The War of the Ring - Sauron Defeated 

The Mouth of Sauron confirmed specifically that Sauron had no clue where the ring was. He admits to not knowing what the Hobbits' errand was, and Sauron would never attempt negotiation if he had it or even suspected it was on his side of the Black Gate. It was entitely reasonable to assume that one Hobbit at least had escaped with the Ring and that the quest had not yet failed. He might as well have just given Gandalf a thumbs up and told him he was on the right track.

I like to believe the wind that blew Sauron’s shadowy figure away came from Manwe. Great content as always mate!

"Hold your ground! Hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come when then courage of men fails. When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dead on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!” -Aragorn's speech at the Black Gate, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

I've been listening to these while I raked leaves, walked the dogs, decorated the Christmas tree and played Fallout 76! Thanks for your service.

The main thing that saves Aragorn as a character is that he never wanted this shit but he feels compelled to. He's not the perfect man but he does the best he can with what he's got. He's almost melancholic throughout the story because he's their best chance to succeed and he hates it. He isn't no Beren or Tuor. Also the loss of his mother is poignant. He's vulnerable and a tragic hero in a way. He does rise above the darkness in his heart and does the right thing.

In the direction facing Mordor, Aragorn places his most elite soldiers: the sons of Elrond, the Dunedain, Prince Imrahil's swan-knights and the elite men of the tower of guard *AND PIPPIN*

I guess it makes sense that Galadriel would have considerable innate powers since her brother was able to get into a spell fight with Sauron way back in the day.

Éomer: We cannot achieve victory through strength of arms. Aragorn: Not for ourselves, but we can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron's Eye fixed upon us. Keep him blind to all else that moves. Legolas: A diversion. Gimli: Certainty of death, small chance of success. What are we waiting for?

This series was wonderful! Thank you for making it, will continue to watch even if I lost at the end!

"...he [Gollum] slips, and he falls..." Correct choice to keep the video from going off into the weeds, but Gollum had some help in slipping and falling. Whether by direct intervention by Eru Ilúvatar or as a consequence of violating a sworn oath is unclear (but Tolkien in his letters makes it clear there was supernatural intervention of some sort). Of course, this would be a good topic for a future video, since people who have just read the LOTR books* would think Gollum fell over the precipice into the lava by accident. *Feels odd to write that rather than the much more common "people who have just seen the movies".

My favourite LOTR headcanon is that it was Eru himself who pushed Gollum to the Mt. Doom

Another point about the "possibility" of Sauron having taken the Ring from Frodo: Gandalf wears a ring of power, one which is intimately linked to the Ruling Ring. When Sauron first forged his ring, the three Elven ringbearers at the time instantly sensed this development. It might be unclear exactly _how much_ they knew, but they were aware of something evil and ring-related enough that they pulled off their rings. So Gandalf must have known that, if Sauron had indeed reclaimed the One Ring, he would already know about it and therefore it could not be the case. He doesn't seem to have ever let on that he knew this, which is interesting to me. It would have been an effective way to counteract the morale impact everyone else was experiencing; but Gandalf was always about empowering other people, so maybe he saw this as a final test of their will. Still, it seems like a bad time to withhold information for the sake of testing people, so I've never really known what to make of this.

love the channel just discovered it, I'm going to get back into lotro because of the footagte you use i played when it first launched years ago i bought it from blockbuster of all places

It is a crime that you do not have more followers. Your channel is really great,full of quality content. People are really missing out.

Been following since first age. Thanks for this!

1:07 that is one amazingly redonkulous horn

Top work as always!! Love it mate!

loved the detail man, thanks for making us learn! cheers till the next one ;)

Great series love the artwork and very informative

Thank you for a great video! Admire the courage of the Captains of the West!

Love your vídeos mate great job

Loved the video.

This has been a really great series! Are we going to get one last installment for the Scouring of the Shire?

Fantastic work. I think you're the first on RU-vid to cover the wars of Middle-earth in such detail?

i really like it that the Valar never truly fully left the people of ME in the first to third ages via proxies like Eagles and Istari

Nice video

wonder what you will cover after you finish the timeline videos. Whatever it will be I bet they will be just as good. Maybe other fictional universes or LOTR what ifs.

Tremendously exciting summary! Here's an interesting point. The Mouth of Sauron is described as a Black Númenorean who's been in the service of Sauron for at least several centuries. This begs the question, how was he able to live so long if he has not been provided with a Ring of Power by Sauron?

Cheers

"... and Pippin" :D

How could Lady Galadriel still use the Elven ring, Nenya to throw down Dol Guldur, if the One ring had already been destroyed in which all of the Elven rings would also lose their powers?

Abt jade ring(created to be spit inside) ring at private part then sold?, Ring that is a tribe-belief?

Man, Peter Jackson omitted a ton of stuff in Return of the King movie.

Slag hills, like the queues at McDonald's after a night clubbing, amirite?

What if the Valar sent Eonwe to fight on their behalf in the third age? After Gandalfs death, the mission of the Istari was considered a failure, so what if the Valar sent Eonwe, not as a guide, but as a commander. Could Sauron have been bested by arms if he was sent alongside a revived Gandalf?