It’s impossible to say thatThe Lord Of The Ringsseries doesn’t get kicked off with a bang. While it does open with a bit of narration to set the stage with important past events, fans of the films are treated toa fantastic cinematic battleknown as the War of the Last Alliance. This thrilling war is vital to the story ofThe Lord Of The Ringsas it sets up many of the key background figures and demonstrates the immense danger of the evil being known as Sauron.
Casual fans of the series may think that the prologue inThe Fellowship Of The Ringprovides all the necessary details to understand this war, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Fans are treated to the highlights of the closing moments, but there is so much more involved in the build-up and all the things that would occur in the immediate aftermath.
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What Was The War Of The Last Alliance?
The War of the Last Alliance might just be one of the most important wars fought throughout the history ofThe Lord Of The Rings. It was a twelve-year conflict betweenSauron’s forces of darknessand an alliance between the Men and Elves of Middle Earth. For whatever reason, dwarves and various other races go unnamed in the alliance despite also bolstering the numbers of the armies. Ultimately, the war would come to a close with the defeat of Sauron, though he would not be killed for good due to the fact that the One Ring was not destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom.
This war was one of the bloodiest and largest throughout the entire history of Middle Earth, with the only comparable war to it being the one that would take place years later during the quest to finally destroythe One Ring. The alliance armies were led by a group of Elven kings and the king of men of the era, Elendil. The beginning of the truce was truly formed by the Elf Gil-Galad and Elendil in response to the provocations of the forces of Sauron.
The war itself was horrific, resulting in the deaths of all the major kings commanding the armies of the alliance by the close of the conflict. The alliance was capable of winning battles when it counted, but due to the egos of the rulers involved, many would fall when they began acting based on their own self-interest. Some of the major theatres of the war were The Black Gate, Dagorlad, andeven the Dead Marshes. After seven long years of raging war in Mordor, Sauron would finally take the battlefield, though he would be met by a hefty force. This decision proved to be one of the worst Sauron could make as it would act as the beginning of his downfall.
How Was Sauron Defeated?
WhenSauron took to the battlefield, it likely terrified the alliance army, but people still tried to take down the dark lord. Two major figures who stood against Sauron at this point in the battle were Gil-Galad and Elendil, though Sauron would manage to take both down with little effort. At that point, the alliance army likely believed that the tide of the war was turning for the worst and that soon Sauron would crush them all. Whether out of fear or just dumb luck, Isildur would manage to be the one to finally destroy Sauron’s physical form.
After attempting to grab his father’s sword, Sauron would step on it, but that was exactly what Isildur needed. He would pull the shattered sword free from under Sauron’s boot and lash out at the dark lord, managing to land a lucky cut across Sauron’s fingers. Now seperated from the ring,Sauron’s physical form would explode, sending beings from both armies flying. This would be the first and only time Sauron would be seen in the flesh duringThe Lord Of The Ringsseries, but it solidified just how significant of a threat Sauron was to every living creature in Middle Earth.
What Was The Outcome Of The War Of The Last Alliance?
The details of the rest of the battle following the defeat of Sauron aren’t plentiful, but it is likely that many of his forces turned tail and attempted to flee, leaving whoever remained to fight and be slain by the alliance. With Sauron’s physical form defeated,Isildur took up the One Ringand was then tasked with being the one to destroy the One Ring. Elrond would go with Isildur to Mount Doom in order to cast the ring into the fires, but Isildur would ultimately succumb to the influence of the ring and refuse to destroy the ring.
Exactly whyElrond allowed Isildur to leave Mount Doomwith the One Ring is unclear, though there are a few possible explanations. It’s possible Elrond simply didn’t have the will to fight anymore and wouldn’t have been able to stop Isildur anyway. It’s also possible that Elrond simply had no idea that Sauron would have the capability to return to physical form once again. What might be likely is that Elrond, recognizing the need to replace the kings of the Elves and the Men didn’t want any more bloodshed, and figured it would be best to allow Isildur to leave with the ring in the hopes that it wouldn’t totally corrupt him with the supposed defeat of Sauron.
While Isildur would go on to rule as king, he would eventually attempt to bring the ring to Elrond who’d already returned to hishome in Rivendell. That journey would prove to be one of the bloodiest and most significant in Middle Earth’s history due to the deaths of Isildur and his family. All of his sons would be killed in a mass attack by a group of Orcs, though Isildur would initially manage to escape. He’d wade into some waters, but the One Ring would slip off his finger and wash away, leaving Isildur defenseless when he was riddled with arrows by nearby Orcs.
The Lord Of The Ringsis available to stream on Amazon Prime Video
