Fords of Isen
Also calledThe Crossings of Isen, Athrad Angren
The Fords of Isen were the crossing of the river Isen below Isengard, the western door of Rohan. Two battles were fought there in early 3019 as Saruman's army broke into the Westfold, and Théodred, heir of Théoden, fell in the first.
Description
The river Isen came down from Isengard through a narrowing valley and, some miles below the fortress, spread into a broad shallow stretch broken by a low island of shingle. Here the road from Isengard to the Westfold of Rohan crossed the water, and here alone between the mountains and the sea could an army pass the Isen without difficulty. The crossing was therefore the gate through which any enemy from Dunland or the Wizard's Vale must come, and the Riders of the Westfold kept a permanent guard on it under the command of the King's marshals.
The Fords mattered because of what lay beyond them: the Gap of Rohan, the open country between the White Mountains and the Misty Mountains that joined the lands of Rohan and Gondor to Eriador. Whoever held the Fords could close or open that road.
History
In the years before the War of the Ring Saruman stirred up the Dunlendings and gathered Orcs, and the Fords became the front line. On February 25, 3019 Théodred, the King's only son and Second Marshal, led a pre-emptive strike across the river and was caught by a much larger force; he died on the islet in the ford, holding it until Grimbold of the Westfold and the Riders of Elfhelm came up. The second battle on March 2 broke the defence altogether when Saruman committed his main army; the Rohirrim were scattered, and the survivors under Erkenbrand withdrew into the hills before regrouping to march to Helm's Deep. As Gandalf and the King rode west on March 3 they found the field strewn with the dead of both sides, and the Riders raised a mound to their fallen. After the destruction of Isengard the crossing was quiet, and the Isen ran again through a peaceful Westfold.
Geography
The Fords lay roughly midway between Isengard and the mouth of the river Adorn, at the north-west corner of the Westfold. West of the river the land rose into the foothills of Dunland; east of it the road ran towards the Deeping-coomb and Helm's Deep.
Associated figures
Visited
King of the Mark
Théoden
RohirrimThéoden son of Thengel was the seventeenth King of Rohan, the king whom Gríma Wormtongue and Saruman had made old before his time and whom Gandalf roused to lead his people again. He won the Battle of the Hornburg, mustered the Rohirrim at Dunharrow, and broke the siege of Minas Tirith in the great charge across the Pelennor, where he died beneath his horse after felling the chieftain of the Haradrim.
Rohan
Fought at
King of the Mark
Helm Hammerhand
RohirrimHelm Hammerhand, ninth King of Rohan, killed the Dunlendish lord Freca with a single blow of his fist and so began the war in which Wulf, Freca's son, overran the Mark. Besieged in the Hornburg through the Long Winter, Helm went out alone at night to kill his enemies with his hands, and died standing on the Dike, frozen in the snow. The fortress of Helm's Deep bears his name.
RohanLord of the Westfold
Erkenbrand
RohirrimErkenbrand, Lord of the Westfold and master of Helm's Deep, gathered the scattered Rohirrim after the Second Battle of the Fords of Isen and came down over the Dike at dawn with Gandalf and a thousand men to break Saruman's siege of the Hornburg. Under King Éomer he became Marshal of the West-mark.
RohanSecond Marshal of the Riddermark
Théodred
RohirrimThéodred, only child of King Théoden and Second Marshal of the Mark, commanded the defence of the Westfold against Saruman and fell at the First Battle of the Fords of Isen on 25 February 3019. His death left Éomer as the king's heir and was the grief that Gríma used to keep Théoden from acting.
RohanUsurper King of Rohan
Wulf
DunlendingsWulf, son of the half-Dunlendish lord Freca, fled Rohan when Helm Hammerhand killed his father and returned four years later at the head of a Dunlendish invasion. He took Edoras, sat in Meduseld as king through the Long Winter, and was slain there by Helm's nephew Fréaláf in 2759.
DunlandMarshal of the Mark
Elfhelm
RohirrimElfhelm was a Marshal of Rohan who fought in both battles of the Fords of Isen, led the éored in which Éowyn rode disguised as Dernhelm to the Pelennor Fields, and afterward held Anórien against the enemy while the Captains of the West marched on the Black Gate. King Éomer made him Marshal of the East-mark.
Rohan
Died in
Second Marshal of the Riddermark
Théodred
RohirrimThéodred, only child of King Théoden and Second Marshal of the Mark, commanded the defence of the Westfold against Saruman and fell at the First Battle of the Fords of Isen on 25 February 3019. His death left Éomer as the king's heir and was the grief that Gríma used to keep Théoden from acting.
Rohan
Buried in
Second Marshal of the Riddermark
Théodred
RohirrimThéodred, only child of King Théoden and Second Marshal of the Mark, commanded the defence of the Westfold against Saruman and fell at the First Battle of the Fords of Isen on 25 February 3019. His death left Éomer as the king's heir and was the grief that Gríma used to keep Théoden from acting.
Rohan
Peoples
Timeline
- T.A. 3019, February 25
First Battle of the Fords of Isen
Théodred, son of Théoden, is slain holding the islet in the ford against Saruman's forces.
- T.A. 3019, March 2
Second Battle of the Fords of Isen
Saruman's main army overwhelms the Rohirrim; Erkenbrand's survivors withdraw towards the hills.
- T.A. 3019, March 3
Théoden crosses the battlefield
The King's host rides west to Helm's Deep past the mounds of the fallen.
Sources
- The Two TowersBook III, chapters 6 and 7
- Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthThe Battles of the Fords of Isen
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix B, T.A. 3019
See also
Part of
Elsewhere in Rohan
- Dunharrowfortress
- Edorastown
- Helm's Deepfortress
- Entwashriver
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