The Second Disaster of the Morannon by lirin

[lirin_lirilla]

B2MeM Prompt, Card and Number: Formats and Genres - darkfic (B11)
Format: drabble
Genre: tragedy
Rating: PG
Warnings: Everybody dies.
Characters: n/a
Pairings: n/a
Creator’s Notes (optional): I couldn't bear to write at length for this prompt, so a drabble it is.
Summary: The attack on the Morannon by the Captains of the West does not buy Frodo enough time.

Aragorn and Gandalf were the last to fall, back to back on the slag-heap outside the Morannon. No soul remained of their army to bring news to Minas Tirith, but its people learned soon enough, when they woke to a new army on the horizon. Lord Húrin mustered what army remained to Gondor upon the walls, but was quickly overrun.

His borders secure, Sauron turned his gaze inward, and soon found the Ring, borne through his land by a small and unwarlike hobbit.

And to think, those who had entrusted the Ring to such hands had once been called Wise.

Comments

[isilloth]

It's very sad and haunting.

[lirin_lirilla]

Thank you!

[keiliss]

You had me at 'Everybody dies ':D And it could so easily have happened - all it would take is one more day's delay on the road for Frodo.

[lirin_lirilla]

Thanks! Yeah, that's something I have in mind almost every time I reread those parts of RotK—with no way of communicating with each other, they have no idea whether Frodo's anywhere close to his goal, and Frodo and Sam don't know that they're on a specific timetable. So when this prompt came up, I knew this was what I wanted to explore with it!

[erulissedances]

This could so easily have been the case, if everything hadn't fallen into place. A haunting view through a dark mirror.

- Erulisse (one L)

[lirin_lirilla]

Thank you! Statistically, it seems much more likely that this would have been the outcome of that desperate gambit of the Captains of the West, but thankfully goodness prevailed against all odds.

[lindahoyland]

Just heartrending. It would upset me to write too.

[lirin_lirilla]

Thanks! I'm happy with how it turned out, but it was definitely tough to write.