Osgiliath
Also calledThe Citadel of the Stars
Osgiliath was the first capital of Gondor, built on both banks of the Anduin with a great bridge between. Burned in the Kin-strife, emptied by the Plague and ruined by Orcs, it was a contested ruin by the War of the Ring, the crossing by which Mordor's armies came to the Pelennor.
Description
The Citadel of the Stars stood astride the Anduin midway between Minas Anor and Minas Ithil, its two halves joined by a great stone bridge lined with towers and houses. The founders Isildur and Anárion had their thrones side by side in its great hall, and above it rose the Dome of Stars, in which the chief of the palantíri was kept, the largest of the seven Seeing-stones and the one through which the others could be watched. Quays and landings on both banks served the river traffic to Pelargir and the sea.
By the end of the Third Age all this was ruin. The bridge was broken, the towers roofless, and the streets on the eastern bank held by Orcs. The Men of Gondor kept a garrison among the western ruins and boats to cross the water, and it was here that the Rangers of Ithilien came and went; but no one lived in Osgiliath, and its name was spoken with grief.
History
Osgiliath was the joint capital of Gondor from its founding in S.A. 3320, and Anárion held it against Sauron in 3429 while Minas Ithil was lost. Its decline began with the Kin-strife: in T.A. 1437 Castamir's rebels besieged Eldacar there and burned the city, and the Dome of Stars fell and its palantír sank into the river. The Great Plague of 1636 struck the city hardest of all, and in 1640 King Tarondor moved to Minas Anor; Osgiliath was never again a capital, and its population dwindled. In 2475 Uruks from Mordor overran Ithilien and sacked what remained, breaking the great bridge, and though Boromir I drove them out the city stayed a ruin.
In the War of the Ring Osgiliath was the front line. In June 3018 Sauron's first assault, with the Witch-king at its head, took the eastern half; Boromir and Faramir held the western bank and threw down the last bridge, escaping by swimming. On the night of March 10 to 11, 3019 the main host of Minas Morgul crossed the river on boats and rafts, and Faramir's outnumbered garrison retreated to the Causeway Forts and across the Pelennor. The armies of Mordor used the ruins as their base for the siege of Minas Tirith, and reinforcements streamed through them to the Pelennor on March 15. After the war the crossing returned to Gondor, and in the Fourth Age the city was rebuilt as part of the Reunited Kingdom's works, though Minas Tirith remained the capital.
Geography
Osgiliath lay on the Anduin about fifteen miles east of Minas Tirith, at the eastern end of the causeway road across the Pelennor. Across the river the road ran on through Ithilien to the Crossroads and Minas Morgul. Cair Andros lay some forty miles upstream.
Associated figures
Fought at
Captain of the White Tower
Boromir
Men of GondorBoromir, elder son of Denethor II and Captain-General of Gondor, was the man of the Fellowship of the Ring. Proud, valiant and devoted to his city, he tried to take the Ring from Frodo at Amon Hen and then died defending Merry and Pippin against Saruman's Orcs, redeeming his fall with his last breath.
GondorRuling Steward of Gondor
Denethor II
Men of GondorDenethor II was the last Ruling Steward of Gondor, a proud, far-seeing and formidable lord who governed Minas Tirith through the years of Sauron's return and the siege of the War of the Ring. Worn down by his secret use of the palantír and by the death of Boromir, he despaired at the height of the siege and burned himself alive in the tombs of his fathers.
GondorCaptain of the Rangers of Ithilien
Faramir
Men of GondorFaramir, younger son of Denethor II, was Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien, the man who let Frodo and the Ring go on into Mordor when he could have taken them, and the last Ruling Steward of Gondor. Healed by Aragorn after his father's despair, he married Éowyn of Rohan and became Prince of Ithilien under the restored king.
GondorLord of Minas Anor
Anárion
NúmenóreansAnárion, younger son of Elendil, escaped the Downfall of Númenor with his brother Isildur and founded with him the realm of Gondor, building Minas Anor. He held Osgiliath against Sauron's first assault and was killed by a stone from Barad-dûr in the seventh year of the siege. Through his son Meneldil the Kings of Gondor descended.
GondorCaptain of Ships
Castamir the Usurper
Men of GondorCastamir was the Captain of Ships of Gondor who led the Kin-strife, the rebellion of the pure-blooded lords against King Eldacar in 1437. He reigned ten years as a usurper, cruel and hated, before Eldacar returned with the Northmen and killed him at the Crossings of Erui. His sons' flight to Umbar founded the Corsairs.
Gondor
Ruled
Second High King of Arnor and Gondor
Isildur
NúmenóreansIsildur, elder son of Elendil, stole a fruit of the White Tree in Númenor, founded Minas Ithil in Gondor, and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand at the end of the Last Alliance. He refused to destroy it, and two years later he was slain by Orcs at the Gladden Fields when the Ring slipped from his finger, so that his name was bound to it as Isildur's Bane.
Gondor; later Arnor as High KingLord of Minas Anor
Anárion
NúmenóreansAnárion, younger son of Elendil, escaped the Downfall of Númenor with his brother Isildur and founded with him the realm of Gondor, building Minas Anor. He held Osgiliath against Sauron's first assault and was killed by a stone from Barad-dûr in the seventh year of the siege. Through his son Meneldil the Kings of Gondor descended.
Gondor
Dwelt in
King of Gondor
Meneldil
Men of GondorMeneldil, son of Anárion, was the last man born in Númenor and the first king to rule Gondor alone. Left in charge of the South Kingdom by his uncle Isildur in T.A. 2, he made Gondor an independent realm and founded the line of kings that descended from Anárion.
GondorQueen of Gondor
Berúthiel
Black NúmenóreansBerúthiel was the queen of Tarannon Falastur, twelfth King of Gondor, a Black Númenórean of Umbar who spied on the realm through her nine black cats and one white. Her husband set her adrift at sea and struck her name from the records, but the cats of Queen Berúthiel remained a byword in Gondor for creatures that find their way in the dark.
Gondor
Peoples
Timeline
- S.A. 3320
Osgiliath founded
The sons of Elendil build their capital on both banks of Anduin with the Dome of Stars.
- S.A. 3429
Held against Sauron
Anárion defends the city while Minas Ithil falls.
- T.A. 1437
Burned in the Kin-strife
Castamir's rebels sack the city; the Dome of Stars falls and its palantír is lost.
- T.A. 1636 to 1640
The Plague and the removal of the capital
The Plague empties the city and Tarondor moves the King's House to Minas Anor.
- T.A. 2475
Ruined by Uruks
Orcs of Mordor sack the city and break the great bridge.
- T.A. 3018, June 20
East Osgiliath lost
Sauron's first assault takes the eastern bank; Boromir and Faramir break the last bridge.
- T.A. 3019, March 10 to 11
The crossing of Anduin
The host of Minas Morgul forces the river and drives Faramir's garrison back.
Sources
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix A I (iv); Appendix B
- The Fellowship of the RingBook II, chapter 2 (Boromir's account)
- The Return of the KingBook V, chapters 1 and 4
- Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthThe Palantíri
See also
Part of
Elsewhere in Gondor
- Minas Tirithcity
- Ithilienregion
- Pelennor Fieldsplain
- Drúadan Forestforest
- Erechplace
- Anfalasregion
- Belfalasregion
- Cair Androsisland
- Lebenninregion