In The Lord of the Rings, before his assault on Gondor (with the siege of Minas Tirith), Sauron sends a darkness from Mordor which cuts out the daylight. At the end of the Chapter 4, The Siege of Gondor, a cock crows “welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn”, and and the start of Chapter 6, we read that “The darkness was breaking too soon, before the date that his” (the Lord of the Nazgul’s) “Master had set for it”.
Is there any explanation why the darkness broke early?
Other mentions of the breaking of the darkness, without explanations, are:
- Towards the end of Chapter 5, The Ride of the Rohirrim, it is predicted by Wídfara, one of the Rohirrim: “Already the wind is turning. … Above the reek it will be dawn when you pass the wall”. When they reach the Pelennor Fields, we read “Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt, a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen …, morning lay beyond them” and “For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed”.
- In Book VI, Chapter 2, The Land of Shadow, after excaping from Cirith Ungol, Frodo and Sam observe it breaking: “‘Look at it, Mr. Frodo!’ said Sam. ‘Look at it! The wind’s changed’”.
N.B. All quotes are from the first edition.