Sauron's Right Arm (a southpaw, I presume)

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

While Erebor was sieged, the pass to the north of Ered Mithrim was cleared of defenders. Why did Sauron not send a force through there to Eriador? Is the frozen desert of Forodwaith reaching its icy arms towards that land? Or is Sauron just plain obsessed about Dale and Erebor?

Later days! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]
->banakil on mumakil

[Legolas]

Sauron was just working from his fortresses when the War of the Ring ends. Here's what I make of his logic...

Sending troops away from Dol Guldur would leave the stronghold weaker, more susceptible to an attack. The troops there had Lorien, Dale, Erebor, and northern Mirkwood to contend with. Extending his grasp from his fortresses out would be the most effective given the time and foes he was up against. He would take out Gondor with Mordor, Rhovanion with Dol Guldur (and more troops coming from the East?), or perhaps just hoping Dol Guldur would hold until the victorious Mordor army could help. Afterwards, the main opposition (as it seems and if all went according to plans) would be Rivendell and a Saruman-ruled Rohan. The sparsely populated Eriador had little to oppose Sauron's will (so he thought)...hobbits, the few remaining elves, and the men there (who were scatted and not equipped to show much resistance).

He was fighting with his left hand because he was being assaulted from a close-by enemy on the western side. Other threats were also to the left and straightforward. No need to extend that right arm further than the closest enemy (or enemies as the case is).

[ November 12, 2003: Message edited by: Legolas ]

[The Saucepan Man]

Yet Rivendell would have been a great prize for Sauron, and one which he would have taken, I think, had he been able. This is apparent from what Gandalf says in the Quest of Erebor in Unfinished Tales:

I thought then, and I am sure now, that to attack Lorien and Rivendell, as soon as he was strong enough, was his original plan. It would have been a much better plan for him, and much worse for us.

Indeed, Gandalf had in mind the protection of Rivendell in prompting the Quest of Erebor:

You may think that Rivendell was out of his reach, but I did not think so. The state of things in the North was very bad. The Kingdom under the Mountain and the strong Men of Dale were no more. To resist any force that Sauron might send to regain the northern passes in the mountains and the old lands of Angmar there were only the Dwarves of the Iron Mountains, and behind them lay a desolation and a Dragon. The Dragon Sauron might use with terrible effect. Often I said to myself: "I must find some way of dealing with Smaug ..."

So, in sending Bilbo off with Thorin and company, Gandalf was hoping for the re-establishment of the realms of Erebor and Dale to provide protection against an invasion of Eriador by Sauron through the northern passes, while eliminating a potential (and powerful) ally for Sauron.

Had the northern passes been open to him, I do not believe that Sauron would have hesitated to make a move on Eriador and, most particularly, Rivendell. So, why did he not do so when he had fought back the Dwarves of Erebor and the Men of Dale? Well, I think that he recognised that, given his committments in the South and elsewhere, his army in the North would have been cut off, and quite possibly eliminated, by the forces that he was at that stage besieging. So he chose to keep them penned in while he dealt with Gondor, believing that, once he was victorious there, he would have sufficient forces to then eliminate the resistance in Erebor and Dale and forge a way through the northern passes to Eriador.

[Finwe]

Ah, but remember, there was a battle at the Lonely Mountain. An army of Orcs and other generally vicious things attacked Dale, whose King, Prince, and army fled to the Lonely Mountain. There, they prepared for a siege, which did come. Eventually, both King Dain and King Brand were killed, and their sons managed to hold the Lonely Mountain until they managed to beat off their foes. So Sauron did send an army North, probably to get rid of, or weaken, those two kingdoms, so that he could defeat them later, when he had more strength.

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Wasn't most of Dale's attackers from the East?

Already war is gathering on [Brand's] eastern borders...

(LotR, Book II, Chapter 2)

...so, they could march to Rivendell, assuming the passes are clear. But Beornings are guarding the Old Dwarf Road. That leaves the one north of Ered Mithrim. But is it passable?

Later days! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]
->banakil on mumakil

[Legolas]

Ah, but remember, there was a battle at the Lonely Mountain.

The original question was about Sauron attacking Eriador - the initial poster acknowledged that Sauron was fighting Dale and Erebor. Why not Eriador, he/she asked. Eriador is the land west of the Misty Mountains where Hollin, the Shire, etc. were.