Their number was smaller than expected since Gondor's coastal towns were being attacked by the Corsairs of Umbar. Prominent among these was a 700-strong contingent led by Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, Denethor's brother-in-law. The companies from outlying provinces of Gondor that came to the aid of Minas Tirith amounted to nearly 3,000 defenders. Faramir was outnumbered by ten times at Osgiliath, where he lost one third of his men. The defenders' numbers were considerably less. Tolkien describes the army as the greatest to 'issue from that vale since the days of Isildur's might, no host so fell and strong in arms had yet assailed the fords of Anduin and yet it was but one and not the greatest of the hosts that Mordor now sent forth.' Sauron's forces included Haradrim Southrons who brought elephantine beasts, Easterlings from RhГ»n and Variags from Khand, and many Orcs and Trolls. This army consisted of tens of thousands of orcs, trolls, and Men who had allied with Sauron. Sauron's army from Minas Morgul, led by the Witch-king of Angmar (chief of the NazgГ»l) greatly outnumbered the combined armies of Gondor and its allies. The Haradrim used elephants in the battle, as Pyrrhus of Epirus did in his invasion of Ancient Rome. The NazgГ»l or Ringwraiths, Sauron's most feared servants, flew over the battlefield on fell beasts, causing the defenders' morale to waver. A Great Darkness of smoke and cloud from Mordor blotted out the sun on the Dawnless Day. Meanwhile, the enemy forces assembled before the city on the Pelennor Fields. Since the despairing Steward refused to leave his son's side, the Wizard Gandalf took command of the city's defences. In the retreat to the city, Faramir, son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, was severely wounded. The city of Minas Tirith was besieged following the fall of Osgiliath and the Rammas Echor, Gondor's final barriers against the forces of Mordor. The battle formed a 'spectacular' centrepiece in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Others have commented on Tolkien's vivid descriptions of battle, noting that he served in the Battle of the Somme. They have noted, too, the elegiac tone, echoing that of the Old English poem Beowulf, the use of alliterative verse, and the nature of the armour, which is mostly early medieval-style mail shirts with additions of plate armour. Scholars analysing the story have commented on Tolkien's theory of northern courage, which carries on even in the face of certain death. Others have likened the death of the Witch-King of Angmar to the death of Macbeth, who was similarly prophesied not to die by the hand of man 'of woman born' and the crowing of a cockerel at the moment the Witch-King was about to enter the city has been said to recall the cock-crow heralding the resurrection of Jesus at the moment that Simon Peter denied knowing him. In search of Tolkien's sources, scholars have compared the battle with the historic account of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields where King Theodoric I was trampled to death by his own men after he fell from his horse. It took place at the end of the Third Age in the Pelennor Fields, the townlands and fields between Minas Tirith and the River Anduin. It was the largest battle in the War of the Ring. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was the defence of the city of Minas Tirith by the forces of Gondor and the cavalry of its ally Rohan, against the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron from Mordor and its allies the Haradrim and the Easterlings. Tens of thousands of Orcs, Easterlings, Haradrim and Variags 5,000 South Gondorians and men from outlying provinces.

Lord of the rings gondor soldier