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This next part was related to me by the Gondorians and
not confirmed by the Mordorians. When Belecthor II was
chief steward of Gondor, he rode with a small contingent
of men out of Minas Tirith, crossed the Anduin, and
crept over the pass below Minas Morgul. Coming into
Mordor by night, he saw a detachment of orcs training
for war, led by one of the ringwraiths. He spread his
men out, silently surrounding the orcs, then attacked
from all sides at once. Belecthor himself went for the
ringwraith, fighting valiantly and eventually slaying
him. When his sword cleaved the ringwraith’s neck, the
body disintegrated, leaving just a black cape lying
in the dirt. With their leader gone, the orcs quickly
succumbed and were killed to the last man. Belecthor
and his men returned to Gondor with the ringwraith’s
cape, where it was hung on the wall of the dining hall,
just to the left of the main door, and can still be
seen there in my day.
The Mordorians tell a different story. I’m not inclined
to believe it myself, but I’m just relating it as they
told it to me. According to them, it was Ecthelion II,
not Belecthor II, who ventured into Mordor with his
son, Denethor II, and a few of his best warriors. They
came across a contingent of orcs--on that part at least
the Mordorians’ account agrees with that of the Gondorians--but
they say it was near the top of the pass near Minas
Morgul, not actually on the plains of Mordor itself.
The orc party caught Ecthelion by surprise, captured
him and his men, and led them to Minas Morgul. In one
of the corridors, Denethor managed to free himself,
released his father, and the two of them disappeared
into a tunnel, hotly pursued by the orcs. As they raced
around a corner in the dark, they ran into the lair
of the giant spider, Shelob, who picked up the two Gondorians
and wrapped them in heavy silk threads. The orcs, not
daring to go any closer, turned and fled back to Minas
Morgul, where they promptly impaled the rest of the
Gondorian warriors and dumped their bodies on the high
peaks for the crows and vultures to pick at. Ecthelion
and Denethor were eaten by Shelob, and never seen again.
The Mordorian account seems less likely, even if you
can accept giant spiders in hidden mountain caves, as
Denethor’s name appears again in later stories concerning
the battle of the Pelennor Fields. However, I’ll leave
those events until later, when I give my account of
the downfall of the dark lord Sauron.