return

1380 the return of the king
and the Ringwraiths remained hidden in Morgul Vale. But from
the time of Denethor I, there was never full peace again, and
even when Gondor had no great or open war its borders were
under constant threat.
In the last years of Denethor I the race of uruks, black orcs of
great strength, first appeared out of Mordor, and in 2475 they
swept across Ithilien and took Osgiliath. Boromir son of
Denethor (after whom Boromir of the Nine Walkers was later
named) defeated them and regained Ithilien; but Osgiliath was
finally ruined, and its great stone-bridge was broken. No people
dwelt there afterwards. Boromir was a great captain, and even
the Witch-king feared him. He was noble and fair of face, a man
strong in body and in will, but he received a Morgul-wound in
that war which shortened his days, and he became shrunken
with pain and died twelve years after his father.
After him began the long rule of Cirion. He was watchful and
wary, but the reach of Gondor had grown short, and he could
do little more than defend his borders, while his enemies (or the
power that moved them) prepared strokes against him that he
could not hinder. The Corsairs harried his coasts, but it was in
the north that his chief peril lay. In the wide lands of Rhovanion,
between Mirkwood and the River Running, a fierce people now
dwelt, wholly under the shadow of Dol Guldur. Often they made
raids through the forest, until the vale of Anduin south of the
Gladden was largely deserted. These Balchoth were constantly
increased by others of like kind that came in from the east,
whereas the people of Calenardhon had dwindled. Cirion was
hard put to it to hold the line of the Anduin.
‘Foreseeing the storm, Cirion sent north for aid, but over-late;
for in that year (2510) the Balchoth, having built many great
boats and rafts on the east shores of Anduin, swarmed over the
River and swept away the defenders. An army marching up from
the south was cut off and driven north over the Limlight, and
there it was suddenly attacked by a horde of Orcs from the
Mountains and pressed towards the Anduin. Then out of the
North there came help beyond hope, and the horns of the Rohirrim
were first heard in Gondor. Eorl the Young came with his
riders and swept away the enemy, and pursued the Balchoth to
the death over the fields of Calenardhon. Cirion granted to Eorl