Thandrim
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Lore
- Isildur, King of Gondor, after the victory of Last Alliance of Elves and Men ordered the building of Durthand, the Black Shield. This fortress was held by an order of Gondorian sentinels called the Thandrim. The Thandrim maintained their vigil for at least sixteen centuries, but eventually Gondor lost its hold on Mordor. Ugrukhôr, Captain of the Pit, claimed Durthand and renamed it Durthang, the Dark Oppression, in mockery of its original name.
- Ugrukhôr's forces captured Morannon a year before the fortress fell and effectively cut the Thandrim off from all aid and supplies. Many of the Thandrim starved. Around 1970 T.A., Ugrukhôr appeared in the company of two Nazgûl, offering surrender and freedom to pass the Morannon. With morale low from feeling abandoned, and with no supplies, they accepted, and under their leader Halannon, the sixty survivors surrendered their weapons and marched out. Once past the Black Gate Ugrukhôr ordered his archers to slay all but Halannon, having met his promise to let them pass the Morannon. Halannon was allowed to return to tell Gondor that Ugrukhôr was the new Captain of the pit.
- From time to time, over the long years of the Third Age, scouts from the White City would find that Ugrukhôr had left a cloven shield of the Thandrim in Gondor as a reminder of their failure.
- Halannon survived, but he was ever changed, and he swore to avenge his fallen friends and kin. He never did, but on his deathbed he asked his sons to remember what had happened at Durthand, and to swear that they would do what he had not. Their descendants still seek vengeance.
- A promise of vengeance in the Thandrim's name was also made by Eärnur, then Prince of Gondor, one that was not fulfilled in Eärnur's lifetime.