Second Fall of Minas Ithil

Prelude

In Third Age 1636 the Great Plague killed a large number of people in Gondor, including king Telemnar and all his children. The devastation was such that Minas Ithil was emptied of its population, the fortresses that guarded the passes to Mordor were unmanned, and the watch on the borders of Mordor ceased due to a lack of troops. As a result, evil beings were able enter Mordor secretly. During the reign of king Eärnil II, in Third Age 1980, the Witch-king reentered Mordor and gathered the other Nazgûl.

Gondor must have sent a force to reoccupy Minas Ithil by the time the siege began in T.A. 2000, since there were people there to defend it, but the extent to which it was repopulated, and when these efforts began, is unknown.

Siege and capture

Twenty years after the return of the Witch-king to Mordor, in Third Age 2000, men, who had been dominated by Sauron in his first strength and had wandered homeless and masterless after his fall, now led by the Nazgûl came out of Mordor by night over the Pass of Cirith Ungol, and probably also over the main pass in the ravine at the end of the valley in which Minas Ithil was located, and started a siege of Minas Ithil. It is possible that the Tower of Cirith Ungol was captured by the Nazgûl during the same night, because the Tower of Cirith Ungol was an eastern outpost of the defences of Minas Ithil and because the vigilance had failed at the Tower of Cirith Ungol and treachery had yielded it up to the Witch-king. Two years later in Third Age 2002 the troops of the Nazgûl captured Minas Ithil and its palantír.

Aftermath

After the capture of Minas Ithil by the Nazgûl, the city became a terrible place, too dreadful to look upon and was renamed Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery. Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith, the Tower of the Guard and there was constant war between Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 29/05/2026.