Causeway Forts
The Causeway Forts or Guard-towers were two towers with battlements on each side of the north-eastern gate of the Rammas Echor from which a Causeway ran over the flat land to the city of Osgiliath. On the inside of the Rammas Echor the road ran for four leagues (twelve miles) over the Pelennor Fields to the Great Gate of Minas Tirith.
History
On 10 March Third Age 3019, Beregond, a member of the Guards of the Citadel, returned to Minas Tirith from the Causeway Forts to which he had been sent from the city over the Pelennor Fields.
On the following day, on 11 March Third Age 3019, the Steward of Gondor Denethor sent his younger son Faramir to defend the crossing over the river Anduin at Osgiliath against the Morgul-host to decimate the attackers before retreating back to Minas Tirith.
On 12 March Third Age 3019, the attacking Morgul-host that was led by the Witch-king and outnumbered the defenders ten times managed to cross the Anduin on a large number of floats and barges that they had secretly built on the eastern side of Osgiliath so that Faramir retreated and rallied his men to the Causeway Forts.
However, in the early hours of 13 March Third Age 3019, the attackers wrecked the Causeway Forts and blasted breaches in the Rammas Echor. The defenders had to retreat over the Pelennor Fields to the Great Gate of Minas Tirith with Faramir leading the rearguard. When cavalry from Harad overtook the retreating men and caused them to rout, the entire remaining cavalry of Minas Tirith charged from the city, attacked the enemy forces and escorted the retreating men including Faramir, who had been shot with a dart during a fight with a mounted champion of Harad, back to the city. Only two thirds of the defenders including Faramir made it back to Minas Tirith.
Other versions of the legendarium
In an earlier manuscript of what would later become the chapter The Siege of Gondor the Causeway Forts are called Bereth Ondrath. Paul Strack suggests that Bereth Ondrath is a Noldorin name, which means "Towers of the Stone Road". It is likely a combination of the plural of barad ("tower"), the lenited form of gond ("stone") and rath ("course", "street").
Portrayal in adaptations
2015: The Lord of the Rings Online:
The Causeway Forts guard the way west out of the city. In the version of the city that act as the player-versus-monster-player map, they are the stronghold of the Free Peoples and cannot be accessed by the enemy players.
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 08/06/2026.
