Arrival of the Rohirrim at Minas Tirith
King Theoden and the Rohirrm reinforcements arrive at the Pelennor Fields in front of Minas Tirith and witnessed Minas Tirith desperate for help.
King Theoden and the Rohirrim are overwhelmed by the mass armies of Sauron as the Siege of Gondor was worse than they’ve expected.
Battle of the Pelennor Fields
The Pelennor Fields used to be prosperous fertile land that fed Minas Tirith, but now it was infested with the orcs, easterlings, Haradrim of the armies of Sauron.
Theoden and the Rohirrim witnessed the massed armies of Mordor and Sauron that overwhelmed them but King Theoden, already determined, makes a speech onto his Rohirrim riders. King Theoden fulfills the old Oath of Eorl and Cirion, the alliance of Gondor and Rohan.
Speech of Theoden before the Charge of the Rohirrim – Novel
Arise now, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Dire deeds awake: dark is it eastward.
Let horse be bridled, horn be sounded!
Forth Eorlingas
Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor
Speech of Theoden before the Charge of the Rohirrim – Movie
Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now, ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending!
Death! Death! Death!
Forth Eorlingas!
Charge of the Rohirrim
In the novel, the Rhorrrim charge more silently and make a surprise attack on the armies of Morodor.
In the novel with the sounds of the battle horns, led by King Theoden, the 6,000 cavalries of the Rohirrim charge and attack the flanks of the armies of Sauron that put Minas Tirith under siege.
The Witch King of Angmar that faced Gandalf quickly rides his fell beast to hurry and lead the counterattack against cavalry of Rohan’s surprise charge.
The charge of the Rohirrim was successful and put the armies of Mordor disform their formations.
Death of King Theoden
The Witch King of Angmar furious of the Rohan reinforcements that forced him to pull out the troops invading Minas Tirith spotted Theoden, the king of Rohan in the air. The Witch King of Angmar riding his fell beast swooped onto the ground and knocked out Theoden and his horse.
King Theoden was severely wounded by this fall and eventually he was avenged by Eowyn and Merry and left his last words thanking them before his death.
Death of the Witch King of Angmar – Merry and Eowyn
The Witch King of Angmar mocked Theoden that “no man could kill him”, however the Witch King of Angmar was soon retaliated by a Rohan rider named Dernhelm.
Dernhelm was Eowyn disguised and Eowyn beheaded the fell beast that the Witch King of Angmar was riding.
Despite the terror that the Witch King of Angmar caused, Eowyn overcame her fear to avenge her uncle Theoden.
The black breath of the Witch King of Angmar poisoned and damaged Eowyn and his mace also shattered the shields of Eowyn.
However Merry successfully stabbed the Witch King of Angmar with the elf blade he was gifted from Lothlorien.
An ordinary sword wouldn’t have damaged the nazgul. Eowyn then rose stating that "I am no man" and stabs the Witch King of Angmar that killed him.
The Prophecy of the death of the Witch King of Angmar was fulfilled as a half-ling hobbit Merry, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Eowyn a woman slayed him as no ‘man’ could kill him.
Counterattack against the Rohirrim by the Haradrim Mumakil elephants
The Haradrim (Southron) mumakils the battle elephants formed a counterattack against the cavalry of Rohan.
The deformed orcs would retreat behind the mumakils along with the easterlings and variags of Khand while the mumakils led the charge against the Rohan cavalry.
The horses raised in Rohan didn’t fear spears and pikes, however the overwhelming size of the oliphaunts or the mumakils put the horses into fear and the cavalry of Rohan were dealt great damage by the counterattack of the mumakils.
This turned the tide of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields once more against Gondor and Rohan. At the docks of the Anduin River south of the Pelennor Fields of Rammas Echor, a massive fleet of ships with black sails arrived and all hope seemed to have been gone…
Reinforcements of Southern Gondor – Novel
The Grey Company of the Northern Rangers led by Halbarad, Elrohir and Elladan along with Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas with the 3,000 troops of Southern Gondor offboarded the corsair ships and turned the tide of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in the novel.
Reinforcements of the Army of the Dead at Minas Tirith – Movie
The orcs of Mordor were glad while the Gondor-Rohan alliance was in despair after discovering the black sails.
However, in the ships of the corsairs of Umbar, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas offboarded and surprised the orcs.
The Army of the Dead, the Oathbreakers also flooded out from the ships of the corsairs of Umbar and turned the tides of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields once more.
The Army of the Dead of the Dead Men of Dunharrow swept the battlefield wiping out the Mumakils and the orcs, Haradrim and easterlings easily.
Death of Gothmog
In the novel, what happened to Gothmog is unknown, however in the movie, Gothmog was killed after he tried to pursuit Eowyn.
Casualties of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields
Halabard, kin of Aragorn who led the Grey Company with Grimbold, King Theoden of Rohan were killed at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields along with 3,000 Gondor troops and 2,000 Rohan troops in the novel.
In the movie, most of the Gondor and Rohan troops were sacrificed at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields probably to make a more dramatic impact.
