A haven on the western shores of Númenor, at the mouth of the River Nunduinë. It was built in the middle of the coast of Númenor’s great western bight, between the arms of the wide Bay of Eldanna, in the fragrant region known as Nísimaldar.
* Eldamar
‘Elvenhome’, the region of Aman in which the Elves dwelt.
–—
Lands of the Elves in Aman.
Elvenhome, the lands of the Elves in Aman that lay to the east of the Pelóri mountains, and in which stood the city of Tirion.
* Eldar
The Elves of the Three Kindreds (Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri).
According to Elvish legend the name Eldar ‘People of the Stars’ was given to all the Elves by the Vala Oromë. It came however to be used to refer only to the Elves of the Three Kindreds (Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri) who set out on the great westward march from Cuiviénen (whether or not they remained in Middle-earth), and to exclude the Avari. The Elves of Aman, and all Elves who ever dwelt in Aman, were called the High Elves (Tareldar) and Elves of the Light (Calaquendi); see Dark Elves, Umanyar.
–—
The Elves of the Great Journey.
The name given to the Elves by the Vala Oromë when he first found them wandering in the starlight of Cuiviénen. At first, the name was applied to all Elves, but after the summons of the Valar, it came to be used only of the peoples who followed the summons and began the Great Journey.
The Three Kindreds of the Eldar were the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Teleri. All of the Vanyar and Noldor went to Aman (though many of the Noldor later returned to Middle-earth with Fëanor).
Many of the Teleri also journeyed to Valinor, but twice a host of this people turned away from the Journey in Middle-earth; these two kindreds are called Úmanyar, the Eldar not of Aman. The first of these were the Nandor, who turned aside east of the Misty Mountains, and travelled down the River Anduin. The second, the Sindar, tarried in Beleriand seeking their lord, Elwë Singollo.
* Eldarin
Of the Eldar; used in reference to the language(s) of the Eldar.
–—
A term used to describe any of the languages of the Eldar, and especially Quenya and Sindarin.
* Eldarion
The son of Aragorn II Elessar and Arwen Evenstar; almost nothing is known of his life, but that he became King of the Reunited Kingdom after the death of his father in IV 120.
* Elder Children of Ilúvatar|Elder Children of Iluvatar|Elder Children A name used for Elves, who of the two kindreds of the Children of Ilúvatar awoke the earlier; Men were not seen in Arda until many thousands of years after the Eldar.
* Elder Days|Eldest Days
The First Age; also called the Eldest Days.
–—
Strictly, the time before the War of Wrath (that is, the days before the end of the First Age). The term is sometimes expanded to include the Second and Third Ages.
* Elder Kindred
The race of Elves.
The elder of the two races that were accounted the Children of Ilúvatar, the Elves. They awoke many thousands of years before the Younger Children, the race of Men.
* Elder King
A title given to Manwë Súlimo, greatest of the Valar, and held to be the ruler of the realm of Arda.
* Eldest
A name for the oldest of beings.
A title for the eldest of all beings. Confusingly, it seems to apply to two different individuals; not only does Tom Bombadil claim it for himself, but Celeborn also uses it to address the old Ent Treebeard.
* Eledhwen
The surname and title of Morwen, wife of Húrin and mother to Túrin Turambar. It is translated in the text of the Silmarillion as ‘Elfsheen’, but the literal meaning seems to be ‘Elf-maiden’.
* Elemmakil
Elf of Gondolin, captain of the outer gate.
* Elemmírë|Elemmire
Name of a star.
* Elemmírë (Elf)|Elemmírë|Elemmire
Vanyarin Elf, maker of the Aldudénië, the Lament for the Two Trees.
* Elendë|Elende
A name of Eldamar.
* Elendil
Called the Tall and the Faithful; son of Amandil, last lord of Andúnië in Númenor, descended from Eärendil and Elwing but not of the direct line of the Kings; escaped with his sons Isildur and Anárion from the Drowning of Númenor and founded the Númenórean realms in Middle-earth; slain with Gil-galad in the overthrow of Sauron at the end of the Second Age. The name may be interpreted either as ‘Elf-friend’ (see Elendili) or as
‘Star-lover’.
–—
Founder of Arnor and Gondor.
The last Lord of Andúnië, who escaped the wreck of Númenor with his sons Isildur and Anárion; they fled to Middle-earth and there founded the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. Elendil led the Last Alliance with Gil-galad, and died in the Siege of Barad-dûr.
* Elendili
‘Elf-friends’, name given to those Númenóreans who were not estranged from the Eldar in the days of Tar-Ancalimon and later kings; also called the Faithful.
–—
A name, meaning ‘Elf-friends’, taken by that party of the Númenóreans who opposed the policies of the King’s Men, and wished Númenor to keep the friendship of the Eldar.
* Elendilmir|Star of Elendil|Star of the North The white gem borne as the token of royalty on the brows of the Kings of Arnor.
–—
The royal gem of Arnor.
A symbol of royalty among the Kings of Arnor and their descendants: a radiant white gem set on a silver fillet. The first Elendilmir was lost with Isildur at the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, but another was made, and borne by Isildur’s descendants until the time of Aragorn and almost certainly beyond.
* Elendur
Eldest son of Isildur, slain with him at the Gladden Fields.
–—
The eldest son and heir of Isildur, slain with his father in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields.
* Elendur (King of Arnor)|Elendur
The penultimate King of Arnor.
The son of Valandur, who succeeded his father to rule over Arnor for one hundred and twenty-five years. He was perhaps named for Isildur’s eldest son, who also bore the name Elendur. He was succeeded by his son Eärendur, who would be the last of Arnor’s Kings.
* Elenna
A (Quenya) name of Númenor, ‘Starwards’, from the guidance of the Edain by Eärendil on their voyage to Númenor at the beginning of the Second Age.
–—
The island of Númenor.
A name said to mean ‘Starwards’, referring to the island on which the realm of Númenor was founded.
* Elenna-nóreo|Elenna-noreo
‘The land named Starwards’, Númenor; fuller form of the name Elenna.
* Elentári|Elentari
‘Star-Queen’, a name of Varda as maker of the Stars. See Elbereth, Tintallë.
–—
‘The Queen of the Stars’.
A title of Varda, meaning ‘Queen of the Stars’.
* Elentirmo
‘Star-watcher’, name of Tar-Meneldur.
–—
The surname given to Tar-Meneldur in his youth, meaning ‘watcher of the stars’. Meneldur was fascinated by the movements of the heavens, and even built a tower among the highlands of the Forostar from which he could follow the courses of the stars.
* Elenwë|Elenwe
The wife of Turgon and mother of Idril Celebrindal; she was lost in the crossing of the Helcaraxë as the Noldor returned to Middle-earth.
* Elephants|Elephant
Giant beasts of the southern lands.
While we know much of the great elephant-like creatures known as the Mûmakil, it is not certain whether their lesser cousins that are still known today existed in Middle-earth. Gandalf does mention them in The Hobbit, so it is possible that they shared the wide burning plains of the Harad with their giant relatives.
* Elerrína|Elerrina
‘Crowned with Stars’, a name of Taniquetil.
* Elessar (jewel)|Elessar
A great green jewel of healing power made in Gondolin for Idril Turgon’s daughter, who gave it to Eärendil her son; the Elessar that Arwen gave to Aragorn being either Eärendil’s jewel returned or another. Called also the Stone of Eärendil and the Elfstone.
* Elessar (Aragorn)|Elessar
The name foretold for Aragorn by Olórin, and the name in which he became King of the reunited realm.
–—
High title and surname of Aragorn son of Arathorn. It was long foretold that he would take this name; it was given to him in Lórien by Galadriel.
She granted him a gift of a green stone set in a silver brooch in the shape of an eagle as he and the Company of the Ring left her land (on 16
February III 3019). ‘In this hour,’ she said, ‘take the name that was foretold for you, Elessar, the Elfstone of the house of Elendil!’
When Aragorn took up the kingship of Gondor, he assumed the name Elessar, and later references to him take the form ‘King Elessar’.
* Elestirnë|Elestirne
A name of the Lady Erendis.
A name and title, more commonly seen in the form Tar-Elestirnë, given to Erendis of Númenor. Elestirnë means ‘star-brow’, and was a reference to the bright jewel she wore bound to her forehead. This was to become a custom and symbol of royalty among the Númenóreans in later years.
* Elf-friend
Surname of Gimli son of Glóin.
The title and surname of Gimli of the Fellowship of the Ring, given in token of his great friendship with Legolas of the Wood-elves.
* Elf-friends|Elf-friend
The Men of the Three Houses of Bëor, Haleth, and Hador, the Edain. In the Akallabêth and in Of the Rings of Power used of those Númenóreans who were not estranged from the Eldar; see Elendili. In ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’, the reference is no doubt to the Men of Gondor and the Dúnedain of the North.
–—
Those Mortals with the special favour of the Elves.
Those, usually among Men, who were recognised by the Elves as providing special aid or alliance. The Elvish term was Elendili, seen for example in the name of Elendil.
* Elfhelm
Rider of Rohan; with Grimbold leader of the Rohirrim at the Second Battle of the Fords of Isen; routed the invaders of Anórien; under King Éomer Marshal of the East-mark.
–—
Marshal of the East-mark of Rohan.
A lord of Rohan and later Marshal of the East-mark; he fought beside Grimbold in the Second Battle of the Fords of Isen after the loss of Théodred.
* Elfstan Fairbairn
A grandson of Samwise Gamgee.
The son of Fastred of Greenholm and Sam Gamgee’s eldest daughter Elanor, born in the year IV 33 (1454 by the Shire-reckoning). His name means
‘Elfstone’, and its connection to the royal name Elessar is no doubt more than coincidence.
* Elfstone
The green stone given to Aragorn II by Galadriel in Lórien, and the origin of his surname, Elessar.
* Elfwine the Fair|Elfwinë|Elfwine
Son of Éomer King of Rohan and Lothíriel, daughter of Imrahil Prince of Dol Amroth.
–—
Rohan’s nineteenth King.
The son of Éomer Éadig, King of Rohan, who inherited his father’s kingdom in the early Fourth Age.
* Elladan
Brother to Elrohir and Arwen.
In the one hundred and thirtieth year of the Third Age, Celebrían the wife of Elrond bore twin sons. Dark-haired and grey-eyed, only those that knew them well could tell them apart. The first of the twins was named Elladan, ‘Elf-Man’ as a token of his ancestry; he was descended not only from the royal houses of the Noldor and the Sindar, but also from the Houses of Hador and Bëor of the Edain.
Many centuries later, the twins’ mother Celebrían went on a journey into the south to visit her own mother, Galadriel, in the land of Lórien. In the Redhorn Pass, she was captured by Orcs, and tortured in their dens.
Elladan rode with his brother to rescue her, but by the time they reached her she had received a poisonous wound. Though their father healed her, she would not remain in Middle-earth, and sailed into the West the following year. After this loss, Elladan and his brother Elrohir were filled with hatred of the Orcs, often riding against them with the Northern Dúnedain.
In the early part of the War of the Ring, the brothers’ main role was to scout the land and prepare the way for the Fellowship, but later they took a more active part. When Halbarad rode to Aragorn’s aid with the Grey Company, Elladan and Elrohir accompanied them. They followed Aragorn through the Paths of the Dead, fought with him at Pelargir, and took part in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where they fought with stars bound to their brows.
After the War of the Ring, little is known of the brothers’ fate. They returned to their father’s house at Rivendell, and remained there even after he had passed across the Sea. Like their sister Arwen, the sons of Elrond Half-elven were granted the choice of whether to leave Middle-earth for the Undying Lands, or remain there and become Mortal as Men.
Elladan had such a bond with his brother that they must surely have chosen alike, but what choice they made in the end can never now be known.
* Elmo
The younger brother of Elu Thingol of the Sindar and Olwë of the Teleri; he dwelt in Doriath with his elder brother Thingol, and is said to have been the ancestor of Celeborn, Lord of Lórien.
* Elms|Elm
Tall trees that grew throughout the northern regions of Middle-earth, as they still do today. Treebeard especially noted the elm-woods of Ossiriand, to the east of Beleriand.
* Elostirion
Tallest of the White Towers of Emyn Beraid, in which was placed the palantír called Elendil Stone.
–—
The tallest of the three towers that stood on the Tower Hills. It once held one of the palantíri of the North-kingdom.
* Elrohir
The noble twin son of Elrond.
With Elladan, one of the twin sons of Elrond, born in the early years of the Third Age. They performed many deeds of errantry throughout that age, and fought in the War of the Ring.
See Elladan.
* Elrond
Son of Eärendil and Elwing, who at the end of the First Age chose to belong to the Firstborn, and remained in Middle-earth until the end of the Third Age; master of Imladris (Rivendell) and keeper of Vilya, the Ring of Air, which he had received from Gil-galad. Called Master Elrond and Elrond Half-elven. The name means ‘Star-dome’.
–—
Master of Rivendell.
One of the greatest Elves in the history of Middle-earth, Elrond was born at the Havens of Sirion late in the First Age. During their sack, he and his brother Elros were taken captive by the Sons of Fëanor, but Maglor took pity on them and released them. When they were rescued, Elrond was found playing in a cave beneath a waterfall, and so received his full name, meaning ‘Elf of the Cave’.
Both of Elrond’s parents were Half-elven, and after the War of Wrath he was given a choice; whether to be counted amongst the kindred of Elves or of Men. He chose the Firstborn, and remained in Lindon with High King Gil-galad.
After the invasion of Eriador by Sauron in the mid-Second Age, Elrond founded a refuge there in a deep hidden valley; this was named Imladris, or Rivendell in the Common Speech. After Sauron’s defeat by Tar-Minastir of Númenor, Elrond remained in Rivendell, where he prospered with the aid of the Great Ring, Vilya.
Elrond played a great part in the histories of the Second and Third Ages; he marched with Gil-galad and Elendil to the War of the Last Alliance, and was a leading member of the White Council. At the time of the Council of Elrond in III 3018, he had dwelt in Middle-earth for some 6,500 years.
Meaning of the name: ‘Elf of the Cave’.
* Elros
Son of Eärendil and Elwing, brother of Elrond; at the end of the First Age chose to be numbered among Men, and became the first King of Númenor (called Tar-Minyatur), living to a very great age. The name means ‘Star-foam’.
–—
First of the Kings of Númenor.
The son of Eärendil and brother of Elrond, who chose to be counted amongst the kin of Men, and became the first King of Númenor and longest-lived of all Men.
* Elu Thingol|Elu
Sindarin form of Elwë Singollo.
–—
In his early life, millennia before the beginning of the First Age, Thingol journeyed to Valinor with Ingwë and Finwë, and was returned to the Eldar who dwelt at Cuiviënen. From the travellers’ reports of the Blessed Realm, many of the Elves marched westward across Middle-earth, seeking the land of the Valar, and the third and greatest host of the Elves, the Teleri, were led by Thingol and his brother Olwë.
As they neared the western coasts of Middle-earth, Thingol came upon Melian the Maia in the wood of Nan Elmoth. Long years passed, and at length he remained with Melian in Beleriand, though many of the Teleri passed West over the Great Sea. With Melian, Thingol founded the woodland realm of Doriath in the central regions of Beleriand, and there ruled the Sindar for many years. Thingol’s doom came upon him when Beren brought him a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown as the bride-price of his daughter Lúthien. He summoned Dwarves from the Blue Mountains to set the jewel in the necklace Nauglamír, and the Dwarves became so enamoured of their work that they slew Thingol in his own treasury.
* Eluchíl|Eluchil
‘Heir of Elu (Thingol)’, name of Dior, son of Beren and Lúthien. See Dior.
–—
‘Heir of Thingol’ (or, literally, ‘he that follows Elu’); the son of Beren and Lúthien and grandson of Elu Thingol of Doriath, who ruled there for a short time after the slaying of his grandfather.
* Eluréd|Elured
Elder son of Dior; perished in the attack on Doriath by the sons of Fëanor. The name means the same as Eluchíl.
–—
Son of Dior Eluchíl and descendant of Elu Thingol; he was lost, with his younger brother Elurín, in the assault on Doriath by the Sons of Fëanor.
* Elurín|Elurin
Younger son of Dior; perished with his brother Eluréd. The name means
‘Remembrance of Elu (Thingol)’.
–—
The son of Dior Eluchíl and elder brother to Elwing; he was lost in the assault of the Sons of Fëanor on Menegroth.
* Elven
Of or pertaining to the Elves.
* Elven-rings|Elven-ring|Rings of the Elves|Ring of the Elves The magical rings of the Elves of Eregion.
The magical rings made by Celebrimbor and the Mírdain of Eregion in the middle years of the Second Age, made unwittingly under the secret guidance and tutelage of Sauron. Most famous among them were the Three Rings of the Elves, Narya, Nenya and Vilya, the Rings of Fire, Water and Air. These were the only three made free of the influence of Sauron, though they too fell under the power of his One Ring.
After Sauron made his Ring, he invaded the lands of the Mírdain for the recovery of the Elven-rings. His armies overwhelmed Eregion, and he gathered most of the rings to himself, but four of the Great Rings were lost to him. One (later known as the Ring of Thrór) was held by Durin III, King of the impregnable Dwarf-city of Khazad-dûm in the Misty Mountains. Nenya the Ring of Water was carried eastward from Eregion by Galadriel, who crossed the mountains and settled in the land of Lórien.
Narya and Vilya had already been sent into the north by Celebrimbor, and were in the safekeeping of High King Gil-galad.
Galadriel kept her Elven-ring throughout the later years of the Second Age, and the duration of the Third. Gil-galad gave his rings to lords in his service - Narya to Círdan at the Grey Havens, and Vilya to Elrond, who used it to found a haven of his own against Sauron in the midst of Eriador - Imladris, that Men came to call Rivendell. Círdan, too, passed on his Ring, to a Grey stranger who sailed into his havens out of the West, who would come to be known in later legends as Mithrandir, or Gandalf.
With the destruction of Sauron’s One Ring in the last years of the Third Age, all the other Elven-rings lost their power, including the Three.
Those who had borne their power through the ages since their forging left Middle-earth together on the White Ship; Galadriel, Elrond and Gandalf, the Keepers of the Three Rings.
* Elven-smiths
The followers of Celebrimbor.
A general term for any smith of the Elves, but in fact used almost exclusively to describe the Mírdain, the jewelsmiths of Eregion led by Celebrimbor, who had a part in the making of the Rings of Power.
* Elven-tongue
Any of the languages of the Elves.
A term that strictly could be used of any of the Elvish languages, but more normally in Middle-earth indicated Sindarin or Quenya.
* Elven-tree
A name for Oiolairë.
A title used in Númenor for the evergreen tree oiolairë, a gift to the Númenóreans from the Elves.
* Elvenesse
The lands of the Elves.
A term whose meaning is not clearly defined, but which seems to refer to all the lands of the Elves, both west and east of the Great Sea.
* Elvenhome
Distant land of the Elves.
A general term for a land inhabited by Elves. It almost always refers to Eldamar (which is ‘Elvenhome’ in the Elves’ own tongue), the homeland of the Elves in Aman.
* Elves|Elf
The Elder Children of Ilúvatar.
The first Elves awoke by Cuiviénen, the Water of Awakening in the far east of Middle-earth, long Ages before the Rising of the Sun or Moon.
Unlike Men, the Elves were not subject to illness or death, and at the time of the Lord of the Rings, there were still at least two Elves in Aman who had awoken by Cuiviénen in the first days; Ingwë, Lord of the Vanyar, and Olwë, brother of King Elu Thingol.
–—
Origins and Early History: In the far eastern land of Cuiviénen, on the shores of the Inland Sea of Helcar and beneath the mountains of the Orocarni, the Elves awoke under the starlight of the Years of the Trees.
The Valar at first knew nothing of their coming, but they were soon discovered by the spies of Melkor, who sent his creatures to watch them and harrass them.
How long they existed in this perilous and unprotected state is not known, but the legends of those times, of the Hunter and of a dark Rider, were preserved in Valinor by the Eldar that came there. It is known that many of the ancient Elves were captured by Melkor and imprisoned in Utumno - it is generally thought that these hapless beings were the origins of the race of Orcs.
The Valar discovered that the Elves had awoken when Oromë, hunting in the lands of Middle-earth, heard their singing voices. He named them Eldar, the People of the Stars, but the Elves’ own name for their kind was Quendi, those who speak with voices. Because of the horrors of Melkor, many of the Elves were at first suspicious of the Vala, but (after briefly returning to Valinor to tell the other Valar of his discovery) he remained with them and protected them for a time.
Concerned for the safety of the Elves in Middle-earth, which was at that time under the control of Melkor, the Valar left Valinor and made war against the Dark Lord: this was the Battle of the Powers, which saw Melkor taken as captive back to Valinor.
–—
The Great Journey: After the defeat of Melkor, the Valar debated the fate of the Elves - whether they should be left to dwell in Middle-earth, or brought to Valinor to be kept under the direct protection of the Valar.
It was decided to bring them to the land of the Valar, and Oromë was sent back to Cuiviénen to summon them.
When he returned, though, he found that the Elves feared the Valar, and were reluctant to make the journey. Three ambassadors were chosen, Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë, to travel to Aman with Oromë, and help the Elves decide on their course. These three were filled with awe by what they saw there, and by the light of the Two Trees, and counselled their people to follow the summons.
The followers of Ingwë, and most of the peoples of Finwë and Elwë agreed, and set out on the Great Journey westwards across the wide lands of Middle-earth. These were the peoples later known as the Three Kindreds, the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Teleri. Not all the Elves obeyed the summons; those who refused are known as Avari, the Unwilling.
Oromë led the peoples of the Three Kindreds out of the east of Middle-earth. The Vanyar were the least numerous, and the most eager to reach Aman, and they came first on the Journey, followed by the Noldor of Finwë.
The Teleri, led by Elwë and his brother Olwë, were the greatest host, and many were uncertain and doubtful. Not a few of these people left the Journey and remained in Middle-earth. The most notable of those who turned from the Journey were the Nandor, who were led away down the Vales of Anduin by Lenwë.
At last, the Vanyar and the Noldor reached the shores of the Great Sea, in the regions between the Bay of Balar and the Firth of Drengist (regions later known, at least for the most part, as the Falas). Ulmo brought a great island to the shores, and on it transported the Elves to Aman.
The Teleri were the hindcomers, though, and arrived in Beleriand too late to embark on Ulmo’s island. They dwelt for a while on the banks of the Gelion in eastern Beleriand, but later spread to the shores. In this time, two events of historical importance occurred - their lord Elwë was lost for a time in Nan Elmoth, and they encountered Ossë, a Maia of the Sea.
Many of the Teleri wished to remain in Beleriand, some to seek for their lost lord, and others because of desires stirred in their hearts by Ossë.
When the time came for Ulmo to return to Beleriand to take the Teleri to Valinor, then, many of them remained behind. These people became known in after years as the Sindar, the Grey-elves, and those who dwelt by the shores under the lordship of Círdan became known as the Falathrim.
–—
Melkor Chained - Three Ages of Bliss: Now came three ages of glory and bliss for the Elves, both east and west of the Great Sea. In Valinor, the Vanyar and the Noldor, and those of the Teleri who completed the Journey, dwelt with the Valar and learned from them. They dwelt in the jewelled city of Tirion in the Pass of Light, and at the Swanhaven of Alqualondë, and beneath the tower of Avallónë on the Lonely Isle of Tol Eressëa.
While the Two Trees still gave light to the realm of the Valar, three ages passed, and the Elves of Valinor became the wisest and noblest of all the Children of Ilúvatar.
Meanwhile, in Beleriand, the Sindar dwelt beneath starlight. While most of Middle-earth still slept, awaiting the coming of the Sun and Moon, Melian the Maia brought life to the forests and plains of Beleriand under Thingol’s rule, and Oromë would still ride at times across the darkling lands.
–—
The Nature of the Elves: Both Elves and Men are the Children of Ilúvatar, and so have much in common, but there are also great differences between the two peoples. Of these, the most significant is that Elves are
‘immortal’, at least while the World lasts; they do not suffer ageing or disease, and if they are slain or wither with grief, they are reincarnated in the Halls of Mandos in Valinor.
Although, unlike Men, the Elves must remain in the world until its ending, they are not bound to Middle-earth. They may if they wish take the straight road, and sail into the Uttermost West, a road that is barred to mortals.
Elves also have far clearer sight and perception than Men; they are naturally aware of many things that are hidden from the Younger Children, but these gifts are not without limit.
–—
Religion: The Elves never had any distinct ‘religion’ in the sense that Men would understand the word; indeed, the High Elves had travelled to Valinor and lived with the Valar (or ‘gods’) themselves for many ages before Men came into the world.
Of all the Valar, they most revered Varda Elentári, the spouse of Manwë; and Lady of the Stars. In Middle-earth, they called her Elbereth, Star-Queen, and sang to her across the wide ocean Belegaer. Great respect was also given to Ulmo, especially during the First Age when he aided the Elves against Morgoth.
* Elves of Beleriand|Elf of Beleriand|Beleriand Elves|Beleriand Elf The Eldar of Middle-earth in the Elder Days.
For three ages after the departure of the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri to Aman, the Elves who inhabited Beleriand comprised that part of the Telerin people who remained in Middle-earth, known as the Sindar or Grey-elves after their king, Thingol Greycloak of Doriath.
At the rising of the Moon in the beginning of the First Age, many of the Noldor returned to Beleriand from Aman to make war on Morgoth. While there was some enmity between the Sindar and the Noldor (especially the Sons of Fëanor), the two peoples lived together in the face of their common foe, Morgoth Bauglir.
Finally, a small part of the Nandor, kin of the Sindar who had turned aside from the westward journey east of the Misty Mountains, entered the land of Ossiriand during the First Age. Though these people, called the Laiquendi or Green-elves, played little part in the wars against Morgoth, they are accounted a part of the Elves of Beleriand.
* Elves of Doriath|Elf of Doriath|Doriath Elves|Doriath Elf The People of Thingol and Melian.
Those Elves of the Sindar that lived in the broad forests of central Beleriand, Neldoreth and Region, under the Kingship of Elu Thingol. These people, whose King had travelled to Valinor in his youth, and whose Queen was of the order of the Maiar, were held to be the highest and noblest of the Grey-elven kindred.
* Elves of Eregion|Elf of Eregion|Eregion Elves|Eregion Elf The followers of Celebrimbor son of Curufin, who with him founded a land of the Elves near to Moria in the Misty Mountains. They were destroyed by Sauron during the Second Age.
* Elves of Lindon|Elf of Lindon|Lindon Elves|Lindon Elf The Elves that lived beyond the Blue Mountains.
Those Elves who dwelt in the west of Middle-earth, between the Blue Mountains and the Great Sea, in the Second and Third Ages. They reached the height of their power in the Second Age under King Gil-galad, but waned after his loss in the Siege of Barad-dûr.
* Elves of Lórien|Elves of Lorien|Elf of Lórien|Elf of Lorien|Lórien Elves|Lorien Elves|Lórien Elf|Lorien Elf
The Galadhrim, the Elvish people who inhabited the land of Lórien to the east of the Misty Mountains. These were Silvan Elves, descended from the Nandor, who at the time of the War of the Ring were ruled by Celeborn and Galadriel.
* Elves of Middle-earth|Elf of Middle-earth|Middle-earth Elves|Middle-earth Elf
The Úmanyar and the Noldor who returned from Aman.
The Elves that dwelt in Middle-earth were, for the most part, those who did not start the Great Journey (the Avari), or those that fell away from it (the Silvan Elves, the Nandor and the Sindar). Of those Elves who left Middle-earth for Aman, many of the Noldor later returned, and there were still some few of this noble people to be found at the time of the War of the Ring.
* Elves of Mirkwood|Elf of Mirkwood|Mirkwood Elves|Mirkwood Elf The Silvan followers of Thranduil and his kin.
A colony of Silvan Elves that maintained a realm in the northern regions of Mirkwood, under the rule of Thranduil.
* Elves of Nargothrond|Elf of Nargothrond|Nargothrond Elves|Nargothrond Elf
Elves of the following of Finrod Felagund, who dwelt under his rule in the underground citadel of Nargothrond on the banks of the River Narog.
* Elves of Sirion|Elf of Sirion|Sirion Elves|Sirion Elf The last exiles of Gondolin and Doriath.
A short-lived Elven culture that grew up in the lands around the Mouths of Sirion during the last days of the First Age. Its people were Elves that had fled from the destruction of the great realms of Beleriand, especially Gondolin and Doriath. It was itself destroyed, not by Morgoth, but by the remaining Sons of Fëanor who sought the Silmaril of Elwing, who dwelt with the Elves of Sirion.
* Elves of Thranduil|Elf of Thranduil|Thranduil Elves|Thranduil Elf The Elves of the Wood.
A people of the Silvan Elves, with whom had mingled a group of Sindar.
They dwelt under the trees of Mirkwood, and during the Third Age, their leader was Thranduil son of Oropher. With the help of the Dwarves, Thranduil delved an underground dwelling after the manner of his ancient kinsman Thingol at Menegroth. There, in the northeast of the Wood, the Elves of Thranduil lived in relative safety until the time of the War of the Ring. Prominent among this people was Legolas Greenleaf, who travelled with the Company of the Ring.
* Elves of the Havens|Elf of the Havens
The followers of Círdan during the First Age.
A Sindarin people occupying the land of the Falas in western Beleriand, on the shores of Belegaer. Círdan the Shipwright was their lord, and their great cities were the Havens of Brithombar and Eglarest.
The Elves of the Havens enjoyed peaceful relations with all the Elves of Beleriand, and were particularly closely allied with the people of Nargothrond. As one of the most remote peoples from Morgoth’s forces in Angband, the other Elvish lords would often send their children to the Elves of the Havens for safekeeping.
After the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Brithombar and Eglarest were besieged and taken by Morgoth’s armies, and most of the Elves were slain or imprisoned. Some few, including Círdan and the young Ereinion Gil-galad, who was at that time lodging with the people of the Havens, sailed south to safety on the Isle of Balar.
At the beginning of the Second Age, Círdan sailed east to found the Grey Havens on the Gulf of Lhûn, and the remnant of the Elves of the Havens must surely have accompanied him.
* Elves of the Light|Elf of the Light
The Calaquendi.
Those Elves known as the Calaquendi, who had looked on the light of the Two Trees of Valinor before their Darkening. These were the Vanyar, the Noldor and that part of the Teleri that had travelled West from Middle-earth. Elu Thingol was also considered an Elf of the Light, because although he never completed the Great Journey, he had travelled to Valinor and back before the Eldar set out from Cuiviénen.
* Elves of the Twilight|Elf of the Twilight|Twilight Elves|Twilight Elf A name for the Sindar or Grey-elves.
* Elves of the Wood|Elf of the Wood|Wood Elves|Wood Elf The Elves of northern Mirkwood.
The Silvan Elves who dwelt in the northern regions of Mirkwood, under the lordship of Thranduil. Legolas Greenleaf of the Company of the Ring came from these people.
* Elves of Valinor|Elf of Valinor|Valinor Elves|Valinor Elf Calaquendi, the Elves of the Light.
The Vanyar, the Noldor and those of the Teleri who came to Aman in the train of Oromë, and dwelt with the Valar in their realm of Valinor.
* Elvish
The rich and ancient languages of the Elves.
A general term for the languages of the Elves. In Middle-earth, it most commonly refers to Sindarin, but can also apply to Quenya, the High-elven tongue. Other Elvish languages in Middle-earth include dialects derived from Sindarin (for example, the language of the Wood-elves of Thranduil).
* Elwë Singollo|Elwë|Elwe
Surnamed Singollo ‘Greymantle’; leader with his brother Olwë of the hosts of the Teleri on the westward journey from Cuiviénen, until he was lost in Nan Elmoth; afterwards Lord of the Sindar, ruling in Doriath with Melian; received the Silmaril from Beren; slain in Menegroth by the Dwarves. Called (Elu) Thingol in Sindarin. See Dark Elves, Thingol.
–—
The ancient name of King Thingol; when he settled in Doriath with Melian, he took the Sindarin form of his name, Elu Thingol.
* Elwing
Daughter of Dior Thingol’s Heir, who escaping from Doriath with the Silmaril wedded Eärendil at the Mouths of Sirion and went with him to Valinor; mother of Elrond and Elros. The name means ‘Star-spray’; see Lanlhir Lamath.
–—
The daughter of Dior Eluchíl and wife of Eärendil the Mariner. Through the power of Ulmo she escaped the destruction of the Havens of Sirion in the form of a white bird, and came to her husband on the Sea with a Silmaril on her breast.
Elwing’s name, ‘star-spray’ comes from the starlight glinting on the waterfall of Lanthir Lamath, at her father’s house in Ossiriand, on the night she was born.
* Emeldir
Called the Man-hearted; wife of Barahir and mother of Beren; led the women and children of the House of Bëor from Dorthonion after the Dagor Bragollach. (She was herself also a descendant of Bëor the Old, and her father’s name was Beren).
–—
The ‘Man-hearted’ wife of Barahir.
The wife of Barahir and the mother of Beren Erchamion. After the Dagor Bragollach, when Barahir and Beren became outlaws, Emeldir fled from their home in Dorthonion with many of Barahir’s household.
* Emerië|Emerie
Region of sheep pasturage in the Mittalmar (Inlands) of Númenor.
–—
The sheep-country of Númenor.
A region of the Mittalmar in central Númenor; the location of the White House of Erendis, queen of Tar-Aldarion.
* Emerwen (Aranel)|Emerwen
‘(Princess) Shepherdess’, name given to Tar-Ancalimë in her youth.
* Empty Lands
An unknown region to the east of Middle-earth.
A mysterious region mentioned only once by Tolkien. The Empty Lands are important because they apparently lay beyond the eastern boundaries of Middle-earth, and so give a vital clue to the structure of Arda.
* Emyn Arnen
The central uplands of Ithilien.
A range of hills in the central regions of Ithilien, across the Great River from Minas Tirith. This region was particularly associated with the Stewards of Gondor. Húrin, the first of the hereditary Stewards, came from these hills, and Steward Faramir dwelt here after the War of the Ring.
* Emyn Beraid
The ‘Tower Hills’ in the west of Eriador on which were built the White Towers; see Elostirion.
–—
The Tower Hills.
A region of hills near the Grey Havens, to the west of the Shire. Before the end of the Second Age, Gil-galad built Elven-towers in these hills as a gift for Elendil. The tallest tower, Elostirion, held one of the palantíri of the North.
* Emyn Duir
‘Dark Mountains’, the Mountains of Mirkwood. See Emyn-nu-Fuin.
–—
The Dark Mountains of Greenwood the Great.
The former name for the range of hills that ran west to east through the northern parts of the forest of Greenwood the Great. At the beginning of the second millennium of the Third Age, a shadow began to fall across the Forest, and across the Dark Mountains, too. Then they gained a new name, Emyn-nu-Fuin, translated as the ‘Mountains of Mirkwood’.
* Emyn Muil
‘Drear Hills’, folded, rocky, and (especially on the east side) barren hill-country about Nen Hithoel above Rauros falls.
–—
The hill-range around Nen Hithoel.
The range of hills that massed on either side of the Anduin above the inflow of the Entwash. At one time they marked the northern borders of Gondor; Frodo and Sam crossed them on their journey to Mordor.
* Emyn Uial
The Hills of Evendim in the far north of Middle-earth, at the feet of which stood Arnor’s chief city, Annúminas.
* Emyn-nu-Fuin
‘Mountains under Night’, later name of the Mountains of Mirkwood. See Emyn Duir.
–—
The Mountains of Mirkwood.
The Elvish name for the east-west range of high forested hills that ran through northern Mirkwood. The name Emyn-nu-Fuin literally means ‘hills under shadow’, but the name is connected to the Elvish name for the Forest, Taur-nu-Fuin, and so is usually translated ‘Mountains of Mirkwood’.
* Enchanted Isles
The islands set by the Valar in the Great Sea eastwards of Tol Eressëa at the time of the Hiding of Valinor. See Shadowy Isles.
–—
Entrapments of the western seas.
Part of the defences of Valinor, a group of islands set in the Great Sea to prevent mariners from reaching Aman.
* Enchanted River
The black river of northern Mirkwood.
The dark river that rose in the Mountains of Mirkwood, and flowed northwards in a great loop to meet the Forest River under the canopy of the trees of Mirkwood. Its water was black, and carried a curse that gave the river its name - any person coming into contact with its enchanted water immediately fell into a long, deep sleep.
About halfway along its length, the Enchanted River flowed across the Elf-path that led west to east through Mirkwood to Thranduil’s halls, and it seems that a ferry was maintained there, presumably for the use of the Wood-elves. At least, Bilbo and the Dwarves found a boat kept on the eastern bank of the River, which they used to cross it on their journey to Erebor.
* Encircling Mountains
The protective mountains of Gondolin.
Also called the Echoriath and (in the south) the Crissaegrim; the circular mountain range that surrounded and concealed the valley of Tumladen and the city of Gondolin.
* Encircling Sea
The vast and bleak ocean that surrounded Arda.
Ekkaia, the dark and endless sea that surrounded the lands of Arda, and in which Ulmo had his dwelling-place.
* Enderi
The three ‘middle-days’ unique to the Elvish calendars such as the Reckoning of Rivendell; modern 5, 6 and 7 October. Every twelfth year, these Enderi were increased in number from three to six.
* Endless Stair
The stair that led to Durin’s Tower.
The winding stairway that led from the deepest halls of Khazad-dûm up to Durin’s Tower on the peak of Zirakzigil.
* Endor
‘Middle Land’, Middle-earth.
–—
The older name in Sindarin for the region much better known as Middle-earth.
* Endóre|Endore
‘Middle Lands’; the very rare Quenya name for the region much better known as Middle-earth.
* Enedwaith
‘Middle-folk’, between the rivers Greyflood (Gwathló) and Isen.
–—
The wide and empty land between the Kingdoms of the Dúnedain.
The wide lands that lay between Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south. Originally deeply forested, the great forests of this region were cut down by the Númenóreans during the Second Age.
* Enerdhil
Jewel-smith of Gondolin.
* Engwar
‘The Sickly’, one of the Elvish names for the race of Men.
* Ennor
The later form of the Sindarin word Endor, a name for Middle-earth.
* Entings|Enting
Young Ents.
A name used by the Ents to refer to juvenile members of their own kind.
At the time of the War of the Ring, due to the loss of the Entwives, there had been no new Entings for centuries.
* Entmoot|Moot
A gathering of Ents.
The name for a meeting of the Ents of Fangorn Forest, said to be a rare occasion in the later days of the Third Age. The Moot was held by tradition at a dell in the Forest known as Derndingle.
* Ents|Ent
The Shepherds of the Trees.
A race of giant, tree-like people whose purpose was to protect the forests of Middle-earth. By the end of the Third Age, the great forests had dwindled, and so had the Ents, but they were still to be found in Fangorn Forest.
See Enyd, Onodrim.
* Entulessë|Entulesse
‘Return’, the ship in which Vëantur the Númenórean achieved the first voyage to Middle-earth.
* Entwade
Ford over the Entwash.
* Entwash
River flowing through Rohan from Fangorn Forest to the Nindalf.
–—
The broad river that flowed out of Fangorn.
Name among Men for the river the Elves called Onodló; it rose in the Fangorn Forest at the southern foothills of the Misty Mountains, and flowed southeastward through Rohan until it met the Great River Anduin below Rauros.
* Entwives|Entwife
The lost spouses of the Ents.
The mates of the Ents, who had their gardens in the regions later known as the Brown Lands. When Sauron blasted that region, the Entwives escaped into the wilds of Middle-earth and were lost to the Ents (or so the Ents themselves believed).
* Entwood
Name in Rohan of Fangorn Forest.
* Envinyatar
‘The Renewer’.
A high name and title claimed by Aragorn after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. It refers in a literal sense to his renewal of the Kingship of the Dúnedain, and so to the renewal of the hope of Men.
* Enyd|Onod
Sindarin name for Ents (plural of Onod; see Onodló, Onodrim).
* Eofor
Third son of Brego the second King of Rohan; ancestor of Éomer.
* Éoherë|Eohere
Term used by the Rohirrim for the full muster of their cavalry.
* Eöl|Eol
Called the Dark Elf; the great smith who dwelt in Nan Elmoth, and took Aredhel Turgon’s sister to wife; friend of the Dwarves; maker of the sword Anglachel (Gurthang); father of Maeglin; put to death in Gondolin.
–—
The Dark Elf.
Originally a member of the royal house of Doriath, and kin to Thingol himself, Eöl was unhappy in his native land. When the Girdle of Melian was placed around the forests of Doriath, Eöl took his leave, and went to dwell in the dark forest of Nan Elmoth, east of his homeland.
Eöl was a skilful craftsman and master swordsmith. Among his greatest works were two swords made from the iron of a meteorite, Anglachel and Anguirel. Anglachel he gave to Thingol as payment for dwelling in Nan Elmoth, and it would later become the sword borne by Túrin Turambar.
Eöl’s smithcraft was especially admired by the Dwarves, and he shared a rare friendship with the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost in the Blue Mountains.
One day in the early fourth century of the First Age, Eöl came upon a gleaming white figure in his woods. This was Aredhel, the sister of Turgon, who had travelled out of Gondolin and become lost. Eöl used his enchantments to draw her deeper into the wood and ensnare her. She became his wife, and bore him a son, Maeglin.
One midsummer, many years later, Eöl travelled into the Blue Mountains to feast with the Dwarves of Nogrod, and returned home to find that his wife and son had left two days earlier. Mounting a horse, he gave chase, and eventually discovered them at the ford called the Brithiach.
Realizing that Aredhel was returning to Gondolin with his son, Eöl followed them. He found his way to the Dry River, and that secret way led him to the gates of Gondolin itself. There he was captured and taken to the King.
Turgon at first welcomed Eöl as a kinsman, but under the King’s law one who had found the way to the Hidden City was not permitted to leave, on pain of death. Enraged at the loss of his freedom, Eöl chose death, for himself and his son, and cast a poisoned javelin at Maeglin. Aredhel took the dart instead, and soon passed away. In this way Eöl achieved the end he had sought; in punishment for his crime, the Gondolindrim cast him over the dark cliffs of the Caragdûr.
* Éomer Éadig|Éomer|Eomer
Nephew and fosterson of King Théoden; at the time of the War of the Ring Third Marshal of the Mark; after Théoden’s death eighteenth King of Rohan; friend of King Elessar.
–—
First of the Third Line of the Kings of Rohan.
The son of Éomund of Eastfold and Théodwyn, the sister of King Théoden.
While still a young man of just twenty-six, Éomer the King’s nephew was made Third Marshal of Riddermark, and took command of the Riders of Eastfold. The days of his youth were harsh ones for Rohan; its people were imperilled by Orcs out of the north, while a certain Gríma son of Gálmód, later found to be a spy of Saruman, gained influence over the King.
On 25 February III 3019, Rohan suffered its greatest blow to date; at a skirmish that would become known as the First Battle of the Fords of Isen, Théoden’s son and heir Théodred was slain by Saruman’s forces, leaving Éomer - who was not at the battle - as the natural heir to Rohan’s throne. It was five days later that the tide began to turn in Rohan’s favour, when Éomer came across three strangers travelling through the fields of the Mark. These strangers were Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, and from Éomer’s wise decision to aid these three came Rohan’s ultimate victory.
Because of this, some days later, Gandalf came to Edoras and healed the King of his malaise. The Rohirrim went to war, and though they were defeated at the Second Battle of the Fords of Isen, they held their own at the Battle of the Hornburg and, with the aid of the Ents of Fangorn Forest, defeated Saruman’s armies. Then Éomer rode with his King to the aid of Minas Tirith, where they fought in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. There Théoden met his end, and granted Éomer the Kingship, first of the Third Line of the Kings of Rohan.
At the time of the great victories of that year, Éomer was still just twenty-eight years old. He would rule the Rohirrim for another sixty-five years, through which he maintained a great friendship with Gondor. Such was the plenty and peace of his reign that he was given the surname Éadig, ‘Blessed’. He was succeeded by his son Elfwine.
* Éomund of the Éothéod|Éomund|Eomund
Chief captain of the host of the Éothéod at the time of the Ride of Eorl.
* Éomund of Eastfold|Éomund|Eomund
Chief Marshal of the Mark of Rohan; wedded Théodwyn sister of Théoden; father of Éomer and Éowyn.
–—
The father of Éomer and Éowyn.
Marshal of the Mark, who married Théodwyn the sister of King Théoden of Rohan - their children were Éomer and Éowyn, who were each to play a great part in the War of the Ring. Éomund himself was slain in battle with Orcs in the Emyn Muil.
* Eönwë|Eonwe
One of the mightiest of the Maiar; called the Herald of Manwë; leader of the host of the Valar in the attack on Morgoth at the end of the First Age.
–—
The herald of Manwë and one of the greatest of the Maiar; he commanded the forces of the Valar during the War of Wrath.
* Éoreds|Eoreds|Éored|Eored
A body of the Riders of the Éothéod.
–—
The phalanxes of the Rohirrim.
An éored was the main military division of the Rohirrim, normally consisting of one hundred and twenty Riders.
* Eorl the Young|Eorl
Lord of the Éothéod; rode from his land in the far North to the aid of Gondor against the invasion of the Balchoth; received Calenardhon in gift from Cirion Steward of Gondor; first King of Rohan.
–—
The founding King of Rohan.
The son of Léod of the Éothéod, and founder of Rohan. When Gondor was assailed beyond hope, they sent north to Eorl for aid, and he came south in force to rout the enemies of the South-kingdom. As reward, Steward Cirion granted him and his people the land of Calenardhon to dwell in.
* Eorlingas|Eorlings
The people of Eorl, the Rohirrim.
–—
A name taken by the Rohirrim in their own tongue, signifying the followers and kin of Eorl the Young.
* Éothéod|Eotheod
Name of the people afterwards called the Rohirrim, and also of their land.
–—
The roots of the Rohirrim.
A nation of Northmen brought by their chieftain Frumgar on the northern reaches of the River Anduin. The Men of the Éothéod were the ancestors of the Rohirrim; in the time of Eorl the Young, they rode south to the aid of Gondor, and were granted the land of Rohan as reward.
* Éowyn|Eowyn
Sister of Éomer, wife of Faramir; slayer of the Lord of the Nazgûl in the battle of the Pelennor Fields.
–—
Shieldmaiden of the Rohirrim.
The granddaughter of King Thengel of Rohan, and sister to Éomer Éadig, who rode in disguise to the Battle of the Pelennor, and there had a part in the slaying of the Lord of the Nazgûl. She wedded Faramir, Prince of Ithilien.
* Epessë|Epesse|Essi
An ‘after-name’ received by one of the Eldar in addition to the given names (essi).
* Ephel Brandir
‘The encircling fence of Brandir’, dwellings of the Men of Brethil upon Amon Obel; also called the Ephel.
–—
The stockade at the heart of Brethil.
The fenced homestead of the People of Haleth that stood in the Forest of Brethil. Túrin dwelt there in the years before his death.
* Ephel Dúath|Ephel Duath
‘Fence of Shadow’, the mountain-range between Gondor and Mordor; also called the Mountains of Shadow.
–—
The Mountains of Shadow on the borders of Mordor.
The western mountain-fence of Mordor, lying between it and its ancient enemy Gondor, in which stood the tower of Minas Morgul.
* Eradan
Son and heir of Mardil Voronwë.
The second Ruling Steward of Gondor, the heir to Mardil, the first Steward to rule in Gondor. Eradan ruled as Steward for thirty-six years, and was succeeded by his son Herion.
* Erchamion
‘One-handed’, the name of Beren after his escape from Angband.
–—
The most commonly used title of Beren; it means ‘of the One Hand’ - he lost his right hand to the great Wolf Carcharoth before the Gates of Angband.
* Erebor
An isolated mountain to the east of the northernmost parts of Mirkwood, where was the Kingdom of the Dwarves under the Mountain and the lair of Smaug.
–—
The Lonely Mountain; the Dwarf-kingdom founded by Thráin I after the loss of Khazad-dûm. The kingdom was destroyed by the dragon Smaug, but was refounded by Thráin’s descendant Thorin II Oakenshield.
* Ereborian Cirth
The runic script of the Lonely Mountain.
The system of runes used by the Dwarves of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain.
It was based on the script used in Khazad-dûm, the Angerthas Moria, but incorporated a number of minor adaptations.
* Erech
A hill in the west of Gondor, where was the Stone of Isildur.
–—
The Hill and Stone at the head of the Blackroot Vale.
An ancient site at the feet of the White Mountains in Gondor, though it seems to have predated the foundation of that land. Erech was most famous for a huge Stone, said to have fallen from heaven.
* Ered Engrin
The Iron Mountains of the north.
The range of peaks raised by Melkor to protect his ancient fortress of Utumno in the far north of the world. Angband stood in the southwestern ranges of these mountains.
* Ered Gorgoroth|Gorgoroth
The ‘Mountains of Terror’, northward of Nan Dungortheb; also called the Gorgoroth.
–—
The Mountains of Terror.
The sheer mountain range that lay to the south of Dorthonion, separating it from Beleriand. They were the abode of the offspring of Ungoliant.
* Ered Lindon
The ‘Mountains of Lindon’, another name for Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains.
–—
The mountain-borders of the Elf-kingdom of Lindon.
The mountain range that separated the Elven land of Lindon from Eriador, more commonly called the Ered Luin or the Blue Mountains.
* Ered Lithui
Called the Ash Mountains, the northern fence of the land of Mordor, on an outcrop of which stood the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr.
* Ered Lómin|Ered Lomin
‘The Echoing Mountains’, forming the west-fence of Hithlum.
* Ered Luin
The ‘Blue Mountains’, also called Ered Lindon. After the destruction at the end of the First Age Ered Luin formed the north-western coastal range of Middle-earth.
–—
The Elves’ name for the Blue Mountains, the broken range that separated Lindon in the west from Eriador in the east.
* Ered Mithrin
‘Grey Mountains’, extending from east to west north of Mirkwood.
–—
The Elvish name for the Grey Mountains.
The Grey Mountains, the northern range that ran out eastwards from Mount Gundabad in the west.
* Ered Nimrais
The White Mountains (nimrais ‘white horns’), the great range from east to west south of the Misty Mountains.
–—
The Elvish name, literally meaning ‘Mountains of the White Horns’, for the range more commonly known simply as the White Mountains, that lay between the realms of Rohan and Gondor.
* Ered Wethrin
‘The Mountains of Shadow’, ‘The Shadowy Mountains’, the great curving range bordering Dor-nu-Fauglith (Ard-galen) on the west and forming the barrier between Hithlum and West Beleriand.
–—
The Mountains of Shadow.
The mighty curving mountain range that separated Hithlum from Beleriand; their name means ‘Mountains of Shadow’, from the deep shadows they cast over the lands to the north.
* Eredliun
The great mountain-chain (also called Ered Lindon) separating Beleriand from Eriador in the Elder Days, and after the destruction at the end of the First Age forming the north-western coastal range of Middle-earth.
Translated ‘the Blue Mountains’; called ‘the Western Mountains’.
* Eregion
‘Land of Holly’ (called by Men Hollin); Noldorin realm (founded by Galadriel and Celeborn?) in the Second Age at the western feet of the Misty Mountains, where the Elven Rings were made. It was in close association with Khazad-dûm. Destroyed by Sauron.
–—
The realm of the Mírdain.
A land of the Elves in the west of Middle-earth during the Second Age, famed for its smithwork and the friendship of its people with the Dwarves of nearby Khazad-dûm. The Elves of Eregion came under the influence of Sauron and unwittingly aided him in the making of the Rings of Power.
* Ereinion Gil-galad|Ereinion|Gil-galad
The son of Fingon, known always by his surname Gil-galad.
Ereinion: ‘Scion of Kings’; Gil-galad: ‘Star of Radiance’.
After the death of Turgon he became the last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth, and remained in Lindon after the end of the First Age; leader with Elendil of the Last Alliance of Men and Elves and slain with him in combat with Sauron.
–—
The last High King of the Noldor.
Sixth and last of the High Kings of the Noldor. The only son of High King Fingon, Gil-galad was born late in the First Age, and was still a child at the time of the Dagor Bragollach; his father sent him to Círdan at the Havens for safekeeping when Morgoth broke the Siege of Angband in that battle.
Fingon was lost in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, but the crown passed to Gil-galad’s uncle Turgon in Gondolin, rather than Gil-galad himself (presumably because of his youth at that time). When Gondolin was lost, Gil-galad received the Kingship of the Noldor; he dwelt with the Exiles of the city at the Mouths of Sirion during the remainder of the First Age.
After the destruction of Beleriand during the War of Wrath, Gil-galad founded a kingdom in Lindon in the far northwest of Middle-earth, between the Blue Mountains and the Great Sea. There he and his people prospered, until Sauron returned; he came first to Lindon in the form of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, but Gil-galad and Círdan rejected him. Soon after, the One Ring was forged, and there was war in Middle-earth between the Elves and Sauron.
After the Downfall of Númenor, Elendil and his sons came to Middle-earth and formed an alliance with Gil-galad, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. They marched on Mordor and besieged Sauron’s Dark Tower. Sauron was defeated, but Gil-galad met his death in that war.
* Erelas
Fourth of the beacons of Gondor in Ered Nimrais.
* Erellont
One of the three mariners who accompanied Eärendil and Elwing to Aman, the other two being Aerandir and Falathar.
* Erendis|Lady of the Westlands
Wife of Tar-Aldarion (‘the Mariner’s Wife), between whom there was great love that turned to hatred; mother of Tar-Ancalimë. Called the Lady of the Westlands and the White Lady of Emerië.
–—
The Mariner’s Wife.
A noble lady of Númenor who became Queen to Tar-Aldarion, sixth King of Númenor. Their daughter became Númenor’s first Ruling Queen, Tar-Ancalimë.
* Erestor
The chief counsellor of Elrond’s household at the time of the War of the Ring, who took part in the Council of Elrond. He did not support the idea of destroying the Ring, and preferred instead the notion of guarding it from Sauron, perhaps with the aid of Tom Bombadil.
* Eriador
The land between the Misty Mountains and the Blue, in which lay the Kingdom of Arnor (and also the Shire of the Hobbits).
–—
The Lone-lands.
The Elvish name of the region called the Lone-lands in The Hobbit, the western lands of Middle-earth that lay between the Misty Mountains and the Blue.
* Erkenbrand of Westfold|Erkenbrand
Rider of Rohan, Master of Westfold and the Hornburg; under King Éomer Marshal of the West-mark.
–—
Lord of the Westfold of Rohan.
A Rider of the Rohirrim who commanded Théoden’s armies in the Second Battle of the Fords of Isen. He was granted the title of Marshal of the West-mark by King Éomer after the War of the Ring.
* Ernil i Pheriannath
‘Prince of the Halflings’, a title given to Peregrin Took by the people of Minas Tirith.
* Eru
‘The One’, ‘He that is Alone’: Ilúvatar.
–—
Called ‘The One’, and more commonly known in Middle-earth as Ilúvatar.
Eru was the creator of the Ainur, and through their Music founded the realm of Arda.
* Eruhantalë|Eruhantale
‘Thanksgiving to Eru’, the autumn feast in Númenor.
* Eruhíni|Eruhini
The Children of Ilúvatar.
The Elvish term for the Children of Ilúvatar, Elves and Men. It contains the name Eru, the One (a name for Ilúvatar) and the Elvish word hîn,
‘child’.
* Erui
The river that flowed out of Lossarnach.
A lesser river of Gondor, that flowed southward out of the White Mountains, through Lossarnach, to meet the River Anduin above Pelargir.
* Erukyermë|Erukyerme
‘Prayer to Eru’, the spring feast in Númenor.
* Erulaitalë|Erulaitale
‘Praise of Eru’, the midsummer feast in Númenor.
* Eryn Galen
The great forest usually given the translated name Greenwood the Great.
* Eryn Lasgalen
‘Wood of Greenleaves’, the new name chosen by Celeborn and Thranduil for the forest that had been known as Mirkwood for much of the Third Age.
* Eryn Vorn
‘The Black Woods’; the deeply forested cape that stood out into the Great Sea south of the mouths of Baranduin.
* Esgalduin
The river of Doriath, dividing the forests of Neldoreth and Region, and flowing into Sirion. The name means ‘River under Veil’.
–—
The river that flowed through Doriath.
A major tributary of the Siron, which rose in the dark heights of the Ered Gorgoroth, and flowed southwestward to meet the Sirion on the western borders of Doriath. It marked the boundary between the forests of Neldoreth and Region.
* Esgaroth
A town on the shores on the Long Lake, the original home of the Lake-men.
After the coming of Smaug to Erebor, Esgaroth seems to have been abandoned in favour of a more secure township built out in the Lake itself, but this is not entirely clear: the name ‘Esgaroth’ is also sometimes used of this second dwelling-place, which is more usually called simply ‘Lake-town’.
* Esmerelda Took
The mother of Merry Brandybuck.
A descendant of Gerontius the Old Took, and younger sister to Thain Paladin II. She married Saradoc Brandybuck and was thus both Pippin Took’s aunt and Merry Brandybuck’s mother.
* Estë|Este
One of the Valier, the spouse of Irmo (Lórien); her name means ‘Rest’.
–—
A lady of the Valar, the spouse of Irmo, who dwells with him in the gardens of Lórien in Valinor.
* Estel
‘Hope’, a name given to Aragorn by his mother Gilraen.
* Estelmo
Elendur’s esquire, who survived the Disaster of the Gladden Fields.
–—
A survivor of the Disaster of the Gladden Fields.
The squire to Isildur’s eldest son Elendur, who was knocked to the ground and left for dead by Orcs in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields.
In fact, he recovered from his injuries, and was one of only three Men to survive the Disaster in which Isildur and the Ring were lost.
* Estolad
The land south of Nan Elmoth in East Beleriand where the Men of the followings of Bëor and Marach dwelt after they crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand; translated as ‘the Encampment’.
–—
The plain of the camps of Men.
The plain in East Beleriand where the first Men camped after they crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand.
* Ethir Anduin
The estuary of the Great River Anduin.
Beneath Pelargir, the River Anduin was joined by the waters of the Poros, and spread into a great delta more than fifty miles across. This was a border region of Gondor, populated mainly by fishermen.
* Ethring
The township below the wells of Ringló.
A town near the head of the Ringló Vale. Built about fifty miles beneath the springs of the River Ringló, Ethring was a major crossing point (and probably the only one) on that wide river. It stood on the road from the southern fiefs of Gondor to Pelargir, and so Aragorn must surely have passed through the town during the War of the Ring.
* Ethuil
The Sindarin name for spring; 54 days between modern 8 April and 31 May.
Called Tuilë in Quenya.
* Ettenmoors
The empty moors north of Rivendell.
The wild, untamed lands that lay north of Rivendell. It was here that the Witch-king fled after his defeat in the Battle of Fornost.
* Evendim
The landscape of Annúminas.
A name, meaning ‘evening twilight’, used to refer to the lands around Annúminas in western Arnor, and especially to the Hills and Lake of that region.
* Evenstar
Title of Arwen, Queen to Aragorn II Elessar, referring not only to her radiant beauty, but also to her descent: the evening star was the light of the last Silmaril, bound to the brow of her grandfather Eärendil.
* Everard Took
Dancer of the Springle-ring.
The youngest son of Adelard Took, and great-great-grandson of Gerontius, the Old Took; hence a distant cousin of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck.
* Exiles of Gondolin
The survivors of the Fall of Gondolin, among them Tuor, Idril and Eärendil, who took refuge in the marshlands at the Mouths of Sirion.
* Exiles of Númenor
Name given to Elendil, his sons and his followers, after they escaped to Middle-earth from the destruction of Númenor.
* Eye of Sauron
The all-seeing Red Eye.
From the highest tower of Barad-dûr, Sauron kept an unceasing watch on the lands and kingdoms of Middle-earth. The ‘Eye of Sauron’ is a reference to this unsleeping vigilance.
* Ezellohar
The Green Mound of the Two Trees.
The green mound before the western gates of Valmar, also called Corollairë, where the Two Trees of Valinor grew.
* Faelivrin
Name given to Finduilas by Gwindor.
* Fair Elves|Fair Elf
A name for the Vanyar, from the fair colour of their hair.
* Fairbairn Family|Fairbairn
The hereditary Wardens of Westmarch.
The family of the descendants of Samwise Gamgee, through his eldest daughter Elanor and her husband Fastred of Greenholm. Fastred became the first Warden of Westmarch, a title handed down to his son Elfstan Fairbairn and his descendants. The family seat was at Undertowers on the Tower Hills, so that the family are often referred to as the ‘Fairbairns of the Towers’.
* Faithful
The opponents of the King’s Men.
Those among the Númenóreans who turned aside from the policies of the later Kings of Númenor, and remained faithful to the will of the Valar.
See Elendili.
* Falas
The western coasts of Beleriand, south of Nevrast.
–—
The shoreland realm of Círdan.
A coastal region of West Beleriand, ruled by Círdan the Shipwright from his Havens at Eglarest and Brithombar.
* Falastur
‘Lord of the Coasts’, name of Tarannon, twelfth King of Gondor.
–—
While Siriondil ruled as King of Gondor, his son Tarannon served as his father’s Captain of the Hosts. He built Gondor great navies, and won victories and land along the coasts of Middle-earth, and especially in regions around the Mouths of Anduin. When he inherited the Kingship from his father, Tarannon took the name Falastur, ‘Lord of the Coasts’, and became known to history as the first of Gondor’s four Ship-kings.
* Falathar
One of the three mariners who accompanied Eärendil on his voyages.
* Falathrim
The Elves of the Falas.
The shoreland people of the Falas, who owned Círdan the Shipwright as their Lord. Of Telerin descent, these Elves remained in Beleriand when their kin journeyed to Valinor, at the persuasion of Ossë.
* Fall of Barad-dûr|Fall of Barad-dur
The utter ruin of Sauron and his stronghold of Barad-dûr, brought about by Frodo Baggins’ destruction of the One Ring.
* Fall of Fingolfin
Fingolfin’s end in single combat with Morgoth.
A name given to the noble yet hopeless end of Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor. After the destruction of the Dagor Bragollach, he rode in anger to the gates of Angband, and challenged Morgoth himself to single combat. Though he fought bravely, he could not hope to best the Dark Lord, and he was lost.
* Fall of Gil-galad
The tale of the last High King of the Noldor.
The lay that tells of the loss of Ereinion Gil-galad in the Siege of Barad-dûr at the end of the War of the Last Alliance. Sam sings the first lines of it in the The Lord of the Rings.
* Fall of Gondolin
The ruin of the last stronghold of the Eldar in Beleriand.
The destruction of Gondolin by the forces of Morgoth, brought about by the treachery of Maeglin. Many were lost in the city’s fall, not least King Turgon himself, but many also escaped by a secret way, among them Tuor and Idril and their young son Eärendil.
* Fall of Nargothrond
The sack of the halls on the Narog.
The overthrow and destruction of the citadel of Nargothrond by Glaurung and his hordes, in the four hundred and ninety-fifth year of the First Age.
* Fallohides|Fallohide
The northern branch of hobbit-kind.
One of three original divisions of hobbit-kind, along with the Harfoots and Stoors. The Fallohides were the least numerous of the three branches, and originally dwelt in the northern parts of Middle-earth.
–—
The Nature of the Fallohides: In appearance, Fallohides were taller and slimmer of build than the other Hobbits, with some growing to four feet or more in height. Both their skin and their hair tended to be fair, and no Fallohide ever grew a beard.
Fallohidish culture was much more open to outside influence than that of the Stoors or Harfoots; they were friendlier with the other races of Middle-earth than their cousins, especially the Elves. Perhaps because of this, they were skilled in both song and speech.
While the other two branches of hobbit-kind were pastoral and rustic in nature, the Fallohides retained a hunting tradition, and so were naturally bolder and more inquisitive than their relatives, but less gifted in the arts of farming and agriculture.
–—
The History of the Fallohides: The Fallohides seem to have dwelt originally on the upper reaches of the River Anduin, in the region where the Greylin and the Langwell flowed into the Great River. It is likely that they mixed with the ancestors of the Rohirrim at this time, for the Northmen also dwelt in this region, and this is likely the origin of the legend of the holbytlan found in Rohan.
At the end of the first millennium of the Third Age, evil things began to stir in the east of Middle-earth, and many peoples, including the ancestral Hobbits, began to travel westward across the Misty Mountains.
The first Hobbits to enter Eriador were the Harfoots; the Fallohides deserted their northern homes in around III 1150, and crossed the Mountains to the north of Rivendell, at the sources of the River Hoarwell.
The tribes of the Fallohidish Hobbits travelled slowly down the course of the Hoarwell, and westward across Eriador. They eventually settled in the region around Bree, in c.III 1300, where their adventurous and intrepid natures made them natural leaders of the other Hobbits they found there. It was presumably at about this time that the three strains of Hobbits began to mix freely for the first time.
Three hundred years later (in the year 1601 of the Third Age), two Fallohide brothers, Marcho and Blanco, travelled westward again from Bree with their followers and crossed the Bridge of Stonebows (later the Brandywine Bridge). They settled in the empty land that they found there and were granted it by King Argeleb II of Arthedain, in whose realm it lay. This was the land that was to become known as the Shire.
As the centuries passed, the three distinct strains of the Hobbits gradually began to disappear as they mingled with one another in the Shire. Nonetheless, there were families that retained a strong line of Fallohidish blood, and the impetuosity that went with it. At the time of the War of the Ring, the Fallohidish line was still well represented in the families of the Tooks and the Brandybucks.
* Falls of Rauros|Rauros
‘Roaring Spray’, the great falls in the river Anduin.
–—
The falls beneath Nen Hithoel.
The great falls of the River Anduin where it fell from the heights of the Emyn Muil into the wetlands of the Nindalf.
* Falls of Sirion
Sirion’s descent beneath the Andram.
The mighty thundering falls of the River Sirion, where its waters fell beneath the earth and flowed beneath the hills of the Andram for nine miles before emerging again.
* Falmari|Falmar
The Sea-elves; name of the Teleri who departed from Middle-earth and went into the West.
* Fangorn (Ent)|Fangorn
The oldest of the Ents and the guardian of Fangorn Forest.
–—
The Ent known as Treebeard.
The Elvish rendering of the name ‘Treebeard’; the old Ent who inhabited the great Forest at the southern feet of the Misty Mountains, and from whom that Forest took its name.
* Fangorn Forest|Fangorn
The forest at the south-eastern end of the Misty Mountains, about the upper waters of the rivers Entwash and Limlight. See Entwood.
–—
Last Home of the Ents in the West of Middle-earth.
A last remnant of the great forests of Eriador, lying in the southern foothills of the Misty Mountains, in which the Ents still dwelt during the Third Age.
* Fanuidhol
Called Cloudyhead, one of the three peaks in the Misty Mountains (with Caradhras and Celebdil) that lay above the ancient Dwarf-city of Khazad-dûm.
* Far Downs
The western borderland of the Shire.
The downlands that marked the western borders of the Shire, forty leagues (120 miles) west from the Brandywine Bridge. Of their geography almost nothing is known, except that the town of Greenholm seems to have been built among the Downs. It was from here that Fastred of Greenholm came, the first Warden of the Westmarch that lay between the Far Downs and, still further westward, the Tower Hills.
* Faramir (Prince of Gondor)|Faramir
Younger son of Ondoher King of Gondor; slain in battle with the Wainriders.
–—
The younger son of King Ondoher of Gondor. When his father and elder brother Artamir rode to war with the Wainriders, he followed them in secret, though as the second in line to the throne he should have remained safe in Minas Anor. He was lost in the battle, as were his father and brother, leaving Gondor without an heir to the Kingship.
* Faramir (Steward of Gondor)|Faramir
Younger song of Denethor II, Steward of Gondor; Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien; after the War of the Ring Prince of Ithilien and Steward of Gondor.
–—
Last of the Ruling Stewards.
Younger son of Steward Denethor II of Gondor, and brother to Boromir of the Company of the Ring. He fought in the Battle of the Pelennor, and was rewarded after the installation of Aragorn II Elessar with the princedom of Ithilien.
* Faramir Took I|Faramir Took
The son of Thain Peregrin Took I of the Company of the Ring and Diamond of Long Cleeve; he succeeded his father to become Thain Faramir I. Named for Faramir, Prince of Ithilien.
* Farmer Maggot|Maggot
A Hobbit who farmed lands in the Marish, in the Eastfarthing of the Shire, near the Bucklebury Ferry. He was familiar with Tom Bombadil.
* Farthings|Farthing
The four divisions of the Shire, north, south, east and west. The term comes from an Old English word meaning ‘quarter’ or ‘fourth part’.
* Fastolph Bolger
A great-uncle of Bilbo Baggins.
Fastolph was one the earliest of numerous Bolgers to marry into the Baggins family. He married Pansy Baggins, the sister of Bilbo’s grandfather Mungo, and so became his great-uncle.
* Fastred of Greenholm|Fastred
The husband of Elanor, the daughter of Samwise Gamgee. He was made Warden of Westmarch, and removed to that region.
* Fastred of Rohan|Fastred
With Folcred, one of the twin sons of Folcwine of Rohan. Upholding the Oath of Eorl, he rode to the aid of Gondor with his brother, and was lost. The brothers were buried together in a mound at the Crossings of Poros known as the Haudh in Gwanur.
* Father of Dragons
A title given to Glaurung, the first and greatest of the Dragons. Whether Glaurung was literally the father of all dragons, as for example Durin was father of all his folk, is unknown; the origins of dragon-kind remain mysterious. On balance, however, this seems unlikely due to the differences between individual dragons - for example, Glaurung was wingless, whereas many of the later dragons had wings.
* Fathers of Men
Men of the ancient Elder Days.
A title used to describe the earliest generations of Men who lived in the First Age. The term is especially applied to those Men who belonged to the Three Houses of the Edain, and fought beside the Elves in the Wars of Beleriand.
* Father of the Isle
Honoured title of the Kings of Númenor.
A title applied to the ruling King of Númenor. In particular, it is used by Tar-Meneldur in the tale of Aldarion and Erendis.
* Fathers of the Dwarves
The seven founders of the race of Dwarves.
The seven progenitors of the Dwarven race, created by Aulë the Smith long years before the awakening of the Elves. They were granted life by Ilúvatar, and set to sleep in Middle-earth until the coming the Eldar.
Durin the Deathless was the eldest of their number.
* Fëanor|Feanor
Eldest son of Finwë (the only child of Finwë and Míriel), half-brother of Fingolfin and Finarfin; greatest of the Noldor, and leader in their rebellion against the Valar; deviser of the Fëanorian script; maker of the Silmarils and of the palantíri; slain in Mithrim in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath. His name was Curufinwë (curu ‘skill’), and he gave this name to his fifth son, Curufin; but he was himself known always by his mother’s name for him, Fëanáro ‘Spirit of Fire’, which was given the Sindarin form Fëanor.
–—
Greatest of the Noldor.
Eldest son of Finwë, lord of the Noldor, and half-brother to Fingolfin and Finarfin, Fëanor was accounted the greatest of the Deep Elves. In Valinor, he captured the light of the Two Trees to make the three Silmarils. When Melkor stole these, and slew his father Finwë, he rebelled against the Valar and led the greater part of the Noldor into Middle-earth, swearing in the dreadful Oath of Fëanor that he would not rest until the Great Jewels were recovered.
On his return to Middle-earth, Fëanor immediately drove onward to Angband, though outnumbered greatly by Morgoth’s Orcs and Balrogs. He was slain at last by Gothmog, the Lord of Balrogs, and such was the ferocity of his spirit that after his death, his body was consumed by flame.
* Fëanorian|Feanorian
Of or pertaining to Fëanor.
* Fëanorian lamps|Feanorian lamps|Fëanorian lamp|Feanorian lamp The blue-shining lamps of the Noldorin Elves, of which the Noldor themselves did not know the secret.
They are described in earlier versions of the tale of Túrin as ‘crystals hung in a fine chain net, the crystals being ever shining with an inner blue radiance’.
Gwindor possessed one of these lamps; and it was the overturning and uncovering of Gwindor’s lamp so that its light shone out that showed Túrin the face of Beleg whom he had killed.
* Fëanorian script|Fëanorian|Feanorian
The script known as the Tengwar.
A name used of the Elvish script, as seen for example on the frontispiece of The Lord of the Rings, which was devised by Fëanor himself. These characters are also known as the Tengwar.
* Fëanturi|Feanturi|Fëantur|Feantur
‘Masters of Spirits’, the Valar Námo (Mandos) and Irmo (Lórien). See Nurufantur, Olofantur.
–—
The Masters of Spirits; a title given to the brothers Mandos and Lórien.
* Felagund
The name by which King Finrod was known after the establishment of Nargothrond; it was Dwarvish in origin (felak-gundu ‘cave-hewer’, but translated as ‘Lord of Caves’). For references see Finrod.
–—
The Dwarvish surname of Finrod.
‘Hewer of Caves’, a surname given to Finrod by the Dwarves in their own tongue at the time of the delving of Nargothrond.
* Felaróf|Felarof
The horse of Eorl the Young.
–—
The great horse of Eorl.
Eorl’s father Léod was a tamer of horses among the Éothéod, who captured this wild white horse while it was still a foal. He tried to tame it himself, but when he attempted to mount it, it threw him and escaped. So Léod died, leaving a sixteen-year-old son, Eorl. Eorl hunted the white horse, found it, and demanded that it give up its freedom in payment for the death of his father. The horse agreed, and took the name that Eorl gave it: Felaróf, a name said to mean ‘very valiant’ or ‘very strong’.
It was on Felaróf that Eorl rode to the aid of Gondor and earned a famous victory, one that would lead Steward Cirion to grant them the wide empty land of Calenardhon, which would come to be called Rohan. For more than thirty years afterwards, Felaróf had the freedom of those wide grasslands, but a new invasion of Easterlings saw Eorl ride to battle once again. In the Wold, the far northern reach of Rohan, Eorl and Felaróf met their ends, and were laid together in a mound raised outside the gate of Edoras.
Felaróf was a very remarkable horse indeed. It is even recorded that he could understand the speech of Men. He gave rise in turn to a race of wonderful horses, the Mearas, who according to tradition could only be ridden by the Lords of the Mark, Eorl’s descendants. It was from this line that Gandalf’s horse Shadowfax came, making him a descendant of Felaróf himself.
* Fell Winter of the Third Age|Fell Winter The winter of the year 495 from the rising of the Moon, after the fall of Nargothrond.
–—
The long harsh winter of the year III 2911, in which Eriador was invaded by White Wolves. The terrible floods of the following spring caused the destruction of Tharbad.
* Fellowship of the Ring
The nine who set out from Rivendell on the Quest of Mount Doom, under the leadership of Gandalf, seeking to destroy Sauron’s One Ring.
* Fen Hollen
The Closed Door on the sixth level of Minas Tirith, which led to Rath Dínen, the Silent Street, where the tombs of the Stewards and Kings of Gondor lay.
* Fen of Serech|Serech
The great fen north of the Pass of Sirion, where the river Rivil flowed in from Dorthonion.
–—
Scene of Barahir’s rescue of Finrod.
The Fen of Serech lay on the upper course of the mighty River Sirion, at the inflowing of its tributary, the Rivil. Lying as it did at the mouth of one of the few passes in the northern mountains of Beleriand, the Fen played a part in many battles, and had a long and bloody history.
This history started at the very beginning of the First Age, in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, which saw a great victory for the Elves over the forces of Morgoth. As the remnant of the Orc armies fled back from the Falas, Celegorm rode down from the hills around Eithel Sirion and drove them into the waters of Serech.
In I 455, at the Dagor Bragollach, Finrod Felagund found himself cut off in the Fen with a small host. He seemed lost, but was rescued with great loss by Barahir and escaped back to Nargothrond. This was the beginning of the great friendship between Finrod and the kin of Barahir, and Finrod gave Barahir his ring in token of this.
The Elves’ counter-attack, the battle that became the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, was made sixteen years later. King Fingon drew up his battle-line along the upper course of the Sirion, between the Fen and the fortress of Barad Eithel. It was here that the heralds of Morgoth tortured Gelmir before the Elven host, and Gwindor his brother broke ranks, driving into the Orc host seeking his revenge, and starting the great battle.
Later, as the battle drew to a close, Turgon and the host of Gondolin were forced back across the Fen. Húrin and Huor, with the Men of the House of Hador made a stand there on the banks of the Rivil, allowing Turgon to escape the ruin of the Elves and reach Gondolin. Huor and his men were slain one by one by the Orcs, but Húrin slayed seventy of the enemy before being captured.
After twenty-eight years of torture, Morgoth released Húrin and set a watch upon him. Húrin’s first act was to seek out the hidden city of Gondolin, but Turgon was suspicious and ignored his cries; ‘Turgon, Turgon, remember the Fen of Serech’.
* Fengel
The fifteenth King of Rohan, whose name means, simply, ‘king’. He was the father of Thengel and grandfather of Théoden, but Fengel was himself remembered chiefly for his greed and love of gold.
* Fenmarch
Region of Rohan west of the Mering stream.
* Fens of Sirion
The marshland of the Aelin-uial.
The fens and marshes that formed around the lakes of Aelin-uial on the River Sirion.
* Ferny Family|Ferny
A family of Men in Bree. See Bill Ferny.
–—
A family of the Men of Bree.
A typically ‘botanical’ family name of the Men of Bree. At the time of the War of the Ring, it was held by the suspicious ruffian Bill Ferny, a minor agent of Saruman in the north.
* Ferumbras Took II|Ferumbras Took
The elder brother of Bandobras the Bullroarer.
The elder of the two sons of Thain Isumbras III. His younger brother was the famous Bandobras Took, the victor of the Battle of Greenfields, but as the elder brother it was Ferumbras who inherited his father’s Thainship. He served as the Shire’s twenty-fourth Thain for forty-two years, and was succeeded in turn by his son Fortinbras.
* Ferumbras Took III|Ferumbras Took
The thirtieth of the Shire-thains.
The son of Thain Fortinbras II and Lalia Clayhanger, who inherited the Thainship from his father. It was during his time as Shire-thain that Bilbo Baggins’ famous Birthday Party was held, and though he is not mentioned in detailed accounts of the Party, we do know that he was present. He died in the year III 3015, just three years before Frodo set out from the Shire. He left no heir, and the succession passed to his distant cousin Paladin.
* Field of Celebrant
Partial translation of Parth Celebrant; the grasslands between the rivers Silverlode (Celebrant) and Limlight; in restricted sense of Gondor, the land between the lower Limlight and Anduin. See also the Battle of the Field of Celebrant.
–—
The site of Eorl’s great victory.
A field that lay to between the Rivers Anduin and Limlight, to the southeast of Lórien. This was the site of the decisive Battle of the Field of Celebrant, at which Eorl the Young rode from the north to the aid of Gondor.
* Fiery Mountain
The flaming peak of Orodruin.
A common name, especially amongst Hobbits and Men, for Orodruin or Mount Doom in Mordor.
* Fíli|Fili
Nephew of Thorin II Oakenshield, who accompanied him on the Quest of Erebor, and was slain at his side in the Battle of Five Armies.
* Fimbrethil
Treebeard’s beloved Wandlimb.
The Elvish name, translated as ‘Wandlimb’, for Treebeard’s beloved Entwife. She was lost with other Entwives at the time Sauron blasted the regions known as the Brown Lands.
* Finarfin
The third son of Finwë, the younger of Fëanor’s half-brothers; remained in Aman after the Exile of the Noldor and ruled the remnant of his people in Tirion. Alone among the Noldorin princes he and his descendants had golden hair, derived from his mother Indis, who was a Vanyarin Elf (see Vanyar).
–—
King over the Noldor in Aman.
Youngest of Finwë’s three sons; when his half-brother Fëanor led the host of the Noldor back to Middle-earth, Finarfin chose to remain in Valinor, and became King of those Noldor who remained also. His five children, Finrod, Orodreth, Angrod, Aegnor and Galadriel, all followed Fëanor into the east.
* Findegil
A scribe of Gondor.
King’s Writer of Gondor, who lived in the early Fourth Age. He completed the copy of the Red Book of Westmarch which (within the context of the tales) is the basis for The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
* Finduilas of Dol Amroth|Finduilas
Daughter of Adrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth; wife of Denethor II, Steward of Gondor, mother of Boromir and Faramir.
–—
A noble lady of Dol Amroth.
A lady of Gondor, wedded to Denethor II of Minas Tirith, and the mother of Boromir and Faramir.
* Finduilas of Nargothrond|Finduilas
Daughter of Orodreth, loved by Gwindor; captured in the sack of Nargothrond, killed by Orcs at the Crossings of Teiglin and buried in the Haudh-en-Elleth.
–—
The daughter of Orodreth, who dwelt with him in Nargothrond. After the Sack of Nargothrond, she was carried away by Orcs and slain by them on the borders of Brethil.
* Finglas
An ancient Ent of Fangorn Forest.
‘Leaflock’; with Fladrif and Fangorn, one of the oldest of the Ents of Fangorn Forest.
* Fingolfin
The second son of Finwë, the elder of Fëanor’s half-brothers; High King of the Noldor in Beleriand, dwelling in Hithlum; slain by Morgoth in single combat; father of Fingon, Turgon and Aredhel.
–—
The second son of Finwë and half-brother to Fëanor. After Fëanor’s death, his eldest son Maedhros should have become High King of the Noldor, but Maedhros repented his deeds at the Kinslaying and refused the title, which thus passed to Fingolfin.
He ruled the lands to the northwest of Beleriand with his sons Fingon and Turgon, and dwelt behind the mountain fences of Hithlum during the long Siege of Angband.
When Morgoth broke the Siege in the Dagor Bragollach, Fingolfin was prevented from sending immediate help to the other princes of the Noldor by the ferocity of the onslaught, but when heard of the extent of their defeat, he rode in anger to the doors of Angband and demanded single combat with Morgoth. There they fought a mighty battle, but though Fingolfin wounded the Dark Lord, he could not prevail, and was finally crushed by Morgoth’s hammer, Grond. His body was saved, though, by Thorondor, who bore it to a peak in the Encircling Mountains. Turgon came there and built a cairn over his father’s remains.
* Fingon
The eldest son of Fingolfin, called the Valiant; rescued Maedhros from Thangorodrim; High King of the Noldor after the death of his father; slain by Gothmog in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad; father of Gil-galad.
–—
Eldest of Fingolfin’s children, who inherited the kingship of the Noldor after his father was slain by Morgoth. He is famed for rescuing Maedhros from Thangorodrim, and thereby healing the rift between the Houses of the Noldor. As High King, he commanded the assault upon Morgoth that became known as the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Unnumbered Tears, and in that assault he was slain by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs.
* Finrod Felagund|Finrod
The eldest son of Finarfin, called ‘the Faithful’ and ‘the Friend of Men’. Founder and King of Nargothrond, whence his name Felagund ‘cave-hewer’; encountered in Ossiriand the first Men to cross the Blue Mountains; rescued by Barahir in the Dagor Bragollach; redeemed his oath to Barahir by accompanying Beren on his quest; slain in defence of Beren in the dungeons of Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
–—
The founder of Nargothrond.
Eldest son of Finarfin and brother to Galadriel, who founded Minas Tirith in the Pass of Sirion, and delved his citadel at Nargothrond on the River Narog. He went with Beren on the Quest of the Silmaril, and was lost in the pits of Sauron on Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
* Finwë|Finwe
Leader of the Noldor on the westward journey from Cuiviénen; King of the Noldor in Aman; father of Fëanor, Fingolfin, and Finarfin, slain by Morgoth at Formenos.
–—
Ancient lord of the Noldor.
The first High King of the Noldor, and father to the three royal houses of that people. Finwë awoke with the first Elves at Cuiviénen, the Water of Awakening. When the Valar summoned the Elves to dwell with them in Valinor, he was chosen, with Ingwë and Elwë, to travel there as ambassadors. When he returned, he led the Noldor in their great westward journey across the lands of Middle-earth and the Great Sea to Aman.
Under Finwë’s rule the Noldor dwelt for at least three ages (about 9,000
years) in Valinor, and learned much from the Valar, especially Aulë the Smith. During this time, he dwelt in Tirion, but afterwards his eldest son Fëanor withdrew to his fortress of Formenos, and Finwë went to dwell there also.
After the Darkening of Valinor, Melkor stormed Formenos seeking the Silmarils, which were held in its vaults. He slew Finwë before its doors and stole the Jewels of Fëanor. After his death, the kingship of the Noldor was briefly bestowed on his son Fëanor.
* Fire of Ilúvatar|Fire of Iluvatar
A term of uncertain meaning, apparently with the same meaning as ‘Flame Imperishable’. It was kept by Ilúvatar.
* Fire of Orodruin
A common epithet for the flames of Orodruin, into which the One Ring was to be cast.
* Fire-drakes|Fire-drake
Fire-breathing Dragons.
The more powerful of the two fundamental divisions of dragon-kind, who, as the name suggests, were able to breathe fire. Glaurung, Ancalagon and Smaug were all fire-drakes.
Almost nothing specific is known about this type of dragon; the only explicit reference is in The Silmarillion (Of the Return of the Noldor);
‘Again after a hundred years Glaurung, the first of the Urulóki, the fire-drakes of the North, issued from Angband’s gates by night’.
Other references, however, indicate that fire-breathing was an ability that some dragons possessed, and others (the Cold-drakes) lacked. In a literal sense, then, the later fire-breathers such as Smaug were indeed
‘fire drakes’.
* Fire-mountain
A name for Orodruin.
A rarely-used term for the volcano Orodruin in the land of Mordor, where the One Ring was forged. ‘Fire-mountain’ is a literal translation of the name ‘Orodruin’.
* Fírimar|Firimar
‘Mortals’, one of the Elvish names for Men.
* Fíriel|Firiel
Queen to Arvedui Last-king.
The daughter of King Ondoher of Gondor, who was wedded to Arvedui, the last King of Arthedain. It was in part through his marriage to Fíriel that Arvedui claimed the throne of Gondor after the loss of Ondoher, but his claim was rejected.
* Firien|Whispering Wood|Wood of Anwar
In full Halifirien Wood; in Ered Nimrais about the Mering Stream and on the slopes of the Halifirien. Also called Firienholt, the Whispering Wood and the Wood of Anwar.
–—
The mountain-wood beneath Halifirien.
The wood that surrounded the beacon-hill of Halifirien, on the borders of Anórien and Rohan.
* Firien-dale
Cleft in which the Mering Stream rose.
* Firienholt
Another name for the Firien Wood, of the same meaning.
* Firith
The Sindarin name for the season of late autumn, 54 days lying between modern 8 October and 30 November, and called Quellë in Quenya.
* Firs|Fir
Hardy trees of the highlands.
Evergreen trees that grew across the northern parts of Middle-earth, and especially in the upper Vales of Anduin.
* First Age
The Age of the Wars of Beleriand.
First, and shortest by far, of the Four Ages chronicled by Tolkien.
Unlike the Second and Third Ages, there is no detailed chronicle of the events of the First Age, and so dates must be inferred from references in the text - hence many dates in this Age (including the year in which it ended) are necessarily approximate. The First Age began with the Return of the Noldor to Middle-earth, the first rising of the Moon and the Sun, and the Awakening of Men in Hildórien. It ended with the War of Wrath, the destruction of Beleriand and the final defeat of Morgoth. The end of the First Age was marked by the return of many of the Noldor, accompanied also by many Sindarin Elves, into the West to dwell on Tol Eressëa.
–—
Key Events of the First Age:
- 1: Return of the Noldor; Dagor-nuin-Giliath; Awakening of Men.
- c. 75: Dagor Aglareb.
- 126: Completion of Gondolin.
- c. 305: Arrival of Men in Beleriand.
- 455: Dagor Bragollach.
- 465: Beren and Lúthien achieve the Quest of the Silmaril.
- 471: Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
- 495: Sack of Nargothrond.
- 510: Fall of Gondolin.
- c. 583: War of Wrath; defeat of Morgoth.
* First Battle
The first of the five great battles in the Wars of Beleriand, fought soon after the destruction of the Two Trees of Valinor, and before the Return of the Noldor to Middle-earth. On his return, Melkor loosed legions of Orcs upon Thingol and Círdan, at that time the two greatest lords of Beleriand. Though the Elves managed to save both their kingdoms of Doriath and the Falas, the Orcs roamed Beleriand freely after this battle until the coming of the Noldor.
* First Eastfarthing Troop
The Shirriffs of Frogmorton.
A troop of Shirriffs formed during the troubled times in the Shire under the rule of Saruman. The troop was based in the Shirriff-house at Frogmorton on the East Road. It was the First Eastfarthing Troop that attempted to arrest Frodo and the Travellers on their journey to Bag End.
* First Homely House
A name for Rivendell; a variation on the more common ‘Last Homely House’
to describe the House of Elrond as approached by a traveller returning to Eriador from the Wild east of the Misty Mountains.
* Firstborn
The Elder Children of Ilúvatar, the Elves.
–—
A name for Elves, the Firstborn Children of Ilúvatar, who awoke in Middle-earth millennia before Men, the Aftercomers.
* Fishes|Fish
Scaly water-dwelling creatures.
Gollum’s favourite food.
* Fladrif
An ancient Ent of Fangorn Forest.
‘Skinbark’; with Finglas and Fangorn himself, one of the last three Ents to walk beneath the boughs of Fangorn Forest.
* Flame Imperishable
The source of life.
Apparently also called the ‘Secret Fire’, the Flame Imperishable seems to represent that aspect of Ilúvatar through which he was able to grant free will and true life to the beings he created.
* Flame of Anor
A power wielded by Gandalf.
–—
“‘You cannot pass,’ he said. The Orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. ‘I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor.
You cannot pass.”
(Gandalf’s challenge to the Balrog, from The Fellowship of the Ring II 5, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm)
–—
A mysterious power claimed by Gandalf in the face of Durin’s Bane. It is nowhere else referred to, and so its particular meaning remains unclear.
Anor is the Sun, and so literally the ‘flame of Anor’ would be the light of the Sun, the fiery fruit of Laurelin, one of the Two Trees of Valinor.
Gandalf seems to be referring, then, to the power he gains as a servant of the Lords of the West, in defiance to the corrupted darkness of the Balrog.
* Flame of the West
Aragorn’s sword Andúril.
Title and literal translation of the name of Aragorn’s sword, Andúril, reforged from Elendil’s sword Narsil.
* Flets|Flet
The traditional tree-platforms of Lórien.
The name in the Westron for the tree-platforms used by the Elves of Lórien, and called by them telain.
* Flies|Fly
Tiresome aerial insects: those in Mordor were marked with the sign of the Red Eye.
* Flight of the Noldor
The journey of the Noldor out of Aman.
The self-imposed exile of the Noldor, who fled from Valinor in pursuit of Melkor and the Silmarils he had stolen.
* Foe-hammer
The translated name of Gandalf’s sword Glamdring.
The sword carried by both Turgon and Gandalf, more properly known as Glamdring.
* Folca
The hunter King of Rohan.
The thirteenth King of Rohan, a great hunter who famously cleared his country of the scourge of the Orcs, in vengeance for the death of his father Walda at their hands. Having cleared Rohan of Orcs, he rode to hunt the monstrous Boar of Everholt, but suffered a mortal wound in that hunt. He was succeeded by his son Folcwine.
* Folco Boffin|Folco
A friend of Frodo Baggins in the Shire, who assisted with his removal to Buckland.
* Folcred
With Fastred, one of the twin sons of Folcwine of Rohan. Upholding the Oath of Eorl, he rode to the aid of Gondor with his brother, and both were slain in battle of the Haradrim.
* Folcwine
Fourteenth King of Rohan, great-grandfather of Théoden; reconquered the west-march of Rohan between Adorn and Isen.
–—
The fourteenth King of Rohan, the son of Folca the hunter, and great-grandfather of Théoden. His eldest sons, the twins Folcred and Fastred, were lost in war with Harad, and Folcwine was succeed by his youngest child, Fengel.
* Folde
A region of Rohan about Edoras, part of the King’s Lands.
–—
A region of the King’s Lands of Rohan.
An ancient and historic region of Rohan, close to the King’s courts in Edoras, which indeed originally held the King’s seat at the town of Aldburg. Its name comes from Old English, with the approximate meaning
‘bosom of the Earth’, which shows its importance in Rohan’s early history.
* Folk of Haleth
The Men of Brethil.
A name given to the Haladin, the Second House of the Edain, after Haleth the daughter of Haldad led them to dwell in the Forest of Brethil.
* Followers
The Younger Children of Ilúvatar, Men; translation of Hildor.
–—
Hildor, a name of the Elves for the race of Men, referring to the fact that they were born into the world many years after the Firstborn.
* Ford of Bruinen
The crossing of the Loudwater.
The ford of the River Bruinen or Loudwater that lay at the entrance to the valley of Rivendell, said to be under the power of Elrond.
* Ford of Carrock
Ford over Anduin between the Carrock and the east bank of the river; also probably the Old Ford, where the Old Forest Road crossed Anduin, south of the Ford of Carrock.
* Fords of Isen
Crossing of the Isen by the great Númenórean road linking Gondor and Arnor; called in Sindarin Athrad Angren and Ethraid Engrin.
–—
The crossing-point on the upper reaches of the River Isen. As the only direct route between Eriador and Gondor, the Fords had great strategic value, and Isengard was built to guard them. They were the scene of two Battles between Saruman and the Rohirrim during the War of the Ring.
* Fords of Poros|Fords of the Poros
Crossing of the river Poros on the Harad Road.
–—
The gateway to Ithilien.
More often called the ‘Crossings of Poros’, the Fords marked the point where the Harad Road from Harad and South Gondor entered the lands of Gondor proper. As such, their strategic importance was considerable, as attacking armies from the south had no choice but to cross the Poros at this point.
The Fords first enter history in the year III 1944, when the enemies of Gondor made an alliance, and all attacked simultaneously, from the northeast and from the south. It was left to the great general Eärnil (later King Eärnil II) to deal with the army of Harad approaching from the south. Rather than defend the Fords (as no doubt the Haradrim expected he would), Eärnil positioned his army some forty miles further north, in South Ithilien, and decimated the encroaching enemy.
Though Gondor survived that assault with great loss, the land was often threatened by the Haradrim. In III 2885, the fierce people of that southern land occupied South Gondor and attacked Ithilien across the Poros. Steward Túrin II was aided in his defence by King Folcwine of Rohan, whose twin sons Folcred and Fastred rode with his army. These two northern armies forced the Haradrim back across the Fords and had the victory, but the sons of Folcwine both fell in that battle.
The Rohirrim buried the twins in a great mound, after their custom, and that mound, the Haudh in Gwanur, guarded Gondor’s southern boundaries for long years after.
* Forelithe
The month before midsummer.
The sixth month of the Shire Calendar, lying between Thrimidge and the midsummer feastdays of Lithe, and approximately equivalent to modern June. In fact, it ran from modern 22 May to 20 June.
* Forest River
River flowing from Ered Mithrin through northern Mirkwood and into the Long Lake.
–—
The river of northern Mirkwood.
A river so-named because for much of its length it ran through northern Mirkwood. It rose in the Grey Mountains to the north of the Forest, and followed a roughly southeasterly course to its outflow into the Long Lake.
* Forest Road
The road that ran through Mirkwood.
The road that ran down from the High Pass, crossed the River Anduin and then plunged among the trees of Greenwood the Great (later called Mirkwood). It followed a nearly straight course through the central parts of the forest, somewhat to the south of the Mountains of Mirkwood, and emerged on the banks of the River Running.
* Foreyule
The month before the midwinter festival of Yule.
The last month of the Shire Calendar, thirty days immediately preceding the holiday of Yule. It ran from modern 21 November to 20 December.
* Forlindon
The lands of the Elves north of the Gulf of Lhûn.
After the end of the First Age, the land of Lindon, west of the Blue Mountains, was divided by the great Gulf of Lhûn. The greater northern part was named Forlindon, which means no more than ‘North-Lindon’ in the Elven-tongue. On its southern shores was the haven of Forlond, while off its northwestern coasts stood the island of Himling, where Maedhros’
fortress had once stood.
* Forlong
The old Lord of Lossarnach.
The Lord of the lands of Lossarnach, the region to the immediate southwest of Minas Tirith, who was famed for his enormous girth (he was referred to as Forlong the Fat). Though he was an old man at the time of the War of the Ring, he rode with two hundred of his men to the aid of the City of Gondor, and lost his life in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
* Formenos
‘Northern Fortress’, the stronghold of Fëanor and his sons in the north of Valinor, built after the banishment of Fëanor from Tirion.
–—
The northern stronghold of Fëanor.
The fortress home of Fëanor in the northern regions of Valinor, where he dwelt with his father Finwë after his expulsion from Tirion, and from whose vaults Morgoth stole the Silmarils.
* Forn
The name used among the Dwarves for the being known to the Hobbits as Tom Bombadil.
* Fornost Erain|Fornost
‘Northern Fortress’, in full Fornost Erain ‘Norbury of the Kings’.
Númenórean city on the North Downs in Eriador, later seat of the Kings of Arnor after the abandonment of Annúminas.
–—
The city of the Kings of Arthedain.
The chief city of Arthedain, and the seat of its Kings from Amlaith to Arvedui. Soon after the loss of the kingdom of Arthedain, the Battle of Fornost was fought there between Gondor and Angmar.
* Forochel
The northern icebay of Middle-earth.
The name of the icy wastes in the northern parts of Middle-earth, and especially the great ice-bay of the north and the lands that surrounded it.
* Forodwaith
The cold lands in the north of Middle-earth.
An icy region in the far north of Middle-earth, named for the hardy people who dwelt there.
* Forostar
The northern promontory of Númenor. Translated ‘the Northlands’ or ‘the north country’.
–—
The Northlands of Númenor.
The northern promontory of Númenor, a land of rocks, cliffs and high moors. It stretched some two hundred miles from its southern borders with the Mittalmar to its North Cape. The great road from Rómenna to Andúnië passed through its southern parts, at the place known as Ondosto.
The lands farther north, toward the Cape, became rockier and more mountainous. In the far north was a region around the peak of Sorontil, where the landscape fell sheer into the sea forming tremendous cliffs.
This was the abode of Eagles, and also the dwelling-place of Meneldur Elentirmo, heir to Númenor’s throne and a watcher of the stars, who built a great tower here to follow the movements of the heavens.
* Forthwini
Son of Marhwini; leader of the Éothéod in the time of King Ondoher of Gondor.
* Fortinbras Took I|Fortinbras Took
The father of the Old Took.
The twenty-fifth Thain of the Shire, who inherited the title from his father Ferumbras II, and passed it on in turn to his only son Gerontius, who was to become famous as the Old Took. He was just two years old when his uncle Bandobras beat off a raiding band of Orcs in the Battle of Greenfields. He took on the Thainship more than fifty years later, by which time the Shire had settled into a more peaceful way of life - at least, it was unaffected by outside events during his forty-seven years as Thain.
* Fortinbras Took II|Fortinbras Took
The twenty-ninth Thain of the Shire.
The grandson of Gerontius, the Old Took, who inherited the title of Thain from his father, Isumbras IV. He became Thain just two years before Bilbo Baggins left Hobbiton for his adventures in the Wild. He married Lalia Clayhanger, who was to become a famous matriarch of the Took clan, and came to be called Lalia the Great.
* Forweg
Man of Dor-lómin, captain of the outlaw-band (Gaurwaith) that Túrin joined; slain by Túrin.
–—
One-time leader of the Gaurwaith.
A Man of the People of Hador, who deserted the field of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and fled into the south to live as an outlaw. He was the leader of the Gaurwaith, the outlaw band that Túrin joined after leaving Doriath, though Túrin soon took over Forweg’s captaincy of the outlaws.
* Fosco Baggins|Fosco
The paternal grandfather of Frodo Baggins. He married Ruby Bolger, and had three children; Dora, Drogo (Frodo’s father) and Dudo.
* Fourth Age
The centuries after the Downfall of Barad-dûr.
The last of the four ages chronicled by Tolkien, and the one about which least is known (including its length). The Fourth Age was held to have begun with the passing of the Ring-bearers over the sea from Mithlond on 29 September III 3021, though in Gondor it was reckoned as beginning on 25 March of the same year (the second anniversary of the Downfall of Barad-dûr).
–—
Key Events of the Fourth Age:
- 41: Buckland and the Westmarch are officially incorporated into the Shire.
- 63: Death of King Éomer of Rohan; he is succeeded by his son Elfwine.
- 120: Death of King Aragorn II Elessar of Gondor; he is succeeded by his son Eldarion.
- 172: A copy of the Red Book of Westmarch is completed in Gondor by Findegil, the King’s Writer. This is the last event chronicled by Tolkien.
* Foxes|Fox
Dog-like carnivores of woodland and farmland, distinctive for their red-orange coats and their eerie plaintive cries. The most famous of all the foxes in Middle-earth appears early in The Lord of the Rings, where a dog-fox is puzzled at finding Frodo, Sam and Pippin asleep in a fir-wood on the first night of their journey from Hobbiton.
* Fram
The son of Frumgar of the Éothéod, famed for the slaying of Scatha the Worm.
* Fréa|Frea
The fourth King of Rohan.
The great-grandson of Eorl, who himself became the fourth of the Kings of Rohan. Fréa succeeded the long-lived Aldor, and was seventy-five years old when he came to the throne. His fourteen-year reign is recorded as one of peace and prosperity.
* Fréaláf Hildeson|Fréaláf|Fréalaf|Frealaf Tenth King of Rohan, nephew of King Helm Hammerhand.
–—
Successor to Helm Hammerhand.
The nephew of Helm Hammerhand, who survived the privations of the Long Winter in Helm’s Deep after Rohan had been overrun by the Dunlendings. In the spring after the Winter, Helm having been lost, Fréaláf led a daring raid on captured Edoras and succeeded in reclaiming it, ultimately driving the Dunlendings from Rohan altogether. At Fréaláf’s coronation, the Wizard Saruman appeared, and Steward Beren of Gondor, with Fréaláf’s approval, granted him Isengard to dwell in. Fréaláf was the tenth King of Rohan, and the first of the Second Line. He ruled the Rohirrim for thirty-nine years, and was succeeded by his son, Brytta Léofa.
* Fréawine|Freawine
The little-known fifth Lord of the Mark.
The son of Fréa and grandson of Aldor the Old. On account of his grandfather’s immensely long reign, Fréawine, like his father before him, became Rohan’s King in his old age, when he was already more than sixty years old. Little is said of his twenty-one years as King, except that it was a time of peace and plenty in the Mark. Fréawine was succeeded by his son Goldwine.
* Freca
A vassal of King Helm Hammerhand, slain by him.
* Fredegar ‘Fatty’ Bolger|Fredegar Bolger|Fatty A friend of Frodo Baggins in the Shire, who assisted with his removal to Buckland, and impersonated him while he travelled eastward to evade suspicion.
* Free
Those not subjected to Sauron.
A general term for those peoples of Middle-earth during the late Third Age who had not fallen under the yoke of Sauron.
* Free Peoples
The peoples of Middle-earth not under the yoke of Sauron.
A term used at the time of the War of the Ring to describe Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits, and those Men who had not fallen under the power of Sauron.
* Frerin
The second son of Thráin II, and younger brother of Thorin II Oakenshield. He was slain at the Battle of Nanduhirion.
* Friend-of-Men
Title given to Finrod Felagund of Nargothrond, who was the first of the Elves to discover that Men had entered Beleriand from the East, and who aided them as they came to the new lands.
* Frodo Baggins|Frodo
Hobbit of the Shire; the Ringbearer in the War of the Ring.
–—
Last of the Ring-bearers.
Heir of Bilbo Baggins, and hero of the Lord of the Rings. Renowned for bearing the One Ring to the land of Mordor, and casting it into the flames of Mount Doom.
–—
Life in the Shire, III 2968 - III 3018: Frodo’s father, Drogo, had left Hobbiton and removed to Buckland to live with his wife’s family, and so Frodo was raised in Brandy Hall, the ancestral home of the Brandybucks.
He lost both his parents in a boating accident in 2980. He was close to his distant cousin Bilbo, and nine years after the loss of his parents, Bilbo officially adopted him as his heir. At this time, Frodo moved back from Buckland to Hobbiton.
Although Bilbo often referred to Frodo as his ‘favourite nephew’, he was in fact his first cousin once removed (through his mother), and also his second cousin once removed (through his father).
Frodo lived with Bilbo at Bag End for twelve years, and inherited some of his peculiarities. It was said that he would meet with Elves in the woods, for example, and Bilbo allowed him to read his diary of the journey to Erebor.
In 3001, Bilbo held the great Birthday Party on 22 September (a birthday Frodo happened to share) and afterwards departed from the Shire, leaving Frodo to come into his inheritance, including (after much persuasion by Gandalf) the Ring.
After Bilbo’s departure, Gandalf visited Hobbiton only occasionally.
Frodo often went walking in the Shire, sometimes with his friends Folco Boffin, Fredegar Bolger, Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck, but more often alone. His gardener at Bag End was Samwise Gamgee, who was to accompany him on his great journey.
On 12 April 3018, Gandalf returned, having discovered the truth about the Ring, and so Frodo discovered the history behind the One Ring, and the great danger it held. He resolved to leave the Shire with it.
To cover his departure, Frodo sold Bag End to Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, and bought a small house at Crickhollow in Buckland, the region where he had been brought up. He departed from Hobbiton with Peregrin Took and Sam Gamgee on 23 September 3018, the day after his fiftieth birthday.
* Frodo Gardner
Second child and eldest son of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton; named for Frodo Baggins of the Company of the Ring.
* Frogmorton
Home of The Floating Log.
A village in the Eastfarthing of the Shire. It stood on the East Road, between the Three-farthing Stone (fourteen miles to the west) and the Brandywine Bridge (twenty-two miles to the east). Immediately to the north of the village, the stream known as the Water broke into two, creating a wide watery region - this feature seems to have given Frogmorton its name, which means ‘frog marsh’.
Until the War of the Ring, the village seems to have been most notable for its inn, the Floating Log. During the brief time when Saruman took over the Shire, though, it became the home of the First Eastfarthing Troop of Shirriffs, and it was here that the returning Ring-bearers were
‘arrested’ on their journey back to Hobbiton.
* Front Gate
A common term for the main gate of the Dwarf-citadel of Erebor.
* Frór|Fror
The son of Dáin I of Durin’s Folk, and brother to Thrór the founder of Erebor. He was slain with his father by a Cold-drake in the Grey Mountains.
* Frumgar
Leader of the northward migration of the Éothéod out of the Vales of Anduin.
–—
A chieftain of the Northmen and ancestor of Eorl the Young, who led his people to Éthéod on the upper reaches of the Anduin.
* Fuinur
A renegade Númenórean who became mighty among the Haradrim at the end of the Second Age.
–—
A Númenórean lord of the Haradrim.
A Man of Númenor who fell under the influence of Sauron during the time the Dark Lord dwelt on that island. He sailed east to Middle-earth, apparently with a companion named Herumor, and settled in the southern region known as the Harad. These two became lords in Middle-earth, coming to hold power among the Haradrim.
* Fundin
The father of Balin.
A Dwarf of the royal house of the Longbeards, the great-grandson of King Náin II. He fathered two sons, Balin and Dwalin, who would later travel to Erebor with Bilbo Baggins. Fundin was killed beneath the East-gate of Moria in the Battle of Azanulbizar.
* Gabilgathol
The Dwarves’ own name for their city of Belegost.
The Dwarf-citadel that lay near Mount Dolmed in the Blue Mountains. More commonly known by its Elvish name, Belegost.
* Gaffer Gamgee|Gaffer
A common nickname for the father of Samwise Gamgee, who was more properly called ‘Hamfast’. He presumably acquired the name ‘Gaffer’ later in his life, because it implies a person of advanced years. This was certainly true of Hamfast, who was old enough to remember Bilbo’s return from Erebor, and was no less than ninety-two years old when his son Sam left the Shire with Frodo.
‘Gaffer’ has another meaning, too, which is no doubt also relevant. In British slang, a ‘gaffer’ is a foreman, a person who supervises a job. At the time of Bilbo’s Birthday Party, we’re told that Hamfast, who was then seventy-five, oversaw the gardening at Bag End, but was helped by his son Sam. In that sense, then, Gaffer Gamgee actually was a ‘gaffer’.
* Galadhon
Father of Celeborn.
–—
A noble Elf of Doriath, the son of Elmo and thus the nephew of Thingol himself. Little is known of him, except for the fact that he was father to Celeborn, later Lord of Lórien.
* Galadhriel
A rare later name of Galadriel.
A name occasionally used of Galadriel after she became Lady of Lórien, meaning ‘tree-garland’.
* Galadhrim
The Silvan Elves of Lórien.
The ‘tree-people’; the Silvan Elves of the land of Lórien, ruled in the later Third Age by Galadriel and Celeborn.
* Galador
First Lord of Dol Amroth, son of Imrazôr the Númenórean and the Elf Mithrellas.
–—
The first Prince of Dol Amroth.
The son of Imrazôr the Númenórean and (at least, according to legend) the Elf-maid Mithrellas, Galador became the first Prince of Dol Amroth.
He established himself as lord of Belfalas in southern Gondor, a title that his descendants maintained until at least the early Fourth Age.
* Galadriel|Lady of the Noldor
Daughter of Finarfin and sister of Finrod Felagund; one of the leaders of the Noldorin rebellion against the Valar; wedded Celeborn of Doriath and with him remained in Middle-earth after the end of the First Age; keeper of Nenya, the Ring of Water, in Lothlórien.
–—
Lady of Lórien.
Youngest child, and only daughter, of Finarfin of the Noldor, Galadriel was born in Valinor while the Two Trees still grew there. She travelled to Middle-earth at the beginning of the First Age with her four brothers.
In Beleriand, she went often to the halls of Thingol, (to whom she was related; Eärwen her mother was Thingol’s niece), and there she met Celeborn.
After the War of Wrath and the destruction of Beleriand, most of the Noldor returned to Valinor, but Galadriel and Celeborn remained in Middle-earth. After the loss of Amroth in III 1981, Galadriel and Celeborn became Lady and Lord of Lothlórien, and there they dwelt until the end of the Third Age.
Her name means ‘Radiant Garland’ (referring to her hair).
* Galathil
Brother of Celeborn and father of Nimloth the mother of Elwing.
–—
A descendant of Thingol’s brother Elmo, and himself the brother of Celeborn the Lord of Lórien. His daughter Nimloth wedded Dior, Thingol’s Heir, and so Galathil was a distant ancestor of both Elrond and Aragorn.
* Galathilion|White Tree
The ‘White Tree of Tirion’, the image of Telperion made by Yavanna for the Vanyar and the Noldor.
–—
The White Tree of Tirion.
The White Tree made by Yavanna for the Elves of the city of Tirion. From it came Celeborn, the White Tree of Tol Eressëa, through which it became the ancestor of all the White Trees of Númenor and Middle-earth.
* Galdor (Elf of the Grey Havens)|Galdor
An Elf of Círdan’s people.
An Elf of the Grey Havens, who was sent by his master Círdan on an errand to Elrond’s house at Rivendell. He thereby entered history, as he was present at the Council of Elrond and took part in the debate that decided the fate of the One Ring.
* Galdor (Lord of Dor-lómin)|Galdor
Called the Tall; son of Hador Lórindol and lord of Dor-lómin after him; father of Húrin and Huor; slain at Eithel Sirion.
–—
Lord of Dor-lómin and father to Húrin and Huor.
* Gálmód|Galmod
The father of Gríma Wormtongue.
According to Gandalf, Gálmód was the father of Gríma Wormtongue, advisor to King Théoden of Rohan. Tolkien only ever mentions him once, and then only in passing, so almost nothing is known about him. His name seems to derive from the Old English for ‘lewd’ or ‘wanton’.
* Galvorn
The metal devised by Eöl.
–—
The black metal of Eöl the Dark Elf.
The shining black metal devised by Eöl, said to be as hard as steel, but supple and malleable. Eöl’s armour was made of his galvorn, whose name comes from Elvish words meaning ‘shining’ and ‘black’.
* Gamgee Family|Gamgee
A family of Hobbits of the Shire.
–—
An old family of the Shire, originally from the village of Gamwich; Samwise Gamgee of the Company of the Ring belong to this family, though his branch was renamed Gardner in honour of his replanting of the Shire.
* Gamil Zirak
Called the Old; Dwarf smith, master of Telchar of Nogrod.
–—
The master of Telchar the smith.
A Dwarvish smith, the master of Telchar of Nogrod, the maker of many renowned works. Gamil Zirak was a great craftsman himself, and the treasuries of Thingol were known to hold examples of his work.
* Gammidge Family|Gammidge
An ancestral family name of the Gamgees.
A short-lived family name of the Shire-hobbits; indeed, Hob Gammidge is the only recorded Hobbit to use the name. It was a corruption of the name of his family’s original home, the village of Gamwich. The name was further corrupted when Hob acquired the nickname ‘Old Gammidgy’, which in turn gave rise to the family name ‘Gamgee’.
* Gammidgy
The original form of the name Gamgee.
A Hobbit family-name, apparently first used in ‘Old Gammidgy’, the nickname of Hob Gammidge of Tighfield. His son, Hobson, received the name in a slightly corrupted form. He became known as Roper Gamgee, and that form of the name that descended to his grandson Sam.
* Gamwich
A village in the Shire, from which the earliest members of the Gamgee family came.
* Gamwich Family|Gamwich
The ancestors of the Gamgees.
A family of Hobbits who took their name from the village where they lived, Gamwich in the Shire. Over the years, as the family spread to other parts of the Shire, the name became corrupted, so at the time of the War of the Ring, their descendants living in Hobbiton were known as the Gamgees.
* Gandalf
One of the Istari (Wizards), member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
Gandalf (‘Elf of the Wand’) was his name among Northern Men. See Olórin, Mithrandir, Incánus, Tharkûn, Greyhame.
–—
The Grey Pilgrim.
In origin a Maia of Manwë and Varda, Gandalf came to the northwest of Middle-earth after a thousand years of the Third Age had passed, with four others of his order. At the Grey Havens, Círdan entrusted him with the Red Ring, Narya, to aid him in contesting the will of Sauron.
Gandalf wandered widely in Middle-earth, and learned much of its races and peoples. Unlike his fellow Wizards Saruman and Radagast, he never settled in a single place. He was instrumental in the victory of the War of the Ring, but during that conflict his body was destroyed by a Balrog, and his spirit returned into the West. The Valar sent him back to Middle-earth to complete his task.
Gandalf finally left Middle-earth in III 3021, when he departed over the sea with the Ring-bearers.
–—
Arrival in Middle-earth, c. III 1000: The Wizards arrived in Middle-earth after the end of the first millennium of the Third Age. They were sent by the Valar to aid Elves and Men, but none knew this but Círdan the Shipwright, Lord of the Grey Havens where their ships put in. Though Saruman was at that time the acknowledged leader of the Wizards, Círdan saw that Gandalf was in fact the greater, and secretly gave him the Red Ring Narya to aid him in his quest.
–—
Exploration of Middle-earth, c. III 1000 to III 2463: For almost 1,500
years, Gandalf wandered the northern and western regions of Middle-earth, learning of its lands and cultures. He was closest in friendship with the Elves, and especially Elrond, who had learned of his origins from Círdan.
–—
The White Council, III 2463 to III 2953: At almost the same time as Gandalf had arrived in Middle-earth, a dark power had appeared in southern Mirkwood, at the evil place known as Dol Guldur. After a thousand years of his wanderings, Gandalf went there and drove the darkness into the east for a while. Soon it returned, and in III 2463, the greatest among Wizards and Elves formed a White Council, with Gandalf as a prominent member, to counter the growing threat.
In 2850, he revisited Dol Guldur, to find that the power that held it had grown indeed during the eight hundred years since his last visit. He recognised the dark power now as Sauron returned, and escaped to inform the White Council. Before he escaped, though, he found Thráin II broken in the pits of Dol Guldur, and though Thráin died before Gandalf could help him, he did surrender a map and a key into the Wizard’s keeping.
The Year III 2941: 2941 was an important year for Gandalf. Not only did he take part in the White Council’s expulsion of the Necromancer from Dol Guldur, but he also arranged for a party of Dwarves, accompanied by Bilbo Baggins, to travel to their ancient home of Erebor and free it from the dragon Smaug.
–—
Gandalf and the Hobbits: The Hobbits first appeared in the records of Men and Elves shortly after the arrival of the Wizards, but of all the Wise, Gandalf was the only one to pay them great heed. After the foundation of the Shire, he would visit periodically and was responsible for ‘… quiet lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures’ (The Hobbit, Chapter 1, An Unexpected Party). Given this description, we are forced to wonder whether he had a hand in the exploits of Hildifons and Isengar Took, both of whom are recorded as having become involved in adventures of this kind.
Of all the Hobbit families, Gandalf seems to have been most closely associated with the Tooks; he was a close friend of Gerontius, the Old Took (Frodo Baggins’ great-grandfather), and was said to have given him a gift of magical diamond studs, which fastened and unfastened on command.
After Gerontius’ death in III 2920, he was not seen in the Shire for more than twenty years, until he returned with Thorin and the Dwarves to involve Bilbo Baggins in the Quest of Erebor.
–—
Gandalf’s Appearance: Like all the Wizards, Gandalf had the appearance of an old man, who grew old slowly with the passage of the centuries. His hair was white, and his long white beard grew down below his waist. His eyebrows were particularly noticeable; they were so long and bushy that they stuck out from beneath the rim of his hat.
He dressed in a long grey cloak, which is perhaps the origin of his title ‘The Grey’. He is also described as wearing a tall shady-brimmed pointed blue hat, a silver scarf, and long black boots. He carried at all times a spiked staff.
–—
The Magic of Gandalf: Tolkien at no point defines what the limits of Gandalf’s magic were. As a Maia, he had many natural abilities that would seem magical to mortal races, but he also had a great store of knowledge of more ‘mechanical’ magic, worked through spells and incantations, and especially through the agency of his staff. It is clear that he had far greater power, especially after his return as Gandalf the White, than he ever displayed in Middle-earth.
His magical powers seem to be particularly associated with fire, a fact that is perhaps related to the Ring of Fire, Narya, that he bore.
–—
A Gandalf Miscellany:
- Gandalf adopted the habit of pipe-smoking from the Hobbits. He often used his magical arts while smoking; he could change the colour of his smoke-rings, or send them in any direction he pleased.
- Gandalf’s preferred drink was red wine.
* Gap of Rohan
The opening, some 20 miles wide, between the last end of the Misty Mountains and the north-thrust spur of the White Mountains, through which flowed the river Isen.
–—
The breach between the Misty Mountains and the White.
The great gap on the west of Rohan between the southern end of the Misty Mountains and the northernmost peaks of the White Mountains.
* Gardner Family|Gardner
The descendants of Sam Gamgee the gardener.
The name taken by the descendants of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton in honour of Sam’s replanting of the Shire after the War of the Ring.
* Gasping Dust
The desert created in the Dagor Bragollach.
Anfauglith, the desert of dust and ash created by the great burnings of the Battle of Sudden Flame.
* Gate of Steel
The last defence of Gondolin.
The last of the Seven Gates of Gondolin, built some centuries after the other six as an ultimate defence after the disaster of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Though all but impassable to an enemy, the Gate ultimately failed to prevent the Fall of Gondolin.
* Gate of the Noldor
Annon-in-Gelydh.
A gateway in the mountains between northern Nevrast and Hithlum, built by the Noldor who followed Turgon in the earliest years of the First Age.
After Turgon’s departure to Gondolin, the Gate was lost, but it was rediscovered and used centuries later by Tuor in his escape from the oppressed lands of Hithlum.
* Gates of Mordor
Sauron’s Black Gate.
A term for the defended pass in the northwest of Mordor, and great Black Gate - the Morannon - that protected it. The Gates opened onto a narrow valley, Udûn, and were highly defensible. Indeed, they were only successfully assaulted once in their history, by the armies of the Last Alliance.
* Gates of Sirion
Sirion’s emergence from beneath the Andram.
The cavernous mouth in the southern hills of the Andram where the River Sirion emerged from its underground course.
* Gates of Summer
A great festival of Gondolin, on the eve of which the city was assaulted by the forces of Morgoth.
* Gaurwaith|Wolf-men
The outlaw-band on the western borders of Doriath that Túrin joined, and of which he became the captain. Translated ‘Wolf-men’.
–—
The ‘Wolf Men’, the name of the outlaw band to which Túrin joined himself for a time after he left Doriath.
* Gelion
The great river of East Beleriand, rising in Himring and Mount Rerir and fed by the rivers of Ossiriand flowing down from the Blue Mountains.
–—
The river that marked Beleriand’s eastern border.
The long river in eastern Beleriand that ran south from the marches of Lothlann, and separated the lands of Thargelion and Ossiriand from East Beleriand.
* Gelmir of Nargothrond|Gelmir
Elf of Nargothrond, brother of Gwindor, captured in the Dagor Bragollach and afterwards put to death in front of Eithel Sirion, as a provocation to its defenders, before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
–—
Ill-fated nobleman of Nargothrond.
Son of Guilin, of a high house of Nargothrond; captured by Morgoth in the Dagor Bragollach. It was his maiming before the Elven host at Barad Eithel that began the great battle of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
* Gelmir of Angrod’s People|Gelmir
Noldorin Elf of the people of Angrod, who with Arminas came upon Tuor at Annon-in-Gelydh and afterwards went to Nargothrond to warn Orodreth of its peril.
–—
The companion of Arminas.
A Noldorin Elf, originally of Angrod’s people. After the Dagor Bragollach, he wandered into the southern regions of Beleriand, and settled with the people of Círdan the Shipwright. He was later sent by Círdan, with his companion Arminas, as a messenger to Nargothrond.
* Gerontius Took
Thain of the Shire, famed for his great age, for which reason he was popularly known as The Old Took.
* Gethron
Man of Húrin’s household who with Grithnir accompanied Túrin to Doriath and afterwards returned to Dor-lómin.
* Ghân-buri-Ghân|Ghân|Ghan
Chieftain of the Drúedain or ‘Wild Men’ of Drúadan Forest.
–—
The headman of the Woses of Drúadan Forest at the time of the War of the Ring. He aided the Rohirrim in their ride to the Battle of the Pelennor.
* Giants|Giant
Huge Man-like monsters.
Perhaps the most mysterious of the races of Middle-earth, Giants are mentioned only fleetingly by Tolkien, but sufficiently often to show that they did exist in his world.
* Gift of Men
Death; the gift of Ilúvatar to his Younger Children, allowing them to go beyond the confines of the World.
* Gil-Estel
‘Star of Hope’, Sindarin name for Eärendil bearing the Silmaril in his ship Vingilot.
* Gildor Inglorion|Gildor
An Elf of the House of Finrod.
A High Elf of Noldorin origin, met by Frodo, Pippin and Sam as they set out on their journey to take the Ring to Rivendell.
* Gildor of Dorthonion|Gildor
One of the twelve companions of Barahir on Dorthonion.
–—
One of the last outlaws of Dorthonion.
One of the outlaw band that dwelt with Barahir and Beren at Tarn Aeluin after the Dagor Bragollach.
* Gilmith
Sister of Galador, first Lord of Dol Amroth.
* Gilraen
The wife of Arathorn II, and mother of Aragorn II Elessar. It was she who gave Aragorn the name Estel, ‘hope’.
* Gilrain
River of Lebennin in Gondor flowing into the Bay of Belfalas west of Ethir Anduin.
–—
The western border-river of Lebennin.
A long river that flowed south out of the White Mountains through western Lebennin in the south of Gondor. It was a tributary of the River Serni, that it joined above Linhir, and legend said that Nimrodel had walked its banks as she come south out of the Mountains.