[CaptainofDespair]

I do not refer to supply lines, but of your general argument in support of a 'Haunting'.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

One other point you might want to consider is that the river was still bridged at this point.

Even bridges become difficult to cross if a large number of men, war horses, supply train horses and wagons, and any siege materials they might try to take along are being sent across. Backups are a definite problem.

For every mile an army’s supplies must cross the “teeth to tail” ratio becomes ever more heavily weighted to tail. I think that even the process of moving the supplies across to Minas Ithil from Rhun would have been prohibitive in terms of manpower, especially if you are envisioning the supplies arriving on a frequent basis.

And since when does Rhun not have the manpower? Numerous military commanders throughout history have been able to march their troops to war, and maintain immense supply lines. It is not as impossible as you seem intent on making it.

Yes, the Easterlings being the great pioneers in weather-control and terraforming technologies.

It's not exactly very difficult to create patch-work fixes for a supply line. And it's not very hard to go around other obstacles.

Adding to the amount of time it would take the supplies to get where they are going.

Time is something the Wiki had, and the Gondorians did not.

And for them to be able to do that against a major relief force (which I think it highly likely the Gondorians would have dispatched had they understood the situation as conforming to conventional norms) there would have to have been a major battle that we know nothing about.

And the Gondorians just cannot be lacking in knowledge of the situation? They were not exactly expecting something out of the desolation. You seem to expect a lot of things out of Gondor. They cannot have an off moment? Perhaps you think too highly of their abilities...

I’m not saying that he could not have done this. I am saying that it does not fit the situation.

A rather weak rebuttal. Why don't you try expanding your argument? How does it not fit the situation? The Wiki was defeated in Angmar years before his return to Mordor. He could very easily spend that time in the East, in communication with the other Nazgul and the Easterlings/Haradrim/Orcs, planning an assault.

Just as an aside, and this is not particularly directed at you, but isn’t it amazing how a palantir can at one moment be the most useful thing in the world and in the next moment serve no useful function whatsoever. Odd that…

Perhaps the tower's commander was not authorized to use the palantir? Such an awesome tool could not be left idly in the hands of a lesser...

They could have thought this in the early months at most. Remember this siege lasted two years.

And this threat could not linger at all times? It would seem that if Gondor got bogged down at Ithil, it would become even more likely that the Wiki might to go around Ithil and attack Osgiliath, if only to draw off the Gondorians at Ithil.

And a side thought to this: Maybe the siege did not go unbroken, but was rather an off and on again affair based on the ability of the Witch-King to maintain enough supplies, and to prevent a large relief force from attacking.