Quote:
Originally Posted by cellurdur
It does not take 2 years to march an army to Lindon from Eriador. The implication of the text was that Sauron was at the siege of Imladris and then finding it too difficult to take, left a large portion of his forces there to go and take Lindon.
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Certainly not. I would say he wanted to consolidate his military hold on Eriador before marching further west which is why he had to keep an army back to keep Elrond from attacking his rear after all else was in his hands. It took him 2 years to take Eregion and a further 2 years to consolidate his hold on Eriador. I would not say that in those years for any great length of time he was at war with Rivendell as there was a good deal of migration to it during this period in which "Sauron attempted to gain the mastery of Eriador."
"as he ravaged the lands, slaying or drawing off all the small groups of Men and hunting the remaining Elves, many fled to swell Elrond's host to the northward." [UT, p. 250]
If Sauron is fighting and laying siege to Rivendell all this time how is it that all these Elves got through said siege to swell Elrond's ranks? There are not many ways into Rivendell. It's a hard place to get to. The siege was initiated before Sauron took off to try and steal the Rings. Now obviously in a siege you block reinforcements from coming, but here we have it that "many fled to swell Elrond's host to the northward". What kind of a siege is this then? Was there one since 1697 or only before Sauron set out to march on Lindon, "to contain Elrond and prevent him coming down upon his rear" after consolidating his hold on Eriador?
To you Sauron took 5 years to decide to invade Lindon which is why he was taking control of Eriador. I'd say that he was taking control of Eriador to consolidate his military hold on the land before he marched his armies all the way west to wrest the Rings from the Elves. Sauron knew what he wanted to do. How to do it? This was his plan. Unfortunately for him, the time it took for him to take Eregion and consolidate his hold on Eriador was enough for the Númenóreans to come to the aid of the Elves.