Who ruled Minas Tirith when the Captians of the West went to the Black Gate?

[afro-elf]

Who ruled Minas Tirith when the Captians of the West went to the Black Gate?


I don't have my books.

[Lefty Scaevola]

I do not recall that RoTK specifies who commanded there in between the 'Lords of the West' and their army leaving (with Imrahil) and Faramir leaving the Houses of Healing and taking up his authority.

[Lalaith]

I would have said Faramir.

[Bombadillo]

It was Faramir, wasn't it? I don't think he'd been officially kinged yet though.

[Findegil]

When Eówyn asked the master of the houses of healing, he named Lord Húrin warden of the keys as the one in command of the city.

Respectfully
Findegil

[LutraMage]

That's the beauty of LoTRs, its so rich in detail and depth, the answer's never as obvious as you think its going to be!

[afro-elf]

Thanks Findegil.

[Alcuin]

Findegil is correct. Húrin of the Keys ruled the Dúnedain until Faramir was well and strong enough to take up his authority. Elfhelm was in command of 3000 Rohirrim who were left behind to waylay the road from Anórien to prevent any attack on the city by the army of Easterlings still encamped to the north, the army the scouts of Rohan discovered blocking the main road to Minas Tirith.

Just to review. The Rohirrim arrived with 6000 riders. 3000 remained in or near Minas Tirith as a mounted rearguard. 500 rode to war with Éomer and another 500 marched. That means the Rohirrim suffered 2000 casualties, about one in three, of which perhaps half were dead.

I think there were about 4000 men in Minas Tirith before the siege, including all the survivors of Faramir’s command of Rangers in Ithilien. Pippin and Bergil watched about 2300 men from the provinces march into Minas Tirith before the siege: the number of defenders that were expected from the provinces, especially Belfalas, Lebennin, and Lossarnach, was greatly reduced by the threat of imminent attack by the Corsairs. Estimates vary on that initial number, which I guessed to be about 4000, but I think there were roughly 6000–6500 defenders of the City when it was besieged.

After the battle, were are explicitly told how many were sent to the Black Gate under the Captains of the West, and we are explicitly told how many Lord Angbor initially led from Pelargir at Aragorn’s command: 7000 left from Minas Tirith, 6000 on foot and 1000 on horse, while the army from Pelargir began with 4000 men who were probably joined by a great many others, besides those who sailed up the Anduin with Aragorn in his attack that broke the siege.

If the Dúnedain took half their force and left behind the other half, as seems likely, then they had about 14,000 fighting men altogether, in addition to at least 4000 casualties (2000 Rohirrim and a similar number of Gondorians) from the brief siege, of whom perhaps half were killed.

Imrahil was in command of the men of Gondor after the death of Denethor. Húrin was in charge of the forces of Gondor left behind in Minas Tirith until Faramir was sufficiently recovered to assume his responsibilities, which probably took about 4 weeks. 46 days elapsed between the end of the siege and the crowning of King Elessar, almost 7 weeks. Just for grins and giggles, the Warden of the Houses of Healing probably asked Faramir to visit Éowyn a week or two after he left to take up his duties, and then Éowyn completed her healing; she helped Faramir prepare for the arrival and crowning of Aragorn for the balance of that time, another week or two.

Faramir was the rightful commander of the Dúnedain of Gondor. His uncle Imrahil ruled in his stead until he led the forces of Gondor under Aragorn’s leadership to the Black Gate. Húrin ruled the remaining Dúnedain for a few more weeks until Faramir was able to do that himself.

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Originally Posted by afro-elf

About Eowyn,
Does anyone know what her alias Dernhelm means?

She was kown as dernhelm because of her exclaimation when she realized that the rider's headgear was heavy and obscured her sight.

'Dern Helm"

LOL!

Dernhelm from Anglo-Saxon (i.e., Rohirrim) dern- “secret, hidden” + helm “helm[et], protector”. Appropriate for her defense of Théoden.