Luke of X (Fmr. Twitter)
New Member
I know this is either waaay late or waay too early, but I used to be a regular listener on Twitter from approximately episode 15-16 until the Council of Elrond when I had to break for law school, then the Army. I started up again regularly around episode 280.
So the week of New Year's I started re-watching the series thus far from the very beginning. I hit the end of Book 1 on May 17, and the most recent episode was the discussion on Frodo through the Looking Glass.
Anyway, a question I had at the time, but never thought to put in the forums, and haven't seen in the forums, is this:
We did a thorough examination of the Nazgul "siege" of both Crickhollow and Weathertop. I have always been fascinated by the Tale of Years in Appendix B, and it records that in the year 2000 of the Third Age, the Nazgul issue from Mordor and lay siege to Minas Ithil. That siege is said to last for two years. Can we see how that siege might have been prosecuted from the Ringwraith's actions in Buckland and the dell under Weathertop? Is it possible that the Nine stationed themselves around the city and over the course of two years gradually tightened their proximity to the city and each other until suddenly one day the inhabitants of Minas Ithil finally succumbed to the dread terror of the Nazgul?
We are not told of any battles fought, or any relief sent from the rest of Gondor. While Gondor was in decline, it was still able to fight a two front war 55 years earlier and had sent a relief force the size and splendor of which amazed the Elves of the Havens and the Men of Arnor a mere 25 years earlier. My main reason for thinking that the siege of the Nazgul was mostly spiritual is that last bit. If Gondor, while in a state of decline, could send an expeditionary force to Arnor, but no record is made of any attempts to rescue Minas Ithil, is it possible that the rest of Gondor did not know what was happening until after the City had fallen? While the king's seat had moved from Osgiliath to Minas Anor about 350 years earlier, both Osgiliath and Ithilien (which, to be fair, had since become Gondor's frontier) were still populated and there was still a king on the throne. But I would find it highly unlikely that King Eärnil II knew and did nothing when he had sent his son with what force they could spare to the fall of Fornost. I'd find it easier to believe that they didn't know and only found out from survivors after the fact, in a "how long had this feeling lingered over the city" kind of post-capture analysis.
So the week of New Year's I started re-watching the series thus far from the very beginning. I hit the end of Book 1 on May 17, and the most recent episode was the discussion on Frodo through the Looking Glass.
Anyway, a question I had at the time, but never thought to put in the forums, and haven't seen in the forums, is this:
We did a thorough examination of the Nazgul "siege" of both Crickhollow and Weathertop. I have always been fascinated by the Tale of Years in Appendix B, and it records that in the year 2000 of the Third Age, the Nazgul issue from Mordor and lay siege to Minas Ithil. That siege is said to last for two years. Can we see how that siege might have been prosecuted from the Ringwraith's actions in Buckland and the dell under Weathertop? Is it possible that the Nine stationed themselves around the city and over the course of two years gradually tightened their proximity to the city and each other until suddenly one day the inhabitants of Minas Ithil finally succumbed to the dread terror of the Nazgul?
We are not told of any battles fought, or any relief sent from the rest of Gondor. While Gondor was in decline, it was still able to fight a two front war 55 years earlier and had sent a relief force the size and splendor of which amazed the Elves of the Havens and the Men of Arnor a mere 25 years earlier. My main reason for thinking that the siege of the Nazgul was mostly spiritual is that last bit. If Gondor, while in a state of decline, could send an expeditionary force to Arnor, but no record is made of any attempts to rescue Minas Ithil, is it possible that the rest of Gondor did not know what was happening until after the City had fallen? While the king's seat had moved from Osgiliath to Minas Anor about 350 years earlier, both Osgiliath and Ithilien (which, to be fair, had since become Gondor's frontier) were still populated and there was still a king on the throne. But I would find it highly unlikely that King Eärnil II knew and did nothing when he had sent his son with what force they could spare to the fall of Fornost. I'd find it easier to believe that they didn't know and only found out from survivors after the fact, in a "how long had this feeling lingered over the city" kind of post-capture analysis.
