Minas Tirith
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- This article is about the city in the Third Age. For the First Age tower of the same name, see Minas Tirith (First Age).
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Minas Tirith (IPA: ['minæs 'tɪɹiθ]), originally named Minas Anor, is a heavily fortified city in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, which was the capital of Gondor in the second half of the Third Age. It is often referred to as the White City and the City of Kings. The Rohirrim sometimes translated this into their own language as Mundburg.
[edit] DescriptionMinas Tirith was built on a hill right against the face of Mount Mindolluin, facing east towards the Pelennor Fields and Osgiliath. The city was divided into seven levels, each 100 feet high and surrounded by a white wall. The outer face of the seventh wall, the lowest, was made of black stone, the same material used in Orthanc; it was vulnerable only to earthquakes capable of rending the ground where it stood.[1] In each wall there was a gate which connected the levels. A spur of rock, the summit of which was level with the city's uppermost tier, jutted out from the hill in an easterly direction, dividing all but the first level into two. Finally, within the seventh wall, was the Citadel with its White Tower of Ecthelion, where the Seeing Stone of Minas Anor was kept — three hundred feet high, so that its top was one thousand feet above the plain. On the saddle between the city and Mindolluin was Rath Dínen (The Silent Street), where the ornate tombs of the Kings of Gondor and their Stewards were built. Map #40 in Barbara Strachey's Journeys of Frodo is a plan of Minas Tirith. Pages 138&139 in Karen Wynn Fonstad's revised The Atlas of Middle-earth is another plan of Minas Tirith. They are at variance with each other, as the only authoritative maps by Tolkien are just sketches. [edit] History[edit] Early historyOriginally known as Minas Anor, the "Tower of the Sun", Minas Tirith was built in S.A. 3320 by Anárion, brother of Isildur and second son of Elendil, High King of Arnor. Ostoher rebuilt the city in T.A. 420, and it became the capital of Gondor after the Great Plague which devastated the population of Osgiliath. Shortly after King Tarondor moved the King's House from Osgiliath to the City in T.A. 1640. In 2002, the White City's companion city, Minas Ithil, Tower of the Moon (Moontower), on the borders of Mordor, was captured by the Nazgûl and renamed Minas Morgul, Tower of Sorcery (Dead City, accursed tower). Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith, meaning "Tower of Guard", to indicate that since the fall of Minas Ithil, Minas Tirith assumed the role of guarding Gondor against Mordor's forces. For the next thousand years, the two cities were in a stalemate, neither able to topple the other. With the rebuilding of the Dark Tower and the open return of Sauron, the forces of Mordor gathered their strength to topple Minas Tirith in the upcoming War of the Ring. Minas Morgul was eventually taken over and destroyed by the armies of Gondor and Rohan, under command of Aragorn and Éomer, after the defeat of Saurons army at Minas Tirith. [edit] The War of the Ring
 Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about The Lord of the Rings follow.
During the War of the Ring (T.A. 3018–3019), Minas Tirith is said to have had less than half of the population which could have dwelt there at ease. [edit] Rammas EchorIn the latter part of the Third Age, Minas Tirith and its lands were surrounded by the Rammas Echor, a fortified wall encircling the Pelennor Fields and meeting up with Osgiliath, where the Causeway Forts were built on the west bank of the Anduin and garrisoned, though Osgiliath itself remained in ruins. This outwall was built by Ecthelion II but fell into disrepair after his death, only to be repaired in the year leading up to the War. His successor Denethor II ordered Osgiliath and the Rammas to be defended, despite the advice of the council who wanted to retreat back to Minas Tirith and hold out from there. As told in The Return of the King, the Rammas proved an ineffective defence due to the overwhelming Orc legions of Mordor, who penetrated the wall and laid siege to the city before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. [edit] BesiegedFaramir was unable to hold Osgiliath and the Causeway Forts against the overwhelming forces of Mordor and was driven back with heavy loss. Leading the rearguard against the onslaught, he was wounded and nearly slain but the cavalry charge of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth and Gandalf saved him and the counter-attack allowed the rest of Gondor's soldiers to reach the safety of the city. Minas Tirith was besieged by troops of Mordor, the Easterlings and the Haradrim, and the land fell under the Great Darkness generated by Mordor. Significant damage was done to the first circle of the city but the Enemy was unable to break through the wall - except in one place. The gate of the city was broken by a combination of the battering ram Grond and the Witch-hing's sorcery. However, the Witch-king was halted at the entrance by Gandalf. The timely arrival of the Rohirrim led by King Théoden forced the armies of Mordor to face the newcomers instead of assaulting the city. The resulting Battle of the Pelennor Fields took place on March 15, 3019 in the fields surrounding the city. Despite heavy losses, Minas Tirith itself was not seriously threatened again and the battle was won by Gondor and its allies from Rohan. [edit] AftermathOn May 1, 3019 King Elessar's coronation took place on the plain outside Minas Tirith, he then entered the city as King. Minas Tirith is known to have stood firm well into the Fourth Age. Gimli the Dwarf and some of Durin's folk used mithril to replace the gates that had been broken in the War of the Ring. It remained the chief city of Gondor, as it is not known whether Osgiliath was ever rebuilt. Minas Ithil, however, was destroyed by Elessar, King of Gondor, soon after the War of the Ring. The eagle who brings the news of Sauron's defeat to Minas Tirith refers to the city as the Tower of Anor. The eagle might have been speaking poetically, but as Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age in The Silmarillion says, the city is referred to Minas Anor again after Sauron's overthrow. However, in the abandoned sequel The New Shadow, which takes place during the time of Elessar's son Eldarion, the city was named Minas Tirith. Spoilers end here.
[edit] Portrayal in adaptations
Tolkien's description of the physical layout of Minas Tirith is followed relatively faithfully in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Jackson interpreting the top of the rock as flattened and paved. In the films Minas Tirith is the location for the coronation of Aragorn. Portions of Minas Tirith were constructed as full-scale sets, and the whole city as a very large, highly detailed miniature or "bigature" by Weta Workshop. A remarkably detailed three-dimensional digital model, for CGI shots, along with the whole of its surrounding environment including the Pelennor Fields and Mindolluin (but not the Rammas Echor, which was visually omitted from the films, despite being mentioned in the dialogue, where Théoden gave the order to the Rohirrim beginning "When we get through the Wall..." quoted directly from the book.) was created by Weta Digital. The height of Minas Tirith in the films could be estimated to be almost 1,700 feet. In the non-canon New Line book The Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare, the seventh level is identified as a quarter of a mile high, 1,320 feet above the plain, and the Tower of Ecthelion was over 300 feet tall. These numbers nonwithstanding, The Atlas of Middle-earth actually projects Minas Tirith to be much, much larger than what was shown in the film. Fonstad estimates a diameter of 3100 feet for the First Circle of the City alone; the cinematic Minas Tirith appears as large as a castle-town. In the novel, the outer walls of Minas Tirith are virtually indestructible like the similar black surface of the Orthanc, as they were built by the Dúnedain before their craft waned in exile, and it was said that only an earthquake or similar seismic convulsion could cause significant damage, so the Enemy did not waste shot upon it. In the Jackson films, the outer walls took a significant beating due to Mordor's catapults and siege towers. In the films, the towers of Minas Tirith are equipped with trebuchets. However, this kind of siege engine is not specifically mentioned in the book. According to the Making Of featurettes on the Extended Edition DVDs, the appearance and structure of the city was based upon the Mont Saint-Michel, France, along with St Michael's Mount, Cornwall. [edit] References
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