Darkstorm Zero
Master of all Decepticons
Originally posted by Josh_Alexander
In this case the book failed to give evidence.And no. For instace, if the book would have said that Saurons army was of 700K. When i would have done my research. I would have found 700K. Instead, i find this that says that the books fail to give evidence.
But am not gonna argue this anymore.
Not necessarily, as Tolkien is deliberately vague with that in order to create a sense of scale. Which is why instead of solid numbers, we have descriptors like the Orcs swarming around the Gorgoroth and Udun Plateaus like ants. he does that to create a sense of scale/ That aside though, I'm going to do you a solid here.
I'm going to do a writeup of the numbers you'll be facing as I've researched them them. That being said, I'm still not convinced the numbers matter all that much in the face of the disparity in quality.
Sauron's Mordor 1st Host (The one that attacked Osgiliath and later Minas Tirith)
Roughly 200K Mordor 1st Host made up of:
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[*]100,000 standard Mordor Orc soldiers.
[*]about 20,000 Morannon and Minas Morgal Elites.
[*]30,000 Black Uruk-Kai
[*]20,000 Black Numenorean Foot Knights and Morgal Knights mounted on Dark Steeds
[*]About 30,000 of various other units such as Orc Trackers, Warg Riders, Speciatly units like the Orc Stalkers of Minas Morgul, Morgul Spectres, and other monsters within Sauron's forces such as the giant spiders of Dol Guldur, and the various Mordor Trolls.
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This doesn't include things like at least a hundred siege weapons like the various catapults, siege towers, and siege bows Mordor uses. Nor does it include special characters like the Nazgul, their fell beasts, Gothmog or any other named characters.
Now, we double this number for Sauron's 2nd Host (This is where Jackson made his comment in the movie, stating that the army seen onscreen is roughly 200K), thats 400K of Mordor's army.
Roughly 200K Mordor 2nd Host made up of:
[list=1]
[*]100,000 standard Mordor Orc soldiers.
[*]about 20,000 Morannon and Black Guard of Barad Dur Elites.
[*]30,000 Black Uruk-Kai
[*]20,000 Black Numenorean Foot Knights and Morgal Knights mounted on Dark Steeds (Roughly a quarter of these would be Venomblade Knights.)
[*]About 30,000 of various other units such as Orc Trackers, Warg Riders, Speciatly units like the Orc Stalkers of Minas Morgul, Morgul Spectres, and other monsters within Sauron's forces such as the giant spiders of Dol Guldur, and the various Mordor Trolls.
[/list=1]
Follow me so far?
Ok, now we get to the OTHER forces of Sauron not specifically from Mordor itself. First, lets start with the Easterlings.
The Easterling Armies.. I'd say around 37K, that should suffice:
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[*]About 10,000 Warriors of Rhun. (About 3K of these would be Black Dragon veterans)
[*]About 10,000 Variag Warriors of Khand
[*]5000 Rhunish Kataphrakt Cavalry (Again, 1K would be Black Dragon vets)
[*]10,000 Khandish Horsemen
[*]About 2000 Khandish Charioteers
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Again, this doesn't include specials such as named characters, or siege weapons. Amur' the Lord of the Blades was said to be an absolute monster from Rhun, a warrior prodigy.
Ok, next up, we have Harad and Umbar. Now this is a big one, because Harad when going to war, were able to field armies large enough to match Gondor at it's peak. hard to give this a number, but I'll try.
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[*]50,000 Haradrim Warriors
[*]20,000 Haradrim Raiders (Horsemen)
[*]5000 Corsairs of Umbar (About 500 of these can be Corsair Reavers)
[*]3000 Corsair Arbalesters
[*]500 Watchers of Karna
[*]20,000 Abrakahn Merchant Guardsmen
[*]Black Numenorean Knights of Umbar
[*]50,000 Mahud Tribal Warriors of Far Harad
[*]10,000 Mahud Raiders (Mounted Cavalry
[*]500 Half Trolls of Far Harad
[*]about 20 War Mumakil of Harad
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Now we come to the forces of Angmar... These monsters are more exotic than normal, outside of Dol Guldur I suppose...
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[*]About 50 Barrow Wights
[*]About 25 Angmar Shades
[*]about 5000 Angmar Orcs (Including Gundabad)
[*]2000 Warg Riders
[*]100 Angmar Spectres
[*]10,000 Wild Wargs (Including about 2000 of these being Fell Wargs)
[*]About 20 Cave Trolls
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Next and finally, we come to Moria and The Misty Mountains.
[list=1]
[*]About 50,000 Moria Goblin Warriors
[*]Another 10,000 being Gundabad Blackshield veterans
[*]about 3000 Moria Goblin Prowlers
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Now, be made aware, these lists do not include exotic monsters, or special units, or siege weapons or anything like that. Those would be separately done. But these are the numbers of the bad guy armies from Lord of the Rings as I saw them.