Fords of Isen

Last updated November 20, 2019

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Fords of Isen were fords in the river Isen, guarded by the Rohirrim. As the only crossing of the Isen into Rohan, they were of enormous strategic importance.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist, and academic, who is best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Fiction broadly refers to any narrative consisting of imaginary people, events, or descriptions—in other words, a narrative not based strictly on history or fact. It also commonly refers, more narrowly, to written narratives in prose and often specifically novels. In film, it generally corresponds to narrative film in opposition to documentary.

Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of British writer J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The term is equivalent to the term Midgard of Norse mythology, describing the human-inhabited world, that is, the central continent of the Earth in Tolkien's imagined mythological past.

In the fictional high fantasy-world of J. R. R. Tolkien, the War of the Ring was fought between Sauron and the free peoples of Middle-earth for control of the One Ring and dominion over the continent. The War of the Ring took place at the end of the Third Age. Together with the Quest of Mount Doom, it is one of the overarching events of The Lord of the Rings. Gandalf and Elessar Telcontar led the free peoples of Middle-earth to victory over the Dark Lord.

Saruman the White is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the novel, but eventually he desires Sauron's power for himself and tries to take over Middle-earth by force. His schemes feature prominently in the second volume, The Two Towers, and at the end of the third volume, The Return of the King. His earlier history is given briefly in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Internal history

First Battle of the Fords of Isen

Théodred, son of King Théoden of Rohan, was alerted by his scouts to the mustering taking place in Isengard. He manned both sides of the ford and went forward leaving three companies of riders to guard the eastern side. Early in the morning, he crossed over to the western side with a force mainly consisting of archers and cavalry. He planned to take the forces of Isengard by surprise.

Théodred is a fictional character in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. He is the only son and heir of King Théoden of Rohan.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Isengard is a large fortress in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. It is a translation of the term Angrenost from the fictional language of Sindarin. Both terms mean "iron fortress". Additionally, Isengard can mean "West Guard".

Archery art, sport, practice or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows

Archery is the art, sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows. The word comes from the Latin arcus. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mainly a competitive sport and recreational activity. A person who participates in archery is typically called an archer or a bowman, and a person who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite.

However, Saruman had tricked the scouts; his army was already marching out to attack the ford. Twenty miles to the north of the ford, Théodred encountered the vanguard of the Uruk-hai and quickly cut through their lines. He then charged at the main force, who were prepared for the attack and were stationed behind trenches planted with pikes. Reinforcements came out of Isengard and outflanked the cavalry, nearly surrounding them. Hastily Théodred ordered a retreat, but the Uruk-hai could not be shaken off that easily. Grimbold, who was in command of the Rohirrim rearguard, had to cut down their pursuers many times.

Grimbold of Grimslade is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the second and third volumes of the fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings as originally published. He also appears in the posthumously published Unfinished Tales.

Saruman's eastern force was much smaller but more dangerous. It contained mounted Dunlendings, Warg riders, Uruk-hai and half-orcs (or orc-men). The Rohirrim guard on the eastern side of the ford had been driven into retreat, and their attackers recrossed the ford to attack Théodred on both sides. Théodred and his men had dismounted on an islet to cover Grimbold's retreat. At the same time Grimbold's force was being attacked from the western side, and as Grimbold looked east, he saw Théodred's force being driven from the islet to a hill. Grimbold and a few men raced toward Théodred's position. By the time Grimbold reached him, Théodred had fallen, cut down by a great orc-man. Grimbold slew the orc-man and then found himself defending Théodred's body from orc-men. He himself would have been killed had it not been for Elfhelm.

Taken from the Old English warg, the Wargs or wild wolves J. R. R. Tolkien used it to refer to his race of large lupines in his books about Middle-earth. They are usually in league with the goblins or Orcs whom they permitted to ride on their backs into battle. They are portrayed as somewhat intelligent, with a language, and are consciously in league with the Orcs.

The Uruk-hai are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth. They are introduced in The Lord of the Rings as an advanced breed of Orc that serve Sauron and Saruman. The first uruks appeared out of Mordor in attacks on Gondor in T.A. 2475.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Elfhelm was a lord of Rohan (Middle-earth) and Marshal of the East-mark.

Elfhelm had been leading four companies towards Helm's Deep, when it was reported to him that two Warg Riders had been spotted. He rode at full speed to the ford and, seeing the situation, ordered his men to charge. Before long his men held the western side of the ford. They then charged on the islet. From this surprise attack most of the Uruk-hai retreated toward Isengard. When they reached the islet they found Grimbold defending Théodred's body against two huge orc-men. Elfhelm rushed to his aid and felled one orc-man while Grimbold slew the other.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy writings, Helm's Deep was a large valley in the north-western White Mountains of Middle-earth. The Battle of Helm's Deep, a major episode in The Lord of the Rings, is set in Helm's Deep.

When they lifted Théodred's body, they found he was still alive. He lived long enough to say, "Let me lie here - to keep the ford until Éomer comes". The enemy attack ended by nightfall. The Rohirrim had held the ford but suffered heavy losses and were now leaderless.

Second Battle of the Fords of Isen

The command of the ford was given to Erkenbrand of the Westfold. However, until he arrived from Helm's Deep, Grimbold held the position. Elfhelm did not want to hold the Fords, as he argued that it provided little defence, but Grimbold was not willing to wholly abandon it, partially due to the tradition of Westfold. The two commanders later reached a compromise.

Grimbold decided to place foot soldiers at the ford and put Elfhelm's men on the east side where he expected the attack to come from.

Saruman sent a small force, but which was still enough to outnumber the defenders. The attackers forced Grimbold to retreat across the ford with heavy losses. Grimbold held the eastern side of the ford and waited for Elfhelm to come to his aid. More than half of Saruman's force was attacking Grimbold's position.

Some warg riders and their followers pushed through the gap between the two Rohirrim forces and tried to surround Elfhelm. Although he knew Grimbold was in danger, Elfhelm retreated eastwards. Grimbold was still holding his position when he saw torches coming from the north and from Isengard - the vanguard of Saruman's reinforcements advancing towards him. Before he knew it, they had crossed the ford. He could not hold the ford so he retreated to his camp and made a shield wall around it.

Even though the Rohirrim were surrounded, the forces of Isengard could not break through. Grimbold knew he could not hold out forever. With no sign of Elfhelm and no help from Erkenbrand, he decided to try to break out. He mounted all the riders for whom he had horses and made a gap on the east side of the wall through which the riders passed. They formed into two groups and attacked the north and south sides simultaneously. In the ensuing confusion, the remaining Rohirrim retreated on foot as quickly as they could in the dark.

Aftermath

Saruman's commander had finished his first task of creating a supply route into Rohan and he now moved on to his more important task—the Hornburg.

However, Saruman had overestimated his success in the battle, as the Rohirrim had suffered significant losses but not as many as had been rumoured. The surviving Rohirrim from the Fords were later rallied by Gandalf, with Grimbold's men joining up with Erkenbrand to organize the counter-attack at the Hornburg. Elfhelm's riders were sent to Meduseld to guard against any possible raid by Saruman's wolf-riders, though in the end no sortie was attempted.

Adaptations

In the live-action film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , the upper Hutt River in Kaitoke Regional Park, New Zealand, was used as a location for the Fords of Isen scenes.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Rohan is a kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy setting of Middle-earth. It is mainly a grassland, and lies north-west of its ally Gondor, and further north-west of Mordor, the realm of Sauron, their enemy. It is inhabited by the Rohirrim, a people of herdsmen and farmers who are well known for their horses and cavalry. The realm is of significant importance in the author's book, The Lord of the Rings. Much of the background of Rohan is grounded in Anglo-Saxon tradition.

The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers</i> 2002 fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson, based on the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The film is the second instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and was produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh and Jackson, and written by Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Jackson. The film features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban and Andy Serkis. It was preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and followed by The Return of the King (2003).

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Orcs are a race of creatures who are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman.

In the fictional world of Middle-earth by J. R. R. Tolkien, Rohirric is the language of the Rohirrim of Rohan. It is always represented by the Mercian dialect of Old English.

The Battle of the Hornburg is a fictional battle in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings. The battle pitted the forces of the Wizard Saruman against the Rohirrim under King Théoden, who had taken refuge in the mountain fortress of the Hornburg at Helm's Deep. The engagement is also informally known as Battle of Helm's Deep or simply Helm's Deep after that location. An account of the battle is recorded in the climactic chapter "Helm's Deep" of the volume The Two Towers.

Erkenbrand is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in The Two Towers, the second volume of Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings.

J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings include many wars and battles set in the lands of Aman, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth. These are related in his various books such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and other posthumously published books edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.

Théoden is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. The King and Lord of the Mark of Rohan, he appears as a major supporting character in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. When first introduced, Théoden is weak with age and sorrow and the machinations of his top advisor, Gríma Wormtongue, and he does nothing as his kingdom is crumbling. Once roused by Gandalf, however, he becomes an instrumental ally in the war against Saruman and Sauron.

J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan is a computer video game from 1991 based upon the fictional War of the Ring set in the Middle-earth world created by J. R. R. Tolkien, centered in the Lord of the Rings novels. The massive-scale simulation takes part in the realm of Rohan and the player controls the forces of Good during the onslaught of the forces of Evil, namely centered on the conflict with Saruman of Isengard. It was published by Konami and Mirrorsoft.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard is the third expansion pack for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, released on September 27, 2011. This is the third expansion pack for The Lord of the Rings Online and, like the previous expansion, it is available as a web-based download only.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep is the fifth expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. It was released on November 20, 2013, after it was postponed by two days from the original release date, due to a power outage. The expansion is available for download both on the web and on Steam. The Battle at Helm's Deep is created in-game using refined technologies that Turbine created during the development of the expansion, which allow for a significantly larger amount of action and character models during a session. The new expansion increases the in-games level cap to 95, and one of the main new features is the ability to fight 'epic' scale battles such as the Battle of Helm's Deep. The expansion also adds modified trait trees and five new zones to explore in Western Rohan.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Dúnhere was the lord of Harrowdale in Rohan (Middle-earth) and Chieftain of the folk of Dunharrow. He is a nephew of Erkenbrand.

References

↑ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 355–373, ISBN 0-395-29917-9
↑ Darroch Donald (2003), New Zealand, p. 59, ISBN 978-1-903471-74-6

External links

First Battle of the Fords of Isen at the Tolkien Gateway

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 355–373, ISBN 0-395-29917-9

[2] Darroch Donald (2003), New Zealand, p. 59, ISBN 978-1-903471-74-6