Talk:Battle of the Morannon

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60,000 does not work though, because if Sauron only had 60,000 troops after draining Mordor of his forces, then it would not be the insurmountable army that the captains of the west know they cannot defeat. Had Aragorn and Gandalf brought all of their forces from Minas Tirith to fight at the Black Gate, they might have had 20,000 men - and if the opposing force was only 60,000, they could have hoped for a military victory with only 3-1 odds against them (which were roughly the same as the odds that they fought at the Battle of the Pelennor fields). Even accepting that much of Sauron's strength was with the army in Anorien and the Easterlings attacking the Lonely Mountain, Sauron's armies are still far too few to be unbeatable on the battlefield. I'm not going to make the edit, but I think that 600,000 is definitely more what Tolkien had in mind for the Battle at the Black Gate.

Okay, now it's been three times that the number of Sauron's forces was changed from 60,000 to 600,000. Is there some passage this number is derived from? The number 60,000 comes from "ten times and more than ten times" the 6000 from Gondor. What warrant is there for 600,000? Eric119 06:04, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Perhaps it was interpreted as 10x10x6000. That's how I read it, at least the first few times. I was actually going to change it. I might's well check now. Maeglin Lómion 07:15, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I changed the estimate to "60,000 or more". Ultimate77 19, June 2006

[edit] Pics

Maybe a better pic from movie would be better...preferably one with the black gate in site and maybe aragorn —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Randalllin (talk • contribs) 05:58, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

Even better, an illustration; and we have one now. Uthanc 14:09, 9 December 2006 (UTC)