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Beregond pippin

Beregond, a Guardsman, with Pippin

The Guards of the Citadel, sometimes referred to as the Tower Guard, were the soldiers responsible for guarding the High Court, the upmost level of Minas Tirith, especially the courtyard that held the fountain and the White Tree of Gondor.

They served as personal bodyguards to the Kings of Gondor, and later to the Stewards of Gondor until King Aragorn II's coronation.

They were mainly a stationary guard unit, rather than a mobile force. They were headed by a Captain of the Citadel, who was chosen by the Steward from nobility or high military ranks.

History[]

The Tower Guards saw little combat during the War of the Ring. Though the city burned around them and the air swarmed with Black Wings at the Siege of Gondor, they remained at their posts, guarding their Steward and the White Tree all throughout the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

When Peregrin Took arrived with Gandalf the White in Minas Tirith, he offered his services as payment for Boromir's sacrifice to save his life. He was outfitted in the garb of the Tower, and was instructed by Beregond of the Third Company, though did not join the normal ranks, and acted as personal esquire to the Steward Denethor. Peregrin was the only Guard to leave the Citadel during the Battle of Pelennor Fields, running to the city gates to fetch Gandalf to save Faramir from Denethor's madness. Beregond as well left his post and killed a comrade, breaking his oath and losing his position as a member of the Guard, in order to keep the fires from Faramir until Gandalf's arrival.

There were at least 3 Companies of the Guard as mentioned by Beregond while speaking with Peregrin.

Known members[]

  • Beregond
  • Boromir (Captain during the War of the Ring until his death at Amon Hen)
  • Peregrin Took (Under service of the steward Denethor II)

Equipment[]

The Citadel Guards wore similar armor to that of ordinary knights of Gondor, though finer crafted.

In the book they are described as wearing a uniform of black robes and black surcoats, embroidered in white with a tree in blossom under a silver crown and many-pointed stars. Their helms were high-crowned and pointed, with long cheek-guards fitting to the face, and above these were set the white wings of sea-birds to honor their seafaring Númenórean heritage; the helms were made of mithril and were heirlooms from ancient times. They carried swords for close combat.

As an esquire, Peregrin Took wore mail forged of black steel, a helm with raven-wings and a silver star in the center above the forehead, and a black surcoat with the device of the White Tree sewn in silver. He bore a short sword from the Barrow-downs.

In adaptations[]

In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy[]

In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, there are two different Guard variations. The Citadel Guards first appear in the Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in the flashback scene in Osgiliath.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the other type, the Guards of the Fountain, guard the White Tree, and there are only four of them shown at any given time. The Citadel Guards appear occasionally in the background and when Denethor attempts to burn Faramir.

Appearance[]

Tower guard

A Fountain Guard as shown in The Return of the King film

In the film adaptation, the Fountain Guards stationed in the Fountain Court itself wore black capes that concealed most of their armor, and black cloths over the lower halves of their faces. The Citadel guards wore normal Gondor armor, but with small wings attached flush to the helmet.

In Video games[]

  • The Order of the Tower Guard is a lore-based kinship in The Lord of the Rings Online on the Landroval server; the Guard of the Citadel form the kernel of lore for the guild, who function as a mobile entity of the Guard.  Lore focuses on the mysteries of the White Trees of Gondor and the transition of the Third Age to the Fourth Age, and has its roots in the Elven stewardship of Celeborn at Tol Eressëa.

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Lyfwag van die Sitadel
Albanian Garda e Kala
Arabic حارس القلعة
Armenian Ցիտադեի պահակ
Assamese চিটাডেলত গাৰ্ড
Azerbaijani Qala qorunması
Basque Zitadela Guardia
Belarusian Cyrillic Вартаўнік Цытадэлі
Bengali দুর্গের প্রহরী
Bosnian Čuvar citadela
Bulgarian Cyrillic Охрана на Цитадела
Burmese နန်းတော်၏စောင့်တပ်ဖွဲ့
Catalan Guàrdia de la Ciutadella
Cebuano Pagbantay sa Kuta
Chinese 城堡警卫
Croatian Čuvar Citadela
Czech Stráž citadely
Danish Vagt på citadellet
Dogri किले दा पहरा
Dutch Bewaker van de Citadel
Esperanto Gvardio de la Citadelo
Estonian Tsitadelli valvur
Filipino Ang mga bantay ng mga kuta
Finnish Sitadelli vartija
French Garde de la Citadelle
Frisian Wacht fan de Sitadel
Galician Garda da Cidadela
German Wächter der Zitadelle
Greek Φρουρά της Ακρόπολη
Gujarati સિટાડેલનો રક્ષક
Haitian Creole Gad nan baz la
Hebrew שומר שומר של המצודה
Hindi गढ़ के गार्ड
Hungarian A Fellegvár Őr
Icelandic Vörður af Kastali
Irish Gaelic Garda an Caisleán
Italian Guardia della Cittadella
Japanese 城塞の衛兵
Kannada ಸಿಟಾಡೆಲ್ ಗಾರ್ಡ್
Kazakh Цитадель күзетшісі (Cyrillic) Цитадель күзетшісі (Latin)
Konkani किल्ल्याचो राखणदार
Korean 요새의 감시
Kurdish Nobedarên keleha (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Чептин кароолчусу
Latvian Citadeles aizsargs
Lithuanian Apsaugos tarnybos citadelė
Luxembourgish Garde vun der Zitadell
Macedonian Cyrillic Гарда на Цитаделата
Malagasy Mpiambina ny ny toeram-Pamaharana
Malaysian Pengawal Kubu Kota
Maltese Gwardja taċ-Ċittadella
Marathi किल्ल्याचा रक्षक
Mongolian Cyrillic Цайзын хамгаалагч
Nepalese किल्ला को रक्षक
Norwegian Vakt av Citadell
Pashto د کلا ساتونکی
Persian گارد قلعه
Polish Strażnicy Cytadeli
Portuguese Guarda da Cidadela
Punjabi ਗੜ੍ਹ ਦਾ ਪਹਿਰੇਦਾਰ
Romanian Garda citadelă
Romansh Chastè ?
Russian Стражи Цитадели
Scottish Gaelic Geàrd de na Caisteal
Serbian Гуард од Цитаделе (Cyrillic) Гарда od Citadele (Latin)
Sinhalese බලකොටුවේ ආරක්ෂකයා
Slovak Stráže z Citadela
Slovenian Stražar Citadela
Spanish Guardia de la Ciudadela
Swedish Vakten av Citadell
Tamil கோட்டையின் காவலர்
Telugu కోట యొక్క గార్డు
Thai ยามเนินปราสาท
Turkish Muhafız Kale
Turkmen Içki galada garawul
Ukrainian Cyrillic Гвардія Цитадель
Urdu قلعہ کا محافظ
Welsh Gwarchodlu'r Caer
Yiddish היטן פון די סיטאַדעל
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