Scaling the Walls of War in Middle-Earth - Page 3
© Michael Martinez
Perhaps they gathered from distant parts of their territories, much like the ancient Germans who raided Roman frontiers, choosing leaders for charisma and experience. The raids would not establish permanent settlements, and the raiders might as often as not have ended up starving to death, or slinking back to their homes if they could not achieve anything.
The Numenoreans began building true fortresses around the year 1800, a century after the War of the Elves and Sauron. The Gwathlo forts and some works along the Baranduin and Lhun rivers had served the Numenoreans and Eldar in the war, but Sauron began expanding his power into the east and south after the war. Were the Numenorean military expeditions led by adventurers whose ambitions had been awakened, or were they organized by the kings in response to Sauron's growing power?
Vital trade routes and important resources such as mineral deposits and well-established agricultural regions would have to be protected. Sauron appears never to have developed a naval power in the Second Age, so the sea lanes would not require defense. But the great navies of Numenor would ensure that no such power could arise. And Numenor still required havens to provide points of access for her armies and colonists. The navies would also act as coastal raiders, venturing into regions where Sauron's power, or indigenous peoples independent of both Sauron and Numenor, extended to the sea.
The great cities would have been connected by the sea, and roads would have been few. Sauron would have to be the road-builder. The two empires, growing century by century, would slowly entangle themselves with each other, grappling across hundreds if not thousands of miles of frontier. Numenorean fortresses would guard points of access such as valleys and river crossings, and their havens would ensure that armies could be brought in quickly. Sauron would plant fortresses on hills and mountains to dominate local populations and watch for Numenorean incursions. The lessons learned along the Gwathlo river might have prepared Numenor for a long war of raid-and-counter-raid in the south.
But because Sauron controlled most of Middle-earth, he inevitably had the advantage. Numenor could send armies wherever it needed by sea, but could never hope to supply them deep inland. Numenorean conquests in Middle-earth would have to be justified by promises of self-sufficiency. Lands which would be held only occasionally might have been only sparsely colonized by Numenoreans. Hence, any permanent Numenorean haven or colony would need to be well-defended and capable of sustaining itself against long sieges.
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