Battle of Dagorlad

The Battle of Dagorlad was the climactic military confrontation of the War of the Last Alliance, fought on the barren plain that lay before the Black Gate of Mordor. It brought together the greatest host of Elves and Men assembled since the Elder Days, a coalition that Elrond, who marched with Gil-galad as his herald, recalled long afterward as a gathering of "many great princes and captains" whose splendour reminded him of the hosts of Beleriand before Thangorodrim was broken. The battle ended with Sauron's physical overthrow, but its aftermath—Isildur's refusal to destroy the One Ring—set the stage for the Third Age's central conflict.

Causes and Background

The battle arose from Sauron's return to power in Mordor after the Downfall of Númenor. Having escaped the wreck of the island kingdom as a disembodied spirit of hatred, he re-entered Mordor, rebuilt his strength, and attacked the fledgling Númenórean realms in exile. In response, Elendil the Tall, High King of Arnor and Gondor, formed the Last Alliance with Gil-galad, the High King of the Elves. Their combined host marched east from Rivendell, crossed the Misty Mountains, and met Sauron's forces on the plain of Dagorlad before the Morannon, the Black Gate of Mordor.

What Happens

The Alliance won the field at Dagorlad, gaining "the mastery" as Elrond put it, for the Spear of Gil-galad, Aeglos, and the Sword of Elendil, Narsil, proved unstoppable. The victory drove Sauron's armies back into Mordor, and the Alliance laid siege to Barad-dûr itself. The siege lasted seven years, during which Anárion, Elendil's younger son and the ruler of Gondor, was slain by a stone cast from the Dark Tower. The final combat took place on the slopes of Orodruin, Mount Doom. There Gil-galad and Elendil both perished, and Narsil broke beneath Elendil as he fell. But Sauron was overthrown, and Isildur, Elendil's elder son, cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand with the hilt-shard of his father's broken sword and took it for his own.

Consequences and Aftermath

Elrond and Círdan the Shipwright, the only others present at the final combat besides Isildur, urged him to cast the Ring into the fire of Orodruin, which was nigh at hand where it had been made. Isildur refused, saying he would keep it as a weregild for his father and his brother. This decision, which Elrond later called a fruitless victory, left Sauron diminished but not destroyed, his Ring lost but not unmade. The foundations of Barad-dûr, made with the Ring's power, endured. The battle's cost was immense: Gil-galad and Elendil were no more, Anárion was slain, and "never again shall there be any such league of Elves and Men." The race of Númenor decayed, and the span of their years lessened. In the North, the Men of Westernesse dwindled; Annúminas fell into ruin, and the heirs of Valandil removed to Fornost, which itself later became desolate. In the South, Gondor endured for a while, but the watch upon Mordor slept, and dark things crept back to Gorgoroth. The Ring passed out of all knowledge for more than two thousand years, until Déagol found it in the Gladden Fields and was murdered by Sméagol, setting in motion the events that would culminate in the War of the Ring.

Narrative Role and Significance

The Battle of Dagorlad functions as the foundational catastrophe of the Third Age, the moment when victory was achieved but the ultimate victory was thrown away. It is recalled at the Council of Elrond as the origin of the Ring's long exile and the source of the doom that now hangs over the Free Peoples. The broken sword Narsil, preserved by Isildur's heirs, becomes the token of the returning king, reforged as Andúril for Aragorn. The battle also establishes the pattern of the Ring's corrupting power: Isildur, though not evil, could not bring himself to destroy it, and his failure echoes through the ages until Frodo, at the Cracks of Doom, also cannot destroy it, and only Gollum's intervention completes the task.