Gobel Ancalimon

Gobel Ancalimon (S. "Ancalimon's Town") was the largest town along the southern bank of the Harnen, with a population of over 10,000. Founded in S.A. 2281, it was built by colonists, engineers, and troops from Númenor.The original double wall and public buildings still stood. However, the rest of the town had been rebuilt several times as fires, riots, and war had repeatedly leveled its buildings. A strong fortress dominated the northeastern quarter, just ad the old Númenorean governor's tower did, in the southwestern quarter. Tar-Ancalimon's thirty-foot tall bronze statue was set in the center of the main square. The first inhabitants of Gobel Ancalimon were commanded to oversee Construction of the Hyarmentie and Men Harnen. The town was also the political Center governing lower Harnendor. After the roads were completed, the governor was responsible for little more than collecting annual tribute payments and protecting Númenorean interests. Gobel Ancalirnon was not abandoned by the Númenoreans when Ar-Pharazôn called many home during the Great Armament. However, the population dropped dramatically, and did not recover until early in the Third Age. After the Downfall of Núnmenor, the governor and garrison rebelled against the overlordship of Umbar, and the city remained independent until an Umbarean expedition reclaimed it early in the Third Age. Throughout the Third Age, Gobel Ancalirnon repeatedly became a crucial focus for military conflict between Gondor and Umbar. During the years of Tarannon's conquests in Harondor, much of the aid that Umbar supplied to its Haruze allies in Harnendor flowed through the town. Well-fortified, Gobel Ancalimon was one of the last Umbarean-controlled towns to fall to Hyarmendacil I's forces. With the loss of Harondor to the confederates in the fifteenth century, it became the principal anchor of Umbarean defenses along the Harnen river valley, especially during Sangahyandion's landward campaigns in Harnendor.

When Telumehtar Umbardacil recaptured Umbar in T.A. 1810, many Umbareans fled north to their possessions along the Harnen, and Gobel Ancalimon's population swelled to over 16,000. The town and its inhabitants were critical in keeping the men of Gondor from seizing territory south of the Harnen. When Umbar was retaken in T.A. 1940, only half the town's population remained. More of its people left, establishing themselves in Harondor after Eärnil II of Gondor abandoned it, following the Second Wainrider War, In the years that followed, Gobel Ancalimnon became the principal guardian of Umbareans living along the lower Harnen river valley. Many petty Haruze lords moved into the power vacuum left by the Gondorian withdrawal from Harondor in T.A. (944, replacing the threat once posed by the kings. The new Haruze lords proved to be as quarrelsome among themselves as they were towards the inhabitants of Gobel Ancalirnon, so the threat was more imagined than real (though this was not apparent at the time).

During the War of the Ring, the town was used as one of several major staging points for the invading allies of Sauron. With their defeat, many of the survivors fled south and successfully attacked the town, leaving most of it a charred ruin. King Aragorn Elessar's troops easily took the town in F.A- 2 and rebuilt it. With Umbar subdued, Gobel Ancalimon became a vital link for trade, landward communication, and travel between Gondor, Umbar, and Harad.