Battle of Sorrows

Date: BT 683

The decisive battle of the Atani Wars, fought in 683 BT on a grassy plain ten leagues north of present-day Burzyn. An allied army of approximately 6,000 Sindarin, Jarin, and Khuzdul faced a Lythian force of 20,000 under Tharvdar the Fox.

The Battle

The elvenking Daelda sent three heralds offering peace in exchange for submission. Tharvdar slew them. Daelda rashly ordered an advance on the entire Lythian battleline. A terrible bloodletting ensued that soon went against the smaller allied force. Facing envelopment, the elvenking led a charge of 250 horse that prevented disaster, but Daelda suffered a mortal wound. The allied army retreated with their wounded king, pursued recklessly by the Lythians.

At this critical moment, 1,000 heavy Khuzdul foot from Kiraz fell upon the left flank of the Lythians, turning the battle into a rout. The allies had triumphed against great odds, but the cost was devastating: roughly two-thirds of the victors perished, including King Daelda and 3,000 of his folk — a staggering loss from a total population of about 7,000 male Sindarin.

Aftermath

Daelda’s nephew Aranath succeeded the throne. Concluding that further struggle would be self-genocide, Aranath renounced Sindarin kingship of Harn and withdrew his people into the Shava Forest, founding the Kingdom of Evael. The Khuzdul regarded this retreat as a cowardly betrayal and destroyed much of Pesino, the great Codominium trading centre, before departing for their mountain strongholds. The enmity between the Elder Folk has endured for 1,400 years.

Most Sindarin living outside the Shava Forest eventually abandoned their homes and journeyed to Evael, a time remembered as the “Thousand Trails of Grief.”