Ithilien

Ithilien (the 'Moon land') is a region in eastern Gondor.

Summary

Ithilien was a fair and prosperous land during the Second Age and the first part of the Third Age when Gondor was strong and Mordor deserted. Even by the late Third Age, it remained “a fair country of climbing woods and swift-falling streams”. It is possible that Ithilien was settled by pioneering Númenóreans who came up the Anduin from Pelargir during the colonial period. However, it is unlikely that any of their works survived. When Elendil and his sons founded the Realms in Exile, Ithilien took its name after his son Isildur. He founded Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Moon, and co-founded Osgiliath with his brother Anárion.

The beginning of Osgiliath’s decline came in T.A. 1437 when it was sacked and burned, after a siege by the rebel Castamir's forces during the Kin-strife. It was during this siege that the Osgiliath-stone was lost in the River. During the Great Plague two centuries later, most of the people of Osgiliath fled the city for Anórien or the woods of Ithilien. It was only four years after the plague first struck Gondor that King Tarandor removed the King’s House to Minas Anor, and the city began to fall into ruin. It would, however, continue to be inhabited for another eight centuries. During the reign of King Minardil in the 1600s, Húrin of Emyn Arnen was chosen to be his Steward. This founded the line of Stewards of which Denethor II was a member. There would have therefore been an estate of Númenórean nobility in Emyn Arnen.

After the disastrous Battle of the Plains in T.A. 1856, when a Gondorian army was defeated by the Wainriders, Ithilien was the only land east of the river Anduin to be claimed by Gondor, as the others were abandoned. In T.A. 1944, a coalition of Wainriders and Easterlings attacked Ithilien from the north and south. After great loss they were defeated by Eärnil II. It can be assumed that at least some fortifications were built in Ithilien around this period, as it had become a dangerous border region. In T.A. 2002, Minas Ithil was taken by the forces of Sauron. It became a place of dread and was renamed Minas Morgul. Many of those who still remained in Ithilien deserted it. It would be therefore fair to say that most ruined towns in Ithilien would be at least a thousand years abandoned by the time the map is set. Only villages and homesteads would have remained past this point. Most of the farms probably lay in South Ithilien, which appears to have been less densely wooded than northern Ithilien - not to mention further from Minas Morgul.

Osgiliath was finally abandoned by the remaining civilian population after being captured temporarily by Uruk-hai in T.A. 2475. Folcred and Fastred, the twin sons of King Folcwine of Rohan, came south in T.A. 2885 to answer the Oath of Eorl. They fought the Haradrim alongside the Gondorians, but were slain near the Crossings of Poros. A mound was raised over their bodies near the crossing which was named Haudh-In-Gwanûr (The Mound of the Brothers).

T.A. 2901 is given as the date of the construction of Henneth Annûn. Cair Andros was also fortified (adding to or repairing earlier fortifications). Additionally, “most of the remaining inhabitants of Ithilien” (also referred to as its “hardiest inhabitants”) deserted it during this time due to raids from Mordor. This means we could have a few relatively intact (with the roofs rotting away) farmsteads and abandoned fields in Ithilien. After this point, Ithilien was solely a battleground and not an inhabited fiefdom of Gondor. It is unlikely that the aforementioned forts built around 1850-2000 in Ithilien itself continued to be defended during the 2900s, as Gondor moved towards a guerilla strategy in the region.

In the present time there are only 35 inhabitants, the Rangers at Henneth Annun.

Climate and ecology

The climate and vegetation of Ithilien most closely resembles coastal Turkey. It includes the following vegetation zones: