Minas Tirith

Categories: Middle-earth towns and cities

For the First Age tower of the same name, see Minas Tirith (First Age).

Minas Tirith is a fictional city in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. It is often referred to as the White City and the City of Kings.

History

Minas Tirith was the capital city of Gondor. Originally known as Minas Anor (the "Tower of the Sun"), it was built in II 3320 by Anárion, brother of Isildur and second son of Elendil, High King of Arnor. Ostoher rebuilt the city in III 420, and it became the capital of Gondor after the seige and abandonment of Osgiliath. King Tarondor finally moved the King's House from Osgiliath to the City in 1640. In III 2002, the White City's companion tower, Minas Ithil (Tower of the Moon), on the borders of Mordor, was captured by the Nazgûl and renamed Minas Morgul (Tower of Dark Sorcery). Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith, meaning "Tower of Guard", to indicate that since the fall of Minas Ithil, Minas Tirith assumed the role of guarding Gondor against Mordor's forces. The Rohirrim sometimes translate this into their own language as Mundburg.

Description

Minas Tirith was built on a hill beneath Mount Mindolluin. The city is divided into seven one-hundred-foot high levels, each surrounded by white walls. The gates connecting the levels do not lie behind one another in a line, but face in different directions. A spur of rock, the summit of which is level with the city's uppermost tier, juts out from the front of the city in an easterly direction, dividing all but the first level into two. Finally, within the seventh wall, is the Citadel with its White Tower of Ecthelion, where the surviving Seeing Stone of Anor was kept - three hundred feet high, so that its apex is one thousand feet above the plain, bright with reflected sunlight. On the saddle between the city and Mindolluin is Rath Dínen (The Silent Street), where the ornate tombs of the Kings of Gondor and their Stewards were built.

Minas Tirith was surrounded by the Rammas Echor, a fortified wall encircling the Pelennor Fields. This wall was built by Ecthelion II but fell into disrepair as the kingdom declined and proved an ineffective defence against the Orc legions of Mordor, who penetrated the wall before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

The War of the Ring and afterward

During the War of the Ring (III 3018-3019), Minas Tirith is said to "have less than half of the population which could have dwelt at ease" in it.

In The Return of the King, Minas Tirith is besieged by troops of Mordor, the Easterlings and the Haradrim, under the Great Darkness generated by Mordor. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields takes place on March 15 3019 T. A. in the fields surrounding the city. Despite heavy losses, the battle is finally won by Gondor and their allies from Rohan.

On May 1 3019 T.A. King Elessar's coronation took place on the plain outside Minas Tirith, he then entered the city as King.

Minas Tirith is known to stand firm well into the Fourth Age.

The eagle who brings the news of Sauron's defeat to Minas Tirith refers to the city as the Tower of Anor. Although this is nowhere described, it is possible that the city may have reverted to its original name once it no longer needed to guard against evil. An argument against this is that in the abandoned sequel The New Shadow, which takes place during the time of Elessar's son Eldarion, the city was clearly named Minas Tirith.

Map #40 in Barbara Strachey's Journeys of Frodo is a plan of Minas Tirith. Pages 138&139 in Karen Wynn Fonstad's revised The Atlas of Middle-earth is another plan of Minas Tirith. They are at variance with each other, as the only authoritative maps by Tolkien are just sketches.

Minas Tirith in the movies

Tolkien's description of the physical layout of Minas Tirith is followed very faithfully in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, although there is no reason to suppose that the top of the rock is flattened and paved, and in the book it is not the location for the coronation of Aragorn which occurs on the Pelennor Field outside Minas Tirith, he then enters the city as King.

Portions of Minas Tirith were constructed as a full-scale sets, and the whole city as a very large, highly detailed miniature or "bigature" by Weta Workshop. A full digital model, for computer-generated imagery, along with the whole of its surrounding environment including the Pelennor Fields and Mindolluin (but not the Rammas Echor, which was omitted from the films) was created by Weta Digital.

Note on pronunciation: The i's are long in all cases, thus MEE-nas TEE-reeth.

External links

• The Minas Tirith Project: A non-comercial project to make the whole city of Minas Tirith fully detailed in 3D.

Update 24 October 2005: Minastirith project website link currently not operational, for unknown reasons.es:Minas Tirith fr:Minas Tirith he:מינאס טירית nl:Minas Tirith ja:ミナス・ティリス no:Minas Tirith pl:Minas Tirith sv:Minas Tirith