Helm's Deep is based on the Cheddar Gorge, a limestone gorge 400 ft (120 m) deep in the Mendip Hills, with a large … See more

Théoden had been released by the Wizard Gandalf from the influence of Gríma Wormtongue, his malevolent adviser and Saruman's spy. He then set out to the Fords of Isen, where his marshal Erkenbran… See more

In Book III, ch. 5 of The Two Towers, Helm is described only as a "hero of old wars"; Tolkien did not envision him as a king when he wrote that chapter.
Tolkien had not yet envisioned Helm's Deep in hi… See more

In a 1958 letter to Rhona Beare, one of a group of enthusiasts, Tolkien stated that the Rohirrim "were not 'Mediaeval' in our sense" (as the Third Age was meant to be thousands of years earlier) but that all the same "the … See more

In Peter Jackson's 2002 film The Two Towers the keep was built into the mountainside and resembles a World War I bunker, in keeping with Tolkien's history as a soldier in that war. The entrance to the Glittering C… See more

• Battle of the Pelennor Fields – the next battle, in which the Rohirrim ride to the rescue of Gondor
• Battle of the Morannon – the last battle of the Third Age, with a contingent of the Rohirrim… See more