Ranger For Hire: Have Horse, Will Travel

the battles which occurred but it seems that losses in the field would have been difficult to replace. It takes time and money to train and equip soldiers, and considerable resources must be devoted to keeping them fed and equipped during time of war. As more and more men perished, fewer and fewer prospective soldiers could be recruited. Worse yet, if young men died in battle, they were less likely to have married and produced sons to help defend the next generation. The end came in the year 1974. Arnor detected a massive buildup by Angmar and sent urgent messages to Gondor for help. Earnil was finally stirred to action and he commissioned an expeditionary force to sail north under his son Earnur. But fleets and armies require time to raise and equip. Earnil called upon the Eotheod in the Vales of Anduin to join his expedition, and the ships did not set sail until 1975. During the winter of 1974-5 the Witch-king of Angmar unleashed a final assault against Arnor. Arvedui's soldiers were defeated. The Dunedain were shattered. The King fled north with a remnant of his guard and two of the palantiri of the north. They were driven to seek refuge in the northern Ered Luin, where their food ran out and they ultimately were forced to seek help from the Lossoth. Arvedui survived most of the winter but perished when a ship Cirdan had sent north for him foundered and sank. Arvedui's sons, Aranarth and a younger brother, fled with a remnant of their people across the river Lhun into the Elvish domain of Lindon. With Cirdan's help the Dunedain and all they could save of their realm held out beyond the river. Angmar's forces swept across Arnor. The Shire was ravaged and its people fled or went into hiding. The winter must indeed have been very harsh and doubtless many more people died from cold and/or starvation. In the spring when Gondor's fleet arrived Earnur and Cirdan assembled an army that attacked Angmar. The Witch-king came out from Fornost to meet the Elves and Men but he was defeated. He retreated toward Angmar but an Elven army came up from Imladris and the two forces crushed all that remained of the Witch-king's power. Angmar was ruined and never rose again. The Witch-king fled from the north. In the aftermath of the war people had to reassemble their lives, and Aranarth spent four

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