Snowmane

The king's horse

Snowmane was the mount of Théoden, king of Rohan, in the last year of the Third Age. Since the horses of the kings of the Mark were by custom of the Mearas, the line of Felaróf, he is generally reckoned one of them, though the text does not say so directly. When Gandalf roused Théoden from the counsels of Gríma in March of T.A. 3019, Snowmane was brought to the doors of Meduseld in Edoras, and the king rode out on him at the head of his Riders.

Helm's Deep to the Pelennor

Snowmane carried Théoden to Helm's Deep, and out of the gate at dawn in the charge that broke the host of Isengard; then to Isengard, back to Edoras, and to the muster at Dunharrow. From there he bore the king on the long ride through the Drúadan Forest to the Pelennor Fields. On the morning of March 15 Théoden led the charge of the Rohirrim from Snowmane's back.

Death

Then the Witch-king came down on his winged beast. Snowmane, mad with terror, reared and fought the air, and a black dart struck him. He fell on his side and pinned the king beneath him, and Théoden was crushed. Éowyn and Merry killed the Witch-king over the two of them, and Théoden died where he lay. When the field was cleared the Rohirrim buried Snowmane in a grave on the spot and set a stone over it, carved in the tongues of Gondor and the Mark, naming him the faithful servant and the master's bane. The grass on the mound grew green and long, but the ground where the winged beast was burned stayed bare for ever, and the men of the city called the place Snowmane's Howe.

Killed by a dart of the Witch-king on the Pelennor Fields, March 15, T.A. 3019; buried on the field beneath Snowmane's Howe.