Esgaroth during the War of the Ring

[Southron]

I know that Dale and Erebor were besieged during the War of the Ring, but was there any mention of Esgaroth doing the War of the Ring?

[Falenthal]

Not that I know, but I guess the population from Esgaroth had to take refuge in Erebor.
I don't think Lake-town is able to resist a siege.

I'll paste here what the Tolkiengateway says about it:

After King Bard died in 2977 his son King Bain reigned [in the Kingdom of Dale] and in 3007 he was succeeded by King Brand.[4] As the end of the Third Age approached the growing realm extended far to the south and east of Esgaroth.[2]

In 3017 a messenger from Mordor came to both the Dwarves of Erebor and the Kingdom of Dale.[7] Despite words offering Sauron's friendship, the Dark Lord's forces began gathering beyond the Carnen. About the same time that Minas Tirith was attacked (on 15 March 3019) a host of Sauron's allies crossed the river and drove Brand back into Dale. On 17 March the Battle of Dale began. King Brand and King Dáin Ironfoot of the Mountain were both killed and the Men of Dale and the Dwarves were driven into the Mountain. The enemy could not take the gates and a siege began. However, when news of the fall of Sauron came the enemy forces lost heart, and on 27 March the new King of Dale, Bard II, and the new King Under the Mountain, Thorin III Stonehelm, burst forth and drove the enemy away.

[Mytholder]

I'd give good odds for Esgaroth in a siege. It's built on a lake, after all - you just collapse the bridge leading to the shore, and eat fish for a few months. Although, given the sort of place Laketown is, I can imagine lots of voices arguing that really, Sauron isn't that bad and it makes economic sense to negotiate rather than fight. That Mouth chap understands Rhovanion realpolitik.

[Falenthal]

Eat fish for a few months!!!

I would tell the Easterlings myself to build a few boats, put fire to their arrows and set the entire city to flames.

[Mytholder]

Burning a city that's _on a lake_ may be tricky, especially considering some of the people living there survived Smaug's attack on the older lake town. I imagine fire drills and preparation are a pretty important part of Laketown psychology.

I'm sure the Easterlings or Orcs could destroy Laketown if they had to - I'm just not convinced that it's worth the effort when Dale's a much bigger threat.

[Heilemann]

Good luck stopping the fire and repelling the boarding Easterlings at the same time. It'd be a damn shame if they were aided by traitors from inside the city or if the lake was, oh I don't know, poisoned.

[Otaku-sempai]

Good luck stopping the fire and repelling the boarding Easterlings at the same time. It'd be a damn shame if they were aided by traitors from inside the city or if the lake was, oh I don't know, poisoned.

That's why the citizens would drench the roofs with water before the arrows start flying. The tactic wasn't so effective against Smaug, but dragon-fire is pretty intense. Also, Long Lake is big. Good luck with poisoning it--especially since you need water for your own troops as well (who would also like to suppliment their food supply with fresh fish).

My impression is that Lake-town remained a free city through the War of the Ring and into the Fourth Age, rather than becoming part of the kingdom of Dale. No, Esgaroth couldn't hold out against a strong enemy forever, but a siege could last a good while.

[Glorelendil]

Agree with Otaku. Poisoning the entire lake would be extremely difficult. Poison it with what? Something vastly more toxic than a dragon corpse, I should think.

As for storming it with boats:
- Men of the Lake are accomplished bowmen, firing from platforms above the water. I don't know what the ratio of attackers to defenders would have to be, but very large, and Sauron has a war to fight in the south and a Dwarf stronghold to besiege.
- They'd have to build all those boats and boarding ladders...that's going to take a while.
- To what end? Put a company of orcs on the shore to keep the men contained and focus on the bigger threat.

[Heilemann]

Some orcs just want to watch the world burn.

[Beran]

Going on the pictures of Lake Town provided for TOR I would say that Lake Town was probably abandoned as it is not very defensible. The population, if they were smart, would have fallen back to Dale and Erebor.