When Sauron learned of the repentance and revolt of Celebrimbor his disguise fell and his wrath was revealed; and gathering a great force he moved over Calenardhon (Rohan) to the invasion of Eriador in the year 1695. When news of this reached Gil-galad he sent out a force under Elrond Half-elven; but Elrond had far to go, and Sauron turned north and made at once for Eregion. The scouts and vanguard of Sauron’s host were already approaching when Celeborn made a sortie and drove them back; but though he was able to join his force to that of Elrond they could not return to Eregion, for Sauron’s host was far greater than theirs, great enough both to hold them off and closely to invest Eregion. […]



Now, maybe everyone else is way more competent than me but my brain translates that to “then military babble happened and Sauron won”, which is rather unfair to Tolkien because not only does he not military babble at all compared to most fantasy writers but actually this is the closest he’s ever come to telling us how a war proceeded, in terms of the movement of armies and their comparative size and where, geographically, things played out.

so okay.

Year: 1695

I did say ‘scribbles’. The map is your bog-standard Lord of the Rings one, but the lay of the land, at least, hasn’t changed since the mid-Second Age. It is 1695, almost a century after Annatar fled Eregion. Celebrimbor has already given away the Three Rings. You’ll recall that a couple hundred years ago, Sauron encouraged the guild in Ost-in-Edhil into a coup against Celeborn and Galadriel. They win. Celebrimbor rises to power. Galadriel flees with Celebrian though Khazad-dum. Celeborn doesn’t trust Dwarves and doesn’t have another way of crossing the mountains, so “he remained behind in Eregion, disregarded by Celebrimbor.” He presumably has a following, even if it’s only a few dozen people, because they’re going to do some stuff in a bit.

We don’t know where Sauron is. We know that in a bit he comes raring through Rohan to destroy everything, so it’s tempting to put him in Mordor. But it could just as easily be southern Rohan, or Gondor, or even further south. We can gloss this as 'elven historians didn’t know.’

Eregion is the name of the kingdom Celeborn and Galadriel founded and which Celebrimbor now headed; it’s on Khazad-dum’s western side. Ost-in-Edhil is its major city. Eriador is the name for this whole half of the continent: everything west of the Misty Mountains and north of Rohan, as far as I can tell. This confused me for, like, several years, even though the two names aren’t really all that alike.

When Sauron learned of the repentance and revolt of Celebrimbor his disguise fell and his wrath was revealed; and gathering a great force he moved over Calenardhon (Rohan) to the invasion of Eriador in the year 1695. When news of this reached Gil-galad he sent out a force under Elrond Half-elven; but Elrond had far to go, and Sauron turned north and made at once for Eregion. The scouts and vanguard of Sauron’s host were already approaching when Celeborn made a sortie and drove them back; but though he was able to join his force to that of Elrond they could not return to Eregion, for Sauron’s host was far greater than theirs, great enough both to hold them off and closely to invest Eregion.

Year: 1696

Okay. So…Sauron moves over Rohan into Eriador, Elrond heads down to meet him, but has a long way to travel. Celeborn and whatever personal following he presumably has meet Sauron when he’s turning north toward Eregion. Elrond then meets up with him, but even together they don’t have enough to hold Sauron back.

Things I am confused about: where does Sauron cross the Misty Mountains? I have him here at the Gap of Rohan, because there aren’t any passes farther north unless we go way farther north or assume that Sauron had the capacity to blast tunnels through rock at will. Which, now that I say that, he totally might, and I feel silly ruling it out. And I’m hesitant about my call here because the next bit of geography doesn’t make a ton of sense and maybe that’s because I have Sauron entering Eriador in the wrong place.

The next bit of geography is that Celeborn meets Sauron’s vanguard and holds them off, “but though he was able to join his force to that of Elrond they could not return to Eregion”, which means that Sauron’s forces must be somehow between them and Eregion, right? Except, if Sauron’s coming north and they’re both coming south, they should have fought this battle on the southern border of Eregion and they should be able to retreat pretty naturally into Eregion.

My current best guess is that they came at Sauron from the west and at an angle, for reasons maybe relating to the terrain, and that Sauron was able to cut them off from Eregion.

Year: 1697

At last the attackers broke into Eregion with ruin and devastation, and captured the chief object of Sauron’s assault, the House of the Mírdain, where were their smithies and their treasures. Celebrimbor, desperate, himself withstood Sauron on the steps of the great door of the Mírdain; but he was grappled and taken captive, and the House was ransacked. There Sauron took the Nine Rings and other lesser works of the Mírdain; but the Seven and the Three he could not find. Then Celebrimbor was put to torment […] Concerning the Three Rings Sauron could learn nothing from Celebrimbor; and he had him put to death. But he guessed the truth, that the Three had been committed to Elvish guardians: and that must mean to Galadriel and Gil-galad.