Pelargir
Also calledThe Garth of Royal Ships, The Haven of the Faithful
Pelargir was the great river-haven of Gondor on the lower Anduin, founded by the Faithful of Númenor in the Second Age and the home port of the Ship-kings' fleets. Aragorn and the Dead captured the Corsair fleet there on March 13, 3019.
Description
Pelargir stood on the Anduin above its delta, where the river Sirith joined it from Lebennin, some hundred miles south of Minas Tirith. It was the oldest of the Númenórean settlements in Gondor and the greatest haven of the realm, with quays and shipyards along the river and the road to Minas Tirith running north from its gates. From it the fleets of Gondor sailed to Umbar and the coasts of Harad in the days of the Ship-kings, and to it came the trade of the southern seas. Its name means the garth of royal ships.
The town's population was Númenórean from the first, for it had been settled by the Faithful who fled the tyranny of the King's Men in Númenor, and it kept the old loyalty to the Elves and the Valar that Elendil's people brought. When Elendil's sons founded Gondor after the Downfall the haven was already there to receive them.
History
Pelargir was founded in S.A. 2350 as a haven of the Faithful, in opposition to the King's Men's haven at Umbar further south, and it became the chief port of the Dúnedain in exile. Under the Ship-kings of the tenth and eleventh centuries of the Third Age it was the base for the conquest of Umbar and Harad. In the Kin-strife of 1437 to 1448 the usurper Castamir, Captain of Ships, drew his strength from the sea-coasts, and after his death at the Crossings of Erui his sons held Pelargir until in 1448 they took the fleet away to Umbar and became the Corsairs. In 1634 the Corsairs, led by Castamir's great-grandsons, raided Pelargir and killed King Minardil there. The Corsairs remained the haven's chief enemy for the rest of the Age.
In the War of the Ring Sauron's plan was for the Corsair fleet to seize Pelargir and sail up the Anduin to take Minas Tirith from the south while the main host attacked from the east. Aragorn, who had seen this in the palantír, rode through the Paths of the Dead and reached Pelargir on March 13, 3019 as the fleet lay in the haven. The Dead swept over the ships, the Corsairs fled or drowned, and the fleet of fifty great ships and many smaller was taken. Aragorn released the Dead, freed the slaves at the oars, gathered the men of Lebennin and Lamedon, and sailed north with a following wind to reach the Harlond on the morning of March 15. In the Fourth Age Pelargir was again the port of the Reunited Kingdom's southern fleet.
Geography
Pelargir lay on the Anduin at the confluence of the Sirith, above the Ethir Anduin and the Bay of Belfalas, on the road between Minas Tirith and the coast. Umbar lay several hundred miles to the south across the bay.
Associated figures
Fought at
Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North
Aragorn II
Dúnedain of the NorthAragorn II, son of Arathorn, was the last Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North and the first King of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor. Fostered in Rivendell as Estel, he spent sixty years as a Ranger and a captain in foreign lands before the War of the Ring, in which he guided the Fellowship, walked the Paths of the Dead, won the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate, and took the crown as King Elessar. He reigned for a hundred and twenty years with Arwen as his queen.
Arnor and GondorLord of the Glittering Caves
Gimli
LongbeardsGimli son of Glóin was the Dwarf of the Fellowship of the Ring. He walked from Rivendell to the Black Gate through Moria, Lothlórien, Helm's Deep and the Paths of the Dead, became the devoted friend of the Elf Legolas and of the Lady Galadriel, and after the war founded a Dwarf-colony in the Glittering Caves. Tradition says he sailed West with Legolas, the only Dwarf ever to do so.
Erebor; later the Glittering Caves of AglarondPrince of the Woodland Realm
Legolas
Silvan ElvesLegolas, son of Thranduil of the Woodland Realm, was the Elf of the Fellowship of the Ring. A peerless archer and tracker, he walked from Rivendell to the Black Gate beside Aragorn and Gimli, forged the first true friendship between Elf and Dwarf in an age, and after the death of the King Elessar built a ship and sailed into the West with his Dwarven friend.
The Woodland Realm, later IthilienKing of the Men of the White Mountains
The King of the Dead
Dead Men of DunharrowThe King of the Dead was the ruler of the Men of the White Mountains who swore allegiance to Isildur on the Stone of Erech and then refused his call to war against Sauron. Cursed to find no rest until the oath was kept, he and his people haunted the Paths of the Dead for three thousand years, until Aragorn summoned them to Pelargir and released them.
The White Mountains; later the Paths of the DeadLords of Rivendell
Elladan and Elrohir
Half-elvenElladan and Elrohir, the twin sons of Elrond and Celebrían, rescued their mother from the Orcs and afterwards spent the Third Age hunting Orcs with the Rangers of the North. Companions of Aragorn, they brought him Elrond's counsel to take the Paths of the Dead and rode with him from Dunharrow to the Black Gate.
RivendellRanger of the North
Halbarad
Dúnedain of the NorthHalbarad was a Ranger of the North and a kinsman of Aragorn who led the thirty Dúnedain of the Grey Company south in the War of the Ring. He carried Arwen's standard through the Paths of the Dead and unfurled it on the Pelennor Fields, where he was killed.
Eriador
Died in
King of the Men of the White Mountains
The King of the Dead
Dead Men of DunharrowThe King of the Dead was the ruler of the Men of the White Mountains who swore allegiance to Isildur on the Stone of Erech and then refused his call to war against Sauron. Cursed to find no rest until the oath was kept, he and his people haunted the Paths of the Dead for three thousand years, until Aragorn summoned them to Pelargir and released them.
The White Mountains; later the Paths of the Dead
Dwelt in
Captain 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
Peoples
Timeline
- S.A. 2350
Pelargir founded
The Faithful of Númenor build a haven on the lower Anduin.
- T.A. 933
The Ship-kings' base
Eärnil I sails from Pelargir to take Umbar.
- T.A. 1448
The rebels take the fleet to Umbar
Castamir's sons abandon Pelargir and found the Corsairs.
- T.A. 1634
Corsairs sack Pelargir
King Minardil is slain in a raid by the descendants of Castamir.
- T.A. 3019, March 13
Aragorn captures the Corsair fleet
The Dead drive the Corsairs from their ships, and Aragorn sails north to the Pelennor.
Sources
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix A I (iv); Appendix B
- The Return of the KingBook V, chapter 9
- The SilmarillionAkallabêth
See also
Part of
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