–—
The mother of Fëanor.
The first wife of Finwë and mother of Fëanor; the birth of Fëanor took so much of her spirit that she went to the gardens of Lórien and passed away.
* Míriel of Númenor|Míriel|Miriel|Ar-Zimraphel|Tar-Míriel|Tar-Miriel Daughter of Tar-Palantir, forced into marriage by Ar-Pharazôn, and as his queen named in Adûnaic Ar-Zimraphel; also called Tar-Míriel.
–—
The true heir to Tar-Palantir.
The daughter and heir of King Tar-Palantír, who would have become Númenor’s fourth Ruling Queen. She was taken to marriage by Ar-Pharazôn, who thereby usurped the throne.
* Mirkwood
The great forest east of the Misty Mountains, earlier called Eryn Galen,
‘Greenwood the Great’, and lately Taur-nu-Fuin, ‘Forest under Night’.
–—
Greatest of the forests of Middle-earth.
A name of Greenwood the Great, the mighty forest that lay in the lands east of the River Anduin. The name ‘Mirkwood’ was used of this forest after Sauron, in his guise as the Necromancer, took up his abode at Dol Guldur in its southern regions.
The name means simply ‘Murky Wood’.
* Mirror of Galadriel
Galadriel’s basin of visions.
The magical silver basin of Galadriel. When filled with stream-water, the reflections from its enchanted surface would reveal things from distant places and times.
* Mirrormere
The hallowed lake of Kheled-zâram.
The shining lake in the Dimrill Dale beneath the eastern doors of Khazad-dúm, so called because of the stars reflected in its surface. It was called Kheled-zâram by the Dwarves.
* Miruvor
The cordial (liqueur) of the Eldar.
–—
The Cordial of Imladris.
The reviving cordial of the Elves, a liquor with the power to grant renewed vigour and strength. Miruvor was clear and colourless, with a pleasant fragrance. Gandalf carried a flask of it with him to help the Company of the Ring on their southward journey. Both the Dúnedain and the Orcs possessed drinks with similar properties, but miruvor was known to be the most potent of these cordials.
* Misty Mountains
Great mountain-range of Middle-earth running north and south and forming the eastern boundary of Eriador; caled in Sindarin Hithaeglir.
–—
The Backbone of Middle-earth.
The great mountain chain that ran through the northwest of Middle-earth for a thousand miles, from Carn Dûm in the far north, to Methedras above Isengard in the south.
* Mitheithel
River of Eriador flowing from the Ettendales to join the Bruinen (Loudwater). Translated ‘Hoarwell’.
–—
The northern river Men called the Hoarwell.
The long river that rose in the icy north of Middle-earth, in the Misty Mountains about a hundred miles north of Rivendell. It flowed southwestwards through the lands that had once been held by the kingdom of Rhudaur, round the woodland region of the Trollshaws. Passing beneath the Last Bridge on the East-West Road, it flowed on into the south, until it met the Glanduin above Tharbad to form the River Gwathló (or Greyflood).
The river’s Mannish name was Hoarwell, a free translation of the Elvish Mitheithel. The Elvish name for the river contains the components mith
‘grey’ and eithel ‘spring, well’.
* Mithlond
The ‘Grey Havens’, harbours of the Elves on the Gulf of Lhûn, ruled by Círdan; also referred to as the Havens.
–—
The Grey Havens.
The Elvish name of the Grey Havens of Círdan the Shipwright, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Lhûn.
* Mithrandir|Grey Messenger
Gandalf’s name among the Elves of Middle-earth. Translated ‘the Grey Pilgrim’, ‘the Grey Wanderer’, ‘the Grey Messenger’.
* Mithrellas
Elf of Lórien, companion of Nimrodel; taken to wife by Irmazôr the Númenórean; mother of Galador first Lord of Dol Amroth.
–—
A companion of Nimrodel.
A Silvan Elf who, at least according to legend, accompanied Nimrodel on her journey to the southern havens. Mithrellas, it is said, became lost in the woods of Belfalas, where she was found by Imrazôr the Númenórean.
So Elvish blood entered the line of the Princes of Dol Amroth, it was claimed, since her son Galador was the first of the long line of Princes.
* Mithril|Moria-silver|Truesilver
The metal known as ‘Moria-silver’, found also in Númenor.
–—
Most precious of metals.
Also called ‘truesilver’, and many other names besides; the remarkable metal that the Dwarves discovered in the mines of Khazad-dûm. It was supple and easy to work, and could be polished to shimmer like silver that never tarnished, and it was as strong as steel. In Middle-earth, mithril was found nowhere but the Dwarf-mines of Khazad-dûm, though there are indications that it was also found in Númenor and in Aman.
The metal held a value almost beyond price. In Númenor, King Tar-Telemmaitë became so greedy for mithril that it gave him his name -
Telemmaitë means ‘silverhand’. In Middle-earth, meanwhile, the Dwarves’
discovery of mithril drew the Noldor to found the kingdom of Eregion in the lands west of their mines. As the years passed, the seams beneath Khazad-dûm began to be worked out, and the Dwarves dug deeper and deeper.
It was their deep mining for mithril that would awake the Balrog, Durin’s Bane, and bring about the downfall of their kingdom.
Of all the mithril artefacts, the most famous is surely the coat of mail given to Bilbo Baggins by Thorin Oakenshield, that was held for a while in the Michel Delving mathom-house before being worn by Frodo during the Quest of Mount Doom. Many other of the World’s most important items were made of mithril, too. The symbol of High Kingship worn by Elendil and Isildur was the Elendilmir, a diamond bound to the brow by a mithril fillet, and Nenya, one of the Three Rings of the Elves, was also made of the metal, again bearing a diamond. Greatest of all, according to legend, was the ship of Eärendil in which he sailed into the sky, making the gleam of truesilver visible to the world as the Evening and Morning Star.
* Mithrim (lake)|Mithrim
The name of the great lake in the east of Hithlum.
–—
The lake that stood in the north of the land of Mithrim, separating it from Hithlum. When the Noldor returned to Middle-earth, Fëanor set his camp on the northern shore of this lake.
* Mithrim (region)|Mithrim
Region about the lake of the same name, and of the mountains to the west, separating Mithrim from Dor-lómin. The name was originally that of the Sindarin Elves who dwelt there.
–—
A region to the southeast of Hithlum.
A land walled by the mountains of the Ered Wethrin to the north of Beleriand, the site of the great battle of the Dagor-nuin-Giliath.
* Mittalmar
The central region of Númenor, translated ‘Inlands’.
–—
The central lands of Númenor.
A pastoral region of grassland and pasture that lay in the central parts of the island of Númenor. The borders of the Mittalmar formed a roughly oval region, two hundred and fifty miles west to east, and one hundred and seventy north to south. Near its centre rose a single tall mountain, the famous Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven. The two main rivers of Númenor had their springs in this region, the Nunduinë that flowed westward, and the Siril that flowed south.
The eastern part of the Mittalmar was the most important region on the whole island. This was Arandor, the Kingsland, where the royal city of Armenelos stood, as well as the bustling eastern port of Rómenna. A road ran between these two cities, and carried on westward across the Mittalmar and into the western parts of the island.
* Moon-letters
The secret runes of the Dwarves.
–—
“‘Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them,’ said Elrond,
‘not when you look straight at them.’”
(The Hobbit 3, A Short Rest)
–—
A system of writing invented by Dwarves. Moon-letters were ordinary runes, but written in such a way that they could only be read when the light of the moon shone behind the writing. Some moon-letters could be read by any moonlight, but it was possible to make the writing even more secret. More sophisticated moon-letters could only be read by the same shape of moon, or at the same time of year, as when they were written.
Moon-letters were written with silver pens. The substance ithildin, made from mithril, reflected only starlight and moonlight, and it seems likely that ithildin, or something very similar, was used by the Dwarves to write their moon-letters.
* Moontower
A name of Minas Ithil, apparently still retained even after it was captured and renamed Minas Morgul.
* Morannon
The main (northern) entry to Mordor. Translated ‘the Black Gate’. Also called the Gates of Mordor.
–—
The Black Gate that Sauron built across the entrance of the valley of Udûn, the only opening in the mountainous defences of his Black Land of Mordor.
* Mordor|Land of Shadow
‘The Black Land’, also called the Land of Shadow; Sauron’s realm east of the Ephel Dúath.
–—
Sauron’s Black Land.
After the destruction of the strongholds of evil in the north of Middle-earth at the end of the First Age, Sauron fled southwards seeking new lands. At the end of the first millennium of the Second Age, he chose a land walled by mountains, and there built his great fortress of Barad-dûr. After Sauron settled there, the land became known as Mordor (the Black Land) - no record of an earlier name for this region exists.
After the defeat of Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance, Mordor was taken under the control of Gondor, and the Gondorians built fortifications around it to prevent the return of evil things; the greatest of these was Minas Ithil (later Minas Morgul). As Gondor’s power faded, however, Mordor once again fell into the hands of the Enemy, and after two thousand years of relative peace, the Nazgûl returned and claimed the land once again in the name of Sauron. Sauron himself, however, dwelt at Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, and did not himself return openly to Barad-dûr until some seventy years before the War of the Ring.
In that War, Sauron’s power was finally defeated when the One Ring was cast into the Cracks of Doom, and the land of Mordor once again came under the control of the South-kingdom.
–—
The Geography of Mordor: Mordor was a land of approximately rectangular shape, measuring some 600 miles east to west and 400 north to south. On all but its eastern borders, where it marched with Rhûn and Khand, it was surrounded by the mountains of the Ered Lithui and the Ephel Dúath.
Offshoots of its mountain fences divided the land into two distinct regions, the barren uplands of Gorgoroth in the northwest, and the more fertile southern plain of Nurn, where the inland sea of Núrnen lay.
In the far northwest of Mordor, where the mountains of the Ered Lithui and Ephel Dúath came together, lay a valley named Udûn (after the ancient fortress of Melkor in the north of the World). This was the only break in Mordor’s western mountain-defences, and Sauron built a great gate, the Morannon, at its mouth to protect his realm.
–—
The History of Mordor:
c. II 1000 to II 3262: Mordor is not mentioned in the histories of Middle-earth before the end of the first millennium of the Second Age, when Sauron chose it as his dwelling place. While its natural defences must have influenced his decision, we are told that the main reason for his choice was Orodruin, the great volcano that lay in the central regions of the Plateau of Gorgoroth, and which Sauron used in his sorcery, including the forging of the One Ring.
Through the rest of the Second Age, Mordor became a base for Sauron’s struggle for power in Middle-earth. Though he had many successes in this struggle, at one time controlling all of Eriador, he also suffered many setbacks at the hands of the Elves and, especially, the Númenóreans.
His worst reverse came in II 3262 when Ar-Pharazôn, the last King of Númenor, landed in Middle-earth with an unstoppable army. Sauron’s forces fled, and he offered himself as hostage to Ar-Pharazôn, leaving Mordor and travelling with the victorious Númenóreans back to their island home.
We are told little of Mordor after Sauron left it - his armies having fled, it must have been an empty, barren place for a time. Eventually, though, some part of his followers seem to have returned. After the destruction of Númenor and the founding of Gondor by Elendil and his sons, one of their first works was the building of Minas Ithil at the feet of the Ephel Dúath ‘as a threat to Mordor’, which suggests that even with Sauron absent, the remaining inhabitants of the Black Land posed a threat of their own.
–—
II 3320 to II 3441: Sauron himself secretly returned to the Black Land after the Downfall of Númenor, and the Gondorians were apparently unaware of this for a time. Soon, though, Orodruin burst into life once more, and the Men of Gondor understood that the Dark Lord had returned to Barad-dûr.
After more than a century, in 3429, Sauron had rebuilt his armies sufficiently to contemplate an assault on the newly founded kingdom of Gondor on his western borders. He attacked and took Minas Ithil, but Isildur (who dwelt there at that time), escaped and fled north to his father in Arnor.
Sauron’s stroke was mistimed, for he was not yet strong enough to capture Osgiliath, Gondor’s capital, and this gave Elendil the time to forge a military alliance with his friend Gil-galad, the last High King of the Noldor. Elendil and Gil-galad marched with the host of this Last Alliance to the gates of Mordor, where they worsted Sauron in a mighty battle on the plain afterwards called the Dagorlad. There followed the seven-year Siege of Barad-dûr, but the forces of the Last Alliance eventually captured and destroyed the Dark Tower, and consigned Sauron to the shadows.
III 1 to c. III 1980: Through some two thousand years of the Third Age, Mordor was a deserted and empty land, under the control of the Gondorians (although none of that people dwelt there). As time passed, though, and the power and might of Gondor dwindled, the watch on the borders of Mordor was relaxed.
In III 1975, the Battle of Fornost was fought in the north, and the forces of Angmar were defeated. The Witch-king of Angmar (the Lord of the Nazgûl) fled into the south and entered Mordor, taking it again in the name of Sauron and gathering the others of his order there. The Gondorian watch on Mordor had not been maintained, and after the Dark Plague some three hundred years earlier, Minas Ithil and the other forts and castles on Mordor’s borders stood empty. This made the Nazgûl’s return all the easier.
c. III 1980 to III 3019: Soon after their return, the Nazgûl attacked Minas Ithil, and took it once again. This was in the year 2000, twenty years after their return, and Minas Ithil withstood a two-year siege before it fell. We know the Tower was unmanned in 1980, so we must assume that the Gondorians had quickly garrisoned the city once they learned of the Nazgûl’s return - this makes sense when we consider that the King of Gondor at that time was Eärnil II, who was a great general before he became King.
After its capture, Minas Ithil was renamed Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery, and so the ancient dwelling of Isildur became a dark place and a threat to the Gondorians who had built it two thousand years before.
For a thousand years, Mordor was to be ruled in Sauron’s stead by the Lord of the Nazgûl. Sauron himself was slowly and secretly growing in power at Dol Guldur to the north, and did not wish to reveal himself until he had sufficient strength to face his enemies.
By III 2941, Sauron had grown sufficiently to face his foes. The White Council attacked Dol Guldur, but he had prepared for this and abandoned that stronghold, returning to his ancient kingdom of Mordor in the following year. He rebuilt his capital of Barad-dûr, and began the ordering of Mordor for war.
That war, the War of the Ring, was to see his final downfall. In its closing days, an army of Gondor stood before the Morannon and challenged him, and he sent overwhelming forces to answer their challenge. Secure in the certainty of his victory, he was unaware that two Hobbits, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, had secretly entered Mordor over the Ephel Dúath with the One Ring. Travelling across Gorgoroth, they reached Orodruin and succeeded in destroying the Ring, bringing Sauron’s rule to an end and leaving Mordor once again a desolate land under the control of Gondor.
* Morgai
‘Black Fence’, inner ridge much lower than the Ephel Dúath and separated from it by a deep trough; the inner ring of the fences of Mordor.
–—
The inner fence of Mordor.
A long valley and ridge in the eastern Ephel Dúath, called the ‘inner fence’ of Mordor.
* Morgoth Bauglir|Morgoth|Black King
‘The Black Enemy’, name of Melkor, first given to him by Fëanor after the rape of the Silmarils. Also called the Black King; the Dark Lord; the Enemy, Bauglir; and by the Drúedain the Great Dark One.
–—
The First Dark Lord.
‘Morgoth’ means ‘Black Enemy’; ‘Bauglir’ is ‘The Constrainer’.
After his theft of the Silmarils and Darkening of Valinor, Morgoth fled the Valar, and returned to Middle-earth with Ungoliant before the beginning of the First Age. In his ancient fortress of Angband, far to the north of Beleriand, he made an Iron Crown for himself, with the Silmarils mounted upon it.
In the first year of the First Age, the Noldor returned to Middle-earth to make war on Morgoth for the recovery of the Silmarils. The history of that Age is the history of the hopeless wars of the Noldor against Morgoth.
* Morgul Vale
The valley behind Minas Morgul in the Ephel Dúath.
Also called Imlad Morgul, the valley of the Morgulduin in the western Ephel Dúath. At its outflow into Ithilien stood Minas Morgul.
* Morgul-wounds|Morgul-wound
Wounds inflicted by evil blades.
The weapons of Sauron’s greatest servants - or, at least, of the Nazgûl
- carried dark enchantments that cursed the wounds they inflicted. The wounds themselves varied; that suffered by Steward Boromir left in crippling pain and shortened his life, while the wound taken by Frodo on Weathertop threatened to make him a wraith.
* Morgulduin
The stream of Imlad Morgul.
The pale stream that flowed out of the valley of Imlad Morgul, and past the gates of Minas Morgul itself, before passing southwestward through Ithilien and out into the River Anduin.
* Moria
‘The Black Chasm’, later name for Khazad-dûm (Hadhodrond), the great works of the Dwarves of Durin’s race under the Misty Mountains.
–—
The Black Chasm; the name given to Khazad-dûm after its desertion by the Dwarves, after which it became a dark and evil place.
The name ‘Moria’ is often used as a synonym for Khazad-dûm. This is not strictly correct - ‘Moria’ was not used of the ancient Dwarf-city until after it was deserted by the Dwarves themselves - but by the late Third Age the two names had come to be used interchangeably.
* Moria Gate|Moria-gate|Gates of Moria|Gate of Moria The doors of Khazad-dûm.
Also appearing in the form ‘Moria-gate’, a term used for either of the two gates of Moria. One opened westward to the old Elvish land of Eregion, the other eastward onto the valley of Nanduhirion.
* Moriquendi
‘Elves of the Darkness’; see Dark Elves.
–—
The Dark Elves.
Called the Dark Elves, those of the Elves who never saw the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, including the Avari, the Nandor and the Sindar. The Sindarin king Elu Thingol, however, was not accounted among the Moriquendi, as he had travelled to Valinor before returning to Middle-earth.
* Mormegil
‘The Black Sword’, name given to Túrin as captain of the host of Nargothrond on account of his sword (see Gurthang), and used afterwards in Brethil. Translated ‘Blacksword’ (also written ‘Black Sword’).
–—
A title given to Túrin in Nargothrond.
‘The Black Sword’; a name given to Túrin Turambar while he dwelt in the halls of Nargothrond.
* Morrowdim
The twilight of dawn, known to the Elves as minuial or tindómë.
* Mortals|Mortal
Beings subject to death.
Any of the races of Arda who were subject to old age and death (as for example Hobbits), but applied especially to the race of Men.
* Morthond|Mornan
‘Black-root’, river rising in a dark valley in the mountains due south of Edoras, called Mornan, not only because of the two high mountains between which it lay, but because through it passed the road from the Gate of the Dead Men, and living men did not go there.
–—
The river of the Blackroot Vale.
A river that rose under the shadows of the White Mountains (hence its name, meaning ‘black root’) and flowed approximately south through the lands of Gondor. It flowed into the Ringló above the ancient port of Edhellond.
* Morwen Eledhwen|Morwen|Lady of Dor-lómin|Lady of Dor-lomin Daughter of Baragund (nephew of Barahir, the father of Beren); wife of Húrin and mother of Túrin and Nienor; called Eledhwen (translated in the text as ‘Elfsheen’) and the Lady of Dor-lómin.
–—
The raven-haired mother of Túrin Turambar.
The daughter of Baragund of the House of Bëor, she wedded Húrin Thalion and was the mother of Túrin Turambar.
* Morwen of Lossarnach|Morwen
A lady of Gondor, akin to Prince Imrahil; wife of King Thengel of Rohan.
* Mound of Elendil
Elendil’s grave on the Halifirien.
The grave-mound of Elendil, father of Isildur and Anárion, and first ruler of Arnor and Gondor. It stood on the hill later called the Halifirien, in the midst of the Firien Wood.
* Mount Doom
The Fire-mountain of Orodruin.
Orodruin, the volcano in Mordor where the One Ring was forged, and the object of the Quest of Mount Doom, in which the Wise sought to destroy the Ring.
* Mount Fang
A name for the tower of Orthanc.
A picturesque name for Orthanc, the citadel of the Wizard Saruman.
‘Mount Fang’ translates Orthanc’s name as if it were Elvish, but the meaning ‘Cunning Mind’ was also possible if the name is interpreted in the old language of the Rohirrim.
* Mount Gram
The domain of Golfimbul.
The mountain home of the goblins that followed Golfimbul. Its precise location is nowhere identified, but circumstantial evidence suggests that it lay among the peaks of the northern Misty Mountains.
* Mount Gundabad
Capital of the northern Goblins.
A mountain in the north of Middle-earth, lying at the meeting point of the Misty and the Grey Mountains. It was here that the Orcs of the northern world had their capital.
* Mountain of Fire
Orodruin in the heart of Mordor.
A name for the Fiery Mountain more commonly known to Men as Mount Doom.
‘Mountain of Fire’ is in fact a closer translation of the mountain’s Elvish name, Orodruin.
* Mountain Wall
A poetic name for the Pelóri.
A term that appears just once, in Bilbo’s poem ‘Eärendil was a mariner’.
The meaning is not completely certain, but it seems to describe the Pelóri, the Mountains of Defence that ranged along the eastern borders of Valinor.
* Mountain-trolls|Mountain-troll|Mountain Trolls|Mountain Troll Trolls from the highland regions of Middle-earth.
Apparently Trolls that lived in the mountains of Middle-earth. It was creatures of this kind that wielded the great battering-ram, Grond, at the Battle of the Pelennor.
* Mountains of Defence
The Pelóri of Aman.
The Pelóri, the highest mountains in the world, raised along the fences of Aman by the Valar to protect it from Melkor.
* Mountains of Dor-lómin
That part of Ered Wethrin that formed the southern fence of Hithlum.
* Mountains of Mirkwood
The central highlands of Middle-earth’s greatest forest.
In the central parts of northern Mirkwood, north of the Old Forest Road, lay a scattered range of hills. A jumble of fir-covered, low-lying hills to the west rose to reach greater heights in the east, together forming a range nearly one hundred miles in length. Historically, the Second Age saw these mountains inhabited by Silvan Elves, who knew the range as the Emyn Duir, the Dark Mountains.
During the Third Age, the power of Sauron spread across the Mountains as it did throughout the rest of the Forest, they became populated by hideous creatures. Just as Greenwood the Great was renamed Mirkwood at this time, its northern hills also took on a new name: Emyn-nu-Fuin, the Mountains of Mirkwood.
* Mountains of Mist
The Misty Mountains of the Hithaeglir.
A name occasionally used for the range more commonly called the Misty Mountains.
* Mountains of Moria
The three peaks above old Khazad-dûm.
The three mountains, Celebdil, Caradhras and Fanuidhol, beneath which Khazad-dûm was delved by the Dwarves. The main body of their city, which was later called Moria, seems to have been beneath Celebdil, which they called Zirakzigil, and which was crowned by Durin’s Tower.
* Mountains of Shadow
The northern range of the Ered Wethrin.
The Ered Wethrin, so named because their towering peaks shut out the sun from the lands of Mithrim and Dor-lómin that lay in Hithlum to the north.
* Mountains of Terror
The Ered Gorgoroth.
The nightmarish land of peaks and valleys that lay between Dorthonion to the north and Nan Dungortheb to the south. The Mountains of Terror were populated by monstrous creatures of spider-form, the offspring of Ungoliant before she fled into the south and east of the World.
* Mouth of Sauron
The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dûr.
–—
“The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm…”
(The Return of the King V 10, The Black Gate Opens)
–—
A Man of great power and importance in the land of Mordor, the ambassador of Sauron. He was sent by Sauron to treat with the Captains of the West at the Black Gate of Mordor prior to the last battle of the War of the Ring. Had his master won that war, he would have ruled the defeated western lands from a rebuilt Isengard, in the place of Saruman. That was not to be, though, and of his fate after the Downfall of Barad-dûr nothing is known.
* Mouths of Anduin
The wide estuary region known as the Ethir.
The wide and wandering delta of the River Anduin, where it flowed out into the Bay of Belfalas.
* Mouths of Entwash
The wetlands of the Entwash delta.
The River Entwash was the greatest of the tributaries of Anduin, and where the two rivers met, a mighty delta formed, measuring a hundred miles from the splitting of the Entwash to its final inflow into Anduin.
This delta formed the Mouths of Entwash.
So great was the inrush of Entwash that Anduin could not carry all its water, and so a marshland formed on the Anduin’s eastern bank, called Nindalf, or Wetwang in the Westron tongue.
* Mouths of Sirion
Haven of the Exiles of Gondolin.
The delta of the River Sirion, where it flowed into the Bay of Balar.
After the destruction of the lands of Doriath and Gondolin, many of their people gathered here, and dwelt under the lordship of Eärendil.
* Mugwort
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.
* Mûmakil|Mumakil
Monsters out of the Southlands.
A name for the great elephantine beasts of the Harad, and especially those that the Haradrim brought to war in the late Third Age.
* Mundburg
‘Guardian Fortress’, name in Rohan of Minas Tirith.
–—
The name given to Minas Tirith by the Rohirrim of Rohan in their own tongue.
* Mungo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins’ paternal grandfather, Mungo married Laura Grubb and had five children; the eldest was Bilbo’s father Bungo.
* Mushrooms|Mushroom
A tasty kind of edible fungus, and a particular favourite of the Hobbits.
In the Shire, it seems those that grew in the boggy region of the Marish were the most prized. Farmer Maggot grew them in his fields, and in The Lord of the Rings Frodo remembers stealing mushrooms from Maggot’s fields as a child. He revisited the same farm years later, and Old Maggot gave him a parting gift - a basket of mushrooms.
* Music of the Ainur
The Great Music before the beginning of the World.
The great song of the Ainur at the beginning of time, in which the world was created.
* Muzgash
An Orc of the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
An Orc serving in the garrison of the Tower of Cirith Ungol, under the command of Shagrat. He was caught up in fighting with Gorbag’s Morgul-orcs in the Tower; with Lagduf, he attempted to escape, but was shot as he ran through the gate.
* Nahar
The horse of the Vala Oromë, said by the Eldar to be so named on account of his voice.
–—
The steed of Oromë.
The legendary horse ridden by Oromë, the Huntsman of the Valar. Nahar’s coat was said to be white under the Sun, but to shimmer in silver in the night.
* Náin|Nain
The son of Grór of the royal line of Durin’s Folk.
The grandson of King Dáin I of Durin’s Folk. Náin’s father was Dáin’s youngest son Grór. Náin was slain at the Battle of Azanulbizar, but after his death the lines of Grór’s two elder brothers failed, and Náin’s son Dáin Ironfoot became King.
* Náin I|Náin|Nain
The last King to rule in Khazad-dûm.
The son of King Durin VI of Khazad-dûm, who became King after his father was slain by the Balrog known as Durin’s Bane. Náin’s kingship lasted only a year, before he too was slain - his son Thráin I led the remnant of Durin’s Folk away into the north.
* Náin II|Náin|Nain
The heir of Óin.
King of Durin’s line, successor to Óin. He led the Dwarves of Durin while they abode in the Grey Mountains. Late in his reign, dragons came south out of the Forodwaith, and began to assail the Dwarves.
Náin was 247 years old when he died, having reigned as King for 97 of those years. He was succeeded by his eldest son Dáin, who became King Dáin I.
* Naith of Lórien|Naith of Lorien
The ‘Triangle’ or ‘Gore’ of Lórien, land at the angle of Celebrant and Anduin.
* Nameless Things|Nameless Thing
Unknown creatures at the roots of the world.
–—
“Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things.”
(Words of Gandalf from The Two Towers III 5, The White Rider)
–—
The secret and very ancient creatures that dwell in the dark depths of the world. Gandalf came upon them in the depths beneath Moria, but would say nothing of them to his companions.
* Námo|Namo
A Vala, one of the Aratar; usually named Mandos, as the place of his dwelling. Námo means ‘Ordainer, Judge’. See Fëanturi, Nurufantur.
–—
The true name of the Vala more commonly known as Mandos, a name taken from the halls of his dwelling.
* Nan Curunír|Nan Curunir
The valley of the Wizard Saruman.
The name given in the late Third Age to the valley in the southern feet of the Misty Mountains where Isengard stood. The name is taken from Curunír, the Elvish name of the Wizard Saruman, who dwelt there.
* Nan Dungortheb|Dungortheb
‘Valley of Dreadful Death’. The valley between the precipices of Ered Gorgoroth and the Girdle of Melian.
–—
The dreadful valley in northern Beleriand that ran west to east between the haunted mountains of the Ered Gorgoroth, and the enchanted northern marches of Doriath.
* Nan Elmoth
The forest east of the river Celon where Elwë (Thingol) was enchanted by Melian and lost; afterwards the dwelling-place of Eöl.
–—
The dark and ancient woods on the banks of the River Celon in East Beleriand. It was here that Thingol met with Melian, and many years later the forest became the home of Eöl the Dark Elf.
* Nan-tasarion
A name for the Land of Willows.
One of several names used to describe the watery region where the waters of the Narog flowed into Sirion. A forest of willow-trees grew there, from which it took its many names: Nan-tasarion, Tasarinan and (most commonly) Nan-tathren are all Elvish names meaning ‘willow valley’.
* Nan-tathren
‘Willow-vale’, translated ‘Land of Willows’, where the river Narog flowed into Sirion. Quenya forms of the name: Tasarinan, Nan-tasarion.
–—
The Land of Willows in the south of Beleriand.
In the region where the River Narog met the great River Sirion, a little to the north of the Sirion’s Mouths, lay the land of Nan-tathren. Famed for its willows and its flowered meadows, those who had visited this land reported its extraordinary beauty. It played little part in history, except that the Exiles of Gondolin rested here for a while on their long journey south from their city’s ruin.
* Nandor|Nando
Said to mean ‘Those who turn back’: Elves from the host of the Teleri who refused to cross the Misty Mountains on the Great Journey from Cuiviénen, but of whom a part, led by Denethor, came long afterwards over the Blue Mountains and dwelt in Ossiriand (the Green-elves); for those who remained east of the Misty Mountains see Silvan Elves.
–—
The followers of Lenwë.
Telerin Elves who turned aside from the Great Journey east of the Misty Mountains, and journeyed down the River Anduin. Some few later came into Beleriand and dwelt in Ossiriand, while those that remained founded realms of their own. The people of Lórien were of this kind, as were the Wood-elves of Mirkwood.
* Nandorin
Of or pertaining to the Nandor.
* Nandorin (language)|Nandorin
The language of the Nandor, those Telerin Elves who broke from the Great Journey east of the Misty Mountains. As Sindarin became the dominant Elvish tongue of Middle-earth, Nandorin became little-spoken, and by the Third Age, was represented mainly in old place-names and Silvan dialects developed under its influence.
* Nanduhirion
The glen about Mirrormere between the arms of the Misty Mountains into which the Great Gates of Moria opened; translated ‘Dimrill Dale’.
–—
The Dimrill Dale.
The dale that lay to the southeast of Khazad-dûm, where the lake of Kheled-zâram lay. This was the site of the decisive battle in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.
* Narbeleth
Sindarin name of the tenth month. See Narquelië.
–—
An alternative name for the Sindarin season of Firith, or autumn; 54 days between modern 8 October and 30 November. The Quenya equivalent is Lasse-lanta.
* Nardol
‘Fiery head’, third of the beacons of Gondor in Ered Nimrais.
* Nargothrond
‘The great underground fortress on the river Narog’, founded by Finrod Felagund and destroyed by Glaurung; also the realm of Nargothrond extending east and west of Narog.
–—
The hidden fortress on the River Narog.
The stronghold and realm of Finrod Felagund, founded by him on the model of the halls of Menegroth in Doriath.
The stronghold of Nargothrond was carved into the rock beneath Taur-en-Faroth, and could only be approached by a narrow path along the high banks of the River Narog. No bridge was built across the river until late in its history. The citadel long lay hidden from Morgoth, and was ruled wisely for long years by Finrod. After he was lost in the Quest of the Silmaril, his brother Orodreth expelled the usurping sons of Fëanor, Celegorm and Curufin, and was lord in Nargothrond.
The lands to the north of the citadel were considered part of its realm, and the people of Nargothrond kept unceasing watch on the grasslands to the north; the Talath Dirnen or Guarded Plain.
When Túrin dwelt in Nargothrond, he persuaded the Elves who dwelt there to change their long policy of secrecy, and openly attack the servants of Morgoth. So the Dark Lord discovered the city’s location, and sent out an army under Glaurung to sack and destroy it.
The name means ‘Halls of (the River) Narog’.
* Nárië|Narie
The sixth month of the year, according to the Stewards’ Reckoning of Gondor, following Lótessë, and preceding Loëndë, the feast of Midsummer.
On a modern calendar, Nárië ran between 23 May and 21 June.
* Narmacil I|Narmacil
Seventeenth King of Gondor.
–—
The heir of Atanatar the Glorious.
Narmacil I, son of Atanatar II Alcarin, inherited the Kingship of Gondor when the South-kingdom was at the height of its power and wealth. He was not a great King, and indeed soon tired of the role. In III 1240, after just fourteen years on the throne, he turned over the rule of Gondor to his nephew Minalcar, who ruled as Regent through the rest of Narmacil’s titular Kingship.
Narmacil’s Regent Minalcar was a powerful and energetic Man, who routed the armies of the Easterlings, fortified the borders of Gondor and actively pursued diplomacy with Gondor’s neighbouring tribes. It is not recorded, though, that his uncle King Narmacil had any hand in any of Minalcar’s great endeavours. Narmacil, in fact, is chiefly remembered as being Gondor’s second childless King, the first having been Tarannon Falastur in the tenth century.
Narmacil I sat on the throne of Gondor for sixty-eight years, but for fifty-four of these years Minalcar ruled Gondor as Regent. Narmacil died childless, and was succeeded by his younger brother Calmacil.
* Narmacil II|Narmacil
Twenty-ninth King of Gondor, slain in the Battle of the Plains.
–—
An early victim of the Wainriders.
King of Gondor, the successor to Telumehtar Umbardacil. He was slain by the Wainriders in the Battle of the Plains.
* Narn i Hîn Húrin|Narn i Hin Hurin
The long lay from which Chapter XXI of ‘The Silmarillion’ was derived; ascribed to the poet Dirhavel. Narn signifies a tale made in verse, but to be spoken and not sung.
–—
The ‘Tale of the Children of Húrin’; the long legend of the grim and tragic lives of Túrin Turambar and his sister Nienor Níniel.
* Narog
The chief river of West Beleriand, rising at Ivrin under Ered Wethrin and flowing into Sirion in Nan-tathren.
–—
One of the great rivers of Beleriand.
Greatest of the tributaries of Sirion; it rose in the Ered Wethrin, at the Pools of Ivrin, and flowed southwards for many leagues until it met Sirion near its Mouths in the land of Nan-tathren.
* Narquelië|Narquelie
The tenth month of the year, according to the Stewards’ Reckoning of Gondor, following the harvest feast of Yáviérë, and preceding Hísimë. On a modern calendar, Narquelië ran between 22 September and 21 October.
The name means’Sun-fading’.
* Narrow Ice
Bilbo’s name for the Helcaraxë.
A name for the treacherous icy wastes in the far north of the world, that ran between Aman and Middle-earth in former Ages of the World. This region was called the Helcaraxë by the Elves; the name ‘Narrow Ice’ is only ever used by Bilbo Baggins, in his poem ‘Eärendil was a mariner’.
* Narrows of the Forest
The ‘waist’ of Mirkwood caused by the indentation of the East Bight.
* Narsil
The sword of Elendil, made by Telchar of Nogrod, that was broken when Elendil died in combat with Sauron; from the shards it was reforged for Aragorn and named Andúril.
–—
The mighty Sword of Elendil.
–—
“… and the sword of Elendil filled Orcs and Men with fear, for it shone with the light of the sun and of the moon, and it was named Narsil.”
(Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age in The Silmarillion)
–—
The sword of Elendil, forged by Telchar of Nogrod in or before the First Age. The sword was broken in Elendil’s fall at the Siege of Barad-dûr, and its shards became an heirloom of his heirs throughout the Third Age until it was reforged as Andúril and borne by Aragorn II Elessar in the War of the Ring.
* Narsilion
The Song of the Sun and Moon.
* Narvi
Maker of the Doors of Durin.
A great craftsman of the Dwarves, who lived and worked at the height of the power of Khazad-dûm. He formed a friendship with Celebrimbor, the master artificer of neighbouring Eregion. Together these two made their most famous achievement for King Durin III, the Doors of Durin that guarded the West-gate of Moria.
* Narvinyë|Narvinye
The first month in the calendars of the Men of Middle-earth, approximately equivalent to modern January (though in fact running from modern 23 December to 21 December). Its name means ‘new year’ (or, literally, ‘new sun’).
* Narya|Third Ring
One of the Three Rings of the Elves, borne by Círdan and afterwards by Mithrandir. Called the Ring of Fire, the Red Ring, the Third Ring.
–—
The Ring of Fire.
One of the Three Rings of the Elves, called the Red Ring and the Ring of Fire; it was originally borne by Círdan the Shipwright, but he gave it to Gandalf on his arrival in Middle-earth.
* Nauglamír|Nauglamir
‘The Necklace of the Dwarves’, made for Finrod Felagund by the Dwarves, brought by Húrin out of Nargothrond to Thingol, and the cause of his death.
–—
The Necklace of the Dwarves; originally made for Finrod Felagund, in which Thingol had set the Silmaril recovered by Lúthien and Beren.
* Naugrim
‘The Stunted People’, Sindarin name for the Dwarves.
* Navri
Dwarf of Khazad-dûm, maker of the West-gate, close friend of Celebrimbor of Eregion.
* Nazgûl|Nazgul
The slaves of the Nine Rings of Men and chief servants of Sauron. Also called the Black Riders, the Nine. See also Winged Nazgûl.
–—
Sauron’s Nine Servants.
A word from the Black Speech, usually translated ‘Ringwraith’; the name of the nine Men corrupted by the power of Sauron’s Nine Rings, and transformed into his dark and deathless servants.
* Necklace of the Dwarves
The Nauglamír.
The bejewelled golden necklace made for Finrod by the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains. After the destruction of Nargothrond, it was recovered from that citadel’s treasuries by Húrin, who passed it to Thingol in Menegroth. Thingol mounted a Silmaril on the Necklace, an event that was to have historic consequences.
* Necromancer
A name given to Sauron.
The evil being who dwelt at Dol Guldur in the heart of Mirkwood; originally thought by the Wise to be one of the Nazgûl, Gandalf later discovered that the Necromancer was Sauron himself.
* Neithan
Name given to himself by Túrin among the outlaws, translated as ‘The Wronged’ (literally ‘one who is deprived’).
–—
‘The Wronged’; an alias taken by Túrin Turambar when he dwelt among the Gaurwaith.
* Neldoreth
The lesser, northern forest of Doriath.
The beech-forest on the banks of the River Esgalduin that formed the northern and lesser part of the Kingdom of Doriath.
* Nellas
Elf of Doriath, friend of Túrin in his boyhood; bore witness against Saeros in the trial of Túrin before Thingol.
* Nen Girith
‘Shuddering Water’, name given to Dimrost, the falls of Celebros in the Forest of Brethil.
–—
The ‘Shuddering Water’ where the stream of Celebros fell into the Ravines of Teiglin; so named for the great shivering that came upon Nienor Níniel when she first came there.
* Nen Hithoel
The great lake that fed the Falls of Rauros.
The great oval lake that lay in the mid-course of the River Anduin, which entered it through the Gates of Argonath to the north and the emptied in the rushing falls of Rauros some twenty miles to the south.
The lake, whose name is translated as ‘Mist-cool Water’, was surrounded on all sides by the grey stony hills of the Emyn Muil. Most important among its surrounding hills were two that lay at its southern end, the famous Amon Hen and Amon Lhaw, the Hills of Sight and Hearing.
Also near its southern end was the lake’s only island, named Tol Brandir in Elvish, that Men called the Tindrock. Its steep rocky sides made landing on the island nearly impossible, and legend said that no Man had ever stood on the Tindrock Isle.
* Nen Lalaith
Stream rising under Amon Darthir in Ered Wethrin and flowing past Húrin’s house in Dor-lómin. See Lalaith.
–—
The laughing stream.
A babbling stream that rose under Amon Darthir in the Ered Wethrin, and flowed northwestwards out onto the shaded plains of Dor-lómin. There, it flowed past the house of Húrin, and was said to have given its name to his ill-fated young daughter, Lalaith.
* Nénar|Nenar
Name of a star.
–—
A star placed in the skies by Varda Elentári. Its identity is uncertain -
there are some indications that Tolkien considered it to be the Elvish name of the planet Uranus, but such a faint object seems out of place among the bright stars named with Nénar in The Silmarillion.
* Nénimë|Nenime
The second month in the calendars of the Men of Middle-earth, approximately equivalent to modern February (though in fact running from modern 22 January to 20 February).
* Nenning
River in West Beleriand, at whose mouth was the Haven of Eglarest.
–—
The river that met the Sea at Eglarest.
A river of western Beleriand that rose in an isolated hilly region south of the Ered Wethrin, and flowed southwards to meet the sea at Eglarest, one of the two great Havens of the Falas. It was considered the border between Círdan’s lands to the west, and the realm of Nargothrond to the east.
* Nenuial
‘Lake of Twilight’, in Eriador, between the arms of the Hills of Evendim (Emyn Uial) north of the Shire, where the river Baranduin rose, and beside which the oldest Númenórean city of Annúminas was built.
Translated Evendim.
–—
Lake Evendim.
A lake in the Hills of Evendim in the far north of Middle-earth; Annúminas, the city of Arnor, was founded on its shores.
* Nenya|White Ring
One of the Three Rings of the Elves, the Ring of Water, borne by Galadriel; also called the Ring of Adamant, the White Ring.
–—
The Ring of Water.
One of the Three Rings of the Elves, called the Ring of Water and the Ring of Adamant; it was borne by Galadriel in Lórien, and used to maintain that land.
* Nerdanel
Called the Wise; daughter of Mahtan the smith, wife of Fëanor.
–—
The wife of Fëanor and mother of his seven Sons; she was of gentler mood than her fiery spouse, and sought always to temper his deeds with wisdom.
* Nerwen
Name given to Galadriel by her mother.
–—
The ‘mother-name’ of Galadriel.
At the time of her birth, Finarfin named his only daughter Artanis,
‘noble woman’. According to the custom of the Elves, her mother Eärwen waited a while to give her daughter a name. From her height and her great strength of body and will, Eärwen chose the name Nerwen, meaning ‘man-maiden’. In the end, though, their daughter used neither her father-name or her mother-name, and instead took the name by which she is known to history: Galadriel.
* Nessa
One of the Valier, the sister of Oromë and spouse of Tulkas.
–—
The spouse of Tulkas and sister to Oromë, who delights in dancing on the green lawns of Valimar.
* Nessamelda
Fragrant evergreen tree brought to Númenor by the Eldar of Eressëa.
* Nevrast
The region [south-]west of Dor-lómin, beyond Ered Lómin, where Turgon dwelt before his departure to Gondolin. The name, meaning ‘Hither Shore’, was originally that of all the northwestern coast of Middle-earth (the opposite being Haerast ‘the Far Shore’, the coast of Aman).
–—
The first homeland of Turgon in Middle-earth.
A mountainous coastal land on the northwestern bounds of Beleriand; the dwelling place of Turgon and his people during the first century of the First Age, before their removal to Gondolin.
* New Row
The smials that replaced Bagshot Row.
The row of hobbit-holes cut into the southern face of Hobbiton Hill after the War of the Ring. They were made to replace Bagshot Row, which had been destroyed by Sharkey’s Men.
* Newbury
A large village in northern Buckland, situated a few miles north of Crickhollow.
* Nibin-noeg|Nibin-nogrim
The Petty-dwarves. Plural Nibin-nogrim. See Noegyth Nibin.
* Nienna
One of the Valier, numbered among the Aratar; Lady of pity and mourning, the sister of Mandos and Lórien.
–—
The lady of tears.
A Queen of the Valar, the sister of Námo and Irmo, who dwells alone on the western borders of the World. Nienna ranks as one of the eight Aratar, the most powerful of the Valar.
Grief and mourning are Nienna’s province; in her halls in the distant west, she weeps for the suffering of Arda. Her part in the Music of the Ainur was one of deep sadness, and from this grief entered the world in its beginning.
She teaches pity and endurance; though she rarely travels to the joyful city of Valmar, she goes more often to the halls of her brother Mandos to comfort and counsel those in the Halls of Waiting. The Maia Olórin, who was later to travel to Middle-earth as Gandalf, learned much from her.
Nienna played a part in the making of the Two Trees of Valinor; she wept on the mound of Ezellohar, watering it with her tears. After the destruction of the Trees by Melkor, she once again wept on their wounded remains, cleansing the filth of Ungoliant, and helping to bring forth the last fruit and flower that were to become the Sun and the Moon.
The pity of Nienna is most clearly seen in her support for Melkor when he sued for the pardon of the Valar. Though she spends her time in the world mourning for the destruction he has wreaked in Arda, when he sued for release after his three ages of Captivity, Nienna spoke on his part.
Of Nienna’s appearance we have almost no knowledge. The only hint is in Quenta Silmarillion 9, ‘Of the Flight of the Noldor’, where she ‘cast back her grey hood’. Given that Gandalf was her student, this might (though somewhat doubtfully) have some relevance to his title, the Grey.
* Nienor Níniel|Nienor|Mourning
The daughter of Húrin and Morwen and sister of Túrin; spell-bound by Glaurung at Nargothrond and in ignorance of her past wedded Túrin in Brethil in her name Níniel; cast herself into the Teiglin. Translated
‘Mourning’.
–—
The Tear-maiden.
Daughter of Húrin and Morwen; travelling from Doriath in search of her brother Túrin, she came under the dragon-spell of Glaurung; fleeing to Brethil, she came upon her brother and unknowingly wedded him.
* Night-fearers
One of the many names given to Men by the Elves.
* Nightingales|Nightingale
Small brown birds of thrush kind, famous for their clear singing, and the fact that they will sing during the night as well as the day (hence their name). The Sindarin word for ‘nightingale’ was tinúviel, the name Beren gave to Lúthien when he first saw her.
* Nimbrethil
The birchwoods of Arvernien.
A region of birchwoods that lay in the land of Arvernien in the south of Beleriand, on the northern shore of the Bay of Balar. Wood from the forests of Nimbrethil was used by Eärendil to construct his ship Vingilot.
* Nimloth (tree)|Nimloth
The White Tree of Númenor, of which a fruit taken by Isildur before it was felled grew into the White Tree of Minas Ithil. Nimloth ‘White Blossom’ is the Sindarin form of Quenya Ninquelótë, one of the names of Telperion.
–—
The White Tree of Númenor.
The White Tree that grew in the King’s Court of Númenor; burned at the instigation of Sauron. Isildur stole a fruit from the Tree before it was destroyed, which he later planted in the courts of Minas Tirith.
* Nimloth of Doriath|Nimloth
Elf of Doriath who wedded Dior Thingol’s Heir; mother of Elwing; slain in Menegroth in the attack by the sons of Fëanor.
–—
The spouse of Dior.
An Elf-maid of Doriath; she wedded Dior Thingol’s Heir, and was the mother of Elwing.
* Nimphelos
The great pearl given by Thingol to the lord of the Dwarves of Belegost.
* Nimrodel of Lórien|Nimrodel
‘Lady of the White Grotto’, Elf of Lórien, beloved of Amroth, who dwelled beside the falls of Nimrodel until she went south and was lost in Ered Nimrais.
–—
An Elf-maid of Lórien, beloved of Amroth, who travelled into the southern lands of Middle-earth and became lost in the White Mountains.
* Nimrodel (river)|Nimrodel
Mountain stream falling into the Celebrant (Silverlode), named from Nimrodel the Elf who dwelt beside it.
–—
The river of the lost Elf-maiden.
The small river that rose in the eastern foothills of the Misty Mountains, and flowed east to meet the Celebrant on the western borders of Lórien.
* Nîn-in-Eilph|Nin-in-Eilph
‘Wastelands of the Swans’, great fens of the lower reaches of the river called in its upper course Glanduin. Translated ‘Swanfleet’.
–—
The marshland region known as Swanfleet.
The expansive wetland region on the borders of Eriador that formed where the River Glanduin flowed into the Hoarwell to form the Gwathló or Greyflood. It was known to Men as Swanfleet.
* Nindalf
The Wetwang marshes beneath the Emyn Muil.
The great marshland region beneath the Emyn Muil that formed where the river Entwash flowed into the Anduin.
* Nindamos
Chief settlement of the fishermen on the southern coast of Númenor, at the mouths of Siril.
–—
A shoreland settlement of southern Númenor.
A large fishing village located on the southern shores of Númenor among the marshlands at the mouth of the River Siril. Nindamos was the largest of the many small villages dotted throughout the Hyarnustar region of the island.
* Nine Riders
A name for the Nazgûl.
Another name for the Nazgûl, the slaves of Sauron’s Nine Rings. It applied especially to those times they rode abroad on coal-black horses as the Black Riders.
* Nine Rings
Rings of Power Given by Sauron to Men.
Those of the Rings of Power that Sauron used to corrupt Men to his service; those who took the Nine Rings became the Nazgûl.
* Nine Servants
The Nazgûl, slaves of the Nine Rings.
The slaves of the Nine Rings; those Men corrupted to his service by Sauron in the Second Age and more commonly called the Nazgûl.
* Nine Walkers
The Company of the Ring.
A name given by Elrond to the Company of the Ring, who set out in opposition to the nine Black Riders to destroy the One Ring in Orodruin.
* Níniel|Niniel
‘Tear-maiden’, the name that Túrin, ignorant of their relationship, gave to his sister; see Nienor.
–—
A name for Nienor the daughter of Morwen.
‘Tear-maiden’, a name given to Nienor in Brethil, and often used as her surname.
* Ninquelótë|Ninquelote
‘White Blossom’, a Quenya name for Telperion; see Nimloth.
* Nínui|Ninui
Sindarin name of the second month. See Nénimë.
* Niphredil
A white flower that bloomed in Doriath in starlight when Lúthien was born. It grew also on Cerin Amroth in Lothlórien.
–—
A pale flower that grew among the golden trees of Lórien.
* Nirnaeth Arnoediad|Nirnaeth|Fifth Battle
‘Tears Unnumbered’ (also simply the Nirnaeth, ‘the Tears’), the name given to the ruinous fifth battle in the Wars of Beleriand.
–—
The Battle of Unnumbered Tears.
The fifth and last of the great battles of Beleriand, called ‘the Unnumbered Tears’, in which the Noldor and their allies the Edain purposed the final overthrow of Morgoth, but were themselves defeated utterly.
* Nísimaldar|Nisimaldar
Land about the Haven of Eldalondë in western Númenor; translated as ‘the Fragrant Trees’.
–—
The country of the Fragrant Trees.
The country around the haven of Eldalondë on Númenor’s western coasts.
The name means ‘fragrant trees’, and it was so called because of the great variety of rare and beautiful trees that grew there. It was the only place in Númenor where mallorn trees grew, and it was from the stock of these that the Golden Wood of Lórien came.
* Nísinen|Nisinen
Lake in the river Nunduinë in western Númenor.
–—
The fragrant lake above Eldalondë.
The long thin lake that formed along the lower course of the River Nunduinë, above the haven of Eldalondë on Númenor’s western coast. Along its banks grew all manner of sweet-smelling plants, and so it got its name - Nísinen comes from the Elvish for ‘fragrant water’.
* Nivrim
That part of Doriath that lay on the west bank of Sirion.
–—
The westernmost woods of Doriath.
The small wood that lay to the north of the Aelin-uial; the only part of the kingdom of Doriath to the west of the River Sirion, it was encompassed within the Girdle of Melian.
* Nob
With Bob, one of the two Hobbit servants of Barliman Butterbur at the inn of the Prancing Pony in Bree.
* Noegyth Nibin
The Petty-dwarves. See Nibin-noeg.
* Nogothrim
The Dwarves.
* Nogrod
One of the two cities of the Dwarves in the Blue Mountains; translation into Sindarin of Dwarvish Tumunzahar. See Hollowbold.
–—
Ancient citadel of the Dwarves.
The southerly of the two Dwarf-citadels in the Blue Mountains during the First Age, the other being Belegost.
* Noirinan|Valley of the Tombs
Valley at the southern feet of the Meneltarma at the head of which were the tombs of the Kings and Queens of Númenor. Translated ‘Valley of the Tombs’.
–—
The Valley of the Tombs.
The valley beneath the Meneltarma in which lay the tombs of the Kings of Númenor.
* Noldolantë|Noldolante
‘The Fall of the Noldor’, a lament made by Maglor son of Fëanor.
* Noldor|Noldo|Golodh|Loremasters
Called ‘the Loremasters’; the Deep Elves, the second of the Three Kindreds of the Eldar on the Great Journey from Cuiviénen, led by Finwë.
The name (Quenya Noldo, Sindarin Golodh) meant ‘the Wise’ (but wise in the sense of possessing knowledge, not in the sense of possessing sagacity, sound judgement). For the language of the Noldor see Quenya.
–—
The followers of Finwë.
The division of the Elves that followed Finwë as their lord. In the long march from Cuiviénen to the western shores of Middle-earth, they were second great host. When they reached Valinor, they learned much from Aulë the Smith, and were accounted the greatest of the Elves in matters of lore and craft.
They dwelt in Aman for many Ages, but after the Darkening of Valinor many of the Noldor forsook the Undying Lands and followed Melkor to Middle-earth. Melkor had slain Finwë and stolen the Silmarils, the work of Fëanor, the greatest craftsman of that people, and the Noldor returned to make war on him until he gave up the Great Jewels.
The name means approximately ‘Those with knowledge’.
* Noldorin
Of or pertaining to the Noldor.
* Nólimon|Nolimon
Name given to Vardamir, son of Elros.
* Nóm|Nom
‘Wisdom’, one of the names that Bëor the Old and his followers gave to Finrod and his people in their own tongue.
–—
‘Wisdom’, the name given to Finrod Felagund by Bëor and his followers.
* Nómin|Nomin
‘The Wise’, one of the names that Bëor the Old and his followers gave to Finrod and his people in their own tongue.
* Nori
A Dwarf of the House of Durin, who accompanied his lord Thorin II Oakenshield on the Quest of Erebor.
* North Cape
The end of the Forostar, the northern promontory of Númenor.
–—
The northernmost tip of the isle of Númenor.
The northern headland of the island of Númenor, part of a craggy landscape of rocks and cliffs in the region known as the Forostar or Northlands.
* North Downs
Hills in Eriador north of the Shire, where was built Fornost.
–—
The hills above Fornost.
A range of hills in Eriador, at the south end of which lay Fornost Erain, ancient city of the Dúnedain.
* North Gate|North-Gate
The Hay Gate of Buckland.
A gate built by the Bucklanders to protect their land. It stood at the northern tip of Buckland, where the High Hay met the East Road, just east of the Brandywine Bridge.
* North Ithilien
The northern lands of Gondor beyond the Anduin.
The northern part of Ithilien between the Anduin and the Ephel Dúath was somewhat less extensive than its southern counterpart. The refuge of Henneth Annûn and the Field of Cormallen were to be found in this region.
* North Road
Númenórean roads east of Anduin: the road through Ithilien.
* North Undeep
The first of the two westward loops in the Anduin’s course.
As it flowed past the southern end of the Field of Celebrant, and on towards the northern fields of Rohan, the Anduin followed a sudden pronounced westward loop in its course, into which the River Limlight flowed. This was the first of two such loops, known as the Undeeps, and was naturally known as the North Undeep.
* North-kingdom|North Kingdom|Northern Kingdom|Kingdom of the North|Northern Realm
Arnor, the northern of the two kingdoms founded in Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons. The other was Gondor in the south.
* North-South Road|Royal Road|Horseroad
The great Númenórean road linking the Two Kingdoms, by Tharbad and the Fords of Isen, and (east of the Fords of Isen) the West Road; also the Great Road, the Royal Road, the horseroad, the Greenway.
–—
The ancient road that linked the North- and South-kingdoms.
The road dating from the Second Age that linked the northern kingdom of Arnor with the southern kingdom of Gondor. It originally ran from Fornost in the far north, southward for hundreds of leagues through Eriador, then through the Gap of Calenardhon and across the lands that would later be Rohan. Most of this road had fallen into ruins by the time of the War of the Ring, though it was still usable in places as the ‘Greenway’.
* Northern Dúnedain|Northern Dunedain|Northern Dúnadan|Northern Dunadan The Dúnedain of Arnor and their descendants.
The Two Kingdoms founded by Elendil and his sons were originally intended to form two parts of a greater nation of the Dúnedain, ruled by a High King at Annúminas. This was not to be. The loss of Elendil’s son Isildur in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields led to a chain of events that separated Arnor in the north from Gondor in the south, and the two kingdoms continued to follow different paths through history.
Arnor, the North-kingdom of the Dúnedain, was ruled by the direct descendants of Isildur, beginning with Valandil, his youngest son. Though the bloodline of the Northern Dúnedain came directly from the old High King, theirs was a troubled realm. Internal strife and war with Angmar saw Arnor become fractured and eventually destroyed, leaving the Dúnedain of the North a dwindled and wandering people.
Nonetheless, the line of Isildur was maintained through the Chieftains of this people. Aragorn II was Isildur’s Heir through thirty-nine generations, and it was he who reunited the Kingdoms of the Dúnedain after three thousand years of separation.
* Northern Waste
Region of cold in the far North of Middle-earth (also called Forodwaith).
* Northerners
Goblins from the Mines of Moria.
The name used in southern lands for Orcs from farther north. In particular, it was used to describe a band of more than a hundred lesser Orcs from Moria that took part in the Breaking of the Fellowship and the capture of Merry and Pippin, and who were later slaughtered by the Rohirrim.
* Northfarthing of the Shire|Northfarthing The northern quarter of the Land of the Halflings.
The cold northern quarter of the Shire, in which the Battle of Greenfields was fought.
* Northlands of Middle-earth|Northlands
The northern regions of Middle-earth.
A term most commonly used to refer to the regions north of Beleriand, including Dorthonion, Dor-lómin and the lands around Angband. In later Ages, it was used more broadly for the northern regions of Middle-earth.
* Northlands of Númenor|Northlands
The region known as the Forostar.
The northern region of Númenor, more properly called the Forostar. Its northern coasts held the mountainous heights of Sorontil, while in its southern parts lay the inland city of Ondosto.
* Northmen|Northman|Free Men of the North|Free Man of the North The horsemen of Rhovanion, allies of Gondor, ancestrally related to the Edain; from them derived the Éothéod. Called also the Free Men of the North.
–—
The ancestors of the Rohirrim.
The Men of the north of Middle-earth, and especially those that dwelt about the upper reaches of the Vales of Anduin, from whom the Rohirrim were descended.
* Núath|Nuath
Woods extending westward from the upper waters of the river Narog.
* Nulukkizdîn|Nulukkizdin
Dwarvish name of Nargothrond.
* Númellótê|Numellote
‘Flower of the West’; Inziladûn.
* Númendil
Seventeenth Lord of Andunië.
* Númenor|Numenor|Great Isle|Isle of Kings|Isle of Westernesse
‘Westernesse’, ‘Westland’, the great island prepared by the Valar as a dwelling-place for the Edain after the ending of the First Age. Called also Anadûnë, Andor, Elenna, the Land of the Star, and after its downfall Akallabêth, Atalantë, and Mar-nu-Falmar.
–—
Ancient Home of the Dúnedain.
The island kingdom of the Dúnedain, raised from the sea by the Valar as a gift and reward to the Men who had remained faithful through the dark years of the First Age. The Edain who had dwelt in Beleriand were led to the island in II 32 by Elros the Half-elven, who unlike his brother Elrond had chosen to be counted among Men rather than Elves.
Elros became the first King of Númenor, taking the name Tar-Minyatur.
Under his rule, and the rule of his descendants, the Númenóreans rose to become the most powerful nation of Men in that or any other age. Their mighty ships returned to Middle-earth in II 600, and there they founded havens and cities.
For the early part of their history, the Númenóreans were closely allied with the Elves of Tol Eressëa, which lay close to their western shores.
The Elves visited them often, and taught them much, but the Númenóreans themselves were forbidden to sail westwards, because the Valar feared they would become envious of the Undying Lands they and the Elves inhabited. As their greatness and power grew, the Númenóreans began to turn against the Ban of the Valar, and at last Ar-Adûnakhôr, who became King in II 2899 turned openly against it, though he did not dare defy it.
The last King of Númenor was Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, who usurped the throne of the rightful queen Míriel in II 3255. He took his armies to Middle-earth to make war upon Sauron, and so great had the Númenóreans become that Sauron’s forces deserted him. Seeing an opportunity to destroy his enemy, Sauron sued for peace and returned with the King to Númenor. He gradually gained Ar-Pharazôn’s trust, and persuaded him to sail openly against the Valar. This he did in II 3319, but as he set foot on the forbidden shores of Aman, the Land of Gift was taken away and swallowed beneath the waves forever.
Some few survived the Downfall; Elendil, his sons and his followers had prepared themselves for the disaster and taken ship, and were driven back across the seas to Middle-earth. There they founded the famous realms of Arnor and Gondor, though these were but a dim reflection of the glory of Númenor at its height.
The name means ‘Land in the West’ (i.e. west from Middle-earth).
* Númenórë|Numenore
The Quenya form of the name Númenor.
The form of the name of the land of Númenor in the High-elven tongue.
* Númenórean|Númenorean|Numenorean
Of or pertaining to Númenor. See also Númenóreans.
* Númenórean (language)|Númenórean|Númenorean|Numenorean An alternative and less common name for Adûnaic, the native tongue of the people of Númenor.
* Númenórean Realms|Numenorean Realms
The North-kingdom and the South.
A rare term for the realms of the Exiles of Númenor in Middle-earth; more commonly known as Arnor the North-kingdom and Gondor the South-kingdom.
* Númenóreans|Numenoreans|Men of the Sea|Man of the Sea The Men of Númenor, called also Dúnedain.
–—
The mightiest of Men.
The Men of Númenor, descendants of the Edain of the First Age, who were granted the island of Elenna as a dwelling place. They turned against the Valar, and their island home was destroyed in the last years of the Second Age.
* Númerrámar|Numerramar
‘West-wings’, the ship of Vëantur in which Aldarion made his first voyage to Middle-earth.
* Nunduinë|Nunduine
River in the west of Númenor, flowing into the sea at Eldalondë.
–—
The river of Eldalondë.
A river of Númenor, the second longest after the Siril. It flowed westward out of the central regions of the island, and as it approached the sea, its waters spread to form the fragrant lake of Nísinen. Its mouth was at the haven of Eldalondë, on the shores of the Bay of Eldanna.
* Núneth|Nuneth
Mother of Erendis.
* Nurn
The lowland regions of Mordor.
The name given to the southern regions of Mordor, more fertile than Gorgoroth in the north, in which the great inland sea of Núrnen lay.
* Núrnen|Nurnen
‘Sad Water’, inland sea in the south of Mordor.
–—
Mordor’s great inland sea.
The great inland sea that lay in the region of Nurn in the south of Mordor, around which the slave-farms of Sauron were built.
* Nurtalë Valinóreva|Nurtale Valinoreva
‘The Hiding of Valinor’.
* Nurufantur
One of the Fëanturi; the earlier ‘true’ name of Mandos, before it was replaced by Námo. See Olofantur.
* Oakenshield
The title and surname of King Thorin II of Durin’s Folk.
Thorin acquired the title long before he became King. When he was just fifty-three (a young age for a Dwarf) he marched with a mighty Dwarf-army to the valley they called Azanulbizar, Nanduhirion beneath the East-gate of Moria. There they fought the Battle of Nanduhirion, the last and greatest in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. In that battle, Thorin’s shield was broken, so he cut a bough from an oak-tree with his axe, and used that instead to fend off his enemies’ blows, or to club them. It was that oaken branch that gave Thorin his surname, but it did not completely save him from injury - it is recorded that he was wounded in the battle.
That is the legend of Thorin’s surname within Tolkien’s tales, but in fact it comes from a real-world source. Like many Dwarvish names, it appears in the Norse poem Völuspá in the form Eikinskjaldi, but there it is the personal name of a Dwarf, not a surname as in Tolkien’s work.
* Oaks|Oak
Majestic woodland trees.
One of the commonest trees in Middle-earth, found throughout its forests.
* Oath of Eorl|Eorl’s Oath
Eorl’s oath to Cirion of Gondor.
Eorl’s great oath on the Halifirien, sworn to Steward Cirion of Gondor that the new kingdom of Rohan would be a perpetual ally of the South-kingdom.
* Oath of Fëanor|Oath of Feanor|Fëanor’s Oath|Feanor’s Oath The dooming words of Fëanor and his sons.
–—
“They swore an oath which none shall break, and none should take, by the name even of Ilúvatar, calling the Everlasting Dark upon them if they kept it not…”
(Quenta Silmarillion 9, Of the Flight of the Noldor)
–—
The dreadful irrevocable oath taken by Fëanor and his seven sons in the city of Tirion. They swore in the name of Ilúvatar that they would not rest until the three Silmarils were in their hands, and to make war on any who withheld them.
At the time the Oath was sworn, Morgoth held all three of the Silmarils, having stolen them from Fëanor’s stronghold at Formenos. Driven by the unbreakable Oath, Fëanor led the greater part of the Noldor out of Aman and back to Middle-earth, in hopeless pursuit of the Dark Lord. Fëanor himself was mortally wounded by Balrogs in the Noldor’s first assault.
From that time on, while Morgoth held the three Silmarils in his Iron Crown, the Elves of Beleriand were bound by a common enemy.
The true danger of the Oath was revealed after Beren and Lúthien recovered one of the three Silmarils from the depths of Angband.
Thereupon, the Sons of Fëanor made war upon the other Elves of Beleriand for the recovery of the Jewel. They attacked and destroyed the kingdom of Doriath, killing Thingol’s Heir Dior. When the Silmaril escaped them there, they discovered that it was held at the Mouths of Sirion by the Dior’s daughter Elwing; again they attacked, and again the Silmaril escaped them. Carried out to sea by the power of Ulmo, Elwing brought it her husband Eärendil the Mariner, and they sailed with it back into the West.
That Silmaril was lost to Fëanor’s sons, but two more remained on Morgoth’s Crown. After the War of Wrath and Morgoth’s defeat at the end of the First Age, just two of the original oath-takers survived, Fëanor’s eldest sons Maedhros and Maglor. They stole the Silmarils from the camp of the victorious host, but because of the evils they had committed in recovering them, they found that they could no longer touch the holy Jewels without enduring searing pain. In despair, Maedhros threw imself and his Silmaril into the depths of the Earth, while Maglor cast his into the deep ocean. Maglor was the last of the oath-takers, and was said to wander the shores of the world lamenting his pain and loss.
* Oathbreakers
Those who waited among the Paths of the Dead.
The Men of the Mountains, whose King swore allegiance to Isildur and the Dúnedain in the last years of the Second Age. They had worshipped Sauron in the Dark Years before the foundation of Gondor, and when the time came for them to fulfil their oath, and fight beside Isildur against their ancient master, they broke their word, and hid in the mountains. Isildur cursed them to survive without rest until their oath was fulfilled. So they haunted the Paths of the Dead throughout the Third Age, waiting for Isildur’s heir to appear and grant them the chance to fulfil their word at last.
* Of Many Colours|Many Colours
Title claimed by Saruman when he revealed his dark intentions to Gandalf in Orthanc.
* Oghor-hai|Oghor
Name given to the Drúedain by Orcs.
–—
The Orcs’ name for the Drúedain.
The name used by the Orcs to describe that race of Men otherwise known as the Drúedain or Woses. They were believed by the Orcs to possess magical powers, and they therefore feared the Oghor-hai greatly.
* Ogres
A mysterious and fearsome race.
Monstrous and destructive creatures of legend and folklore. In fact, it is doubtful whether Ogres ever existed in Middle-earth. Tolkien mentions them only once, in The Hobbit, during Bilbo’s Riddle-game with Gollum. In his attempt to solve Gollum’s fifth riddle, Bilbo ‘… sat in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all the giants and ogres he had ever heard told of in tales…’. Since no ogre is ever again mentioned, it is entirely possible that they were a mythical race even to the inhabitants of Middle-earth.
* Ohtar
‘Warrior’, esquire of Isildur, who brought the shards of Elendil’s sword to Imladris.
–—
The squire of Isildur. One of only three survivors of the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, Ohtar rescued the shards of Elendil’s sword, Narsil, and brought them safely back into the North.
* Óin (companion of Bilbo)|Óin|Oin
Son of Gróin, one of the Dwarves of the following of Thorin II Oakenshield who reclaimed Erebor from Smaug. He later travelled to Moria with Balin, and was lost in the ill-fated attempt to reoccupy Khazad-dûm.
* Óin (King of Durin’s Folk)|Óin|Oin
King over the Dwarves of the Grey Mountains.
Óin was King of Durin’s line, successor to Glóin. In his time, the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk still dwelt in the Grey Mountains of the north.
In the later years of his reign, the Shadow returned to Dol Guldur in Mirkwood, and Orcs and other evil things began to multiply in the northern mountains. In Óin’s last years, the Orcs plundered Moria, which was then deserted, and took it to dwell in. This was but the first of the calamities that were to befall the House of Durin over the coming centuries.
Óin was 250 years old when he died, having reigned as King for 103 of those years. He was succeeded by his son Náin, who became King Náin II.
* Oiolairë|Oiolaire|Bough of Return
‘Ever-summer’; an evergreen tree brought to Númenor by the Eldar of Eressëa, from which was cut the Bough of Return set upon the Númenórean ships. Called also Bough of Return.
–—
‘Ever-summer’.
A sweet-scented tree that grew in Númenor, and especially in the western region known as Nísimaldar. It was the custom among Númenórean mariners to place a cut bough of oiolairë on the prows of their ships, as a symbol of good fortune.
* Oiolossë|Oiolosse|Amon Uilos
‘Ever-snow-white’, the Mountains of Manwë in Aman.
–—
The most common name among the Eldar for Taniquetil, rendered into Sindarin as Amon Uilos; but according to the Valaquenta it was the uttermost tower of Taniquetil.
* Oiomúrë|Oiomure
A region of mists near to the Helcaraxë.
* Old Company
Name given to the original members of Túrin’s band in Dor-Cúarthol.
* Old Ford
The main crossing of the Anduin in the north.
The point where the Old Forest Road crossed the River Anduin, about forty miles downriver from the Carrock. In older times, the river was crossed by a stone bridge here, but by the end of the Third Age, the bridge had long since disappeared, and the crossing was no more than a simple ford.
* Old Forest
The ancient forest extending eastwards from the borders of Buckland.
–—
A strange northern remnant of the great forest of the Second Age.
A remnant of the great forests of Middle-earth in the Second Age; most of these forests were cut down by the Númenóreans, but two isolated woodlands remained. The Old Forest was the northern of these two (the other being Fangorn in the south), on the eastern borders of the Shire.
* Old Forest Road
The road descending from the Pass of Imladris, crossing Anduin at the Old Ford, and traversing Mirkwood. Also called Forest Road, Men-i-Naugrim, Dwarf-road.
–—
The east-west road that led through Greenwood the Great.
The main route through the great forest originally known as Greenwood the Great and latterly as Mirkwood. Where the Road crossed the Great River, there was originally a stone bridge, but the later years of the Third Age the bridge had been lost and the river was crossed by the Old Ford. From there, a traveller following the Road east would cross some miles of open country before plunging into the depths of the forest. The Road then ran directly east from one side of the forest to the other, covering more than two hundred miles beneath the canopy of trees before it emerged by the banks of the River Running.
Of the origins of the Road we know little for certain. We can be sure that it existed before the end of the Second Age, because a record exists of the stone bridge being specially strengthened to carry the armies of the Last Alliance. A strong clue to its origins is presented in its Sindarin name, Men-i-Naugrim, meaning ‘Dwarf-road’. The Dwarves had a tradition of road-building dating back to before the First Age, and it seems that they must have built the Forest Road to carry traffic between their western and eastern clans. It’s particularly notable that the old bridge over the Anduin at the Road’s western end lay almost exactly halfway between the ancient Dwarvish meeting-place at Gundabad to the north, and Durin’s mansions of Khazad-dûm to the south.
* Old Gammidgy
The nickname that gave rise to Sam Gamgee’s family name.
A nickname acquired by Hob Gammidge of Tighfield. Both Hob and his son, Hobson, followed a roping tradition, and Hobson gained a nickname of his own, based on the name Gammidgy; he became known as Roper Gamgee, the first use of the surname that would later be borne by Hobson’s grandson Sam.
* Old Man Willow
The dark heart of the Old Forest.
A name for the ancient willow tree that lay at the heart of the Old Forest, and from whom much of that forest’s hatred of walking things was derived.
* Old Mill
The mill of the Hobbiton.
The mill that stood on the north banks of the Water in Hobbiton, run by Ted Sandyman, but bought and demolished by Lotho Sackville-Baggins.
* Old Road
The road running east through Eriador.
A name sometimes used for the East-West Road that lead through Eriador to Rivendell, and especially for its eastern reaches beyond the town of Bree.
* Old Rory Brandybuck
A common name for Rorimac the Master of Buckland.
The name generally given to Rorimac Brandybuck, the Master of Buckland, in his later years. He was the grandfather of Meriadoc Brandybuck, noted for his hospitality and generosity. He was at Bilbo’s farewell Birthday Party (he would have been ninety-nine years old at the time) and was the first to suspect the true meaning of Bilbo’s disappearance at that Party
- that he had set out on another adventure. Old Rory was succeeded as Master of Buckland by his elder son, Saradoc.
* Old South Road
In Beleriand, the highway from Tol Sirion to Nargothrond, by the Crossings of Teiglin.
* Old Toby (Hobbit)|Old Toby
The nickname of Tobold Hornblower.
The nickname given to Tobold Hornblower, the famous old Hobbit who introduced pipe-weed into the Shire. One of the most popular varieties of the weed was named ‘Old Toby’ in his honour.
* Old Toby (pipe-weed)|Old Toby
One of the best varieties of pipe-weed.
One of the most notable varieties of the plant known as pipe-weed or Halflings’ Leaf, grown in the region around Longbottom in the Shire’s Southfarthing. It took its name from the famous old Hobbit who introduced pipe-weed to the Shire, the original ‘Old Toby’, Tobold Hornblower.
* Old Took
The venerable Gerontius.
Title given the Thain Gerontius Took, in honour of his great age.
* Old Winyards
A red wine from the south of the Shire.
A red wine from the Shire’s Southfarthing, noted for its strength.
Bilbo’s father Bungo Baggins, who delved Bag End, seems to have laid down a large number of bottles of this wine. Bilbo gave a present of a dozen bottles to Rorimac Brandybuck, Master of Buckland at the time he left the Shire, but this still left plenty for his heir Frodo. The Old Winyards lasted another seventeen years, until the last drop was drunk by Frodo as he set out on his own adventures.
* Oldbuck Family|Oldbuck
The descendants of Bucca of the Marish and hereditary Thains of the Shire for many years. Gorhendad Oldbuck moved the family seat to Brandy Hall in Buckland, and changed the family’s name to Brandybuck.
* Oliphaunts|Oliphaunt
The monstrous elephants of the Third Age.
A word for the southern monsters also known as Mûmakil, evidently gigantic cousins of the modern elephant. Oliphaunt is a real word from ancient English.
* Olofantur
One of the Fëanturi; the earlier ‘true’ name of Lórien, before it wsa replaced by Irmo. See Nurufantur.
* Olog-hai|Olog
The greater Trolls of the late Third Age.
A strong race of Trolls bred by Sauron at the end of the Third Age.
Unlike others of troll-kind, they could endure the light of the sun.
* Olórin|Olorin
Gandalf’s name in Valinor.
–—
Gandalf as he was in his youth.
A Maia of the people of Manwë and Varda, Olórin was said to be one of the wisest of his order. He came to Middle-earth in the Third Age in the guise better known as Gandalf.
* Olvar
An Elvish word retained in the speeches of Yavanna and Manwë in Chapter II of ‘The Silmarillion’, meaning ‘growing things with roots in the earth’.
* Olwë|Olwe
Leader together with his brother Elwë (Thingol) of the hosts of the Teleri on the westward journey from Cuiviénen; King of the Teleri of Alqualondë on the coast of Aman.
–—
The lord of the Teleri in Aman.
A lord of the Teleri, the younger brother of Elu Thingol. When Thingol was lost in Beleriand, Olwë took the lordship of those of his people who wished to continue to Aman, and led them there. He rules the Teleri at Alqualondë on the shores of the Blessed Realm.
* Ondoher
Thirty-first King of Gondor, slain in battle with the Wainriders in Third Age 1944.
–—
The doomed son of Calimehtar.
One of the last Kings of Gondor, who worked during his short reign to build closer ties with the northern Dúnedain of Arthedain. He died, with both his sons, in the Battle of the Camp. The loss of Ondoher and his heirs threw Gondor into a political crisis.
* Ondolindë|Ondolinde
‘Stone Song’, the original Quenya name of Gondolin.
–—
‘The Rock of the Music of Water’, the original name of the city that became known as Gondolin.
* Ondosto
A place in the Forostar (Northlands) of Númenor, probably particularly associated with the stone-quarries of the region (Quenya ondo ‘stone’).
–—
The chief city of the Forostar.
A city in the southern parts of the Forostar on the island of Númenor, on the road that ran westward out of Arandor to Andúnië. Its name seems to mean ‘stone fortress’.
* One Ring
Sauron’s Ruling Ring.
–—
“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”
(Inscribed on the One Ring)
–—
The greatest of the Rings of Power, forged secretly by Sauron in the fires of Orodruin. The Ring not only transported the wearer into the Wraith-world, making him invisible to those in the real world, but also granted virtual immortality and mastery over the nineteen Great Rings, and all other magical Rings forged in Eregion in the middle of the Second Age. After Sauron’s defeat at the end of that Age, the Ring was lost; the story of its recovery and ultimate destruction lie at the heart of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
* Onodló|Onodlo
Sindarin name of the river Entwash.
–—
The ancient Elvish name for the Entwash.
An important river that rose under the trees of Fangorn Forest, in the southern Misty Mountains. It flowed south through the land of Rohan (whose people called it the Entwash) until it met its tributary, the Snowbourn River out of the White Mountains. Then, it turned eastwards and flowed on to meet the Great River Anduin in a vast fenny delta, called the Mouths of Onodló or the Mouths of Entwash.
* Onodrim
Sindarin name for Ents. See Enyd.
–—
Ents, the Shepherds of the Trees.
The name given by the Elves for the giant tree-like beings that Men called Ents.
* Orald
One of Tom Bombadil’s many names.
The name used by Northern Men for the being known to the Hobbits as Tom Bombadil.
* Orc-holds|Orc-hold
The dens of Goblin-kind.
Underground tunnellings of the Orcs, found throughout the northern mountains of Middle-earth, and especially the Misty Mountains and Mount Gundabad in the far north.
* Orchaldor
Númenórean, husband of Ailinel the sister of Tar-Aldarion; father of Soronto.
* Orcrist
The sword of Thorin Oakenshield, discovered by him in a troll-hoard on his journey to Erebor, and buried with him after his death in the Battle of Five Armies.
* Orcs|Orc
Creatures of Morgoth.
–—
Warring servants of the Dark Lords.
Little is known for certain of the beginnings of the Orcs, the footsoldiers of the Enemy. It is said that they were in origin corrupted Elves captured by Melkor before the beginning of the First Age. In appearance, Orcs were squat, swarthy creatures. Most of them preferred the darkness, being blinded by the light of the Sun, but the kinds bred later in the Third Age such as the Uruk-hai could endure the daylight.
* Orfalch Echor|Orfalch
The great ravine through the Encircling Mountains by which Gondolin was approached; also simply the Orfalch.
–—
The Way of Escape.
The ravine of the Dry River in the Encircling Mountains, the route by which the Hidden City of Gondolin was approached.
* Orgaladh
The day of the White Tree.
The fourth day of the Númenorean week, equivalent to our Tuesday. This name was adapted from the Sindarin usage ‘Orgaladhad’ (‘Day of the Trees’, referring to the Two Trees of Valinor). The Númenóreans held the White Tree Telperion in special reverence, and Nimloth, the tree that grew in the King’s Court at Armenelos, was said to be its descendant.
Hence, they changed the name to Orgaladh (‘Day of the Tree’, referring to Telperion only).
* Orgaladhad
‘Day of the Two Trees’; the fourth day of the Sindarin week, equivalent to modern Tuesday.
* Ori
A Dwarf of the House of Durin, who accompanied his lord Thorin II Oakenshield on the Quest of Erebor.
* Orkish
The languages of the Orcs.
A general term for the jumble of languages used by the Orcs, composed from corrupted borrowings from other languages of Middle-earth. The variations in Orkish between different tribes and types of Orc were so great that it was often useless for communication, and so a standard language was necessary. Sauron devised his Black Speech for this purpose in Mordor, but in practice the Common Tongue was more normally used.
* Orleg
A man of Túrin’s outlaw-band, slain by Orcs on the road to Nargothrond.
* Ormal
One of the Lamps of the Valar made by Aulë, Ormal stood in the south of Middle-earth.
–—
The southern Lamp of the Valar.
One of the two Lamps of the Valar, set up by Aulë in the south of the world while the Valar still dwelt on Almaren. It was destroyed by Melkor at least five ages before the beginning of the First Age.
* Ornendil
The elder son of Eldacar.
The elder son and heir apparent of King Eldacar of Gondor. At the time of the Kin-strife, in which Eldacar was driven into exile, Ornendil was captured and killed by the usurper Castamir.
* Orocarni|Red Mountains
The Mountains of the East of Middle-earth (the name means “the Red Mountains’).
–—
The red mountains above Cuiviénen.
A lost range of mountains in the far east of Middle-earth, near Cuiviénen, beneath which the first Elves awoke.
* Orodreth (King of Nargothrond)|Orodreth
The second son of Finarfin; warden of the tower of Minas Tirith on Tol Sirion; King of Nargothrond after the death of Finrod his brother; father of Finduilas; slain in the Battle of Tumhalad.
–—
The son of Finarfin and younger brother to Finrod Felagund; he ruled in Nargothrond after Finrod was lost in the dungeons of Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
* Orodreth (Steward of Gondor)|Orodreth
The sixteenth Ruling Steward of Gondor, who inherited the Stewardship from his father Belecthor I. Orodreth shared his name with an illustrious Elf-lord of the First Age, Orodreth the younger brother of Finrod Felagund and late ruler of Nargothrond. Orodreth the Steward has left less of a mark on history, and indeed other than his dates we have no records of his rule. He was succeeded by his son, who ruled as Ecthelion I.
* Orodruin
‘Mountain of Blazing Fire’ in Mordor, in which Sauron forged the Ruling Ring; called also Amon Amarth ‘Mount Doom’.
–—
Mount Doom.
The fire-mountain in the northern parts of Mordor, in which Sauron forged the One Ring during the Second Age, and into which the same Ring was cast thousands of years later to bring about the Dark Lord’s downfall.
When Sauron chose the land of Mordor as his dwelling-place in the Second Age, Orodruin was the reason for his choice. He ‘used the fire that welled there from the heart of the earth in his sorceries and his forging’ (from Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age); the most famous result of his forging, and in fact the only one we know of for sure, was the One Ring, made in about the year II 1600. So powerful was the sorcery used in the making of the Ring that it could not be unmade, except by casting it back into the same fire that had forged it.
The first opportunity to destroy the Ring came in the last year of the Second Age, at the end of the War of the Last Alliance. Sauron was defeated in that War, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand. Elrond and Círdan counselled him to destroy the Ring then (the battle had taken place at the gates of Barad-dûr, and Orodruin was therefore near at hand), but Isildur refused, and claimed the Ring for himself. So the doom of the Third Age was made.
Orodruin was far more than a natural volcano - Sauron seems to have extended his own power into it, and was able to control its fires. It seems to have lain dormant when Sauron was away from Mordor, and sprung into life when his power grew. After the Downfall of Númenor, for example, the Exiles in Middle-earth first knew that Sauron had also escaped the Downfall when they saw smoke rising from Orodruin, and an Age later at the Council of Elrond, Boromir says ‘Smoke rises once more from Orodruin that we call Mount Doom’.
The name means ‘Mountain of Red Flame’.
* Oromë|Orome|Lord of the Forests
A Vala, one of the Aratar; the great hunter, leader of the Elves from Cuiviénen, spouse of Vana. The name means ‘Horn-blowing’ or ‘Sound of Horns’ (see Valaróma); in The Lord of the Rings it appears in the Sindarin form Araw.
–—
The Huntsman of the Valar, the brother of Nessa and one of the eight Aratar. In ancient times, he rode often in the forests of Middle-earth, and it was he who first discovered the Eldar at Cuiviénen.
* Oromendil
A nobleman of early Númenor.
A high-born noble of ancient Númenor, the great-grandson of Elros Tar-Minyatur himself, and cousin to the fourth Númenórean King, Tar-Elendil.
* Oromët|Oromet
A hill near the haven of Andúnië in the west of Númenor, on which was built the tower of Tar-Minastir.
* Oropher
King of the Silvan Elves in Greenwood the Great; slain in the War of the Last Alliance; father of Thranduil.
–—
A Sindarin lord of the Silvan Elves.
According to some sources, the father of Thranduil and grandfather of Legolas, who ruled a great realm of Silvan Elves in Greenwood the Great (later to be called Mirkwood). He went to the War of the Last Alliance, where he was slain with two-thirds of his army, but his son Thranduil survived and returned to rule his father’s woodland kingdom.
* Orophin
A marchwarden of Lórien.
A Silvan Elf of Lórien, the brother of Haldir and Rúmil. He was one of three wardens met by the Fellowship as they entered the Golden Wood.
* Orrostar
‘Eastlands’, the eastern promontory of Númenor.
–—
The Eastlands of Númenor.
The eastern promontory of Númenor, a roughly rectangular block of land some two hundred miles west to east that was surrounded by sea on all but its western side. A range of hills ran along its northern coast, and especially in its inland parts it held some of the most important farmlands of Númenor.
* Orthanc
‘Forked Height’, the great Númenórean tower in the Circle of Isengard, afterwards the abode of Saruman.
–—
The unbreachable tower within the Ring of Isengard.
The mighty tower of unbreakable stone built by the Men of Gondor in the beginning of their realm, set in the ring of Isengard at the southern feet of the Misty Mountains. It was latterly held by Saruman.
* Orthanc-stone|Stone of Orthanc
The palantír of the Tower of Orthanc.
One of the seven palantíri or seeing-stones brought to Middle-earth by Elendil, and kept in the ancient stronghold of Orthanc. It was discovered there by Saruman when he took Isengard as his base, and used by him in his treacherous dealings with Sauron.
* Osgiliath
‘Fortress of the Stars’, the chief city of ancient Gondor, on either side of Anduin.
–—
The ancient capital of Gondor.
The ‘Fortress of the Stars’ that was the central and chief city of Gondor during its early years. It was largely deserted during the plague of the mid-Third Age, and lay in ruins at the time of the War of the Ring.
* Osgiliath-stone|Osgiliath Stone
A palantír. See Stone of Osgiliath.
* Ossë|Osse
Maia of the Sea, vassal of Ulmo, with whom he entered the waters of Arda; lover and instructor of the Teleri.
–—
The Maia of the coastlands.
A Maia, the vassal of Ulmo, whose province was the coastal waters around Middle-earth. Uinen was his spouse, and he had the friendship of Círdan the Shipwright.
* Ossiriand
‘Land of Seven Rivers’ (these being Gelion and its tributaries flowing down from the Blue Mountains), the land of the Green-elves. See Lindon.
–—
The Land of Seven Rivers.
A woodland realm to the east of Beleriand, lying between the Blue Mountains and the River Gelion. The seven tributaries of the Gelion that ran through the land gave it its name; the Land of Seven Rivers.
* Ost-in-Edhil
‘Fortress of the Eldar’, the city of the Elves in Eregion.
–—
The city of the Elves of Eregion.
The chief city of Eregion, the great Elvish nation of the mid-Second Age. It was here that the House of the Mírdain stood, and here too that the Rings of Power were forged by Celebrimbor and the Mírdain. The city stood for nearly a thousand years, but was ravaged by Sauron during his invasion of Eriador.
* Ostoher
Seventh King of Gondor.
–—
The rebuilder of Minas Anor.
The son of Anardil and descendant of Anárion, who ruled Gondor as its seventh King. Early in his reign, he undertook a great construction work, the rebuilding and expansion of the Minas Anor. Reconstructing the citadel was a considerable task (some sources suggest that it took as long as ten years), and it seems to be the source of Ostoher’s name (which means ‘fortress lord’). After the rebuilding, Ostoher took Minas Anor as his summer residence, and this tradition was carried on by his successors.
Much later in his reign, Gondor suffered its first serious assault since the defeat of Sauron some five centuries before. Bands of Wild Men appeared out of the East, threatening Gondor’s eastern lands. By this time, Ostoher was in his old age, nearly 270 years old, and it fell to his heir Tarostar to meet the Easterling threat. He succeeded in driving back his enemies, but Ostoher died before his son’s victory was complete.
Ostoher ruled Gondor for eighty-one years, and was succeeded by his son, Tarostar, who became known as Rómendacil I.
* Otho Sackville-Baggins
The frustrated heir of Bilbo Baggins.
The son of Longo Baggins and Camellia Sackville. Otho’s father Longo was Bilbo Baggins’ uncle, making Otho himself Bilbo’s cousin and heir. He and his wife Lobelia eagerly anticipated their inheritance: Bilbo’s home at Bag End. Otho would never inherit that smial, though, because Bilbo changed his will to make Frodo Baggins his heir. Eventually, Frodo sold Bag End to Lobelia, but Otho had died six years earlier, and never owned the home he had coveted throughout his life.
* Outer Lands
Middle-earth (also called the Hither Lands).
–—
A name for Middle-earth itself.
Middle-earth. Outer Lands was the term used by the Valar and the other dwellers in Aman, describing the Mortal lands that lay outside the Blessed Realm.
* Outer Sea
The Encircling Sea of the World.
The mighty sea that surrounded all the lands of Arda, Middle-earth and Aman alike. Its dark waters lapped the western shores of Valinor, and at its distant unknown edge stood the Walls of Night. Ulmo’s halls were within the Outer Sea, and it is said that mortal Men made their last journey across this frigid ocean.
* Overlithe
A Hobbit holiday.
Just like the modern Gregorian calendar, the Shire Calendar regulated time by adding an extra day every four years. This extra day was known as the Overlithe: it occurred between Mid-year’s Day and the second of the two normal Lithedays. It was treated as a special holiday by the inhabitants of the Shire.
* Paladin Took II|Paladin Took
The father of Peregrin Took.
The thirty-first Thain of the Shire was Ferumbras Took III, who was unmarried and left no heir. As such, the line of descent from the Old Took’s third son Isumbras IV came to an end, and the descent moved on to the line of his fourth son, Hildigrim. So the Thainship fell on Hildigrim’s grandson Paladin, who became Thain Paladin II.
At some point, it seems that Hildigrim or one of his descendants had moved a little away from the ancestral home of the Tooks at Great Smials.
Paladin was a farmer who worked the lands around Whitwell - a village which, though it appears on no map, is known to have been close to Tuckborough in the western Green Hills.
When Lotho Sackville-Baggins attempted his takeover of the Shire, Paladin came into his own. As the legitimate Thain, he refused to accept Lotho’s authority, and when Lotho’s ruffians were found in the Tookland, they were hunted and shot. So the Tookland remained independent while Lotho and later Sharkey took over the running of the rest of the Shire. A hundred of Paladin’s archers marched to the Battle of Bywater and helped to defeat Sharkey’s Men, but Paladin himself does not seem to have been at the battle.
Paladin was married to Eglantine Banks, and together they had four children. The eldest three were daughters, Pearl, Pimpernel and Pervinca, but the youngest was a son. This was the famous Peregrin Took, who travelled with the Fellowship of the Ring, and would inherit Paladin’s title to become Thain Peregrin I.
* Palantíri|Palantiri|Palantír|Palantir
‘Those that watch from afar’, the seven Seeing Stones brought by Elendil and his sons from Númenor; made by Fëanor in Aman. Singular palantír.
–—
The Stones of Seeing; powerful crystalline globes that enabled their users to witness events and converse with one another over great distances. Seven of these were brought to Middle-earth by Elendil.
* Palarran
‘Far-Wanderer’, a great ship built by Tar-Aldarion.
–—
The great ship known as the Far-Wanderer.
A mighty ship built by Aldarion and the Guild of Venturers of Númenor.
At the time it was built, the Palarran was the greatest ship of all time, and in it Aldarion conducted many of his early journeys to Middle-earth.
* Pallando
One of the Blue Wizards (Ithryn Luin).
–—
One of the two Ithryn Luin.
One of the five Wizards who came to the northwest of Middle-earth in the Third Age; he journeyed into the east with Alatar, and never returned to the western lands.
* Pansy Baggins
A great-aunt of Bilbo Baggins, the sister of Bilbo’s grandfather Mungo; she married Fastolph Bolger.
* Parmaitë|Parmaite
Name given to Tar-Elendil.
* Parth Celebrant
‘Field (grassland) of Silverlode’; Sindarin name usually translated
‘Field of Celebrant’.
* Parth Galen
‘Green Sward’, a grassy place on the northern slopes of Amon Hen by the shore of Nen Hithoel.
–—
The green lawn beneath Amon Hen.
The green lawn above the Falls of Rauros at the feet of Amon Hen. It was here that the Company of the Ring was broken, and Boromir son of Denethor slain.
* Party Field
The field of Bilbo’s farewell feast.
A large field in Hobbiton where Bilbo held his Birthday Party, and Sam Gamgee planted a mallorn tree after his return from the Quest of Mount Doom. Afterwards used for holidays and celebrations by the Hobbits of that region.
* Pass of Caradhras
The pass over the Misty Mountains called ‘Redhorn Gate’, beneath Caradhras (Redhorn, Barazinbar), one of the Mountains of Moria.
* Pass of Light
The deep cleft in the Pelóri.
The Calacirya, the pass that the Valar made in the mountains of the Pelóri so that the light of the Two Trees would reach the Elven city of Tirion.
* Pass of Sirion
The northern pass guarded by the first Minas Tirith.
The steep-sided pass between the Ered Wethrin and the Crissaegrim, on the upper reaches of the River Sirion. It was formerly guarded by the tower of Minas Tirith.
* Paths of the Dead
The haunted caverns beneath the Ered Nimrais.
A subterranean realm beneath the White Mountains above the valley of the River Morthond. The dwelling place through the Third Age of the Dead, Men cursed by Isildur for breaking their oath of fealty to him, and made to remain in Middle-earth until his rightful heir was to call on their aid.
* Pearl Took
The eldest child of Thain Paladin Took II and Eglantine Banks; sister to Peregrin Took I of the Company of the Ring.
* Pelargir
‘Garth of Royal Ships,’ the Númenórean city and haven on the delta of Anduin.
–—
Haven of the Kings of Gondor.
The greatest and most ancient of the havens of Gondor, on the northern shore of the wide River Anduin in the land of Lebennin.
* Pelendur
Steward of Gondor.
–—
Steward to King Ondoher.
The Steward to King Ondoher of Gondor, who was thrust into a position of power when his King, together with both his heirs, was lost in battle with the Wainriders. With the Council of Gondor, it fell to Pelendur to select an heir. There were two candidates: Arvedui of Arthedain, and Eärnil, the Gondorian Captain and victor of the Battle of the Camp, who was descended from the Royal House of Gondor.
As the direct descendant of Isildur himself, it could be said that Arvedui had the stronger claim, but Pelendur moved the Council to elect Eärnil, who took the Kingship as Eärnil II. All available evidence suggests that Pelendur continued to serve as Steward under the new King.
Pelendur was a highly influential Steward, who accrued considerable power to his office. As well as effectively acting as regent during the interregnum, it was during his time that the office of Steward became hereditary. When Pelendur died, he was succeeded as Steward by his son Vorondil, and his grandson Mardil was to become the first of the Stewards to rule Gondor in his own right.
* Pelennor Fields|Pelennor
‘Fenced Land’, the ‘townlands’of Minas Tirith, guarded by the wall of Rammas Echor, on which was fought the greatest battle of the War of the Ring.
–—
The townlands and fields of Minas Tirith, the City of Gondor. The Pelennor was protected from invasion by the long circular wall of the Rammas Echor, and was the location of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields at the end of the Third Age.
* Pelóri|Pelori|Mountains of Aman
‘The fencing or defensive heights’, called also the Mountains of Aman and the Mountains of Defence, raised by the Valar after the destruction of their dwelling on Almaren; ranging in a crescent from north to south, close to the eastern shores of Aman.
–—
The Mountains of Defence.
The mountain-fence of Aman, raised by the Valar against the evils of Melkor. The highest peak of the Pelóri was Taniquetil, on which were the mansions of Manwë and Varda.
* People of Haleth
The Haladin of Brethil.
The second of the Three Houses of the Edain originally dwelt east of the River Gelion, in the lands of Caranthir son of Fëanor. After suffering dreadfully at the hands of Orcs, they lost their lord Haldad, and his daughter Haleth resolved to find her people a land to call their own. She led them eastward, and eventually they settled in the Forest of Brethil, with the leave of King Thingol in Menegroth.
The main dwelling of the People of Haleth was a fenced compound known as Ephel Brandir, on the hill of Amon Obel in the middle of the forest.
According to some tales, there were Drúedain in the woods of Brethil too, with whom Haladin held a bond of friendship against the Orcs that raided their lands from the north.
* People of the Jewel-smiths
The Elves of Eregion.
After the establishment of the land of Eregion in the year II 750, the followers of Celebrimbor became famous for their works of art and craft.
They were known as the Mírdain, the jewel-smiths, and formed a brotherhood known as the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, the People of the Jewelsmiths. Their skill gained them the friendship of the Dwarves of nearby Khazad-dûm, who valued such artistry, but their fascination with the making of things was to bring about their downfall.
Nearly five hundred years after Eregion’s foundation, a mysterious being appeared among its people. Calling himself Annatar, he had knowledge and skill beyond even that of the Mírdain, and he offered this knowledge freely to the People of the Jewel-smiths. They accepted his offer, and for some three hundred years more Annatar taught them. Eventually, their skills were great enough the begin forging Rings of Power, of which they made many, and their greatest works were the Three Rings Narya, Nenya and Vilya. Through these Rings, they discovered to their horror that
‘Annatar’ was none other than their ancient enemy Sauron, who had corrupted their great work to his own ends. Sauron was enraged at his discovery, and his armies swept across Eriador and into Eregion, destroying the country of the Jewel-smiths.
* People of the Stars
Oromë’s name for the Elves.
Name given to the Elves by Oromë when he found them under the stars of Cuiviénen before the rising of the Sun or Moon.
* Peredhil
Title of Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, meaning ‘Half-elven’.
–—
The Half-elven.
A name given to Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, and his brother Elros. It means ‘Half-elven’, in reference to their shared ancestry among Elves and Men.
* Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took I|Peregrin|Pippin Hobbit of the Shire, one of the Fellowship of the Ring.
–—
Twentieth Shire-thain of the Took line.
Son of Paladin Took II of Great Smials, and later Thain Peregrin I; he travelled with the Company of the Ring. With Meriadoc Brandybuck, he was separated from the Company at Parth Galen, and taken captive by Orcs.
Escaping into Fangorn Forest, he saw the destruction of Isengard and travelled with Gandalf to Minas Tirith, where he became a bondsman of Steward Denethor II.
–—
Journey to Rivendell, 23 September to 20 October III 3018: Pippin, as Peregrin was universally known, was the youngest of Frodo’s companions.
He was only twenty-eight years old when he set out with Frodo and Sam from Bag End on the first part of their great journey, which was considered very young for a Hobbit. At first, he seemed to be rather unsuited to a long journey - through the early part of their travels, we see him regularly calling for rests or meals. As befitted the son of the Shire’s Thain, though, he had a good general knowledge of that land and its people.
–—
Peregrin’s Life After the War of the Ring: Peregrin inherited the title Thain of the Shire in the year IV 13 (1434 by the Shire-reckoning).
During his Thainship, he remained in close contact with Gondor, and built a library of great historical importance at Great Smials. The works he collected were mainly concerned with the history of Númenor and the Exiles after its Downfall, and so were of little interest to the Hobbits of the Shire, but were of great significance to the larger world. The Tale of Years was probably prepared at Great Smials, with help from Meriadoc Brandybuck.
* Periannath|Perian
‘Halflings’, a Sindarin name for Hobbits (singular Perian).
* Pervinca Took
Third child and youngest daughter of Thain Paladin Took II and Eglantine Banks; sister to Peregrin Took I of the Company of the Ring.
* Petty-dwarves|Petty-dwarf
Translation of Noegyth Nibin, a race of Dwarves in Beleriand.
–—
The lost race of the Noegyth Nibin.
A small, stunted people, apparently related to the true Dwarves, who died out in Middle-earth in the late First Age.
* Pharazôn|Pharazon
Usurper of the throne of Númenor.
The son of Gimilkhâd and grandson of King Ar-Gimilzôr of Númenor. He took his cousin Míriel to wife against her will, and so illegally claimed the island’s kingship, which he took in the better-known name of Ar-Pharazôn.
* Phial of Galadriel|Phial
Galadriel’s glittering gift to the Ring-bearer.
The glittering phial that was Galadriel’s gift to Frodo Baggins in Lórien, and which later helped him to escape from Shelob’s lair on the borders of Mordor.
* Phurunargian
The ‘true’ Westron name for Khazad-dûm or Moria, usually anglicised to
‘Dwarrowdelf’.
* Pillar of Heaven
The Meneltarma of Númenor.
The name given to the tall, pillar-like mountain that stood alone in the royal lands in the middle of Númenor. In Elvish, it was known as the Meneltarma.
* Pimpernel Took
The second child of Thain Paladin Took II and Eglantine Banks; sister to Peregrin Took I of the Company of the Ring.
* Pincup
A village of the Shire’s Southfarthing.
A small village of the Shire. It lay in the northern corner of the Southfarthing, some miles south of the Three-Farthing Stone, in that hilly part of the Shire known as the Green Hill Country. It seems to have been built in the southern slopes of the Green Hills, and was reached by only a single road, apparently leading from the larger settlement of Longbottom to the south.
The origin of Pincup’s name are mysterious. Perhaps the most likely possibility would be Old Englsh pín cuppe, ‘pine hollow’, but this is by no means certain. ‘Pine hill’ is another possibility, though this doesn’t fit easily with the fact that the only known map of Pincup shows it below the Green Hills. More exotically, its name might even be connected with the colourful bird known as a chaffinch, a bird the Anglo-Saxons called a pinca.
* Pines|Pine
Common evergreen trees, found throughout the lands of Middle-earth, but especially in the highlands of Dorthonion, a land which took its name from the pine trees that grew there.
* Pipe-weed
The Shire-hobbits’ contribution to civilization.
Tobacco, or a closely related plant, adopted for smoking by the Hobbits, and hence also called Halflings’ Leaf.
* Pippin Gardner
A son of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton; named for Peregrin ‘Pippin’ Took of the Company of the Ring.
* Plateau of Gorgoroth|Gorgoroth
A plateau in Mordor, between the converging Mountains of Shadow and Mountains of Ash.
–—
The wasted uplands of Mordor.
The wasted desert of the northern regions of Mordor, between the arms of the Ephel Dúath and the Ered Lithui. Both Barad-dûr and Orodruin stood on Gorgoroth, and Frodo and Sam crossed it on the Quest of Mount Doom.
* Ponies|Pony
Short, stocky pack animals.
Common beasts of burden in Middle-earth, especially used by Hobbits and Dwarves, whose small stature made the riding of horses difficult.
* Ponto Baggins
A great-uncle of Bilbo Baggins, the younger brother of Bilbo’s grandfather Mungo; he married Mimosa Bunce.
* Poros
River flowing down from Ephel Dúath to join Anduin above its delta.
–—
The southern border-river of Ithilien.
A river that rose in the Ephel Dúath on the borders of Mordor, and flowed westwards to meet the Anduin above its mouth. The river marked the border of Gondor proper with the old land of South Gondor.
* Potatoes|Potato
Root vegetables that were apparently among the staple foods of the Hobbits. How they came to exist in Middle-earth is something of a mystery
- in principle, they should not have appeared east of the Great Sea for several thousand years after the War of the Ring. Conceivably, the roots named ‘potatoes’ in Tolkien’s work represent some other related plant, or a crop brought east by the Númenóreans that later became extinct.
* Powers of Arda
A title of the Valar, the fourteen mighty spirits who dwell in Valinor.
* Powers of the World
The Valar.
One of the many epithets used of the Valar, the mighty spirits the dwelt in Aman in the Uttermost West.
* Precious|Preciouss|Preciousss|Precioussss|Preciousssss Gollum’s name for the Ring.
A name given to the One Ring by Gollum.
* Primrose Gardner
A daughter of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton.
* Primula Brandybuck
The mother of Frodo Baggins. She was lost with her husband Drogo Baggins in a boating accident on the River Brandywine.
* Prince of Dol Amroth
The title of Galador and his descendants.
Title granted to Galador at the beginning of the last millennium of the Third Age, and held by the lords of his house until the time of Imrahil, who fought in the War of the Ring, and almost certainly beyond.
* Prince of Ithilien
The royal title of Faramir.
A royal title granted to Faramir the Steward by Aragorn Elessar on his accession to the throne of Gondor. As its Prince, Faramir dwelt in the central regions of Ithilien, and became the Lord of Emyn Arnen.
* Prince of the Halflings
Ernil i Pheriannath.
A noble title given to Peregrin Took during his time in Minas Tirith in the War of the Ring, a translation of the Elvish Ernil i Pheriannath.
Though exaggerated, it wasn’t entirely inapt; he was after all the heir to the Thain of the Shire.
* Proudfoot Family|Proudfoot|Proudfoots|Proudfeet A family of Hobbits of the Shire. All the members of this family mentioned in The Lord of the Rings were related to the Bagginses, since they were descended from Bilbo Baggins’ uncle Bodo Proudfoot. There is some uncertainty about the plural form of ‘Proudfoot’ - the family themselves apparently used ‘Proudfeet’, but Bilbo pointedly preferred
‘Proudfoots’.
* Proudneck
The nickname given to Madoc Brandybuck, who was Master of Buckland some 200 years before the War of the Ring, and a distant ancestor of Meriadoc Brandybuck.
* Prophecy of the North|Doom of the Noldor The Doom of the Noldor, uttered by Mandos on the coast of Araman.
* Púkel-men|Pukel-men|Púkel-man|Pukel-man
Name in Rohan for the images on the road to Dunharrow, but also used as a general equivalent to Drúedain.
–—
Ancient watchers of the Dunharrow road.
The ancient carved images, thought to be of Woses or Drúedain, that lined the road to Dunharrow in the White Mountains.
* Queen of Doriath
Melian the Maia.
In the long years before the beginning of the First Age, the Telerin lord Elwë Singollo came upon Melian the Maia in the woods of Nan Elmoth.
So Melian became the first and only of the Ainur to wed one of the Children of Ilúvatar, and together Thingol (as Elwë became known) and Melian founded a kingdom among the forests in the heart of Beleriand, and ruled it as King and Queen.
Throughout much of its existence, the forest-kingdom was known as Eglador. When Morgoth returned to Middle-earth, he sent his orc-armies to ravage Beleriand. They were beaten back, but only at great cost, and so Melian put out her power to protect her country. She surrounded the forests of her home with a bewildering maze of powerful enchantments, the so-called Girdle of Melian. From that time, the land she ruled with Thingol was no longer known as Eglador, but took a new name, Doriath, the
‘fenced land’.
Melian and Thingol ruled in Doriath for some five centuries more. At last Thingol was slain, in his own treasuries by treacherous Dwarves of Nogrod. Melian in despair departed for her ancient home in the West of the World, and the Girdle that had protected Doriath was removed.
Whether Melian was the last Queen of Doriath is open to question.
Thingol’s grandson Dior ruled for some years in Doriath after his grandfather’s death, so Dior’s spouse Nimloth might possibly have inherited Melian’s title. There is, however, no evidence that Nimloth was ever referred to as the ‘Queen of Doriath’.
* Queen of Gondor
Consort to the King of the South-kingdom.
The title given to the spouse of the ruling King of Gondor (no Queen ruled Gondor in her own name at any time during its recorded history).
The most famous Queens were Berúthiel (Queen to King Tarannon Falastur) and Arwen Evenstar, the consort of Aragorn Elessar.
* Queen of Númenor|Queen of Numenor
The ruler of Númenor, or its King’s consort.
Strictly a title of the spouse of any King of Númenor, but especially used of the three Queens who ruled by their own power: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën and Tar-Vanimeldë.
* Queen of the Earth
Kementári, a name of Yavanna.
A title of the Vala Yavanna, and the literal meaning of her surname, Kementári.
* Queen of the Stars
A title given to Varda, and the literal meaning of her surname, Elentári.
* Queens of the Valar
The Valier, the seven Valar who took feminine forms when they entered Arda; Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Estë, Vairë, Vána and Nessa.
* Quellë|Quelle
The Quenya name for autumn, also called Lasse-lanta; 54 days between modern 8 October and 30 November. Called Firith in Sindarin.
* Quendi
Original Elvish name for Elves (of every kind, including the Avari), meaning ‘Those that speak with voices’.
–—
‘Those who speak with voices’; the name given by the Elves to their own kind while they still dwelt at Cuiviénen.
* Quenta Silmarillion
‘The History of the Silmarils’.
–—
‘The Tale of the Silmarils’; the full name for the collection of legends and tales more commonly called just ‘The Silmarillion’.
Assembled from ancient works by various authors by Bilbo Baggins.
* Quenya|High Speech
The ancient tongue, common to all Elves, in the form that it took in Valinor; brought to Middle-earth by the Noldorin exiles, but abandoned by them as a daily speech (save in Gondolin), especially after the edict of King Thingol against its use.
–—
The ancient and noble tongue of the High Elves.
The tongue of the High Elves in Valinor, the first to be recorded in writing. It was never widely used in Middle-earth except among the Noldor; the related Eldarin language, Sindarin, was more commonly spoken.
By the Third Age, Quenya had become, in Middle-earth, a language used only on formal or state occasions by the Elves and the descendants of the Númenóreans.
* Quest of Erebor
The quest to recover the Lonely Mountain.
The quest of Thorin II Oakenshield and his followers to reclaim Erebor from the Dragon Smaug, accompanied by Bilbo Baggins and, for part of the quest, Gandalf. The quest was successful, but Thorin was slain shortly afterward in the Battle of Five Armies.
* Quest of Mount Doom
The mission of the Ring-bearer.
The quest of the Wise to bring the One Ring to Orodruin, and there destroy it. Nine set out on the quest, the Company of the Ring, but only two succeeded in reaching Mount Doom; Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.
* Quest of the Silmaril
The price of Lúthien’s hand.
The quest of Beren Erchamion for a Silmaril from Morgoth’s Iron Crown as Thingol’s bride-price of his daughter Lúthien. He was aided in the Quest by Lúthien herself, King Finrod of Nargothrond and Huan the Hound of Valinor.
* Quickbeam
Hastiest of Ents.
One of the younger Ents of Fangorn Forest belonging to the people of Skinbark. His name (a translation of Elvish Bregalad) was given because of uncharacteristic hastiness. The rowan-trees in his keeping suffered greatly at the hands of Saruman’s Orcs, and he played a great part in the Ents’ resulting attack on Isengard.
* Rabbits|Rabbit|Coneys|Coney
Long-eared, furry rodents, also called ‘coneys’, that were as common in Middle-earth as they are today. A favourite dish of the Hobbits.
* Radagast the Brown|Radagast
One of the Istari (Wizards). See Aiwendil.
–—
The Brown Wizard.
The third, with Gandalf and Saruman, of the three Wizards who remained in the northwest of Middle-earth; he formerly dwelt at Rhosgobel on the borders of Mirkwood.
His name means ‘tender of beasts’ in Adûnaic.
* Radhruin
One of the twelve companions of Barahir on Dorthonion.
* Ragnir
A blind servant of Húrin’s house in Dor-lómin.
* Ragnor
One of the twelve companions of Barahir on Dorthonion.
–—
Outlaw companion of Barahir and Beren.
In the assault of the Dagor Bragollach, the Men of Dorthonion were overrun by Morgoth’s forces. Their lord, Barahir, took the survivors of his House into hiding in the northern highlands, above the pine forests of that region, but they were harried and hunted by Morgoth’s servant Sauron, and their numbers dwindled.
At last, only thirteen Men remained, and Ragnor was one of these: a faithful servant and soldier of the House of Bëor. One fateful night, as the outlaws slept by the shores of a mountain lake, they were set upon by Orcs and slain to a Man. Beren was absent from the camp, and survived, but Ragnor and all his companions were lost.
* Ramdal
‘Wall’s End’ (see Andram), where the dividing fall across Beleriand ceased.
–—
‘Wall’s End’.
A cluster of low hills in East Beleriand, some miles to the west of Amon Ereb. They marked the eastern extent of the Andram, the Long Wall that ran eastward for many leagues from the hills around Nargothrond.
* Rammas Echor
The boundary wall of the Pelennor Fields.
The great and ancient wall that surrounded Minas Tirith and enclosed the Fields of the Pelennor. It was repaired in the time of the War of the Ring, but did little to hold back the armies of Sauron under their Black Captain.
* Rána|Rana
‘The Wanderer’, a name of the Moon among the Noldor.
–—
A name for the Moon.
Although the name given to the Moon in Valinor was Isil, the Noldor preferred a name of their own, Rána, meaning ‘Wayward’, since Tilion, the Maia of the Moon, did not steer his charge by regular paths.
* Ranga
Númenórean measure, a full pace, slightly longer than a yard.
* Rangers|Ranger
The Dúnedain of the North after the end of the North Kingdom, secret guardians of Eriador.
–—
Descendants of the Northern Dúnedain.
–—
“Few now remember them… yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless.”
(Words of Tom Bombadil; The Fellowship of the Ring I 8, Fog on the Barrow-downs)
–—
After the loss of the kingdom of Arthedain, the descendants of Isildur’s line survived in the wilds of Middle-earth, and became skilled in hunting and woodcraft; their warriors were known as the Rangers among the peoples of the north.
* Rangers of Ithilien|Ranger of Ithilien|Ithilien Rangers|Ithilien Ranger Gondor’s secret soldiers east of Anduin.
A force of the soldiers of Gondor, selected from the descendants of the people who had dwelt in Ithilien before it fell from Gondor’s control.
Dressed in camouflaging green and brown, they crossed the Anduin in secret to harass the forces of the Enemy in Gondor’s old domain.
* Ranugad|Ran
The original form of ‘Hamfast’.
In his translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, Tolkien anglicised many Hobbit names. ‘Ranugad’ is an example of this process - it is the real name of the Hobbit named Hamfast Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings. Ranugad (often abbreviated to ‘Ran’) had a very similar meaning to the translated name, Hamfast.
* Ras Morthil
A name of Andrast.
–—
The northwestern limit of the Bay of Belfalas.
The dark cape that edged the Bay of Belfalas to the northwest, also called Andrast. The mountain chain that ran along the length of the cape was the home of tribes of the Drúedain.
* Rath Dínen|Rath Dinen
The ‘Silent Street’ in Minas Tirity.
–—
The Silent Street.
Behind the Closed Door, Fen Hollen, in the sixth circle of Minas Tirith, lay a steep, winding pathway that led down beneath the shadow of Mindolluin to Rath Dínen, the Silent Street. This was the street that ran between the Houses of the Dead, where the great of Gondor, Kings and Stewards alike, were laid after death.
The Kings of Gondor were buried in mansions or domed tombs, and the Street was lined with images of those who lay there. The Stewards had a House apart from the tombs of the Kings, the House of Stewards, where Denethor perished in III 3019.
When the seedling of the White Tree was found on the slopes of Mindolluin by Gandalf, the Dead Tree that had stood in the courts of Minas Tirith was laid in Rath Dínen, and the Hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, of the Company of the Ring, were also given a place there after their deaths, beside the tomb of King Aragorn Elessar.
* Rathlóriel|Rathloriel
‘Golden-bed’, later name for the river Ascar, after the treasure of Doriath was sunk in it.
–—
‘Goldenbed’
The later name for the River Ascar, the northernmost of the six rivers that flowed through Ossiriand. Its name was changed after Beren led a force of Laiquendi to defeat a band of the Dwarves of Nogrod on its banks. The Dwarves had sacked the kingdom of Doriath, and with their defeat, the treasuries of Menegroth were emptied into the river. After that time it was known as Goldenbed, or Rathlóriel in Elvish.
* Rats|Rat
Rodent pests.
Verminous creatures at least as common in Middle-earth as they are today.
* Ravens|Raven
Large black birds, often associated with ill news. The ravens that lived near Erebor, though, were friendly with the Dwarves, and some could even speak the Common Tongue.
* Ravines of Teiglin|Teiglin
The thundering chasms south of Brethil.
The ravines into which the River Teiglin descended as it skirted the eaves of the Forest of Brethil. They were used by Túrin Turambar to climb beneath the belly of Glaurung and slay him.
* Realms in Exile
The lands founded by Elendil and his sons.
A name for Arnor and Gondor, the ancient North-kingdom and South-kingdom of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth. Arnor was destroyed during the Third Age, but at the end of that Age, the Westlands were reunited under Aragorn Elessar.
* Reckoning of Rivendell