordor the main problem for Gondor was that this remained a secret and noone knew that Sauruman was now a servent of Mordor. “The Dark Lord has been sending men into this land for years. Noone cared to tell their personal meetings. Noone thought it important that they were being offered bribes. We failed as a people. We failed.” — Wur-Oropher Elena He sent servants into the cities where he would have them make promises to the highest echelons of nobility of Dol Amroth that if they served him they would get unending wealth if they would simply declare independence and then not assist Gondor during the coming conflict. Most of the nobles of Dol Amroth continued to follow the Gondorian royalty and rejected these offers but a small minority of the nobles would listen to this offer and accepted the chance of becoming independent. So while a small minority of the nobles had accepted the vast majority of the population, and nobles remained extremely loyal to Gondor so this idea wasn't very popular and to push their agenda they begin spreading lies among the nobles about Gondor's betrayal of them. They did not attempt to turn the opinion of the public, as the public was so against independence that it was a hopeless fight, but the nobles were a different matter and many begin to turn towards this new independent faction within Dol Amroth. As the nobles turned against Gondor in increasing number the independence faction begin its next step when it moved against Gondor's influence in the region and begin targeting Gondor loyalist houses, and this begin to further turn the sway away from Gondor in the region. As this continued though the Gondorian loyalists became unified under House Elena of whom attempted to get word to Gondor about what was happening but it was at this time that the believed loyalist Istari in Sauruman would arrive in Dol Amroth and change everything. Betrayal of Sauruman “He spoke in soft whispers, and turned the minds of men into water. His words flowed more freely then any river of Anroth, and yet the men took to his words. He was their savior until they realized he was their destroyer.” — Unknown Poet of Anroth Sauruman was a member of the Istari, and thus he would travel from the lands of Gondor south to Dol Amroth many times in the name of his order. Thus because of this his arrival was not seen as unusual by even the paranoid elements of the Gondorian loyalists of Dol Amroth. He would be sent by Sauron south into Dol Amroth in order to end the resistance of Dol Amroth through the absolute corruption of House Imrahil the royal family of Dol Amroth. While the forces of Castamir in Umbar held the borders thereby not allowing any messengers to reach Gondor about Dol Amroth the Istari Sauruman was greeted as a savior due to saying he had been sent by the very popular Gandalf in order to protect them from any perceived threat against them. Using this popular message he infiltrated the leadership of House Elena the main loyalist faction in Dol Amroth and became extremely close to its leader in Aradur Elena of whom took control of the Anroth city of Linhir and begin to gather support for his counter revolution. Sauruman pretended to be a Gondorian loyalist and pushed Aradur to rebel against what he tricked him into believing was a corrupted Imrahil family who had turned against Gondor. As Aradur listened to this the forces of House Imrahil could not allow rebellion and despite many attempts by Varian Imrahil to stop the rebellion and convince them that he was not a traitor Aradur would not listen to reason and thus House Imrahil moved their forces to besiege Linhir. Besieging Linhir while not their fault would be a horribly unpopular move as the Sauron aligned Dol Amroth nobles pushed a message that said House Imrahil was doing this out of love for Sauron and this caused huge problems as House Imrahil begin to lose control of the lands because the population was so against working with Sauron. It would be Aradur's son Wur-Oropher Elena who would tell him that they were going to win the land and they didn't need Saramaun and his trickery to win this. His speech has become now legendary among the halls of House Elena. “Father ninety percent of this land believe in you. The only men who do not wish to follow you into whatever abyss awaits us if Sauron wins, are those who like you are listening to this wizard. He brings us nothing. He brings us nothing but lies steaming from his tongue. We must turn away from him father. We must do this on our own, or we shall wake up one day to find his dagger in all of our backs.” — Wur-Oropher Elena Despite his words to turn against Sauruman, Aradur could not be convinced and realizing sadly what was to happen next, and unwilling to watch his entire family annihilated due to his fathers failure Oropher would gather his personal family, as well as steal away his sister Seri-Pellia Elena in the night and fled Linhir with many loyalists southward towards the port of Rinlis. Aradur though now completely ensnared by the Grey Istari and would mass a large force and prepare to battle the forces of House Imrahil outside of Linhir. The two forces would meet outside Linhir which was still under siege, but it was here where just as Oropher had advised the trickery of Saramaun would come full circle and during the night Sauron aligned nobles would enter the command tent and would assassinate Aradur, and three of his sons along with much of the leadership of the rebellion. With the leadership in tatters the rebels surrendered, and while scattered resistance continued, the destruction of much of House Elena was the basic end of the resistance of Dol Amroth. With the end of the resistance the forces of House Imrahil suffered a huge loss when Balian Imrahil the at the time heir to the throne gathered his siblings and fled the capital of Belfalas. Failure of House Imrahil “I just assumed that we would be saving my mother. When I convinced my siblings to go back for her It seemed a certainty that we would just go into her room and she would just quickly rush out with us. It never occurred to me...It didn't even cross my mind that she might say no to us. Saying no to us was a fantasy, and the actual understanding that not only did she not want to come with us but in fact she was going to turn us in...it was all just too much.” — Susan Imrahil As Balian led his family out of the capital Susan became irate as she realized that they didn't mean to stop and get their mother during their escape. Balian begged her to understand that she wouldn't follow them as her loyalty was with their father, but she wouldn't listen to him, and begin heading to their palace where she planned to convince her mother to come with them. Balian was able to sneak the group through loyalist houses as they were not yet believed to be fleeing the city. When they got inside the Palace they found their mother sitting at her spinning wheel making some kind of sweater, and it was Susan that was the first to speak explaining to her mother that she needed to come with them because Varian had lost his mind. Valihimde sat motionless for a time not saying a word as each of her children begged her to come with them. When finally she sat up from the table she moved toward the alarm horn that was located in her room and prepared to blow the horn. Susan ran to her and questioned what she was doing, and her response was the moment they all knew where her loyalties lie. “I love all of you. You are my children and that alone means that I love each of you more then I could ever love your father. I love all of you that much. But there is one thing that love more then even you. I love this land. I am loyal to this land. Betrayal is a poison my children, and that poison must always be resisted. Even when it comes in the form of something you love dearly. I will protect this land from whatever harm may come its way. Today that is you. I will give you an hour to get away, but then I blow this horn and you will be hunted. You will be captured and brought back here to explain your crimes. Go now children. Our time together has come to an end.” — Mur-Valihimde Imrahil With this knowledge the siblings who were now horrified were moved out by Balian of whom led them quickly out of the capital and southward towards Rinlis. For Susan this departure was far more difficult and her last sight of her mother was her mother returning silently to her spinning wheel and not even watching her children leaving her for they all knew in that moment was for good. The Escape “You children must leave here immediately. The Elena's are gone. No true loyalists remain in charge here, and it will be hours before the fallen lords of Linhir discover you are here. Oropher left with most of the loyalists going south. I know not where he plans to go, but I know you must follow him. You must survive. You are the true heirs of Dol Amroth.” — Lord Aretarr Inlihir Following his understanding that his father had lost himself it was Oropher that moved quickly in response to the understanding that the situation had changed, and thus he gathered as many of his family, and loyalists that he could and silently made his way to the southern port of Rinlis. His plan was simple in that he planned to take a boat and silently sail to the port of Venetia in the Roman Empire and then north towards Ravenna where he would then travel into Lucerne where he would take the safer route back way into Gondor. As Balian arrived in the town of Linhir he and his siblings were able to find there way to Aretarr Inlihir of whom Balian knew from his youth and his father had always called him the most loyal man he had ever met. Meeting with Aretarr they were told that Oropher had escaped southward with most of the Gondorian loyalists before his father had fallen and that they needed to follow him quickly so that they didn't become found by the Sauron aligned traitors in the city of whom had already murdered the Elena's. Trusting this advise they went south and he made the hopeful guess that Oropher would travel the southern road and not go west. While travelling on the road south he and his force would be stopped by Balian Imrahil of whom would beg him to take his family with him or else he would be forced to take part in this heinous act. “There was always the distinct chance that I was wrong and that Oropher was going west. Had he of made that decision me and my siblings would be hidden away in Belfalas. Locked in our rooms forced to remain prisoners of a land long bereft of Lordship.” — Balian Imrahil Oropher would take Balian and his siblings and they would arrive safely in Rinlis where the population snuck them inside and they boarded boats. Weeks later they would arrive in Stormwind where they would rest before they made the final journey to Minas Tirith and it was while staying there that they heard that Gondor had been betrayed from within and was fighting for its life. The group would then leave nearly immediately and make the three day treck on horseback to Minus Tirith of which they found the city nearly drained as the majority of the town had gone east to defend from the onslaught. His departure caused a massive manhunt for him and his siblings but they were protected by the people of Dol Amroth who were violently opposed to his father and his desires. This whole was filled by the rise of Lucas Imrahil of whom brought to his brother his highly skilled son Franco and made the idea that his son should become the new heir of House Imrahil lest the House fall apart and everything he had built would fall apart. After much internalized anger Varian realized he had no choice and went down this path with his brother. He planned though to marry again due to the fact that his wife who was Atlantian was barren. With this new wife he planned to have more children to replace the loss of his beloved Balian, and reject the growth of his brother Lucas.

The War

Cair Andros

Main Article : Gondor Civil War

When Mordor caused the civil war in Gondor, one of the main points of the war was the northern section of the battlefield near the fortress of Cair Andros. Cair Andros was something that throughout the entire conflict was being continuesly attacked by both the forces of Mordor, and their vassals in the region. The forces of Gondor were being pushed back and drained to the point that they were nearly destroyed and this was getting worse when a massive Orc force came and besieged the city with the obvious approach of endingCair Andros. Calls for aid went out to Gondor's main army but they were pinned down in southern Gondor between Mordor, and Umbar and thus couldn't assist. When the call came back that they were not going to get any assistence the commander of the fortress who at the time was the Gondorian General Melian Pasen gave the basic order that they were going to die in the fortress. The siege continued for weeks and the garrison was wittled down over this time and was preparing to fall when a large force of Sindar Elves from High Forest appeared in the north flanked by a small force of Gondor Cavalry led by Edrion Elessar the brother of the King. The Elven Force had been convinsed by Edrion Elessar to assist Gondor and when noone had volunteered to go the Elven commander Glorifindal had led a massive army eastward towards Cair Andros. The Elven/Gondor force took Mordor completely by suprise and the Mordor force was nearly completely destroyed.

Garrison

Following their victory the forces of Gondor watched as the Sindar Elves of High Forest poured forces into the Cair Andros region and went about rebuilding the defences and using their massive force to make sure noone attacked while this was underway. For the remainder of the Civil War the Sindar Elves of High Forest led by Glorifindal would remain in Cair Andros and make the northern front a complete victory for Gondor and thus allowing Gondor to pull forces out of the north and into the center.

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.