#the battle of helm’s deep

[kindlythevoid]

Incredible. I’m half-way through the Battle of Helm’s Deep (book) and of the three times Legolas has shown up, twice he has said that he needs to look for more arrows. The only time that he hasn’t said that was because he was using his knife. Incredible. What a legend, scouring for arrows in the middle of a siege.

#I love it when Tolkien is Realistic Battles #just yelling into the void #the lord of the rings #kiki re-re-re-reads the lord of the rings #legolas #The Battle of Helm’s Deep #the two towers

[thewitchkingiscool-ace]

You Told Me Once- Chapter One: Arrows Join The Rain In The Night (Boromir x Aragorn)

(Boromir lives AU)

Characters: Boromir (arospike) and Aragorn (alloromantic). They are platonic partners.

Fic description: when Boromir is almost slain at the Battle of Helm’s Deep, Aragorn begins to realise how important Boromir is to him. He knows their relationship has always been platonic, but now his heart is yearning for it to be real. Boromir has reminded him that it is nothing romantic, and now Aragorn’s heart is torn in two. Chapter description: The Battle of Helm’s Deep has just begun, and Boromir and Aragorn find that the only thing getting them both through it is each other. The battle rages on through the night, but there is joy in the air still, and Boromir and Aragorn follow suit of Legolas and Gimli in competition, keeping a count of the orcs they kill just like they do. 

Tropes: comedy, angst in places, fluff I suppose 

Warnings: Mention of blood, and it’s set in a battle, so obviously all the warnings that would come with a battle 

Length: 1.8k words (1,838 words)

Genre: LotR

Notes: (see end for notes)

Chapter: 1/?

The icy rain was now falling swiftly in a wall, the wind blowing it slightly to an angle in the night- the night that had not yet been stained with blood. The bright moonlight was illuminating each drop of rain as it fell to the floor, but despite this, the hour of darkness did not seem any less shadowed. Every heart that tried to stand bold and brave at the edge of the battle could not keep the dread at bay. The sickening fear that ran through the soldiers made their fingers tremble and their legs feel weak- but still, they did not run, and stayed in their posts, awaiting the command of either Theoden, Aragorn, or Haldir. 

Boromir stood alongside Legolas and Gimli as the uruk-hai advanced holding torches. His eyes darted amongst each individual flame that stood out against the terrible shadow of the night- and the sheer quantity alone was enough to send fear racing through Boromir’s heart. The fear drove him to glance around quickly for his platonic partner Aragorn, who was walking amongst the elves and speaking to them. Seeing him immediately settled the storm inside his heart, but there was still dread lingering. But he would not let it overwhelm him, as he was experienced in battle, and tried to imagine that he was taking the dread and forming a barrier around his heart with it, a barrier that turns fear into power. It half-worked. It was easy to lose yourself to dread at the sight of tens of thousands of uruk-hai marching towards you. But he reminded himself that he did not stand alone.

Aragorn strode amongst the elves positioned along the wall, speaking to them in Elvish with confidence and strength. “Show them no mercy, for you shall receive none!” Boromir could hear his voice in the distance and though he could not understand the words that the ranger was speaking (for they were in Elvish), it still filled him with confidence and comfort that his dearest friend was there with him, and he was ready. Aragorn looked towards Boromir and met his gaze, then he smiled reassuringly, feeling overjoyed that Boromir was here to fight with him. He did not know why, but the fact that they were platonic partners alone made fighting alongside each other much more easy on the mind. To Aragorn, it almost felt like love- but fate had decided that that would not be the case between them, and and Aragorn knew this, and accepted it.

All of these thoughts flashed through the ranger’s mind before suddenly, his attention was drawn back to the brink of the battle, and the orcs stopped moving with a clatter as their armour adjusted to the motion of standing still. Gimli began to hop up and down to see over the wall. Boromir glanced out of the corner of his eye and found the sight slightly amusing.

“What’s happening out there?” he asked. “Shall I describe it to you?” Legolas answered cooly. “Or would you like me to find you a box?” 

There was a silence. Suddenly Gimli started laughing and Boromir chuckled too. It was a fun distraction that filled his heart with strength- and a comforting reminder that his closest friends were with him. 

The fear was now seeping into the hearts of the men who stood atop the wall, bows loaded, some trembling. Aragorn’s heart shuddered as one of the men released an arrow, perhaps by accident, and sent it flying into the neck of an uruk. They began to growl ferociously as the orc fell to the ground. “Hold!” Aragorn cried in Elvish. He had not wanted to begin the attack just yet- but now, it was inevitable. Perhaps it was easier this way, for it saved him the trouble of making the decision to fire the first shot. Every heart and stomach dropped with despair as the leader of the Uruk-hai signalled to begin the attack with a terrible roar. As the pounding footsteps of the orcs shuddered through the ground and through the air, the rain still falling without rest upon the armour of each soldier, Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Gimli were cruelly and dreadfully reminded of their battle with the uruks near the river Anduin. But now, it was cold, dark, damp, and there were many, many more of the horrific creatures; drawing a comparison between the two battles only made things worse, considering how the Fellowship had barely escaped with their lives on their first encounter. 

Feeling despair creeping dangerously close to his heart, Aragorn reminded himself once again, as he had done in many times of sorrow and grief, what Boromir had said to him that starlit night by the fire. These were his words: “If the world is to fall, and our lives are to end, I want them to end together. Side by side. I would rather face the cruel hand of Death with you than any other being in this world- and i would give my life for yours, if it came to it. I know this conversation is morbid, but who knows what lies await tomorrow, or two days hence? For we are more than mere friends, Aragorn. I promise I will never leave your side. For we belong together, my dear, dear companion. And together, of all places, is where we shall end.” 

                             ******

Water was now not the only thing raining down upon the orcs that night. Arrows joined it, cutting through the direction of the rainfall and falling upon the rapidly advancing uruk-hai, many of the arrows sticking fast at the weak points of their armour. However, some arrows bounced off the bodies of the orcs and lay useless on the floor; other arrows sprung off of shields; some arrows even clunked off of one orc and landed in another. A volley of arrows from the men of Helm’s Deep flew over Boromir and Aragorn’s heads as they joined each other, both standing side by side on the wall in front of the Elves. 

Aragorn followed suit of Theoden and commanded for the elves to also send a volley over the wall. He hoped that Boromir took notice; it felt right to him to show off and bring out the Gondorian’s admiration. The wind whistled in their ears as each arrow flew through the sky. Though fear was still high in the air, it had taken the form of adrenaline more than dread within everyone’s heart, though some of the less courageous had not yet shaken the despair. But Boromir felt filled with strength. For both Aragorn and Boromir, fighting alongside their platonic partner was enough to last them the night.

Aragorn snuck a glance to his right at Boromir, and he was stood there, legs slightly apart in a battle stance, looking up bravely but slightly reluctantly over the top of the wall at where the orcs were soon to be. His hair was damp and thick with rainwater and his clothes were shiny from the moisture. The wave of reassurance came over Aragorn once again until his attention snapped to the horrific sight in front of him. They all came flooding over the cold, wet stone of the fortress of Helm’s Deep. The noise of battle had been sneaking closer and closer in the shadows with the footsteps of the orcs, but the quietness was finally shattered with the roars of pain and anger from the horrible creatures, and sword against sword rang sour in the air, and soon, the traumatically familiar screams of terror and pain were escaping the throats of both elves and men. Battle was upon them.

                           ********

Boromir swung his sword powerfully into the neck of an uruk that had been attacking Aragorn relentlessly, and as the orc fell to the floor, Boromir locked eyes with the ranger, and he smiled gratefully and kindly at Boromir’s act, but the in-battle shield over his face never wavered. However, there was no in-battle shield over the ranger’s heart. Warmth spread all through his body despite the heavy chill of the rain and the cold aura of the night. Looking at Boromir had been the spark, and now, there was a flame burning inside Aragorn that drove him on, and he spun around, driving his sword through one orc, then another, then another. Boromir noticed this and smiled wryly at seeing the man suddenly fight harder as if to impress him, but then had to turn around to keep a particularly horrible orc at bay. 

The wave of motivation that had washed over Boromir and Aragorn’s hearts was now fading away as more vicious and bloodthirsty uruk-hai began to show themselves atop the wall. However, Legolas and Gimli seemed to be enjoying every second, yelling their counts every time they killed an orc. “Seventeen!” Gimli cried, swinging his axe into an orc. “Eighteen! Nineteen! Twenty!” he cried victoriously. “Twenty-one…” the count continued, and the elf and the dwarf’s yells wove their way through the cries and clangs, and Aragorn caught Boromir’s eye with a raise of his eyebrows, tilting his head in the direction of Legolas and Gimli. Boromir laughed, and then turned to kill an orc.

 “How many have you killed?” Boromir asked Aragorn. “I reckon i’ve killed… thirty-two,” Boromir continued.

“Thirty-two?! Don’t get ahead of yourself!” Aragorn said in reply. “I alone have seen you kill five at a maximum. Whereas I, I have surely killed at least twenty!” He swung his sword around and struck an orc in the side. It slumped dead to the floor. “Twenty-one!” he yelled, grinning, face alight with joy at the competition. “Alright, ranger,” Boromir replied cooly. “Let’s see how long your victory lasts.” Aragorn watched as Boromir entered combat with two orcs at once, eventually overpowering them, killing one at the edge of the wall with the other behind it, and the orc fell backwards, taking the other one with it, those orcs pulling down three other orcs with them. 

Boromir immediately span around to face the ranger, only to find him looking back at Boromir with an annoyed yet amused expression painted on his face. His hair was shining from the rain and to Boromir, he looked wonderful, stood there scowling, yet amused, at him, dark wet hair blowing in the wind, chainmail tinted with blood. Boromir could not contain his smile. “Counting those five, I make it… thirty-seven,” Boromir said. Aragorn laughed. “You have not killed THIRTY-SEVEN!” 

“I have!” Boromir said with an edge of offence.

“Have not!”

“Have so!” 

Aragorn turned around, knocked an orc off its feet, and stuck his sword in its chest. “Twenty-two, and you have NOT!” he yelled over the battle, and they both broke out in laughter. Legolas passed by them. “Eru above, you two are more competitive than us!” he said as he passed. Aragorn and Boromir chuckled together. And so, the night housed the battle as it wore on slowly, now with four sets of voices shouting numbers through the rain.

CHAPTER TWO COMING SOON!

Notes: I was originally gonna kill Boromir off in this fic and that would be what the fic would be about but i realised i can’t go through writing about Boromir dying for the second time cus i love him too much so yeah he lives! Also thanks for reading! I really appreciate it <3

#boromir x aragorn #lotr #the battle of helm’s deep #boromir lives AU #my fic

[patwrites]

Aragorn: *tosses Gimli*

Gimli: you TOSS Gimli? You toss Gimli like he is the potatoes??

#lotr crack #gimli son of gloin #aragorn son of arathorn #the battle of helm’s deep

[ladvofthelake]

rewatching the two towers because jackson’s version of the battle of helm’s deep absolutely SCRATCHES the itch in my silly little fantasy brain

#🗡️.txt #( text. ) #it’s BRILLIANT #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #peter jackson #sir peter jackson #the two towers #the battle of helm’s deep #j.r.r. tolkien #tolkien #fantasy #high fantasy #film #fantasy movies #text

[nibeul]

the prince and the king

[id in alt] | inspiration for Aragorn's design comes from @/tzitzki

#it's setting in y'all #I have a wip of legolas n gimli too that I'm gonna try n do tomorrow.. cuz atm im tired #might look for some helm's deep stuff to redraw too since I love that battle n the ambience wld be good practice #lotr #lord of the rings #legolas #aragorn #nibeul art

[elladanns]

I'll never forget what we lost 😞

Helms Deep Arwen forever in our hearts ❤️🥲

#lord of the rings #arwen evenstar #arwen #arwen undomiel #helms deep #battle of helms deep #rohan #the lord of the rings #lotr #the two towers #lord of the rings the two towers #aragorn #elrond #the silm fandom #liv tyler #viggo mortensen

[skyerana]

Funny anxiety dream last night...

So I'm at the Battle of Helm's Deep but for whatever reason I was tasked with making a chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

The catch? It had to be vegan.

Why? They wanted to launch it into the Uruk-hai army.

They figured Uruk-hai love chocolate raspberry cheesecake so they'd start eating it, but then get really really depressed that it was vegan, so they'd just turn around and leave.

Do you know how hard it is to make cheesecake in Middle Earth? Especially during a battle when they don't really have supplies? And then they hit you with vegan??

Like, they've breached the walls and I'm trying to figure out what to do and things are dire. And I'm looking at Theoden and Aragorn as they're explaining this vegan cheesecake plan and going "you're shitting me" and Aragorn very seriously responds "we shit you not".

The thing is? It worked. How did they know Uruk-hai love chocolate raspberry cheesecake?

Also I'm pretty sure I made the crust out of lembas.

#Lord of the rings #two towers #lotr #the two towers #vegan chocolate raspberry cheesecake #cheesecake #chocolate raspberry cheesecake #anxiety dreams #anxiety dreams are weird #battle of helms deep

[autistook]

March 3rd: The Battle of Helm's Deep begins

Where now are the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?

#lotr #on this day #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #aragorn #aragorn helms deep #helms deep #battle of hornburg #haldir #legolas #legolas lotr #lotr haldir #battle of helms deep #ttt #the two Towers #lotredit #lotr edit #tolkien #middle earth #tolkien edit #on this day in middle-earth #jrrt

[jaxi-the-dragonborn]

night scenes in lord of the rings I love you

#Thank you battle of helms deep for letting me see what’s happening #Lotr

[dancingbluelight]

source!!

#the lord of the rings #lotr humor #lord of the rings #uruk hai #lotr memes #memes #funny #helms deep #battle of helms deep #halloween #halloween candy

[tanadrin]

today was the whole-trilogy extended editions we-die-like-riders-of-rohan-in-a-26-degree-movie-theater marathon of lord of the rings, and i gotta say watching these movies two decades later,

they're still delightful

it's funny how they seem more and more an artifact of the period they were produced in (not in a bad way, mind)

it is annoying how little peter jackson trusts his audience. like. all major landmarks have to be within line of sight of each other. voice overs have to unambiguously lampshade every plot beat that was foreshadowed earlier in the movie. gandalf all but literally says at the end of the two towers "see you next time in... return of the king!" moments in the books that are already hella cinematic like the paths of the dead have to punched up just a little extra, like with an indiana jones skull slide. and it's just not necessary! trust your audience!

you can really tell what dialogue is from the books, and what dialogue is original attempts at tolkien pastiche, because even if you don't know the books encyclopedically, the walsh-boyens-jackson team is just. not at all up to doing the pastiche well. this isn't counting the lines that are absolutely cringe, like "let's hunt some orcs." or all of gimli's dialogue. god they do gimli so dirty turning a prince of the dwarves into the drunken comic relief.

when did we decide all dwarves were scottish, and they all used the same vaguely modernist angular architecture? i think it was before lord of the rings. was it in the 90s? the 80s?

was the Tomato Incident a spontaneous choice by john noble or a directorial decision? did they have to do multiple takes?

it's so fun watching these movies in theaters now because the bits that gets everyone to laugh or cheer are the ones that have seeped into pop culture in weird ways. "they're taking the hobbits to isengard," of course. "po-ta-toes." but also just aragorn kicking the helmet got a big giggle from the audience, because everyone was Thinking The Thing.

some extremely committed soul came in cosplay, with a thick elven-style cloak and everything, despite the fact it was unusually hot today and the Babylon's ac was not coping well. i don't know how they survived. i hope they survived?

#not even getting into the ways in which jackson's attempts to simplify the events around helm's deep #end up rendering the battle kinda incoherent #bc bret devereaux has already covered that ad nauseam

[marisatomay]

this literally looks like the kind of green screen work you see on high school morning announcements but without even the courtesy of being well lit i cannot do this anymore

#‘it’s at night of course it’s not bright!’ buddy i can see every INCH of the battle of helm’s deep in LOTR don’t play dumb with me

[middleearthmistress]

Legolas, after the battle at Helm’s Deep: If there is anything that this horrible tragedy can teach us, it's that an elf's life is a precious commodity. Just because we have great hair and stunning features, it doesn't mean that we too can't not die in a battle.

#incorrect lotr quotes #source: zoolander #two towers #battle of helm's deep #legolas

[alphacrone]

it’s so wild being a kid and watching media where children have to wield swords or fight villains and you’re like. yeah obviously that makes sense. and then you see it again as an adult and are FUCKING HORRIFIED

#this isn’t even about children’s media #i’m rewatching the battle of helms deep and they’re showing the kids being fitted with swords and helmets #and it’s like JESUS CHRIST I UNDERSTAND THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION NOW

[tolkienillustrations]

Helm’s Deep by Jeremy Bennett

#LOTR #Tolkien #Helm's Deep #Battle of Helm's Deep #Jeremy Bennett

[nibeul]

legolas should've gotten injured during the battle of pelennor fields or the final battle of Mordor. I have a few reasons for this—none of which are for "angst potential" or whatever—but the main one is because this moron was given armor for helm's deep and then decided to completely ditch it right after

#the other more serious reason is because I think it would've added more to his character #just in terms of fighting style #to show that he's not really used to this open battle field sort of situation since he normally has the trees of Mirkwood to cover him #even on the hills when they're going to helm's deep or at helm's deep itself there's something that plays into what he should be used to #but the battles of Mordor and pelennor fields are both flat open fields #but also the armor thing is funnier to think about #lotr