War of the Ring

The War of the Ring was the great conflict at the end of the Third Age of Middle-earth, fought between the free peoples and the renewed power of Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor. It took its name from the One Ring, the master Ring of Power that Sauron had forged long ago and lost, and whose recovery or destruction would decide the fate of the world. The war reached its climax in the year 3019 of the Third Age and ended with the unmaking of the Ring and the final overthrow of Sauron.

Unlike the wars of conquest that had gone before, the War of the Ring turned upon a secret and desperate errand: the carrying of the One Ring into the heart of Sauron's own realm to be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, where alone it could be unmade.

Background

After his defeat at the end of the Second Age by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Sauron had been diminished but not destroyed, for the One Ring survived his bodily ruin. Across the long years of the Third Age he slowly regained strength, until at last he openly declared himself in Mordor and began to gather his armies. When he learned that the Ring had resurfaced -- found by the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and passed to his heir Frodo -- he bent all his will to recovering it.

The War

At the Council of Elrond in Rivendell, the free peoples resolved that the Ring must be destroyed, and the Fellowship of the Ring was formed to bear it toward Mordor. Though the Fellowship was sundered after the fall of Gandalf in Moria and the Breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen, its members carried the war to every front.

While Frodo and Sam made their secret way toward Mount Doom, great battles were fought across the West. The wizard Saruman was broken at Isengard by the Ents and defeated at the Battle of Helm's Deep. The realms of Rohan and Gondor withstood the onslaught of Mordor at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields before Minas Tirith. At the last, the captains of the West marched on the Black Gate as a diversion, to draw Sauron's Eye while the Ring-bearer crept toward the Mountain.

Outcome

The war was won not by force of arms but by the destruction of the Ring. At the Crack of Doom, the Ring was at last unmade -- though only through the intervention of Gollum, who seized it and fell with it into the fire. With the Ring's destruction, Sauron was utterly and forever undone, his armies scattered, and his dark works thrown down.

Significance

The War of the Ring ended the Third Age and the long shadow of Sauron over Middle-earth. With his fall, and the passing of the Three Elven Rings, the Elves diminished and departed over the Sea, and the Age of Men began. The victory was bought at great cost, and the world that followed, though freed of its ancient evil, was diminished in wonder and magic.