Talk:Battle of Helm's Deep

Merge Battle of the Hornburg here
Following on from the recent AfD of the Battle of the Hornburg, I propose that it be merged here. As discussed then, the Battle of the Hornburg and Helm's Deep are virtually synonymous. "Helm's Deep" is the common name. Also, fictionally speaking there are no other significant events that occur at Helm's Deep.--Jack Upland (talk) 02:24, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * The Battle of the Hornburg refers to an event. Helm's Deep refers to a location.  They should be kept separate. Teacherdan1701 (talk) 11:41, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Merge sourced content into this article and let it incubate summary style until a split is warranted. That the battle occurred in this location makes the proposal sufficient. (not watching, please )  czar  21:08, 16 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Merge Yes one is an event, the other a place, but we are dealing with fictional things. They are notable in interrelated ways, and so there is no justification for having what amounts to two articles approaching the same topic from different angles. Plus "Battle of the Hornberg" violates the actual common name rules about this, in the total literature that mentions this battle, Helm's Deep is a more common term.John Pack Lambert (talk) 14:08, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
 * A merger will also hopefully make it possible to find enough sources to move this article into being adequately sourced to secondary sources.John Pack Lambert (talk) 14:13, 6 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Comment. I don't really see secondary sources in either article. Is there evidence that even combined we could pass WP:GNG? I'm not opposed to the merge, but without more sources I'm wondering if it would be more appropriate just to delete both articles. BenKuykendall (talk) 20:11, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
 * BenKuykendall, the Battle of the Hornburg has just survived an AfD.--Jack Upland (talk) 22:07, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
 * .... okay, kinda surprised the AfD panned out that way.... but then I will support the merge. Per the deletion discussion, it looks like editors found sources describing the production of the battle in the Peter Jackson films. I guess post-merge, we should focus on using sources and filling out that section. BenKuykendall (talk) 22:22, 17 January 2020 (UTC)


 * Merge - Due to the above discussion. -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 22:25, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Merge - as above, the place is known for the event, and there's little to say about it other than that; and the name "Helm's Deep" is certainly far better known than "Hornburg". There seems to be good consensus for this merge and plenty of time has elapsed so basically we should just get on and do it now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 16:38, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Battle of the Hornburg is the name of the battle
The term "Battle of Helm's Deep" comes from Peter Jackson's movies, it never appears in the book. This page should use the "Battle of the Hornburg" as the primary name and specify that the "Battle of Helm's Deep" is the name given in Peter Jackson's adaptation. See:

"‘A struggle somewhat grimmer for my part than the battle of the Hornburg,’ answered Aragorn. ‘I have looked in the Stone of Orthanc, my friends.’ (LotR, The Passing Of The Grey Company)

"March 3 - Theoden retreats to Helm’s Deep. Battle of the Hornburg begins. Ents complete the destruction of Isengard." (LotR, Appendix B)

There is also an entry for 'Battle of the Hornburg' in the book's index.

Kadaveri (talk) 02:51, 21 February 2024 (UTC)


 * Many thanks for discussing. Firstly, you are certainly right about Tolkien's usages as cited. Secondly, you are probably right that the term is Jackson's, though it may well have been used by fans long before that. But those points do not necessarily mean that we should rename the article. We may observe that the chapter containing the battle is titled "Helm's Deep"; it may well be that Tolkien was here being deliberately obscure, as we know that he was intentionally ambiguous with chapter titles as with much else, but that does not negate the fact that readers come to the battle in a chapter called Helm's Deep, and only learn that the battle is elsewhere referred to as the Hornburg much later, if at all, and only in passing. Be that as it may, the fact is that readers of Tolkien, and readers of Wikipedia, are familiar with the title "Battle of Helm's Deep". Google returns some 35,700 hits for "Battle of the Hornburg, and some 214,000 for "Battle of Helm's Deep", while excluding the terms "film" and "movie" from the search still leaves some 117,000 for "Battle of Helm's Deep". In other words, per WP:COMMONNAME, the article is correctly named at the moment, as was noted in the discussion in the 2019–2020 thread above on this talk page. Since Jackson, of course, other things such as games have continued to use the name "Helm's Deep", so that name has steadily grown in usage. Even scholarly sources like Charles Oughton's "Roman Heroes at Helm's Deep?" cited in the article are now comfortable with that name. So, whatever book purists (and Tolkien himself) may think or have thought, the world now has chosen Helm over Hornburg, that's how it is. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:16, 21 February 2024 (UTC)