[Rumil]

Gwaihir, I'm sure you're right about Eomund's little accident, I'll include it with the sundry skirmishes in Rohan.

Fingolfin, what I thought of doing was starting at the beginning, posting my thoughts on the first battle, then when (immediately??) no new posts show up, move on to the next one.

OK, to start off with, we have the White Council's attack on Dol Guldur, which of course, paradoxically, may not have involved a battle at all. There have been threads on this during the last year but I can't find them at the moment as the search engine seems unco-operative.

We can be reasonably sure of a number of things: Gandalf, Saruman, Galadriel and Celeborn were the leaders. The attack was launched from Lothlorien. The target was Dol Guldur, Sauron's stronghold in Southern Mirkwood. Sauron fled to Mordor, seemingly not putting up any opposition.

The big question is whether there actually was a battle, perhaps the White Council simply put forth their considerable 'magical' power to persuade Sauron to leave?

More questions remain. Who else was in the Council? Probably Radagast, since it was on his 'patch', possibly Elrond, though he doesn't seem to acknowledge this during the meeting at Rivendell on Bibo's way home, probably assorted elven nobility too.

From the strategic point of view, Gandalf was worried about Sauron's increasing power (he had scouted out Dol Guldur and found out the true identity of the 'Necromancer' years before) and the potential of him co-operating with Smaug. His chief concerns were that, with the aid of the dragon, Sauron would attack Lothlorien and Rivendell and re-occupy Angmar. Fortuitously he ran into Thorin and sent him off to Erebor. Was this a piece of rather callous realpolitik from Gandalf? Surely he couldn't have really expected 14 Dwarves and one hobbit to cause the demise of Smaug the Magnificent? Was Gandalf simply trying to distract Smaug during the attack on Sauron so that the dragon could not interfere? Be that as it may, as soon as Bilbo and co. were on the forest path, Gandalf sped south (perhaps collecting Radagast on the way).

Saruman had previously counselled against an attack on Dol Guldur. By now his studies had uncovered the Gladden Fields as the likely resting place of the Ring, so he wanted Sauron out of the way in order to conduct his own search.

Galadriel and Celeborn were presumably eager to drive away the shadow threatening their land, although fairly quiet recently, Sauron certainly wasn't an ideal neighbour.

If there was a military attack, I'd imagine it went something like this (speculation warning!). First the Wise used their power (including at least two of the elven rings) to extend Galadriel's protective 'girdle' (see Melian for 'Girdling') from Lothlorien over the river towards Dol Guldur. Sauron at this stage was thinking about relocating to Mordor, re-building Barad-Dur and taking over Middle Earth. He therefore feigns some resistance, doesn't get drawn into a standup magical slugging match (whatever that may be) and has it away on his toes to the Black Land. (Which begs the question of how he travelled; secret tunnel hundreds of miles long? turned into werewolf and ran? piloted his own Fell Beast or skull-faced horse? Hmmm...).

With Sauron on the run, presumably this is when any military attack would have occurred. Objectives would be to 'cleanse' Dol Guldur, drive off or kill Sauron's troops and free any prisoners. The force would surely have been mainly elves of Lothlorien with their deadly longbows and probably some more heavily armed elves equipped for melee (chainmail, swords, spears etc. - I know they're never mentioned but in a few thousand years it would be strange if the elves could not make or obtain whatever warlike equipment they fancied). I wonder if Saruman also brought some forces - perhaps his (less than) trusty human gate guards who may possibly have been descended from the last Gondorian garrison of Isengard. I'd imagine something like 2000 - 6000 elves (more than Thranduil, less than Rohan) with perhaps a token force of Saruman's troops.

They cross the Anduin with elven boats (perhaps a pontoon bridge?) and advance through Mirkwood. The various inhabitants (spiders etc) keep well away if they know whats good for them.

Meanwhile, at Dol Guldur, the boss has scarpered (perhaps with a Nazgul or two), leaving the poor old Uruks in the lurch (as usual). We can guess from later campaigns that Dol Guldur housed a fairly sizable force, perhaps 10,000 or more orcs. They could have tried to hold Dol Guldur, tried to escape with Sauron, or dispersed into Mirkwood. Orcish morale would have been very low, abandoned by the boss and with this nasty bright 'power' being projected from Lorien (it hurtsss ussss!!). I'd reckon the majority fled Dol Guldur, perhaps leaving only the bravest Uruk Hai (and perhaps Trolls, even Olog Hai?)defending the place and some poor snagas cowering in the darkest tunnels. Of course we don't know much about Dol Guldur except that it was originally a lone treeless hill rising out of the forest. You'd imagine that Sauron would have fortified it, built a tower, walls, gates etc. but that most of the living space was underground to suit the orcs, along with the dungeons.

I'd reckon the elves would have had a fairly easy task of entering the fortifications, with the orcs (apart from Uruk-Hai) unwilling to fight in the daylight. The main fighting would have been underground, with the orcs defending their tunnels. This would have proved far more difficult for the elves, though the leaderless orcs may well have run after any initial reverse, perhaps being terrified by the appearance of one of the 'wise'.

Then the hunt would be on, the orcs could expect no mercy from elves. After causing as much destruction as possible and freeing any prisoners, the elven bowmen are likely to have scoured the forest to hunt down any escapees. Then, with a job well done, everyone went home for tea. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Well, that's my view, and of course its all a tissue of ifs and buts, the points we don't know are; was there a physical attack? did the elves enter Dol Guldur? was there anyone left to oppose them?

And of course, will anyone reply? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]