The Military Strength of Middle-earth During the War of the Ring | Army Comparison

Discover the power balance of Middle-earth as it faced the final battles against Sauron’s dark forces in the Third Age. Join us for this detailed comparison of the armies that shaped the fate of the world!

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I'm Alex, a passionate enthusiast of the world of "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon." As a professional 3D modeling artist, I bring the realms of Westeros and beyond to life through my channel, "Wings of Valyria." Join me on an epic journey where artistry meets the magic of storytelling.

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[ThePalaeontologist]

So basically, this is all, and I do mean, _all_ wrong. Main problem being, routinely lowballing the majority of the factions (including Mordor) I don't understand how some of the mistakes could be made. For instance, it's very well-established that during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Rohirrim defeated 18, 000 Black Serpent Cavalry (Haradrim) which don't include the Haradrim on the Mumakil. Where is this getting merely 8, 000 Haradrim from? Then there is no mention of the Variags of Khand. 2, 000 Corsairs from Umbar? Way too low. 5, 000 Easterlings? Brother in Christ, the Easterlings sent 1 legion to the Pelennor Fields which probably numbered about 5, 000 just by itself.

Then there were the _tens of thousands_ of Easterlings sent in multiple legions against Erebor and Dale. Dale was overrun but not before the Dwarves of Erebor and Men of Dale had made a huge fight of it out on the plains to the East of Dale, and had been pushed back _to_ Dale, where it was besieged, and was captured. The Dwarves and Men of Dale fought a fighting retreat back to Erebor, with their Kings, Dain II Ironfoot and Brand (grandson of Bard the Bowman, most notably) fought back to back outside the gates.

They died together on a hill of Easterling corpses. Brand fell first, after a mighty effort, and then old (252 years old, to be more precise) fell second. They'd practically slaughtered a small army of Easterlings by themselves. Imagine what their entire armies had done with them in their command. Yes, they were categorically defeated in battle outside Dale, at Dale and outside Erebor, but they would have made the Easterlings pay for every step of the way. Sauron had sent _most_ of the Easterlings there.

They were quite possibly, arguably his best infantry in any of his armies and vassal factions. Only Uruk-hai and maybe Black Orcs of Barad-dur (the most elite Orc Legion anywhere) would be on par, but never in terms of armour and weapons quality (Easterling armour and weapons are 2nd only in the factions of men, good or evil, to Gondorian armour and weapons; only Elves and Dwarves surpass either Gondor or Rhun/the tribes of Rhun/aka the Easterlings in either regard. Easterlings have been attacking Gondor for roughly ~2, 700 years and they have long learnt what they need to arm themselves with and how armoured they need to be to stand up to the Gondorians in near-peer terms.

Contrary to grim and silly postmodernist notions of Tolkien having bias against Eastern cultures, the fact is, only the ancient Gondorian civilization (by the Late Third Age) can surpass Easterling armour and weapons (and they owe a lot of that to the sheer ancientness of their own civilization, which is circa 3, 200 years old with roots thousands of years older than that still, from <3, 400 years of Numenorean culture from whence they descend (so, nearer to 7, 000 years of Numenorean and Numenor-descended culture) Lots of Elven and Dwarven (even Maiar) influence came to Numenor, heightening their glory. And in their true glory days, Gondor was far, far stronger. This video _is_ about the War of the Ring timeline, in fairness; though 30, 000 for Gondor is ironically a high-ball estimate.

Much of what remain of Minas Tirith's power was tied to Minas Tirith itself, as Denethor selfishly horded a great deal of the military in defence of himself. However, Osgiliath had a garrison which fluctuated between about 500-1, 000 men depending on how many Rangers happened to be there with the infantry companies of regular Gondorian Infantry, at any given time. It varied. Sometimes there were clearly more than 1, 000 men, like when Boromir was in Osgiliath, prior to going to Rivendell to represent Denethor and Gondor.

30, 000 wouldn't be completely impossible for Gondor to muster, though realistically, this assumes that all of the fiefs of Gondor are rallied, and this is not necessarily the case. Southern Gondor and the likes of cities and principalities like Dol Amroth (from whence the Knights of Dol Amroth, under Prince Imrahil ride under the banner of the Silver Swan), can field several thousand men, though they often have to stay where they are in fear of the Corsairs of Umbar. There are garrisons and militias in the fiefs of Gondor, stretching far to the West, along the spine of the White Mountains, including in the vales and old townships hugging the mountains, as well as the coasts.

In practical, pragmatic terms, though, most of Gondor's army (it's _real_ army) able to reliably fight in Anorien Province (where Minas Anor aka what became Minas Tirith, is found), will be the garrisons of: Minas Tirith, Osgiliath and Cair Andros. Maybe a few companies of troops from Pelargir and Harlond between them. Most of the best of Gondor's military was guarding Minas Tirith during the Siege of Gondor, and a lot of it perished there. It's important, however, not to draw from the film adaptation, where it's implied directly that 10, 000 Gondorians defended Minas Tirith and about half died. Whatever estimates we believe, 30, 000 sounds a bit ambitious for Gondor. At least, 30, 000 of consistent quality units. 20, 000 is more likely. Maybe 30, 000 if militias are expanded with a lot of farmers and fishermen armed.

Part of why I doubt this, is the fact that just 6, 000 Men of the West march on the Morannon (the Black Gate) after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Well, about 7, 000 but this whittles down to about 6, 000 by the time they get there, because of men getting scared and returning to Gondor or joining a smaller, separate force going to retake Cair Andros (which an Orc army had wiped out in the war before Osgiliath fell) Note: 2, 000 or so of the force which reached Mordor, were Rohirrim. Of the 6, 000 Rohirrim whom rode to Gondor's aid, 2, 000 died in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and 2, 000 were injured in various levels of severity, to the point they could not fight again at short notice (or sometimes, ever again) The ~2, 000 Men of Rohan whom went with Gandalf, Eomer and Aragorn, to the Black Gate, were the ~1/3 that could still fight (and even lots of them had lost their horses in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields) It is implied that several thousand Gondorian troops and militia, remained in Minas Tirith, with the recovering 1/3 of the army of Theoden (or, the army of Eomer, now) Faramir and Eowyn were there with them.

On route to what became the Battle of the Morannon, Aragorn pointed out that in the glory days of Gondor, the entire allied army now marching on the Morannon, would (I merely paraphrase) 'not have even compared to the Gondorian vanguards of old'. Which is to say, that the first line in the Gondorian Army in the old days, hundreds and indeed, sometimes thousands of years prior, would have outnumbered all the strength that they could spare to act as a diversion for Frodo. In Classical and Medieval armies, it would be common for many armies to have multiple battle lines, with their vanguard units out in the van aka in the front, and a rearguard protecting the opposite (and often, their camps) The main body of the army, so to speak, could be organised in several dozen different ways, depending on who we're talking about, and from what time. Suffice it to say, Gondor's military power would have waxed and waned over the centuries, and it's debatable just how powerful they may have been, over time.

I reckon Gondor's military peaked during the reign of King Hyarmendacil I; the last of the four Ship Kings of Gondor, in the Ship Kings Era. He likely had >150, 000 men. When he was around (in the 12th century Third Age) not a single faction dared to mess with him. At least, after he utterly crushed all the Haradrim, making multiple chieftains swear oaths of obeisance and submission to Gondorian rule.
He had a mighty imperial war machine, and an imperial level Gondorian faction, that spanned from the upper reaches of the Anduin, to Far Harad; from Western Gondor to the watchtowers keeping vigilance in Mordor; in those days, Cirith Ungol, built in the first place by Gondorians, was still under Gondorian control; it would not have been a much desired posting, with some guards going missing every now and then, no doubt; because of Shelob -- and the same continued, to a far worse extent, to patrolling Orcs, after Cirith Ungol was captured by the Witch-King, in TA 2000, many centuries later (a turncoat had desperately opened the gates to the Witch-King, in hopes of being spared, and the Witch-King and his army slew them all anyway)

Then, the Witch-King besieged Minas Ithil, in an epic siege lasting 2 years; ending with the massacre of the depleted, exhausted garrison, in TA 2002. After years of being called a coward by the Witch-King, King Earnur of Gondor's patience (as a fighting champion himself) snapped, and he rode to what was now Minas Morgul (Minas Ithil as it had been) to duel the Witch-King, with a number of Royal Knights in a small guard detail. Neither him nor the knights were ever seen again, and so ended the line of Kings in Gondor, in TA 2043.

The grim implications for Osgiliath were that it became a military frontier once again. It had already suffered badly in Sauron's Great Plague of the 16th century, and in civil strife/wars which had caused massive death and destruction to Gondor. Just over four centuries after the disappearance of Earnur, the first true Uruks were unleashed by Sauron (Sauron bred Uruk-hai first, not Saruman; Saruman perfected them in a way, later) and they ransacked Osgiliath in TA 2475. As it happened, this was 500 years after the end of the Angmar Wars, in TA 1975.

[stoneheart]

The Mordor host was estimated at 40, 000 orcs, trolls, and fell beasts. 30, 000 attacked Minad Tirith, while 10, 000 garrisoned Mordor itself; who then fought at the battle of the Morranon.

[nikodemzakrzewski]

False numbers, easterlings had the biggest army along with the mordor maybe even bigger

[jonathanzamora]

El Reino de mirwood habian entre 10000 elfos a 20000
El reino de Lothlorien habian 10000 elfos.
El reino de erebos habian 4000 enanos y 10000 hombres de dale

En gondor habian 5000 soldados.
6000 Rohirrim

[danielgro]

My Problem with These numbers... 300 Ents are dealing enough damage to Take on 5k Easterlings... Easily

[StarBoy-cqyo]

I think your numbers are wrong:
Shire Hobbits: 500 (>20 Shiriffs included)
Bree: 300
Ents: 50
Lossoth: 200
Dale: 3, 000
Dwarves of Erebor: 600
Dwarves of Ironhills: 400
Dwarves of Ered Luin: 700
Corsairs of Umbar: 4'500
Mirkwood: 4'000
Lorien: 700
Dol guldur 7, 000

Easterlings: 40, 000
Haradrim: 25, 000
Rohan: 13, 000
Isengard: 12, 000
Gondor: 20, 000
Mordor: 150, 000

[luisamador]

Lothlorien was probably less powerful than Mirkwood, Mirkwood was strong enough to march and face the enemy in the "battle under the trees" while Lohtlorien just contained the 3 sieges at their forest

[laisssemoi]

on a pas besoin de voir ta tête faire de l'over reacting merci

[chandlersnyder]

The Military Strength of Dwarves are 40, 000, men of dale are 20, 000, the orcs of Dol Guldor are 38, 000, the Easterlings are 250, 000, the Haradrim are 18, 000, Rohan can muster 12, 000 to 15, 000 riders, plus infantry but theoden only raised 6, 000, Isenguard ar 10, 000 Uruk hai, Gondor may at its height in the Third Age had around 100, 000 men under arms, but that gradually dwindled through plague and constant warfare but during the siege of Minas tirith they only had 7, 000 men and mordor had 250, 000 orcs.

[joseloures]

I would say:
Shire: 500
Bree: 700
Rivendell: 500
Lindon: 1, 500
Dwarves of the Blue Mountains: 600
Erebor: 2, 000
Dale: 3, 500
Mirkwood Elves: 5, 000
Dwarves of the Iron Hills: 500
Ents: 50
Rohan: 12, 500
Gondor: 15, 000
Lothlorien: 800
Men of Lossoth: 500
Men of Eriador: 3, 000
Men of Enedwaith: 2, 000

Mordor: 500, 000
Isengard: 15, 000
Easterlings: 300, 000
Corsairs of Umbar: 3, 500
Haradrim: 10, 000
Khand: 3, 000
Dol Guldur: 5, 000
Orcs of the Misty Mountains: 5, 000
Orcs of Mount Gundabad: 2, 500
Men of Dunland: 3, 000

[laisssemoi]

En plus tes chiffres sont carement faux rien que pour les orientaux et les haradhrims tolkien nous dit que il y avait autans d'orcs que d'haradhrims à la battaille des champs du Pélénnore et ils etaient certainement pas 8 000 pareil pour les easterlings qui se battaient en nombre non seulement sur le territoire gondorien mais aussi à Erebor qui a faillit tombé et c'est certainement pas 5 000 d'entre eux qui peuvent metre en danger trois royaumes simultanement en inferieuritée numerique. On n'a aucune info sur les Lossoths alors tes chiffres sont bidon, Dale a beacoup trop d'hommes si on relativise sa taille, les corsaires 2 000 c'est ridicule pour une flotte de cette taille on rappel qu'ils ont des centaines de navires hein, au niveau des elfes c'est ok dol guldur ça parait ok aussi l'isengard le rohan c'est pareil et le gondor c'est pas assez du tout. Par contre le Mordor ça parait bon.

[theophile]

So fake numbers and pointless reactions. Nice

[TheChosen]

All false, easterling were Isengard 10000