The Reckoning of Rivendell or Imladris is the only recorded Elvish calendar. It contained six ‘months’ (more akin to seasons), rather than twelve, and its arrangement reflects the Elvish preference for counting in sixes and twelves. Because of their long lifespan, the Elves tended to divide time into Yéni of 144 years each, but they also had a period equivalent to a year, called a Loa or Coranar.
Rather than adding one day every four years, as with the modern leap year, the Elves instead added three days every twelve years. In these years, the Enderi (‘middle-days’) of each year were doubled from the usual three to six. For precision, the last year of every third yén was shortened by three days, rather than lengthened (the last year of a yén was always a ‘leap’ year). This was a rare occurrence, happening only once every 432 years.
–—
Quenya:Sindarin:Length:Shire Calendar Equivalent:Modern Equivalent Yestarë:-:1 day:6 April:28 March
Tuilë:Ethuil:54 days:7 April-30 May:29 March-21 May Lairë:Laer:72 days:1 June-9 August:22 May-1 August Yávië:Iavas:54 days:10 August-3 October:2 August-24 September Enderi:-:3 days (see note above):4 October-6 October:25 September-27
September
Quellë (or Lasse-lanta):Firith (or Narbeleth):54 days:7 October-30
November:28 September-20 November
Hrívë:Rhîw:72 days:1 December-10 February:21 November-31 January Coirë:Echuir:54 days:11 February-4 April:1 February-26 March Mettarë:-:1 day:5 April:27 March
* Red Arrow
The ‘war-arrow’ sent from Gondor to Rohan as a token of the need of Minas Tirith.
* Red Book of Westmarch|Red Book
The legendary source of Tolkien’s tales.
In origin the diary and commentaries of Bilbo Baggins, with additions by his heir Frodo, the Red Book was the original source for the tales we know as The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
* Red Eye
Epithet and emblem of Sauron the Lord of the Rings.
* Red Maw
Carcharoth, the Wolf of Angband.
A name for the mightiest wolf ever to live, given as an interpretation of his Elvish name, Carcharoth. He was bred in the pits of Angband as a guard against Huan the Hound of Valinor. Huan, it was prophesied, could only be slain by the greatest of all wolves, and Carcharoth the Red Maw proved to be that wolf. Before the gates of Angband, he bit Beren’s hand from his arm, and with it the Silmaril he carried. Burned by the power of the Jewel, Carcharoth fled into the south. At last, he was discovered within the borders of Doriath itself, where he fought his last fight with Huan: the wolf and the hound took one another’s lives in that combat.
* Red Ring
Narya, the Ring of Fire; one of the Three Rings of the Elves, borne in the later Third Age by Gandalf.
* Redhorn
The Mannish name for Caradhras.
A name for the towering red peak known in Elvish as Caradhras, and a direct translation of that Elvish name.
* Redhorn Gate
The ‘gate’ of the Misty Mountains.
A name for the pass that led from the wilds of Eriador through the Misty Mountains into Rhovanion beyond. Sheer and steep, it climbed across the southern slopes of the Redhorn (Caradhras) and led down into the valley of Nanduhirion beyond the Mountains.
* Redhorn Pass
The pass beneath Caradhras.
A difficult pass in the central regions of the Misty Mountains beneath Caradhras. This was the pass attempted by the Company of the Ring as they journeyed on the Quest of Mount Doom.
* Regent of Gondor
A ruler of Gondor in place of its King.
A translation of the Elvish term Karma-kundo, which literally means
‘Guardian of the Helm’, that was applied to those granted executive authority in place of a legitimate reigning King of Gondor. In all the history of the South-kingdom, only one Regent of this kind was ever appointed - Minalcar son of Calmacil.
Minalcar was the grandson of Atanatar Alcarin, and already in the closing years of his grandfather’s rule, he had become a forceful presence in the councils of the King, especially since neither of Atanatar’s sons, Narmacil nor Calmacil, showed great interest in affairs of state. Just a few short years after Narmacil succeeded his father as King, he conferred the office of Karma-kundo on his nephew Minalcar, who from that point effectively ruled Gondor, though officially doing so in the King’s name.
Minalcar would eventually ascend to the throne of Gondor himself under his better-known name Rómendacil II. Before doing so, though, he was Gondor’s Regent for no less than sixty-four years.
* Region
The dense forest forming the southern part of Doriath.
–—
The greater part of the Kingdom of Doriath.
The forest on the banks of the River Esgalduin that formed the southern and greater part of the Kingdom of Doriath, and within which lay the halls of Menegroth.
* Remmirath
‘The Netted Stars’: an Elvish name for a group of stars, identified with the cluster today called the Pleiades.
* Rerir
Mountain to the north of Lake Helevorn, where rose the greater of the two tributary branches of Gelion.
–—
The mountain above Lake Helevorn.
A peak in the far north of the Blue Mountains, above Lake Helevorn.
* Rethe
The third month of the Shire Calendar, lying between Solmath and Astron, and approximately equivalent to modern March. In fact, it ran from modern 21 February to 22 March.
* Return of the Noldor
The return of Fëanor and his followers out of the West.
The return of the princes of the Noldor to Middle-earth at the beginning of the First Age, under the leadership of Fëanor.
The Return of the Noldor to Middle-earth was the result of the Flight of the Noldor from Aman. In fact, the entire journey out of Aman to the coasts of Middle-earth seems to have taken about nineteen years to complete, with the Return being achieved as the Moon rose for the first time. The first Sunrise occurred soon after, marking the beginning of the First Age.
* Reunited Kingdom
Two Kingdoms after the restoration of Isildur’s line.
The name given to the Númenórean realms of Arnor and Gondor after their reunification under King Aragorn II Elessar at the beginning of the Fourth Age.
* Revised Calendar
The Stewards’ Reckoning.
The Númenórean calendar was devised during the Second Age, but even after the fall of Sauron at the end of that Age, the old calendar was maintained by the Exiles of Númenor in Middle-earth into the Third Age.
The change of Age, though, introduced an error into the calendar that its designers had not foreseen, so that eventually a thorough revision became necessary. That revision was introduced by Mardil Voronwë, whose Revised Calendar consisted of twelve months, each of thirty days, and five additional days that belonged to no month. This Revised Calendar, more commonly called the Stewards’ Reckoning, was introduced nearly a thousand years before the War of the Ring, and became the standard calendar of Middle-earth.
* Rhîw|Rhiw
The Sindarin name for winter; 72 days between modern 1 December and 10
February. Called Hrívë in Quenya.
* Rhosgobel
The dwelling of Radagast at the edge of Mirkwood near the Carrock. The name is stated to mean ‘russet town’ (i.e. enclosure)
–—
Radagast’s dwelling on the edge of Mirkwood.
The house of Radagast on the western borders of Mirkwood, said to lie between the Carrock and the Old Forest Road.
* Rhovanion
‘Wilderland’, the great region east of the Misty Mountains.
–—
The wide lands east of the Misty Mountains.
The wide region of Middle-earth that lay between the Misty Mountains in the west and the River Celduin in the east.
* Rhudaur
One of the three kingdoms into which Arnor was divided in the ninth century of the Third Age, lying between the Misty Mountains, the Ettenmoors, and the Weather Hills.
–—
Eastern kingdom of the Dúnedain.
The easternmost of the three kingdoms created by the division of Arnor, lying beneath the Misty Mountains in the northeast of Eriador.
* Rhûn|Rhun
‘East’, used generally of the lands of the further East of Middle-earth.
–—
The eastern lands of Middle-earth.
The little-known lands in the far east of Middle-earth, from where many attacks on Gondor and its allies came during the Third Age.
We know almost nothing of the lands of beyond the great Sea of Rhûn that stood on its borders with the western lands. Even Gandalf had never explored there, and though Aragorn had travelled there, we have no report of his doings.
Of its ancient geography we can glean a little from the Silmarillion; far beyond the Sea of Rhûn was another inland sea, the Sea of Helcar, and beyond that a range of red mountains known as the Orocarni. Somewhere in the lost east, too, lay Cuiviénen and Hildórien, where Elves and Men first awoke: all the Children of Ilúvatar could trace their ancestries back to the eastward regions of Middle-earth.
Rhûn was far from an empty land; it was the domain of the Easterlings, Men of Darkness who were ready to follow both the Dark Lords and fought as their allies in war. These lands, too, were peopled by lost Elves, Avari and Úmanyar, and by four of the seven clans of the Dwarves.
During the Third Age, Rhún was visited by three Wizards; Saruman, Alatar and Pallando, and though Saruman returned into the west, the two Blue Wizards remained. Sauron himself journeyed into the eastward lands, in hiding from the White Council during the centuries known in the west as the Watchful Peace.
* Rhûn (sea)|Rhûn|Rhun
The eastern inland sea of Middle-earth.
The inland sea in the land of Rhûn into which the Celduin emptied its waters. Its northeastern shores were densely forested, and to the southwest lay a mountainous region. The mysterious land of Dorwinion was said to lie on its northwestern coasts.
* Rían|Rian
Daughter of Belegund (nephew of Barahir, the father of Beren); wife of Huor and mother of Tuor; after Huor’s death died of grief on the Haudh-en-Ndengin.
–—
The mortal grandmother of Eärendil.
The daughter of Belegund of the House of Bëor, she wedded Huor; she was the mother of Tuor and grandmother of Eärendil the Mariner.
* Riddermark
The land of the Rohirrim.
The name among the Rohirrim for the land, more commonly known to outsiders as Rohan.
* Riddle-game|Riddle|Riddles
An ancient tradition of the Hobbits.
An ancient game of the Hobbits, used as a means of settling disputes.
The players continued to ask each other riddles until one failed to answer.
* Ride of Eorl
The rescue of Gondor by the Men of the Éothéod.
The ride of the warriors of the Éothéod under their young lord, Eorl, to the aid of Gondor.
* Riders of Rohan
The cavalry of the Rohirrim.
Common name for the Rohirrim, the horsemen from the north who dwelt in the land of Rohan after its foundation by Eorl the Young.
* Riders of the Mark
The horsemen of Rohan.
Another name for the Rohirrim or Riders of Rohan, and probably closer to their own, unrecorded, name for themselves.
* Ring of Adamant
A name for Galadriel’s Ring, Nenya.
Another name for Nenya, the Ring of Water that Galadriel bore in Lórien.
Adamant is an old word for diamond, referring to the Ring’s glinting precious stone.
* Ring of Air
Vilya, the Blue Ring.
A name for one of the Three Rings of the Elves, Vilya, that was borne by Elrond at the time of the War of the Ring.
* Ring of Barahir
The gift and token of Finrod Felagund.
A gift to Barahir and his descendants by Finrod Felagund, in reward for the saving of his life in the Dagor Bragollach. The Ring was used as a token by Barahir’s son Beren Erchamion when he sought Finrod’s aid in the Quest of the Silmaril, and passed down through his descendants for thousands of years. It was still an heirloom of the House of Isildur in the Third Age.
* Ring of Doom
The Máhanaxar near the gates of Valmar, where the the Valar sat in council.
* Ring of Fire
Narya, the Red Ring; one of the Three Rings of the Elves that was originally granted to Círdan, but passed on by him to Gandalf.
* Ring of Isengard
The defences of Orthanc.
The rocky walls that surrounded and protected the Tower of Orthanc. They grew out of the wall of a valley at the southern end of the Misty Mountains, and were worked by the early Gondorians so that they formed a complete defensive circle around the tower.
* Ring of Sapphire
The Ring of Air borne by Elrond at Rivendell.
Vilya, The Ring of Air, one of the Three Rings of the Elves. This Ring was borne by Gil-galad for a time, but Elrond kept it for most of its existence.
* Ring of Thrór|Ring of Thror
Last of the Seven Rings.
The first of the Seven Dwarf-rings to be forged, and the last to be recovered by Sauron. It was originally given to King Durin III of Khazad-dûm by the Elves of Eregion, and it remained in his line for thousands of years until it was inherited by Thrór, the King under the Mountain at Erebor. It was during Thrór’s reign that Smaug descended on Erebor and drove the Dwarves into exile. Long after Erebor’s destruction, Thrór passed the Ring to his son Thráin, who dwelt for many years as an exile from his ancient home. At last, Thráin set out on his own ill-fated Quest of Erebor, but he was captured by the spies of Sauron, and the Ring of Thrór was lost.
* Ring of Water
Nenya, the Ring of Galadriel.
One of the Three Rings of the Elves, the Ring of Water, Nenya, was mounted with a diamond, and held by Galadriel in the land of Lórien.
* Ring-bearer
A title of Frodo Baggins, who carried the One Ring from Hobbiton in the Shire south on the Quest of Mount Doom, and destroyed it by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
* Ring-bearers
The title used for those three Hobbits (Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee) who had at one time borne the One Ring, and aided in its destruction. Because of their status as Ring-bearers, they were granted the passage of the Straight Road, and each eventually went to the Blessed Realm to live out their lives.
Though only these three Hobbits are strictly counted as Ring-bearers, in fact the Ring was borne by other hands besides. Those who actually wore the Ring, as opposed to picking it up or holding it, are marked with an
*.
–—
- Sauron*: He forged the One Ring for himself in c.II 1600 and bore it for c.1,840 years until his defeat in the Siege of Barad-dûr in II 3441.
- Isildur*: Against the advice of Elrond and Círdan, he cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand and took it himself. He did not bear it long - two years later, Isildur was ambushed by Orcs and the One Ring was lost in the Anduin, where it lay hidden for most of the Third Age.
- Déagol: He discovered the Ring while fishing the Gladden Fields in about the year 2463. He held it for only a short time before he was murdered by his friend Sméagol (Gollum), who stole the Ring for himself.
- Gollum*: He took the Ring from Déagol, and soon hid with it in the roots of the Misty Mountains. He bore it in the dark for almost five hundred years.
- Bilbo Baggins*: He discovered the Ring ‘by accident’ while imprisoned beneath the Misty Mountains in July 2941, and claimed it from Gollum by defeating him in a Riddle-game. He carried it eastward to Erebor, and then back westward to the Shire, where he kept it. He bore the Ring for almost exactly sixty years.
- Frodo Baggins*: He was given the Ring by Bilbo on the advice of Gandalf. He was the Ring-bearer, who carried the One Ring from the Shire to Orodruin, to the very brink of the Cracks of Doom. Once there, the Ring’s power overmastered him, and he named it to himself, but Gollum bit it from his finger and fell into the Fire. Frodo bore the Ring for seventeen years until its destruction.
- Gandalf: He held it for a matter of moments on the morning of 13 April III 3018, before throwing it into Frodo’s fire. This was the moment that the Ring’s fiery inscription appeared, confirming that it was the One Ring.
- Tom Bombadil*: He wore it on his finger for a moment on 27 September III 3018, but was famously unaffected by it. The reason that Tom was immune was the effects of the Ring remains an abiding mystery.
- Samwise Gamgee*: He bore the Ring for about two days in March III 3019, while Frodo his master was in the clutches of Orcs in the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
* Ring-finder
A title given to Bilbo Baggins, who came upon the One Ring in an orc-hold of the Misty Mountains.
* Ring-maker
A title for the makers of Rings of Power.
A title of Sauron, forger of the One Ring, also claimed by Saruman.
* Ringarë|Ringare
The last month in the calendars of the Men of Middle-earth, approximately equivalent to modern December (though in fact running from modern 21
November to 20 December).
* Ringil
The glittering sword of Fingolfin.
The sword of Fingolfin, said to have glittered like ice. With it he wounded Morgoth in single combat after the Dagor Bragollach.
* Ringló|Ringlo
River in Gondor, joining the Morthond north-east of Dol Amroth. See Gwathló.
–—
A river of southern Gondor.
An important river of the southern regions of Gondor. It rose in the White Mountains above Lamedon, and flowed southwestwards for some 200
miles before it met the sea. Near its mouth was the ancient Elf-haven of Edhellond, and it marked the border between Anfalas to the west and Belfalas to the east.
The name means ‘Coldflood’.
* Rings of Power|Ring of Power
The magical rings made by Sauron and the Mírdain.
Eregion was a land founded by the Noldor in the eighth century of the Second Age. Their leader was Celebrimbor, the grandson of Fëanor himself, and their skill and smithwork became famous throughout Middle-earth. In about the year II 1200, they began to receive emissaries from a mysterious stranger calling himself Annatar, who offered them even greater knowledge of their arts. Despite warnings from Gil-galad and Elrond, they accepted Annatar’s offer, and he came to Eregion to teach them.
For three hundred years the Mírdain - as the Jewel-smiths of Eregion were known - studied at Annatar’s side, and learned the making of magical rings. In about the year II 1500, the first of the Rings of Power was forged. Over the following decades, with Annatar’s help, the Elves made sixteen Rings of Power, each set with a gemstone. Both the Elves and Annatar had their own secret aims, though, and each forged work of their own. Celebrimbor and the Elves made Three Rings more powerful than the others, Narya, Nenya and Vilya, the Rings of Fire, Water and Air.
Unknown to the Mírdain, ‘Annatar’ was none other than the Dark Lord Sauron. In the fires of Mount Doom in the dark land of Mordor, he forged a Ring of his own, to enslave the holders of the other Rings of Power.
Filled with much of his own native power, this was the Ruling Ring, the One Ring that would make him Lord of all the Rings. But Sauron had not reckoned on the Elves forging their own Rings of Power; as he took up the One Ring for the first time, they became aware of it, and took off their own Rings to foil his ambition.
Sauron in his anger swept out of Mordor with a great army. The land of Eregion was overwhelmed and destroyed and Celebrimbor was slain. The Three Rings of the Elves had already been sent away, but the Dark Lord claimed the remaining Rings of Power. Nine of these he used to subvert nine Men to his cause; this was the origin of the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths.
Seven he gave to the Dwarves with the same purpose, though with much less success, as the Dwarves proved resistant to their magic.
Centuries later, at the end of the Second Age, Sauron fell in the War of the Last Alliance. Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand, but he was lost in the River Anduin, and the Ruling Ring was lost with him. So the Elves could once again use the power of their Three Rings, as they did through the Third Age. At last, the One Ring was found again, and Sauron’s quest to retrieve it resulted in the War of the Ring.
Ultimately, the Ring was destroyed in the place where Sauron had forged it nearly five thousand years earlier. With that, the remaining Rings of Power, including even the Elves’ Three Rings, lost the power they had held.
* Ringwil
The stream that flowed into the river Narog at Nargothrond.
* Ringwraiths|Ringwraith|Ring-wraiths|Ring-wraith The slaves of the Nine Rings of Men and chief servants of Sauron; also called Nazgûl and Ulairi.
–—
The slaves of Sauron’s Nine Rings.
The Nazgûl, the slaves of Sauron’s Nine Rings; originally Men who were corrupted by the Rings of Power.
* Rivendell
Translation of Sindarin Imladris; Elrond’s dwelling in a deep valley of the Misty Mountains.
–—
The Last Homely House.
The hidden refuge of Elrond Halfelven, founded in the Second Age against the assaults of Sauron in Eriador. It lay in a deep valley in the western foothills of the Misty Mountains, and endured under the Lordship of Elrond through the War of the Ring and beyond.
* River-daughter
A title of Goldberry.
A title given to Tom Bombadil’s companion Goldberry, described by Tom as the ‘River-woman’s daughter’ of the Withywindle.
* River-woman
The mother of Goldberry.
A mysterious being - apparently some kind of water-spirit - associated with the River Withywindle in the Old Forest. She was the mother of Goldberry, who was for this reason known as the ‘River-daughter’.
* Rivil
Stream falling norhtwards from Dorthonion and flowing into Sirion at the Fen of Serech.
–—
Sirion’s northernmost tributary.
A lesser tributary of the River Sirion, that rose in the heights of Dorthonion and flowed westward to meet the Sirion at the Fen of Serech.
* Robin ‘Cock-robin’ Smallburrow|Robin Smallburrow A Shirriff of the Shire.
A Hobbit from Hobbiton in the heart of the Shire, who put himself forward as a Shirriff six years before the War of the Ring began. He became caught up in the events of that War, and was pressed into service by the villainous Chief at Bag End.
* Robin Gardner
A son of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton; perhaps named for his father’s old friend, Robin Smallburrow.
* Rochallor
The steed of Fingolfin.
The great horse of High King Fingolfin, on which he rode to the gates of Angband and challenged Morgoth to single combat.
* Rochand|Rochan
An ancient form of the name Rohan.
‘Land of Horses’, an Elvish name for that region that later became known as Rohan, and the origin of that word. Also spelled Rochan.
* Rochon Methestel
‘Rider of the Last Hope’, the name of a song made concerning Borondir Udalraph.
* Rock of the Music of Water
An old name for the fountained city of Gondolin.
A name for the Hidden City of Gondolin, the literal meaning of its original Quenya name, Ondolindë.
* Róg|Rog|Rógin|Rogin
The actual name (plural Rógin) of the Drúedain in the language of the Rohirrim, represented by the translation Woses.
* Rohan
Form in Gondor of the Sindarin name Rochan(d), ‘the Horse-country’, the great grassy plain originally the northern part of Gondor, and then called Calenardhon. For the origins of the name, see Rochand.
–—
The wide land of the Rohirrim.
Originally the Gondorian province of Calenardhon, the land north of the White Mountains was gifted by Steward Cirion to Eorl of the Northmen in III 2510. Eorl had led his men through great hardship from the far north to the aid of Gondor, and Cirion gave him the wide green lands of Calenardhon in recognition of his aid, swearing eternal friendship between old Gondor and the new land of Rohan.
Rohan’s history was one of conflict and war; with the Orcs of the White Mountains, the Dunlendings to the west, and ultimately with Saruman in Orthanc, whose lands bordered Rohan to the north.
Nonetheless, the line of the Kings of Rohan stretched from Eorl’s time to the War of the Ring and beyond. The Kings sat in the Golden Hall of Meduseld in Edoras, built by Eorl’s son Brego. At the time of Gondor’s greatest need, they kept the Oath of Eorl, and rode to the aid of their ancient allies at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
* Roheryn
The steed of Aragorn.
The horse of Aragorn, brought to him out of the north by the Rangers during the War of the Ring, and said to have been a gift from the lady Arwen Evenstar.
* Rohirrim
‘The Horse-lords’ of Rohan.
–—
The people of Rohan. Originally descended from the Éothéod of the North, when Eorl was granted the land of Rohan, his people became known as Rohirrim, from the Elvish for ‘People of the Horse-lords’.
* Rómendacil I Tarostar|Rómendacil|Romendacil Eighth King of Gondor, who took the title of Rómendacil ‘East-victor’
after his repulse of the first attacks on Gondor by Easterlings.
–—
Victor over the Easterlings.
The heir of Ostoher, who succeeded his father to become Gondor’s eighth King. His name had originally been Tarostar, but he changed it to Rómendacil to reflect the heroic events surrounding his succession.
While his father Ostoher was still King, a horde of Easterlings attacked Gondor, the first time such a thing had been known. Ostoher was too old to take command of his own armies, so his son Tarostar took over the kingdom’s defence. After two years of fighting, the old King died, and Tarostar inherited the Crown. Another eight years of warfare followed, but in the end Tarostar defeated his enemies and saved Gondor. He took the name Rómendacil in celebration of his triumph; it means ‘East-victor’.
Neither Rómendacil’s triumph, nor Gondor’s peace, were to last indefinitely. Some forty years after his first victory, the Easterlings massed once more, and again attacked the South-kingdom. Rómendacil did not survive the assault, and it was left to his heir Turambar to face the fierce eastern warriors.
Rómendacil ruled Gondor for forty-nine years, and was succeeded by his son Turambar.
* Rómendacil II Minalcar|Rómendacil|Romendacil For many years Regent and afterwards nineteenth King of Gondor, who took the title of Rómendacil after his great defeat of the Easterlings in Third Age 1248.
–—
The second great victor over the Easterlings.
The Man who would one day rule as one of Gondor’s greatest Kings entered the World in inauspicious circumstances. He was born with the name Minalcar during the reign of Hyarmendacil II, and his father was Calmacil, the younger brother of the King’s grandson Narmacil. As such, there seemed little likelihood of his succeeding the throne, but fate would decide otherwise.
His uncle Narmacil took Gondor’s throne in the year III 1226. Narmacil was not a man suited to the rigours of Kingship, and chose instead to appoint a Regent to rule the Kingdom in his stead. His choice settled on his nephew Minalcar, who took up the Regency in III 1240. Having been given this authority, Minalcar acted swiftly to secure Gondor’s borders.
He built a huge army, and marched with it into the east were he destroyed the Easterling forces between Rhovanion and the Sea of Rhûn. After this great event, he took a title first used by his ancestor Tarostar in the sixth century, Rómendacil the East-victor.
Not satisfied with his great victory in the east, Rómendacil set about fortifying the River Anduin. It was he who built the Pillars of the Argonath above Nen Hithoel, as a warning and a marker of Gondor’s then northern border. He developed less tangible defences, too, working to cement a bond between Gondor and the Northmen who lived to the east. He went so far to send his son Valacar to live among them, an act from which the evils of the Kin-strife would eventually develop.
Had Narmacil had a son, Minalcar Rómendacil’s Regency would have ended with his uncle’s death in III 1294. Narmacil died without an heir, however, and his brother, Minalcar’s father Calmacil, succeeded instead.
Calmacil was King in name only, for he allowed his illustrious son to continue to rule as Regent. On the death of his father ten years later, the man who had actually been ruling Gondor for the previous sixty-four years finally became its true King, under his famous name Rómendacil II.
Rómendacil II ruled as Regent for sixty-four years and as King of Gondor for a further sixty-two years. He was succeeded by his son Valacar.
* Rómenna|Romenna
‘Eastwards’, great haven on the east coast of Númenor.
–—
The royal haven of Númenor.
A city and important port on the eastern coasts of Númenor. It was included in the royal region known as Arandor, the Kingsland.
* Roper Gamgee
The first of the Gamgees.
A name given to Hobson the son of Hob Gammidge. He followed in his father’s work as a roper in Tighfield, and so was given the name Roper Gamgee (‘Gamgee’ being a corruption of his father’s nickname ‘Gammidgy’).
He handed the family name down to his son Hamfast, and his grandson Samwise.
* Rorimac ‘Goldfather’ Brandybuck|Rorimac Brandybuck Master of Buckland at the time of Bilbo’s Birthday Party.
The son of Gorbadoc Brandybuck, who inherited the title of Master of Buckland from his father. He was present at Bilbo’s famous Birthday Party, and indeed was noted as being the first to suspect that Bilbo’s disappearance at that party meant that ‘Mad Baggins’ had gone off on another adventure. He was nearly a hundred years old at that time (being commonly known as ‘Old Rory’), and he lived for another seven years. The title ‘Master of Buckland’ passed on to his elder son Saradoc, and in time to his grandson Meriadoc of the Company of the Ring.
* Rose
The youngest daughter of Holman the greenhanded, who married Cotman and founded the Cotton family.
* Rose Cotton
Daughter of Tolman Cotton and Lily Brown, she married Samwise Gamgee after his return from the Quest of Mount Doom. Together they had thirteen children.
* Rose Gardner
Daughter of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton; presumably named after her mother.
* Rothinzil
Adûnaic (Númenórean) name of Eärendil’s ship Vingilot, with the same meaning, ‘Foam-flower’.
* Rowans|Rowan
Scarlet-berried trees of mountain slopes.
Trees of the genus Sorbus, also called ‘mountain ash’. Found especially on the slopes of mountains and hills, these trees with their unmistakable red berries once grew in the western Fangorn Forest, in the regions close to Isengard.
* Royal House of Gondor
Descendants of the rulers of the South-kingdom.
The extended house of the nobles and royalty of Gondor, descended from its first Kings. The house included the Kings of Gondor and their heirs, of course, but also their siblings and their descendants. On several occasions, the direct line of descent failed in Gondor, and other members of the house were called on to take up the Kingship. Most notable among these was Meneldil himself, the first King to rule Gondor in his own right, who took up the throne on the death of his uncle Isildur.
There are examples of members of the Royal House being granted important military roles. For example, the great Gondorian general Eärnil was a member of the Royal House, being a descendant of Telumehtar, great-grandfather to the reigning King Ondoher. Indeed, when Ondoher and his heirs were lost, Eärnil eventually succeeded to the Kingship himself.
One important political role, however, was closed to members of the Royal House: that of Steward. When Rómendacil I created the Stewardship, he specified that no member of the House should ever take the role. The descendants of the House of Húrin, who would eventually take on the hereditary Stewardship of the realm, were noted as being of high Númenórean blood, but they were not members of the Royal House itself.
* Rú|Ru|Rúatan|Ruatan
Also Rúatan, Quenya forms derived from the word Drughu, corresponding to Sindarin Drû, Drûadan.
* Ruby Bolger
Frodo Baggins’ paternal grandmother, the mother of his father Drogo.
* Ruby Gardner
The eleventh child and youngest daughter of Samwise Gamgee and Rose Cotton.
* Ruin of Beleriand
The catastrophe of the Dagor Bragollach.
The destruction and war that came with the Dagor Bragollach and the breaking of the Siege of Angband by Morgoth.
* Ruin of Doriath
The destruction of the Thingol’s ancient realm.
The final destruction of the realm of Doriath, and the slaying of its King, Dior, by the Sons of Fëanor.
* Ruler
A title claimed by Saruman for himself.
An ambitious title claimed by Saruman at the end of the Third Age.
* Ruling Queen of Númenor
Title of the three Queens who ruled in their own name.
A title used of just three Queens of Númenor: Tar-Ancalimë, Tar-Telperiën and Tar-Vanimeldë. These were the only Queens to rule the island of Númenor in their own right.
* Ruling Ring
Greatest of the Great Rings.
A name given to the One Ring, because of the authority it granted its wearer over the other Rings of Power.
* Ruling Steward
Title of Mardil and his descendants.
The title used of the rulers of Gondor after the loss of the last King, Eärnur. The first of these was Mardil Voronwë, and the title was carried in line of succession through twenty-six generations to Denethor II, Ruling Steward at the time of the War of the Ring. His son Faramir gave the rule of Gondor to Aragorn, the rightful Heir of Isildur.
* Rúmil of Lórien|Rúmil|Rumil
A marchwarden of the Galadhrim.
One of the border-guards of Lórien encountered by the Fellowship of the Ring as they fled from Moria. He was perhaps named for the more famous Rúmil, the inventor of writing.
* Rúmil of Tirion|Rúmil|Rumil
A Noldorin sage of Tirion, the first deviser of written characters; to him is attributed the Ainulindalë.
–—
The legendary inventor of writing.
An Elven loremaster, the inventor of written letters. His invention was later bettered by Fëanor, but Rúmil remains famous as the originator of writing.
* Runes|Rune
Characters first devised by Daeron of Doriath.
A system of writing based on angular shapes that could easily be carved into wood or stone. Originated by Daeron of Doriath to represent Sindarin words, runes came to be used widely by races other than the Elves, and especially by the Dwarves.
* River Running|Running
The river that flowed out of the Lonely Mountain.
Also called the Celduin, the great river that formed the eastern boundary of Rhovanion. It rose beneath Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, and flowed southeastwards for many hundreds of miles to its outflow in the Sea of Rhûn.
* Rushey|Rushy
A village of the Shire’s Eastfarthing.
A small village of the Marish, in the Eastfarthing of the Shire, spelt
‘Rushy’ on the map accompanying The Lord of the Rings.
* Rushlight Family|Rushlight
A family-name among the Men of Bree. Nothing is known of this family apart from the mere fact of its existence - none of its members are ever mentioned by name.
* Sack of Nargothrond
The destruction of the halls on the Narog.
Since its foundation by Finrod, the Elves of Nargothrond had pursued a secretive war against Morgoth, hunting their enemies by stealth and ambush rather than going to open war. When Túrin was led there by Gwindor, though, he counselled a different strategy to Orodreth, who had by that time succeeded his brother Finrod as King in Nargothrond.
Orodreth therefore built a bridge from his doors across the Narog, and went to open war with Morgoth.
This was a foolhardy strategy. In centuries of searching, Morgoth had been unable to find the fortress of Nargothrond, but now not only was its location revealed, but the new bridge removed the defence of the River Narog. Glaurung was sent out from Angband with an army of Orcs to capture the city.
The army of Nargothrond went out to meet Glaurung on the field of Tumhalad, some miles north of the citadel. They were routed, and those Elves left in the city awaiting their return, instead found the Dragon and his Orcs crossing their bridge and entering the citadel. These people, including Orodreth’s daughter Finduilas, were captured by the Orcs and driven northward.
Coming late to the sack were Túrin and some few other survivors of the Battle of Tumhalad. At the sight of the Dragon, Túrin’s companions fled, but Túrin himself was placed under Glaurung’s dragon-spell, and forced to watch as the captives were driven away. Then Glaurung released Túrin, knowing the evils this would cause, and settled to enjoy his newly-sacked domain.
* Sackville Family
A little-known family of the Shire-hobbits.
A Hobbit family of the Shire. Camellia Sackville is the only member of the family to appear in Tolkien’s writings; apart from her almost nothing is known about them, except that they are described as being one of the Shire’s wealthier families.
* Sackville-Baggins Family|Sackville-Baggins A short-lived family of the Shire-hobbits, formed by the marriage of Longo Baggins to Camellia Sackville. It came to an end with the death of Longo’s grandson Lotho in the War of the Ring.
* Sador
Serving-man of Húrin in Dor-lómin and friend of Túrin in his childhood, by whom he was called Labadal.
–—
A bondsman and servant of the Húrin of Dor-lómin, and the childhood friend of Húrin’s son Túrin.
* Saeros
Nandorin Elf, one of the chief counsellors of King Thingol in Doriath; insulted Túrin in Menegroth, and by him pursued to his death.
–—
The taunter of Túrin.
An Elf of the Nandor who went to dwell in Doriath at the court of Thingol after the First Battle. When Túrin came to that land, he and Saeros became enemies: it was the accidental death of Saeros at Túrin’s hands that drove the son of Húrin to become an outlaw.
* Salmar
Maker of the Ulumúri.
A Maia who entered Arda with Ulmo; maker of Ulmo’s great horns, the Ulumúri.
* Sammath Naur
The Chambers of Fire in the heart of Mount Doom.
The Chambers of Fire that lay within the Fire-mountain of Orodruin, Mount Doom. It was in these fiery chambers that Sauron forged the One Ring.
* Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee|Samwise|Sam
Hobbit of the Shire, one of the Fellowship of the Ring, and companion of Frodo in Mordor.
–—
Faithful servant and companion of Frodo Baggins, who accompanied him into Mordor and aided in the achievement of the Quest of Mount Doom.
* Sandheaver
A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.
* Saradoc ‘Scattergold’ Brandybuck|Saradoc Brandybuck The Master of Buckland at the time of the War of the Ring. He was the father of Meriadoc Brandybuck, who travelled into the south with the Company of the Ring.
* Sarch nia Hîn Húrin
‘Grave of the Children of Húrin’ (Brethil).
* Sarn Athrad|Ford of Stones
‘Ford of Stones’, where the Dwarf-road from Nogrod and Belegost crossed the river Gelion.
–—
The crossing-place of the River Gelion.
The stony ford of the River Gelion across which the Dwarf-road from the Blue Mountains entered East Beleriand.
* Sarn Ford
Partial translation of Sarn Athrad ‘Ford of Stones’, ford over the Baranduin at the extreme southern point of the Shire.
–—
The crossing of the Baranduin to the south of the Shire.
The stony ford on the River Baranduin, on the far southern borders of the Shire.
* Sarn Gebir
‘Stone-spikes’, name of rapids in Anduin above the Argonath, so called because of upright stake-like spikes of rock at their beginning.
–—
The rapids of the Great River Anduin. They appeared as the river’s course passed between the eastern and western Emyn Muil, above the Falls of Rauros.
* Saruman|White Messenger
‘Man of Skill’, the name among Men of Curunír (which it translates), one of the Istari (Wizards) and the head of their order. See Curumo, Curunír.
–—
The White wizard, traitor to the White Council.
Most often called Saruman the White, Saruman was the first of the five Wizards to arrive in Middle-earth, at the end of the first millennium of the Third Age. He was said to be the eldest of the order, and Gandalf acknowledged him as the chief of the Istari.
For a thousand years, and maybe more, he journeyed in the East of Middle-earth, and was little heard of in the West. He had returned, though, by III 2463, for he was present at the foundation of the Council of the Wise, and was made their chief (though both Elrond and Galadriel would have preferred Gandalf to take this position).
It was at about this time that Saruman began to study the Rings of Power, their history and the means of their making.
In III 2759, he was given the keys of Orthanc by Steward Beren of Minas Tirith, and took up his abode there. He continued his researches into ring-lore, and the making of devices, and was accustomed to watch the stars from the pinnacle of the Tower. He visited Minas Tirith to research the history of the Rings, and found among the ancient books and scrolls the story of the death of Isildur and the loss of the Ruling Ring.
In III 2851, the Council discovered proof that the Necromancer of Dol Guldur was indeed Sauron returned. Many of the Wise wished to attack the fortress and drive Sauron out, but Saruman spoke against this, and dissuaded the Council from mounting an assault. It was only after ninety years had passed that he relented and aided the Council in assailing Dol Guldur, driving Sauron back into Mordor. Saruman’s knowledge was vital in this victory, as Gandalf said - ‘it was by the devices of Saruman that we drove him from Dol Guldur’.
When the Council debated the Rings of Power, Saruman claimed that his researches showed that the One Ring had been lost forever. It was later shown that he did not believe this, however, and was searching for it himself, having secretly rebelled against the Council.
He built an army of Wolves and Orcs of his own within the ring of Isengard to challenge both Sauron and the Wise, and took control of the only nearby power, the country of Rohan, through his agent Gríma Wormtongue.
In July, III 3018, when he was ready to reveal himself, Saruman set a trap for Gandalf, using the Wizard Radagast to lure him to Orthanc. When Gandalf came, Saruman revealed that he had made a Ring of his own, and that he was no longer Saruman the White, but claimed the title Saruman of Many Colours. When Gandalf refused to join him, he was imprisoned on the pinnacle of the Tower of Orthanc - Saruman hoped to gain the secret of the One Ring from him, or at least prevent Gandalf from using it himself.
* Sauron
‘The Abhorred’ (in Sindarin called Gorthaur); greatest of the servants of Melkor, in his origin a Maia of Aulë. See Annatar, Artano, Aulendil.
–—
The Second Dark Lord.
Originally a Maia of Aulë’s people, Sauron was early corrupted by Melkor and became his most trusted lieutenant. In the Wars of Beleriand, Sauron was the most feared of Morgoth’s servants, but after the War of Wrath and the expulsion of the first Dark Lord, Sauron rose to become the greatest enemy of Elves and Men in the Second and Third Ages.
–—
Sauron’s History Before the First Age: Sauron was one of the mightiest (perhaps the mightiest) of the Maiar, and in the beginning of days he served Aulë the Smith. From Aulë he learnt much of forging and making, knowledge that he would make use of many thousands of years later when he built the Barad-dûr and forged the One Ring.
In the earliest days, Melkor seduced Sauron and took him to his own service, and Sauron became the greatest and most trusted of his followers. While Utumno still stood in the dark north of the world, Sauron was given command of his lesser fortress of Angband. At length, the Valar assaulted Melkor and took him in chains back to Valinor, but Sauron escaped, and remained in Middle-earth.
–—
Sauron in the First Age: While Melkor was captive in Aman, Angband was made ready for his return, and it must be assumed that Sauron had a large part in this work. After the Darkening of Valinor, Melkor returned indeed to Middle-earth, and took up his abode in Angband. Soon after, he travelled for a while into the eastern lands to seek the newly-awakened Men, and once again left Sauron in command of his forces.
Though Sauron doubtless continued his evil works in the service of his lord, we hear nothing of these for many centuries after the return of Morgoth, until the days after the Dagor Bragollach. For two years after the Dagor Bragollach itself, Finrod’s tower of Minas Tirith had guarded the Pass of Sirion against Morgoth’s forces. In I 457, Sauron himself came against the tower; he cast a spell of fear upon the Elves who held it, and they were slain or fled back to Finrod in Nargothrond.
Sauron then took Minas Tirith to dwell in, and watched the Pass of Sirion himself from its topmost tower. The isle on which it stood, which had been called Tol Sirion, was renamed Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves.
After the Dagor Bragollach, the last remnant of the House of Bëor became a scattered people. Barahir, its lord, took shelter in the uplands of Dorthonion at Tarn Aeluin with his son Beren and eleven others, and was hidden for a while from Morgoth. Sauron was sent to find and destroy this desperate band of outlaws. This he did by capturing Gorlim, one of Barahir’s followers, and using his sorcery he discovered the outlaws’
camp, and destroyed all of Barahir’s band but his son Beren.
Beren himself fled southwards through the treacherous paths of the Ered Gorgoroth, and Sauron’s army of werewolves failed to capture him. Fate drove Beren into Sauron’s hands eventually, though: some years later as a he travelled through the with on the Quest of the Silmaril, Sauron captured him with Finrod and their companions and imprisoned them in Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
Sauron knew nothing of Beren’s quest; sensing some danger to himself or his master, he sent wolves out throughout the lands of the Elves, and meanwhile he flung Beren, Finrod and their companions into a deep pit.
There they were devoured one after the other by one of his werewolves, and eventually all were lost but Beren. As the werewolf slew Finrod, though, Lúthien came upon Sauron’s Isle with Huan, the Hound of Valinor.
Sauron sent wolf after wolf to investigate Lúthien’s song, and each was slain in turn by Huan.
At last, he sent Draugluin, the mightiest wolf that had then lived, and he too was mortally wounded by Huan, but with his dying breath he returned to Sauron and warned him of the danger.
So Sauron went himself to one of his greatest defeats. He took the form known as Wolf-Sauron, the shape of a mighty werewolf, and went out to meet his foes. First, he attacked Lúthien, but under her enchantment he stumbled, and Huan sprang upon him. Though he shifted shape and struggled, he could not escape; at last he yielded the tower to Lúthien and Huan released him. He fled eastward then to Dorthonion, where he dwelt in the dark pine forests of Taur-nu-Fuin.
–—
Sauron in the Second Age: After the War of Wrath and the defeat of his master Morgoth, Sauron fled for a time into the east of the world.3 A period of one thousand years followed in which Sauron was not seen in the west of Middle-earth. As the first millennium of the Second Age turned, Sauron came back. He took the fenced and mountainous land of Mordor, and there began building his mighty Dark Tower of Barad-dûr.
The beginning of Sauron’s reign as Dark Lord can be dated from this time: he set himself no less a goal than the conquest of Middle-earth, and perhaps even of Númenor itself.
For six hundred years, he pursued a dual strategy. In the guise of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts, he tutored the Elves of Eregion, teaching them the secret things that only a Maia of Aulë’s people could know. From his lore, the Rings of Power were forged, but while he worked with the Elves, he continued the fortification of Mordor to make it an unassailable stronghold.
In the fire-mountain of Orodruin, he secretly forged the One Ring. This was to be the first stroke in his conquest of the west - a device by which he could know, and control, the thoughts of the bearers of the other Rings. His plan failed, though: the Elves became aware of his malevolent presence, and took off their Rings.
Angered by this setback, Sauron loosed the hordes of Mordor, six hundred years in the building, and overran Eriador, destroying the land of Eregion where the Rings were made. The Elves called on Númenor for aid, though, and the army of Tar-Minastir put Sauron’s forces to rout. After this reverse, Sauron sought instead to build power in the eastern countries, and left the Westlands in peace for many centuries.
When Ar-Pharazôn usurped the throne of Númenor in II 3255, he saw Sauron’s growing eastern kingdom as a threat. Building and equipping a mighty fleet, he sailed for Middle-earth, and landed at Umbar, to the south of the Mouths of Anduin. Ar-Pharazôn demanded that Sauron submit to his authority and, seeing that the might of the Númenóreans far outstripped his own, Sauron agreed.
–—
The Shapes of Sauron: All of the Ainur had the ability to change their form, but none held so many different shapes as Sauron. During the First Age, his accustomed form seems to have been that of a dark sorceror, commanding a host of evil things, and especially werewolves and their kind. He shifted form many times in his existence, though, especially during his duel with Huan; among the shapes he wore were:
- Wolf-Sauron. This was the monstrous wolf-shape he chose when he went forth from his fortress on Tol-in-Gaurhoth to battle with Huan.
- During the battle, he changed his form to that of a serpent in his struggles to escape.
- Finally, after Huan released him, he became a great vampire, and fled into the east, ‘dripping blood from his throat upon the trees’.
* Sauron’s Isle
The island of Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
A name for Tol Sirion during the period of roughly ten years that it was under the command of Sauron.
* Scatha the Worm|Scatha
A mighty Long-worm of the Grey Mountains.
One of the greatest of the dragons to infest the Grey Mountains of the north. Of his life little is known, except that he was slain by Fram son of Frumgar (an ancestor of Eorl the Young) in the early days of the Éothéod.
His recovered hoard was the subject of great dispute between the Men of the Éothéod and the Dwarves of that region, who claimed the hoard as their own. Fram rebuked their claim, and sent them the teeth of the dragon, with the words, ‘Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by’. Thereafter there was war between the Éothéod and the Dwarves, and Fram was said to have been slain by them.
However this dispute was resolved (we are not told), it seems that Fram’s people retained at least some of the hoard, and brought it south with them when they settled in Rohan. The horn that Éowyn gave to Merry Brandybuck after the War of the Ring (many hundred years later) was said to come from it.
* Sceptre
Royal symbol of the Dúnedain.
The symbol of Kingship to the Númenóreans and their descendants.
* Sceptre of Annúminas|Sceptre of Annuminas The token of royalty in the North-kingdom.
A silver rod, originally the symbol of office of the Lords of Andúnië in Númenor. It survived the Downfall, and was held by the Kings of Arnor while that realm lasted. After the division of the North-kingdom, it was handed down through the generations of the Kings of Arthedain and their descendants, the Chieftains of the Dúnedain.
* Scroll of Isildur
Isildur’s own account of the Ring.
–—
“… there lies in Minas Tirith still, unread, I guess, by any save Saruman and myself since the kings failed, a scroll that Isildur made himself.”
(Words of Gandalf; The Fellowship of the Ring II 2, The Council of Elrond)
–—
A scroll made by Isildur himself during his short time in Minas Tirith after the War of the Last Alliance, that was stored for millennia in the vaults of that city. The scroll held Isildur’s account of the gaining of the Ring from Sauron. His description of the Ring, and his account of the fiery writing that ran around it, was vital in helping Gandalf identify Frodo’s Magic Ring as the One Ring of Sauron.
* Sea-elves|Sea-elf|Sea Elves|Sea Elf
A name for those Teleri who dwelt on the shores of Aman.
A name of the Teleri, and especially those of that kin who came to Aman and dwelt at Alqualondë, for their love of the sea and reverence of Ulmo its lord.
* Seal of the Stewards
The emblem of the Stewards of Gondor.
The seal of the Stewards of Gondor, consisting of the letters R·ND·R
below three stars. The letters represent the word Arandur. This is the actual Elvish title, literally meaning ‘King’s Servant’, that Tolkien renders into English as ‘Steward’.
When the twelfth Steward, Cirion, sent north to Eorl for aid in his desperate wars, he sent the Seal with each of six riders. Only one of these, named Borondir, succeeded in reaching the nation of the Éothéod, but from this came the famous Ride of Eorl and the foundation of Rohan.
* Second Age
The Age of Númenor.
Beginning in about the 584th year since the Return of the Noldor to Middle-earth, the Second Age is the longest of the chronicled Ages. It began after the destruction of Beleriand in the War of Wrath, the founding of Lindon and the creation of Númenor.
The Second Age was the Age of Númenor; the great island kingdom was created and peopled by the descendants of the Edain in the first years of the Age, and as the years passed, their power grew until it surpassed that of any nation of Men, before or since. They sailed east, exploring Middle-earth and founding great cities there. Eventually, their power and pride became so great that they challenged the Valar themselves, and were destroyed.
The end of Númenor was not the end of the Second Age, though; a remnant of the Númenoreans led by Elendil escaped its wreck and founded kingdoms in Middle-earth; Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south. They formed a mighty alliance, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, and marched on Sauron, who had grown great again, assailing the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr.
With the first overthrow of Sauron by the Alliance, the Second Age came to its end.
–—
Key Events of the Second Age:
- 1: Foundation of the Elven-kingdoms in the west of Middle-earth, Mithlond and Lindon.
- 32: Arrival of the Edain in Númenor. Elrond’s brother Elros becames their first king, taking the name Tar-Minyatur.
- 600: The first ships of the Númenoreans return to Middle-earth.
- 1200: Sauron comes to the Elves of Eregion in a fair guise, and begins to teach them.
- c.1590: The smiths of Eregion complete the Three Rings of the Elves.
- c.1600: Sauron forges the One Ring in Orodruin, and so reveals his true purposes to the Elves.
- 1693: War begins between the Elves and Sauron.
- 1701: Sauron’s forces, after taking much of Eriador, are driven back into the East by an army of Númenor.
- c.2250: First appearance of the Nazgûl.
- 3261: Ar-Pharazôn, last King of Númenor, usurps the throne.
- 3262: Ar-Pharazôn sails to Middle-earth and takes Sauron as prisoner back to Númenor. There, he begins to corrupt the Númenoreans.
- 3319: Ar-Pharazôn sails into the west to assail the Valar. The Downfall of Númenor.
- 3320: Arnor and Gondor are founded by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion.
- 3430: Formation of the Last Alliance.
- 3441: Defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance.
* Second People
A name given by the Elves to the race of Men; the literal meaning of both the Quenya word Atani and the Sindarin Edain.
* Secondborn
The Younger Children of Ilúvatar, Men.
* Secret Fire
The fire at the heart of the World.
–—
“Therefore Ilúvatar gave to their vision Being, and set it amid the Void, and the Secret Fire was sent to burn at the heart of the World; and it was called Eä.”
(Valaquenta)
–—
A mysterious power, never explained in detail, that seems to represent the principle of existence and creation. Little can be said of it for certain, though it seems to be identified with, or at least connected to, the Flame Imperishable of Ilúvatar. When Gandalf met the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, he spoke of himself as a servant of the Secret Fire. It has been conjectured that these words referred to his fire-ring Narya, but it seems unlikely that he would reveal this to a bitter enemy.
More plausibly, Gandalf’s words identify him as a servant of the power of Ilúvatar.
* Seeing-stones|Seeing-stone|Seeing stones|Seeing stone A name for the Palantíri.
The powerful orbs known as the palantíri made in ancient days by the Elves in Aman, and indeed said to have been the work of Fëanor himself.
In appearance they were dark, perfectly smooth globes of various capabilities and sizes; some were small and portable, others so huge that they could not be lifted by a Man.
The Elves gave certain of these stones to the Númenóreans, and seven of these Númenórean stones were rescued from the Downfall of that island by Elendil and his sons. So these seven were brought to Middle-earth, and the Dúnedain set them up at distant points in their lands: at Amon Sûl, Elostirion and Annúminas in the north, and at Osgiliath, Orthanc, Minas Anor and Minas Ithil in the south. The chief stone of the north was that of Amon Sûl, lost with Arvedui in the cold northern seas. The greatest of the southern stones stood beneath the Dome of Stars in Osgiliath, and was lost during the Kin-strife.
During the Third Age, three of the stones were known to have been lost (Arvedui also had the Stone of Annúminas with him when he was lost at sea). The Ithil-stone was captured by Sauron and almost certainly destroyed in the Downfall of Barad-dûr, and the palantír of Elostirion in the Tower Hills was taken back into the West on the Ring-bearers’ White Ship. At the beginning of the Fourth Age, then, there were just two Seeing-stones left in Middle-earth, the Anor-stone and the Orthanc-stone.
The Seeing-stones of Middle-earth were not the only palantíri to exist.
Many remained with the Elves in Aman, including the so-called Master-stone held in the Tower of Avallónë on Tol Eressëa. Indeed, it was said that, before the stone was removed from the Tower Hills, it could be used to look along the Straight Road to the Undying Lands themselves.
* Self-cursed
One of the many Elvish names for the race of Men.
* Seregon
‘Blood of Stone’, a plant with deep red flowers that grew on Amon Rûdh.
* Serindë|Serinde
‘The Broideress’; see Míriel.
–—
The surname of Míriel the mother of Fëanor. Serindë means ‘needlewoman’.
* Serni
One of the rivers of Lebennin in Gondor.
–—
A minor river of southern Gondor.
A short river of southern Gondor; it rose beneath the eastern White Mountains, and flowed southwestward through Lebennin until it met the River Gilrain at Linhir.
* Serpents|Serpent
Writhing creatures of the Dark Lord.
Creatures of Morgoth; Sauron took the form of one during his battle with Huan.
* Seven Rings of the Dwarves|Seven Rings|The Seven The Rings of the Dwarf-lords.
Those of the Rings of Power that Sauron gave to the Dwarves to seduce them to his service. The Dwarves proved too hardy to be lured in this way, though, and the Rings did little more than increase their native lust for gold. By the end of the Third Age, Sauron had recovered three of the Seven Rings to himself, and the other four had been consumed by dragons.
* Seven Rivers of Ossir
The River Gelion and its six tributaries.
Seven rivers that flowed through Ossiriand, the land of the Green-elves west of the Blue Mountains. The most important of these was the Gelion, which flowed from the March of Maedhros in the far north, and formed the western border of Ossiriand.
The other six rivers were tributaries of this large river, each stemming from a separate spring in the Blue Mountains, and flowing westward to empty into the Gelion. The northernmost of these was the Ascar, which rose in the mountains near Nogrod, and flowed beside the Dwarf-road to Sarn Athrad. South from the Ascar were the Thalos, the Legolin, the Brilthor and the Duilwen. Finally, the southernmost of the six was the River Adurant, in which the green island of Tol Galen stood.
* Seven Stones
The Seeing-stones of the Realms in Exile.
The Palantíri, the seven Seeing-stones rescued from the wreck of Númenor and brought to Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons.
* Seventh Gate
The Last Gate of Gondolin.
The huge steel gate that barred the final entrance into the Orfalch Echor, and so to the Hidden City of Gondolin. It was built by Maeglin after the escape of the armies of Gondolin from the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
* Shadow
The shroud of darkness.
A term that apparently refers to the bewilderment and darkness accompanying certain enchantments. Sauron’s tower of Barad-dûr was surrounded by Shadow, and the term is also associated with the land of Lórien and with the Ents.
* Shadow of the Wood|Huorn-dark
The darkness spread by the Huorns.
The shadowy Huorn-dark spread by the tree-army of the Ents.
* Shadowfax
The great horse of Rohan ridden by Gandalf in the War of the Ring.
–—
The grey-silver steed of Gandalf.
A mighty horse of Rohan, a descendant of the mearas, tamed by Gandalf and reluctantly granted as a gift to him by King Théoden of the Rohirrim.
Thought to have passed West over the Sea with his master.
* Shadowy Mountains
The bulwark of Hithlum.
A name for and translation of Ered Wethrin, the mountain chain that walled Dor-lómin, Mithrim and Hithlum to the north of Beleriand. They are more commonly referred to as the Mountains of Shadow.
* Shagrat
Commander of the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
The Uruk commanding the Tower of Cirith Ungol in the Ephel Dúath, who captured Frodo Baggins during the War of the Ring.
* Sharbhund
Name among the Petty-dwarves for Amon Rûdh.
* Shards of Narsil|Narsil
The broken Sword of Elendil.
At the end of the Second Age, Elendil’s great sword Narsil was already an ancient and famous weapon, forged more than three millennia earlier by the Telchar of Nogrod. In the War of the Last Alliance, Elendil fell, and his sword was broken, but its remains were brought to the North-kingdom.
These shards were carried by Elendil’s heirs throughout the Third Age, as a token of their ancestry, until the time of the War of the Ring. The shards were reforged by the smiths of Rivendell into Aragorn’s sword Andúril.
* Sharkey
A nickname for Saruman given by his servants and soldiers in Isengard and later used in the Shire during the last stages of the War of the Ring. In its origin we catch a rare glimpse of an Orkish word: sharkû, which is said to mean, ‘old man’.
* Sharkey’s Men|Sharkey’s Man|Men of Sharkey|Man of Sharkey The ruffians who took over the Shire.
The thuggish Men brought to the Shire during in the War of the Ring to serve as Saruman’s henchmen. They were eventually defeated by the Shire-hobbits, most notably at the famous Battle of Bywater.
* Shathûr|Shathur
A Dwarvish name for the mountain Fanuidhol.
A short name used by the Dwarves - in full Bundushathûr - for Fanuidhol, one of the three Mountains of Moria. Its translation is presumably the same as for the Elvish version of its name, which means ‘Cloudyhead’.
* Sheep
Woolly grazing animals, especially common in the Númenórean region of Emerië, and (in Middle-earth) on the Barrow-downs and in the Vales of Anduin.
* Shelob
The great she-spider who haunted Cirith Ungol.
A creature of spider-shape, of the spawn of Ungoliant, who dwelt in the mountains on the western borders of Mordor.
* Shelob’s Lair
The dark tunnels of Cirith Ungol.
A partial English translation of Torech Ungol, the name of the black, mazelike lair of Shelob in the pass of Cirith Ungol.
* Shepherds of the Trees
A poetic name for the Ents.
A name of the Ents, who were created at the prayer of Yavanna to protect the forests of Middle-earth.
* Ship-king
A title given to four great Kings of Gondor.
The title given to the great King Tarannon Falastur and his three successors: Eärnil I, Ciryandil and Hyarmendacil I. These four did much to expand Gondor’s naval and military might. Between them, they enormously extended the South-kingdom’s control over the southern lands of Middle-earth, ncluding the lands west of the Mouths of Anduin, and as far south as Umbar and the Harad. Their influence was such that, at the end of the reign of Hyarmendacil I, Gondor had reached a peak of strength and power that it would never again surpass.
* Ship of Long-foam
The island of Cair Andros.
A descriptive name for the long, thin eyot in the River Anduin, whose sharp northern end broke the waters of the Great River into two thin streams for a distance of some ten miles.
* Shire Calendar
The calendar in use by the Hobbits of the Shire, in which the year was divided into twelve months of thirty days each, with five additional days to make up a full 365-day year.
* Shire-folk
A common term for the Hobbits who lived in the Shire.
* Shire-hobbits
The Halflings of the Shire.
The Hobbits of the Shire; the descendants and followers of Marcho and Blanco, the two Bree-hobbits who founded the Shire. Among the Shire-hobbits were representatives of each of the three main types of Hobbit, the Stoors, Harfoots and Fallohides.
Shire-hobbits were considered the most rustic and pastoral of their kind, even by other Hobbits (such as those of Bree or Buckland). The most important family among the Shire-hobbits were the Tooks of the Westfarthing, who had held the hereditary, and largely honorary, title of Thain from III 2340.
* Shire-reckoning
The count of years according to the Shire-hobbits.
The system of reckoning dates unique to the Hobbits of the Shire, based on the founding of that land in III 1601. The Shire-hobbits reckoned this as year 1. So, years of the Third Age can be converted to Shire-years by subtracting 1600 (e.g. the Downfall of Barad-dûr occurred in III 3019, but in the Shire this was counted as the year 1419).
The Shire-folk took no account of the change of Age in III 3021. While the other peoples of Middle-earth considered this to be the first year of the Fourth Age, in the Shire it was simply 1421.
* Shire-thain
Titular leader of the Shire-hobbits.
For nearly four hundred years after its foundation, the Shire had been part of the lands of Arthedain, and under the rule of that land’s King.
Ultimately, Arthedain fell to the forces of Angmar, and its last King, Arvedui, was lost, leaving the Shire-hobbits without a ruler. They remedied this by choosing a new leader from among themselves, Bucca of the Marish, who was given the title thain, a word simply meaning ‘chief’.
Bucca and his descendants, a family known as the Oldbucks, served as Shire-thain for twelve generations. The twelfth Thain, one Gorhendad Oldbuck, left the Shire and crossed the River Brandywine to found Buckland. With his departure, the Thainship passed to a new line, the Tooks, and specifically to Isumbras Took I.
From Isumbras I, the line of the Took Shire-thains continued unbroken to the time of the War of the Ring and beyond. The last recorded Thain was Faramir Took I, the thirty-fourth to hold the title of Shire-thain. The fact that both he and his father Peregrin Took are recorded as the first of that name shows that there must have been more Thains after this time, and the tradition clearly lasted well into the Fourth Age.
* Shirebourn
A southern river of the Shire.
A lesser river of the Shire’s Eastfarthing, whose name means simply
‘Shire-stream’. Its source was in the uplands of the Green Hill Country, from where it flowed south and then southeast. At Willowbottom, it met the Thistle Brook, and then flowed eastwards until the Shirebourn itself met the Brandywine.
The Shirebourn flowed into the Brandywine beneath Deephallow, and at its mouth formed the boggy region known as the Overbourn Marshes, opposite the southern end of the High Hay.
* Shirriffs|Shirriff
The Shire’s ‘police’.
The title given to those who kept order in the Shire, somewhat akin to a
‘police force’. Normally few in number, the Shirriffs were greatly increased during the time of the War of the Ring.
* Sickle of the Valar
The Valacirca, the seven stars set in the sky by Varda as an enduring warning to Melkor and his servants.
* Sickly
Engwar, a name for Men among the Elves.
A name given by the Elves to the race of Men, Engwar in their tongue, referring to the fact that Men suffered illness and age, which the Elves did not.
* Siege of Angband
The leaguer of the Noldor around the fortress of Morgoth in the early centuries of the First Age. The Siege was broken in the Dagor Bragollach.
* Siege of Barad-dûr|Siege of Barad-dur
Prelude to the victory of the Last Alliance.
The siege of Sauron’s Dark Tower by the forces of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age. Gil-galad, Elendil and Elendil’s son Anárion all lost their lives in the Siege, but ultimately Sauron was defeated and the Barad-dûr thrown down, at least for a time.
* Sigismond Took
A grandson of Gerontius, the Old Took, and the grandfather of Fredegar
‘Fatty’ Bolger.
* Silent Hill
The Beacon-hill of Amon Dîn.
Amon Dîn, the oldest of the beacon-hills of Gondor and the nearest to Minas Tirith.
* Silent Street
Minas Tirith’s street of tombs.
Rath Dínen, the street that ran between Minas Tirith and Mindolluin, on which lay the tombs of the Kings and Stewards of Gondor.
* Silmariën|Silmarien
Daughter of Tar-Elendil, the fourth King of Númenor; mother of Valandil first lord of Andúnië and ancestress of Elendil the Tall and his sons Isildur and Anárion.
–—
Royal ancestor of the Lords of Andúnië.
The daughter, and eldest child, of Tar-Elendil, fourth King of Númenor.
She did not succeed her father (though later changes to the laws of Númenor would have made her Ruling Queen). Instead, she founded the line of the Lords of Andúnië from which the Kings of Gondor and Arnor were descended.
* Silmarillion
‘Of the Silmarils’.
While Bilbo Baggins dwelt in Rivendell, he made use of all the resources there (including the memories of living Elves) to write four scholarly volumes bound in red leather. The first of these, the Red Book of Westmarch, was continued by Bilbo’s heir, Frodo. It was copied many times, and became the original source for our modern The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
The Hobbits of the Shire, though, seem to have had less interest in the other three volumes, originally entitled simply Translations from the Elvish, that told the tales of the ancient First Age and the time before.
Only one copy was made, in Gondor in IV 172, and this was kept at Great Smials by the Took family - it became known as the Thain’s Book. It is from this copy that the modern Silmarillion comes.
The Silmarillion, which in its own words passes ‘from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin’ actually consists of a corpus of five works, of which the Quenta Silmarillion is the central tale. These are:
- Ainulindalë, the tale of the Music of the Ainur and the creation of Arda.
- Valaquenta, the tale of the Valar, in which the nature of each of the Powers is described.
- Quenta Silmarillion, the longest tale, which gives an account of the history of Arda from its beginnings until the end of the First Age.
- Akallabêth, the tale of the Second Age, which concentrates on the history of Númenor until its Downfall.
- Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, which spans the late Second Age and the Third, telling of the forging of the Rings of Power and their history up to the War of the Ring.
* Silmarils|Silmaril
The three jewels made by Fëanor before the destruction of the Two Trees of Valinor, and filled with their light.
–—
The Great Jewels.
The three great jewels made by Fëanor in Valinor, in which he locked the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, before their destruction.
Melkor stole the jewels from Fëanor’s stronghold at Formenos, slaying his father Finwë, and fled with them back to his fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth.
Fëanor swore an oath to recover the Silmarils, and many of the Noldor followed him into exile in pursuit of the jewels. So began their hopeless war against the forces of Morgoth, of which the Quenta Silmarillion (the
‘Tale of the Silmarils’) tells the story. During the First Age, one Silmaril alone was recovered from Morgoth’s Iron Crown by Beren and Lúthien, and was borne by Eärendil when he sailed into the West to seek the aid of the Valar.
By virtue of the Silmaril, it is said, Eärendil reached Aman and was heard by the Valar, who sent a mighty force into Middle-earth. Morgoth was utterly defeated, and the Silmarils recovered. Maedhros and Maglor, the only two of Fëanor’s seven sons to survive until that War of Wrath, stole the jewels from the camp of the Valar. Their evil deeds in pursuance of the jewels, however, drove them to madness; Maedhros cast himself into a fiery chasm with one of the Silmarils, and Maglor threw the other into the depths of the sea. So only one Silmaril remains visible in the World, bound to Eärendil’s brow as he sails the heavens; the Morning and Evening Star.
* Silpion
A name of Telperion.
* Silvan Elves|Silvan Elf
Also called Woodland Elves. Nandorin Elves who never passed west of the Misty Mountains, but remained in the Vale of Anduin and in Greenwood the Great; see Nandor.
–—
Elves who fell away from the Great Journey.
Long before the beginning of the First Age, the Elves of the Great Journey travelled westward through the lands of Middle-earth. Coming to the Great River Anduin and the high peaks of the Misty Mountains, some of the Elves of the clanof the Teleri fell away from the journey, and settled in the woodlands east of the Mountains. These were the original Silvan Elves, who lived on either side of the River. At this time in their history, all of this peoplestill lived close together, with some dwelling in the land that would later be called Lórien, and the others settling around the hill of Amon Lanc in the far south of Greenwood the Great.
It must have been in the time these Elves were living closely together that the Silvan Elvish language appeared. As history passed, the Elves would move away from one another, and mingle with other Elvish peoples, so that the Silvan branch of Elvish would eventually become extinct.
Nonetheless, relics of that ancient tongue survived in some well-known place-names and personal names, such as Caras Galadhon, Amroth and even Lórien itself.
The Silvan Elves dwelt in their twin woodland realms for many centuries, but in the Second Age the emerging power of Sauron began to drive them apart. Oropher was the ruler of the Elves who dwelt in the Greenwood, and he began to seek safety by moving his people northwards, away from Amon Lanc and away from the Silvan Elves who lived to the west of theGreat River.
–—
West of Anduin - the Silvan Elves of Lórien: Unlike their cousins in the east, the Silvan Elves of Lórien remained settled in their land throughout their known history. We know little of their existence well into the Second Age, where we find them ruled by a Sindarin Elf named Amdír. After the destruction of Eregion in the middle Second Age, many of its exiles had escaped through Khazad-dûm into the east, and had joined the Silvan Elves of Lórien and ultimately mingled with them.
Amdír was lost in the wars at the end of the Second Age. In the time of his son Amroth, Durin’s Bane wasunleashed in Khazad-dûm. After this time, especially with the power of Sauron growing in Dol Guldur to the east, many of Lórien’s people fled into the south. Amroth himself was among them, and he was drowned in the Bay of Belfalas far from his kingdom. It was at this time, a little more than a thousand years before the War of the Ring, that Galadriel and Celeborn became the Lord and Lady of Lórien.
–—
East of Anduin - the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood: The Elves of Greenwood the Great, soon to become known as Mirkwood, had a much less settled existence than their fellow Silvan Elves in the west. Their original dwellings were in the far south of the great Wood, but as Sauron’s power grew, they gradually withdrew farther and farther northward. Eventually Sauron chose to settle within the Forest itself, and in fact built his fortress of Dol Guldur on the hill of Amon Lanc, where the Silvan Elves had originally dwelt. Though his identity remained secret during this time (he was known simply as the ‘Necromancer’) he brought darkness and shadow to Greenwood the Great, and the Elves retreated farther still.
In the later years of the Third Age, their King Thranduil (the son of Oropher, who was slain in the War of the Last Alliance) dwelt with his people in the far northeast of Mirkwood, in underground dwellings protectedby magic. Their history of fleeing from Sauron’s darkness had made them a suspicious and unwelcoming people, as Thorin and his companions discovered during the Quest of Erebor. It was from Thranduil’s underground halls that his son Legolas journeyed at the end of the Third Age, to play a great part in the War of the Ring.
–—
The War of the Ring and beyond: In the War of the Ring, Sauron’s forces attacked both Silvan realms. By the power of Galadriel and her Ring, Lórien was protected against three waves of assault from Dol Guldur.
Thranduil had no Ring to protect his realm - it was invadedand the trees of the northern forest set alight, though he was at last able to drive back the enemy.
With the fall of Sauron, Dol Guldur was destroyed, and Mirkwood renamed again: Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves. Now the Silvan Elves once again dwelt in the south of the Wood, but these were not Thranduil’s people, but Elves of Lórien, who crossed the Great River to live in a new land named East Lórien. Though the original land of Lórien faded after the passing of Galadriel and Celeborn, the Silvan Elves of the Wood lived peacefully under their trees for many long years.
* Silverlode|Silver Lode
The river the Elves called Celebrant.
The name among Men for the river the Elves called Celebrant; it sprang from the Mirrormere in the Dimrill Dale, and flowed east through Lórien to meet the River Anduin.
* Silvertine
The Mannish name for Zirakzigil.
One of the three peaks that made up the Mountains of Moria, above the Dwarf-city of Khazad-dûm. Its Dwarvish name was Zirakzigil, while the Elves called it Celebdil.
* Sindar|Sinda
The Grey-elves; name applied to all the Elves of Telerin origin whom the returning Noldor found in Beleriand, save for the Green-elves of Ossiriand. The Noldor may have devised this name because the first Elves of this origin whom they met with were in the north, under the grey skies and mists about Lake Mithrim; or perhaps because the Grey-elves were not of the Light (of Valinor) nor yet of the Dark (Avari), but were Elves of the Twilight. But it was held to refer to Elwë’s name Thingol (Quenya Sindacollo, Singollo ‘Grey-cloak’), since he was acknowledged high king of all the land and its peoples. The Sindar called themselves Edhil, plural Edhel.
–—
The Grey-elves.
An Elvish people of Telerin origin. Coming to the western shores of Middle-earth with the others of their kin, they did not pass across the sea, but remained in Beleriand. Some had tarried there searching for their lord, Elwë, while others were persuaded to remain by Ossë the Maia.
Before the return of the Noldor to Middle-earth, the Sindar were found in most parts of Beleriand; all claimed Elwë (known as Thingol in the Sindarin tongue) as their high king. There were two main countries of the Sindar, however; in Doriath under the rule of Thingol and Melian, and in the Falas, under the lordship of Círdan the Shipwright.
The name means ‘Grey People’ (from the name of their King, Thingol Greycloak).
–—
Before the Return of the Noldor: For two ages, the Sindar dwelt in peace and plenty; they roamed throughout Beleriand, from the shorelands of the Falas in the west to the Blue Mountains in the east, and all owned Thingol as their lord and king.
In the third age of the Captivity of Melkor (that is, the last age of the Years of the Trees), evil things that had dwelt east of the Blue Mountains began to trouble the Sindar. At this time, they first considered the need for weapons and armour, which they had not needed before. They traded with the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost, and learned smithcraft from them. Thus armed, they drove the invading wolves and Orcs and other foul things from their land and had peace again, for a time.
* Sindarin
Of or pertaining to the Sindar.
* Sindarin (language)|Sindarin
The Elvish tongue of Beleriand, derived from the common Elvish speech but greatly changed through long ages from Quenya of Valinor; acquired by the Noldorin exiles in Beleriand. Called also the Grey-elven tongue, the tongue of the Elves of Beleriand, etc.
–—
The tongue of the Grey-elves.
The language of the Grey-elves of Beleriand and most commonly used of the Elf-tongues in Middle-earth. When the Noldor returned to Middle-earth at the beginning of the First Age, Thingol decreed that their tongue, Quenya, was not to be spoken in his realms. So the language of his people, Sindarin, came to dominate. Quenya, though, was still used as a language of ceremony and poetry.
Sindarin shared common roots with Quenya, and the two languages had many similar words. Sindarin was said to be more changeful than the older tongue, however, and there were a number of regional ‘dialects’ of the tongue. The Sindarin spoken in Doriath was said to be the highest and most noble form of the language.
The word Sindarin means ‘(Language) of the Grey People’.
* Singollo|Sindacollo
‘Grey-cloak’, ‘Grey-mantle’; see Thingol. Called also Sindacollo.
–—
An old form of the name Thingol.
An ancient surname, meaning ‘Greycloak’, of Elwë, brother of Olwë and lord of the Sindar. It is better known in its later Sindarin form, Thingol.
* Sîr Angren|Sir Angren|Angren
Sindarin name of the Isen. See Athrad Angren.
–—
The Elvish name for the River Isen.
The older, Elvish name for the river much better known by the name the Rohirrim gave it - the Isen. Both names have the same meaning; ‘the iron river’.
* Sîr Ninglor|Sir Ninglor|Ninglor
The Elves’ name for the Gladden River.
The Sindarin name of the river called the Gladden by Men, meaning ‘River Goldwater’.
* Sirannon
The gate-stream of old Khazad-dûm, that flowed from its westward walls into Eregion. Its precise course is unknown, but it was presumably a tributary of the River Glanduin.
* Siril
The chief river of Númenor, flowing southwards from the Meneltarma.
–—
The major river of the island of Númenor.
The greatest of the few rivers on the island of Númenor; it rose in the valleys beneath the Meneltarma, and flowed directly southwards to come to the sea at the fishing port of Nindamos, on the borders of the Hyarnustar and the Hyarrostar.
* Sirion
The ‘Great River’ of Beleriand, flowing from north to south and dividing West from East Beleriand.
–—
The great river of Beleriand.
The greatest of the rivers of Beleriand, the Sirion flowed some 850
miles from its source in the cold highlands of the Ered Wethrin to its mighty delta on the Bay of Balar. It was unusual in that, for some nine miles of its middle course, it flowed underground from the wide, enchanted marshland of Aelin-uial beneath the high land known as the Andram. The Sirion was regarded as the border between East and West Beleriand.
* Siriondil
The eleventh of Gondor’s Kings, who succeeded his father King Atanatar I during the waning years of the Third Age’s first millennium. We know almost nothing of his reign, which seems to have been a peaceful one. He was succeeded by his illustrious son Tarannon Falastur, the first of the line of four Ship-kings.
* Sirith
The river that met the Anduin at Pelargir.
A Gondorian river that rose in the White Mountains in eastern Lebennin, and flowed southward. At the point where it met the Great River Anduin, the port of Pelargir stood.
* Skinbark
One of the oldest of Ents.
With Treebeard and Leaflock, one of the three oldest Ents of Fangorn Forest. He lived on the slopes above and to the west of Isengard, and so he and his people suffered the most at the hands of Saruman’s despoiling Orcs.
* Skin-changers|Skin-changer
Magical shape-changing beings.
Creatures who could take different forms at will. Little is known of their abilities; the only skin-changers identified by Tolkien were Beorn and his descendants (who could take the shape of a Man or of a bear), but evidently other skin-changers existed.
* Smaug
The great Dragon of Erebor. Called also simply ‘the Dragon’.
–—
The Dragon of Erebor.
–—
“My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”
(Smaug’s description of himself, from The Hobbit 12, Inside Information).
–—
Smaug was the last of the great fire-drakes, and said to be the greatest dragon of his time. At some time during the twenty-eighth century of the Third Age, he came to hear of the immense wealth held by the Dwarves of Erebor. Where he came from we do not know for certain, but in the year III 2770 he descended in fire on the Lonely Mountain, destroying the Dwarf-kingdom and the nearby township of Dale.
Gathering together the treasures of the Dwarves, he formed himself an immense bed of gold and jewels and settled within the ruined halls of Erebor. Slowly the years and decades passed, until the people of the Long Lake to the south had almost forgotten the Dragon of Erebor and Smaug imagined himself unassailable.
Then, one day in the October of III 2941, one hundred and seventy-one years after his arrival in Erebor, Smaug awoke to find his treasure disturbed. Of all that mountain of wealth, he noticed with rage that a single two-handled cup had been taken. He could not have imagined that the loss of that cup signalled his own imminent downfall; Thorin, the heir of the King under the Mountain that Smaug had driven from his halls those many years before, had returned to reclaim his kingdom. With him came Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit with a magical Ring with which he had invisibly removed that single cup from Smaug’s treasure.
In his anger, the dragon flew from his halls, scorching and breaking the mountainside. Thorin, Bilbo and their companions were sealed in a hidden tunnel, and at last the frustrated Smaug gave up his attack on the mountain. Realizing that they must have had help from Lake-town to the south, he set out to punish the Men of the Lake instead.
That was to be Smaug’s last flight. Bilbo had managed to discover an open patch in the dragon’s armour, and word of this had been carried to Lake-town. In particular, it reached the heir of another of Smaug’s victims, Bard, the descendant of Girion of Dale. Bard shot Smaug with an arrow, and though Lake-town was devastated in his attack and fall, the dragon was defeated. In years to come, beneath the waters of the lake his mighty bones could be seen, and the jewels that had lined his hide: the last remains of the greatest dragon of his age.
* Sméagol|Smeagol
The hobbit-like creature who became Gollum.
A Hobbit of Stoor-kind who lived on the banks of the Anduin in the later Third Age. His friend Déagol came upon the One Ring, but Sméagol murdered Déagol and took the Ring. He was eventually exiled by his people, and crept into the roots of the Misty Mountains, where he became the creature of the dark better known as Gollum.
* Smials|Smial
The Hobbits’ name for their holes.
The term the Hobbits themselves used for their excavated dwellings, more usually called simply ‘hobbit-holes’.
* Snaga
A name for lesser Orcs.
A contemptuous term for the lesser Orcs of Mordor and Isengard, used especially among the larger and stronger Uruk-hai. It comes from a word in the Black Speech meaning ‘slave’.
* Snails|Snail
Spiral-shelled molluscs.
Shell-bearing gastropod molluscs. Those of Erebor were particularly noted for their large size.
* Snakes|Snake
Reptilian creatures that are universally associated in Tolkien with the forces of darkness, and especially with Morgoth, the first Dark Lord.
* Snow-trolls|Snow-troll|Snow Trolls|Snow Troll Trolls that lived among the ice and snow.
Trolls adapted for life among snow and ice. No Snow-troll appears in Tolkien’s work, but we can infer their existence from the fact that Helm Hammerhand is compared to one of these creatures during his sorties against the Dunlendings during the Long Winter.
* Snowbourn
River rising under the Starkhorn and fowing out down Harrowdale and past Edoras.
–—
The river that flowed out of Harrowdale.
A river of Rohan; it rose beneath the Starkhorn in the northern White Mountains, and flowed past the courts of Edoras as it flowed north and east to meet the River Entwash among the grassy plains of Eastfold.
* Snowmane
The swift horse of Théoden.
The steed of Théoden, King of Rohan, on which he rode to the Battle of the Pelennor, and beneath which he fell in that battle.
* Solmath
The second month of the Shire Calendar. Approximately equivalent to modern February, it in fact ran from our 22 January to 20 February.
* Sons of Fëanor|Sons of Feanor
Seven Elf-lords driven by the Oath of their father.
The seven Noldorin Elves who took the Oath of Fëanor with their father, and pursued it after his death in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath. They held lands in East Beleriand, with Maedhros and Maglor holding the immediate passes south of Lothlann, and the other brothers ruling lands behind their guard to the south.
Fëanor’s sons were in general allied with the other Elves of Beleriand against the power of Morgoth. After the recovery of one of the Great Jewels by Beren and Lúthien, however, the Oath of their father came into action, and they fell upon the other Elves in hope of retrieving the Silmaril. They attacked Dior in Doriath, and the Exiles at the Mouths of Sirion, but neither of these forays gained them the Jewel; it was borne into the West by Eärendil.
At the time of the War of Wrath, only two of the seven sons remained; Maedhros and Maglor. They stole the last two Silmarils from the camp of Eönwë, but their evil deeds in recovering them meant that the hallowed Jewels rejected their claimants. Maedhros in anguish threw himself into a fiery fissure, and Maglor in despair cast his Jewel into the Great Sea.
* Sorcerer
A title of Sauron, and of his greatest servant.
At the time of Sauron’s secret re-emergence in the heart of Mirkwood, he was referred to as ‘the Sorcerer’ or, in full, ‘the Sorcerer of Dol Guldur’. Sauron’s servant, the Lord of the Nazgûl, followed his master, and before the Battle of the Pelennor Gandalf also gave this title to him.
* Sorontil
‘Eagle-horn’, a great height on the coast of the northern promontory of Númenor.
–—
The northern height of Númenor.
In all the histories and geographies of the island of Númenor, only two mountains are named. The first was the famous Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven that stood in the central highlands. The other was far to the north, near the island’s North Cape, with its eastern flanks forming sheer sea-cliffs. That was Sorontil, the peak of the Forostar.
Sorontil’s name is never given an English form, but in translation it would be ‘Eaglehorn’, an appropriate name for a mountain whose crags were home to countless Eagles. In the early history of Númenor, Tar-Meneldur built a tall tower in the vicinity of this mountain, though we are not told whether this actually stood on the slopes of Sorontil itself.
* Soronto
Númenórean, son of Tar-Aldarion’s sister Ailinel and cousin of Tar-Ancalimë.
–—
A nobleman of Númenor’s early history.
A descendant of the royal line of Númenor, the grandson of Tar-Meneldur and nephew of Tar-Aldarion. He lived during in the later years of the first millennium of the Second Age.
* Soronúmë|Soronume
Name of a constellation.
–—
The eagle among the stars.
One of the constellations that Varda traced in the sky with the dews of Telperion, before the Awakening of the Elves. Its name, which seems to mean ‘eagle of the west’ suggests a connection with the stars we know today as Aquila, but this is not certain.
* South Downs
Hills in Eriador south of Bree.
–—
The downlands of central Eriador.
A range of hills that ran through the central regions of Eriador.
* South Gondor
The lands of Gondor beyond the Poros.
The name given to the land between the Rivers Poros and Harnen.
Historically this region was a part of Gondor, but frequent assaults and invasions by the Corsairs of Umbar and the Haradrim meant that, by the later years of the Third Age, Gondor’s claim on this region was debatable at best.
* South Ithilien
The lands southward from the Emyn Arnen.
The southern lands of Ithilien, from the hills of Emyn Arnen in the north to the River Poros in the south.
* South-kingdom|South Kingdom|Southern Kingdom|Kingdom of the South|Southern Realm
The southern realm of the Dúnedain.
Gondor, the southern of the two kingdoms founded in Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons. The other was Arnor in the north.
* South-victor
The meaning of the name Hyarmendacil.
The translated meaning of the Gondorian King-name Hyarmendacil. It was taken by two of Gondor’s Kings to commemorate great victories over their southern enemies. Hyarmendacil I defeated the Haradrim in the twelfth century of the Third Age, while Hyarmendacil II claimed the same title some five hundred years later.
* Southern Army
Gondor’s defence against the Haradrim.
The smaller of the two armies formed by King Ondoher of Gondor, to protect his kingdom against the double threat of the Wainriders to the northeast, and the Haradrim to the south. The Captaincy of the Southern Army was given to Eärnil, a descendant of the royal line of Gondor.
* Southern Star
A famous variety of pipe-weed.
A variety of pipe-weed grown in the Southfarthing of the Shire, and apparently originating in the district around Longbottom. The ‘star’ of its name presumably refers to the star-shaped flowers of the pipe-weed plant.
* Southfarthing of the Shire|Southfarthing One of the divisions of the Shire.
–—
The southern lands of the Shire-hobbits.
The warmer southern farthing of the Shire, with its chief town being Longbottom. This was the region where most of the Shire’s tobacco production was concentrated.
* Southrons|Southron
A Mannish name for the Haradrim.
The Men of Harad, the ancient enemies of Gondor from the lands to the south.
* Spiders|Spider
Eight-legged spinners of webs.
These small eight-legged creatures, known for capturing their prey in intricate webs, were evidently as common in Middle-earth as they are today. Characters in The Lord of the Rings often refer to them descriptively, whether it be Gandalf discussing his capture by Saruman (quoted above), Sam climbing ropes across the Silverlode, or Gollum clambering down a rock wall.
There was a more sinister side to the spiders of Middle-earth, though, that entered it with the monstrous Ungoliant in the years before the First Age. A gigantic creature of spider-shape, it was she who destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor, and escaped with Melkor into the lands of Middle-earth. Though Ungoliant herself disappeared into the far south, she left the northern lands infested with her offspring. During the First Age, the mountains of the Ered Gorgoroth were infested with these monsters, and became a place of dread.
The most famous of Ungoliant’s children, though, lived far to the south and east of the Ered Gorgoroth, on the borders of the land of Mordor.
This was Shelob, who haunted a network of tunnels watching the pass of Cirith Ungol, eking a living on the hapless Orcs of Sauron. She had offspring of her own, too, smaller than she but with a cruel intelligence, that spread throughout the Ephel Dúath and north into Mirkwood. It was creatures like these that Bilbo encountered in The Hobbit, and through fighting them that his sword acquired its name Sting.
* Spring of Arda
The time when the Valar still dwelt on Almaren.
The time, many millennia ago, when the Valar had ordered the World as they wished and rested upon Almaren, and Melkor lurked beyond the Walls of Night. The Spring was marred when Melkor returned to Arda, and ended completely when he destroyed the Lamps of the Valar.
* Springle-ring
A dance both pretty and vigorous.
A dance of the Shire-hobbits.
* Squirrels|Squirrel
Agile creatures of Middle-earth’s forests.
Nut-eating rodents often found in trees. Most would have been red or grey, but in Mirkwood, the squirrels were said to be black in colour.
* Staddle
A village of the Bree-land, lying on the south-eastern slopes of the Bree-hill. Staddle was the main settlement of the Bree-hobbits.
* Stair Falls
The falls of the Sirannon.
The falls beneath the West-gate of Khazad-dûm, where the Gate-stream of the Sirannon made a waterfall some thirty feet in height before flowing out across the grasslands of Eregion. The falls took their name from the stair carved beside them in the rock of the cliff.
* Standelf
A small village in the southern regions of Buckland.
* Star of Eärendil|Star of Earendil|Stone of Eärendil|Stone of Earendil The silmaril of Lúthien. Called also the Stone of Eärendil.
* Star-glass
The Phial of Galadriel.
More commonly called the Phial of Galadriel, the Star-glass was Galadriel’s parting gift to Frodo Baggins when the Company of the Ring departed from Lórien. In appearance, it was a globe of crystal that held a shimmering fragment of the light of the evening star.
* Starkhorn
The mountain at Harrowdale’s head.
–—
“Immediately before the travellers the widest of these glens opened like a long gulf among the hills. Far inward they glimpsed a tumbled mountain-mass with one tall peak…”
(The Two Towers III 6, The King of the Golden Hall)
–—
A mighty snow-clad peak that rose in the inner regions of the White Mountains. From its feet prang the Snowbourn River, whose widening valley ran northwards through the mountains to emerge onto the plains of Rohan.
The Rohirrim called that valley Harrowdale, and built their courts of Edoras at its mouth, from where the lonely white peak of the Starkhorn could be seen along the straight length of the valley.
* Starwards
Elenna, a name for the island of Númenor.
Elenna, a rare name for Númenor, taken from the fact that the first Men to inhabit that island came to it by following the light of the Star of Eärendil.
* Steward of Gondor|Steward
Title of the rulers of the South-kingdom after the Kings.
Originally the honorary title of the chief counsellor to the King of Gondor. The title became hereditary from the time of Steward Pelendur of the House of Húrin. After the loss of King Eärnur in Minas Morgul, Mardil Voronwë became the first Ruling Steward, and his descendants ruled Gondor until the time of Denethor II, when Aragorn II Elessar was crowned as King of the Reunited Kingdom.
* Stewards’ Reckoning
The Gondorian calendar of the later Third Age.
The calendar system introduced in Gondor by Mardil Voronwë, its first Ruling Steward. It survived until the end of the Third Age, and was thus the calendar in use at the time of the War of the Ring.
* Sting
The ‘short sword’ of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.
An knife manufactured in Gondolin in the First Age, carried away as spoil by the creatures of Morgoth who destroyed that city. It was rediscovered millennia later in a troll-hoard by Bilbo Baggins, who named it Sting after using it to rescue Thorin Oakenshield and his companions from the giant spiders of Mirkwood.
* Stock
A village in the Shire, at the north end of the Marish.
–—
A small town or village of the Marish, near the banks of the River Brandywine, in the Eastfarthing of the Shire.
* Stock-brook
The stream that flowed through Stock in the Shire.
A brook of the Shire’s Eastfarthing, and a minor tributary of the River Brandywine. It rose in the forested hills above Woody End, and from there flowed eastwards and a little northwards out into the fields of the Marish. It passed through the southern end of the village of Stock, from which it took its name, before emptying into the Brandywine a few miles north of Bucklebury Ferry.
* Stone of Osgiliath
The chief palantír of the South-kingdom.
The greatest of the seven palantíri of Middle-earth was the Stone that stood in Osgiliath, the ancient capital of Gondor. For 1,500 years or more, it was held beneath the Dome of Stars that gave the city its name.
While most of the palantíri were small and portable, the Stone of Osgiliath was much larger, and could not be lifted by a Man.
The greatest of the Seeing-stones was also the first to be lost. During the early reign of Eldacar, a rebellion arose that came to be known as the Kin-strife. During this civil war, the city of Osgiliath was besieged and burned by the rebels, and the Stone was lost in the waters of the River Anduin.
* Stone of the Hapless
Memorial stone of Túrin and Nienor by Cabed Naeramarth in the river Teiglin.
–—
Memorial to the family of Húrin.
The hallowed stone on the banks of the River Teiglin that commemorated Túrin and Nienor, and Morwen their mother.
* Stone-giants|Stone-giant|Stone Giants|Stone Giant Stone-hurling denizens of the Misty Mountains.
Mighty creatures of the Misty Mountains, and perhaps elsewhere in Middle-earth. The only known reference to them occurs in The Hobbit, in which Bilbo and the Dwarves encounter them as they cross the Misty Mountains. During a storm, the Stone-giants emerge, and cast huge boulders about a rocky valley as part of a bizarre game.
The difficulty of fitting Stone-giants (and all giants, for that matter) into Tolkien’s world has led some to see the Stone-giants as a metaphor for crashing thunderbolts, or something similar. However, the detail of the Stone-giants’ description, and the occurrence of other giants in Tolkien’s work, makes it seem likely that these creatures actually did exist in Middle-earth.
* Stone-houses|Stone-house|Stone Houses|Stone House A name used among the Drúedain.
A term of uncertain meaning, used among the Drúedain of Drúadan Forest in Gondor’s northern lands. It seems to refer either to the Gondorians themselves, or perhaps their dwellings in the city of Minas Tirith.
* Stone-trolls|Stone-troll|Stone Trolls|Stone Troll Lumbering creatures of the night.
A race of Trolls in the service of Sauron. We know nothing for certain of these creatures except that they inhabited the Westlands of Middle-earth: the Trolls encountered by Bilbo Baggins and his companions on their journey to Erebor were likely of this kind.
* Stones of Seeing
A name of the palantíri, the seven stones brought out of the destruction of Númenor by Elendil and his sons.
* Stonewain Valley|Imrath Gondraich
Valley in the Drúadan Forest at the eastern end of Ered Nimrais. The name is a translation of Imrath Gondraich.
–—
The ancient way of the quarrymen of Gondor.
A long straight valley in the eastern White Mountains. It was made in ancient days by the Men of Gondor, as a route from the quarries beneath Nardol to Minas Anor. By the time of the War of the Ring, it was all but forgotten, but it was rediscovered in time to be used by the Rohirrim to come to the Battle of the Pelennor.
* Stoors|Stoor
The broadest and heaviest of Hobbits.
One of the three ancient hobbit-kinds, the broadest and heaviest in build. They were the last of three branches of the Hobbits to cross the Misty Mountains into Eriador.
* Stormcrow
The harbinger of a coming storm.
A name given to Gandalf in Rohan.
* Straight Road
The path over the Sea into the Ancient or True West, on which the ships of the Elves might still sail after the Downfall of Númenor and the Changing of the World.
–—
The pathway into the West.
Before the Downfall of Númenor, the realm of the Gods in Valinor was still present in the world, and those Elves who wished to reach it could do so by sailing on into the West. After the Downfall, Valinor was taken away, and the World took on the round shape we know today. Mortals sailing into the West simply circled the globe and eventually returned to their starting place.
For the Elves, however, a way was left open to return to Valinor; the Straight Road. An Elven-ship sailing into the West left the Bent World, and travelled through the air ‘as it were on a mighty bridge invisible’, until they came to Tol Eressëa and the Undying Lands.
The Straight Road was not entirely closed to Mortals; some by the special grace of the Valar could use it, as did the ring-bearers at the end of the Third Age. Other mortal mariners too, it was said, would sometimes find the Road and come to the shores of Aman before they died.
It is not certain whether the Straight Road could be traversed in both directions (i.e. whether Elves of Valinor could return to Middle-earth).
There are suggestions in Tolkien’s unpublished writing that this may have been the case (though this is also contradicted by his later letters). It is suggested, for example, that Glorfindel of Rivendell, who appears in The Lord of the Rings, may have been the same Glorfindel who was slain in the Fall of Gondolin in The Silmarillion, returned from the halls of Mandos. Such speculations cannot be considered canonical, however, and within Arda it is assumed that the Straight Road travelled only into the West.
* Straight Way
A name for the Straight Road of the Elves.
An occasional name for the Straight Road, by which the Elves sailed from Middle-earth and came to Aman.
* Strangers
A name of Elves for the race of Men, who dwelt in the world for only a few short years, while the Elves were bound to it until its end.
* Strawberries|Strawberry
Wild red berries.
Wild berries found by Bilbo in the upper Vales of Anduin, as he journeyed eastward on the Quest of Erebor.
* Strawheads
Contemptuous name among the Easterlings in Hithlum for the People of Hador.
* Strider
The name of Aragorn in Bree.
–—
One of Aragorn’s many names.
A nickname given to Aragorn II Elessar by the people of northern Middle-earth (as for example at Bree) during his time as a Ranger.
* Strongbow
Translation of Cúthalion, name of Beleg.
–—
Title and surname of Beleg, the captain of Doriath who became a companion of Túrin Turambar, and whose fate it was to be slain in error by his friend.
* Stunted People
The literal meaning of the Elvish word Naugrim.
The most common term used by the Elves to refer to the Dwarves; Naugrim in Elvish.
* Súlimë|Sulime
The third month of the year, according to the Stewards’ Reckoning of Gondor, lying between Nénimë and the feast-day of Tuilérë. On a modern calendar, Súlimë ran between 21 February and 22 March.
* Súlimo|Sulimo
Name of Manwë, rendered in the Valaquenta as ‘Lord of the Breath of Arda’
(literally ‘the Breather’).
–—
The surname of Manwë.
The title and surname given to Manwë the chief of the Valar, master of the airs and lord of birds, especially Eagles. The Elvish root-word sûl that appears in this name literally means ‘breath’, but is also used in connection with wind and weather. For example, the Elvish name for the hill Weathertop was ‘Amon Sûl’.
* Summerfilth
A nonsense word of the Shire-hobbits.
A non-existent month in the Shire calendar, used jocularly in the expression ‘on Friday the first of Summerfilth’, to refer to a something that would never happen. After the reform of the Shire’s calendar in c.III 2670, each weekday always fell on the same date, and there was no month in the calendar that ever started on a Friday.
The name ‘Summerfilth’ is taken from the real month of Winterfilth (approximately equivalent to our October).
* Sun
Laurelin’s last fruit.
The name among Men for the last fruit of Laurelin, steered through the heavens by the Maia Arien to bring light to the Earth after the Darkening of Valinor.
* Sundering Seas
The trackless oceans that sundered Aman from Middle-earth.
The wide seas that lay between Aman in the west and Middle-earth in the east; a name for the ocean Belegaer and its lesser seas.
* Súthburg|Suthburg
Former name of the Hornburg.
* Swanfleet
The great marshlands of the River Glanduin.
The Mannish name for the marshy lands above Tharbad, famed for their swans, at the outflow of the River Glanduin. The Elvish name was Nîn-in-Eilph.
* Swanhaven
The haven of the Teleri in Aman.
Alqualondë, the haven of the Teleri on the coastlands of Aman. The Swanhaven took its name from the Elvish preference for carving their ships in the shapes of great swans.
* Swans|Swan
An important bird in the tales of the Elder Days. The Teleri seem to have especially revered swans, naming their city Alqualondë (the Swanhaven), and building their ships in swan-form.
* Sword of Elendil
The great sword known as Narsil.
Narsil, the sword manufactured in ancient times by Telchar of Nogrod, and borne in the late Second Age by Elendil. He fought with it in the War of the Last Alliance, where it was broken in his fall, but its shards were preserved in the North-kingdom.
* Sword-that-was-Broken|Sword that was Broken The broken blade of Elendil.
Narsil, the sword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell in the War of the Last Alliance. Its shards were returned to Arnor, where they were kept as an heirloom for three thousand years. The sword was reforged as Andúril, and borne by Elendil’s heir Aragorn in the War of the Ring.
* Swordsman of the Sky
The stars of Menelvagor.
A term for the constellation of Orion, and the meaning of his various Elvish names: Telumehtar, Menelmacar and Menelvagor.
* Talath Dirnen
The plain north of Nargothrond, called the Guarded Plain.
–—
The Guarded Plain, the empty lands between Nargothrond and Doriath in West Beleriand, guarded ceaselessly by the followers of Finrod Felagund.
* Talath Rhunen
‘The East Vale’, earlier name of Thargelion.
* Tale of Grief
The Narn i Hîn Húrin.
A name for the Narn i Hîn Húrin, the sorrowful Tale of the Children of Húrin, that tells of the tragic lives of Túrin Turambar and his sister Nienor.
* Tale of Years
The chronicles of the Second and Third Ages.
A long and detailed chronicle of the events of the Second and Third Ages, given in Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings; it is our main source of knowledge for many of the events of these Ages.
* Taniquelassë|Taniquelasse
Fragrant evergreen tree brought to Númenor by the Eldar of Eressëa.
* Taniquetil|Mountain of Manwë|Mountain of Manwe
‘High White Peak’, highest of the mountains of the Pelóri and the highest mountain of Arda, upon whose summit are Ilmarin, the mansions of Manwë and Varda; also called the White Mountain, the Holy Mountain, and the Mountain of Manwë. See Oiolossë, Meneltarma.
–—
The lofty dwelling of Manwë and Varda.
The great white mountain, said to be the tallest peak in the world, that stood among the Pelóri on the borders of Valinor. The mansions of Manwë and Varda were on this mountain, and the Vanyar also came to dwell there.
* Tanta Hornblower
The wife of Largo Baggins, and great-grandmother of Frodo Baggins.
* Tar-Alcarin
Seventeenth Ruler of Númenor.
–—
The son of Tar-Vanimeldë.
The son and heir of Tar-Vanimeldë, the third Ruling Queen of Númenor. He should have succeeded his mother, but instead his father Herucalmo withheld the Sceptre from his son, and ruled as Tar-Anducal for twenty years before his own death. Thereupon Tar-Alcarin took up his rightful Kingship, and ruled for a further eighty years. He was succeeded by his own son, Tar-Calmacil.
* Tar-Aldarion|Aldarion|Great Captain
Sixth Ruler of Númenor, the Mariner King; by the Guild of Venturers called the (Great) Captain. See Anardil.
–—
The sixth King of Númenor.
The son of Tar-Meneldur; a great explorer and later King of Númenor.
* Tar-Amandil
The third King of Númenor.
The grandson of Elros Tar-Minyatur. When the time came for his father Vardamir to take the Sceptre, he refused it and passed the Kingship directly to Tar-Amandil (though legally Vardamir was held to be the second King). Tar-Amandil was in turn succeeded by his son Tar-Elendil.
* Tar-Anárion|Tar-Anarion
Eighth Ruler of Númenor; son of Tar-Ancalimë and Hallacar of Hyarastorni.
–—
The eighth ruler of Númenor.
The son of Tar-Ancalimë, the first of Númenor’s Ruling Queens, who ruled the island for more than a century. His two elder children were daughters, but both refused the Sceptre, and so he was succeeded by his third child and eldest son, Tar-Súrion.
* Tar-Ancalimë|Ancalimë|Ancalime
Seventh Ruler of Númenor and the first Ruling Queen, daughter of Tar-Aldarion and Erendis. See Emerwen.
–—
The first Ruling Queen of Númenor.
The daughter and only child of Tar-Aldarion, the sixth King of Númenor.
Aldarion caused the laws of succession to be changed, and Ancalimë succeeded him as the first of Númenor’s Ruling Queens.
* Tar-Ancalimon|Ancalimon
Fourteenth King of Númenor, in whose time the Númenóreans became divided into opposed parties.
–—
Fourteenth King of Númenor.
In the time of Tar-Ancalimon’s father Tar-Atanamir, and of his grandfather Tar-Ciryatan, the Númenóreans had begun to turn against the Valar and the Eldar, and take pride in their own strength and wealth.
Tar-Ancalimon continued down this path, and the histories of Númenor record that the division of the Númenóreans began in earnest during his reign.
Politically, the realm became split between two parties, the King’s Men, who followed Tar-Ancalimon’s policies, and the Elendili, who favoured continued friendship with the Eldar. For the next millennium, Númenor’s history was bound up with the dissent between these two parties, and ultimately the King’s Men were to help bring about its destruction.
That lay in the far future, though: during his reign, Tar-Ancalimon turned away from the traditions of the past. He discontinued the dedication to Eru, which had taken place at the Meneltarma in the middle of the island. The tradition of the taking of the Kings’ names in Elvish he maintained, though, partly through fear of ill-fortune. This is perhaps because of a dark omen of Tar-Ancalimon’s reign: the Eagles of Manwë, who had nested in the tower of the King’s palace at Armenelos since Númenor’s founding, left their eyrie and never returned.
Tar-Ancalimon died as he had lived, clinging to the last vestiges of life as his father had before him. He was succeeded by his son Tar-Telemmaitë, a Man greedy for riches and silver, who followed in all the ways of his father.
* Tar-Anducal
Name taken as Ruler of Númenor by Herucalmo, who usurped the throne on the death of Tar-Vanimeldë his wife.
–—
Consort to Queen Tar-Vanimeldë.
The Númenórean king-name taken by Herucalmo, the consort of the third Ruling Queen Tar-Vanimeldë. During his wife’s reign, Herucalmo was the real power in the land of Númenor. After the Queen’s death, he took the Kingship illegally in the name Tar-Anducal, and ruled the island kingdom for twenty years until his own death. He was succeeded by his son, the legal heir to Tar-Vanimeldë who took the throne as Tar-Alcarin.
* Tar-Ardamin
Nineteenth Ruler of Númenor, called in Adûnaic Ar-Abattârik.
–—
The nineteenth of Númenor’s rulers.
An uncertain figure in the histories of Númenor. In the royal lists of The Line of Elros (in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth), he is given as the heir and successor of Tar-Calmacil, whose name in Adûnaic was Ar-Abattarîk, and who was succeeded in turn by his own son Ar-Adûnakhór. He does not appear, however, in the list of Númenórean Kings and Queens shown in The Lord of the Rings, where the succession is shown as passing directly from Tar-Calmacil to Ar-Adûnakhór.
* Tar-Atanamir the Great|Tar-Atanamir|Atanamir Thirteenth King of Númenor, called the Great and the Unwilling, to whom the Messengers of the Valar came.
–—
The thirteenth King of Númenor, surnamed the Great (for his wealth and power, rather than his wisdom). He treated the Men of Middle-earth cruelly, and he was the first King to speak openly against the Ban of the Valar.
* Tar-Calion|Calion
Quenya name of Ar-Pharazôn.
–—
The Elvish form of the name Ar-Pharazôn.
The Elvish equivalent of the name of the Númenórean King Ar-Pharazôn. It would never have been used in his presence, but was, out of tradition, recorded in this Elvish form as the names of the ancient Kings had always been.
* Tar-Calmacil
Eighteenth Ruler of Númenor, called in Adûnaic Ar-Belzagar.
–—
The eighteenth ruler of Númenor.
The successor to King Tar-Alcarin, who became the eighteenth ruler of Númenor. He was noted as a great military captain, who drove the forces of Sauron back into the east of Middle-earth. He was also as the first King whose name is recorded with an Adûnaic equivalent, Ar-Belzagar, a sign of the ascendancy of the party of the so-called King’s Men. There is some confusion over his successor. The Lord of the Rings lists the King following Tar-Calmacil as Ar-Adûnakhôr, but this may be due to an accidental omission, as evidence exists that Tar-Calmacil was in fact succeeded by his son Tar-Ardamin, and that Ar-Adûnakhôr was actually his grandson.
* Tar-Ciryatan|Ciryatan
Twelfth King of Númenor ‘the Shipbuilder’.
–—
The twelfth King of Númenor, a great shipbuilder and adventurer, who plundered Middle-earth of its treasures and carried them back to Númenor.
* Tar-Elendil
Fourth King of Númenor, father of Silmariën and Meneldur, from whom Elendil was descended. See Parmaitë.
–—
The fourth King of Númenor.
The son of Tar-Amandil and fourth King of Númenor; renowned as a loremaster and scholar. His eldest child was a daughter, Silmarien, from whom the Lords of Andúnië were descended, but he was succeeded as King by his third child and only son, who became King Tar-Meneldur.
* Tar-Elestirnë|Tar-Elestirne
‘Lady of the Star-brow’, name given to Erendis.
* Tar-Falassion
Quenya name of Ar-Sakalthôr.
* Tar-Herunúnem
Quenya name of Ar-Adûnakhôr.
* Tar-Hostamir
Quenya name of Ar-Zimrathon.
* Tar-Meneldur|Meneldur
Fifth Ruler of Númenor, astronomer, father of Tar-Aldarion. See Elentirmo, Írimon.
–—
The fifth King of Númenor, the son of Tar-Elendil, in whose time evil began to stir again in Middle-earth.
* Tar-Minastir|Minastir
Eleventh King of Númenor, who aided Gil-galad, sending the fleet against Sauron.
–—
The King who drove Sauron out of Eriador.
The eleventh ruler of Númenor, grandson of Tar-Súrion, and successor to the childless Ruling Queen, Tar-Telperiën. He sent a fleet to Middle-earth, and drove Sauron’s forces out of Eriador.
* Tar-Minyatur|Minyatur
Name of Elros Half-elven as first King of Númenor.
–—
The King-name of Elros.
‘King and First Lord’, the title taken by Elros the son of Eärendil when he became first King of Númenor in the early years of the Second Age.
* Tar-Palantir
Twenty-third King of Númenor, who repented of the ways of the Kings, and took his name in Quenya: ‘He who looks afar’; named in Adûnaic (Ar-
)Inziladûn.
–—
The last Faithful King of Númenor.
The twenty-fourth, and last but one, of the Kings of Númenor. In his time, the Númenóreans had turned their backs on the Valar and the Elves, and he attempted to bring them back to the old ways. His policy of reform would likely have been continued by his daughter Míriel, but her throne was usurped by Ar-Pharazôn.
* Tar-Súrion|Súrion|Tar-Surion|Surion
Ninth Ruler of Númenor.
–—
Ninth of the rulers of Númenor.
Tar-Súrion was the grandson of Tar-Ancalimë, Númenor’s first Ruling Queen. His father Tar-Anárion had two daughters who were both older than Tar-Súrion, and thus had a claim on the throne. Both of these refused the rule of Númenor, however, and so Tar-Súrion received his father’s Kingship.
We know little of Tar-Súrion’s reign, except that he ruled at a time when the Elves of Eregion had begun the forging of the Rings of Power. He had no sons, and when he gave up the Sceptre his daughter Tar-Telperiën became the second Ruling Queen.
* Tar-Telemmaitë|Telemmaitë|Tar-Telemmaite|Telemmaite Fifteenth Ruler of Númenor, so named (‘Silver-handed’) for his love of silver.
–—
The avaricious fifteenth King of Númenor.
The fifteenth King of Númenor, the son of Tar-Ancalimon. He was hungry for wealth (hence his name ‘King Silverhand’) and mined for mithril to fill his treasuries.
* Tar-Telemnar
Quenya name of Ar-Gimilzôr.
* Tar-Telperiën|Tar-Telperien
Tenth Ruler of Númenor and the second Ruling Queen.
–—
Númenor’s second Ruling Queen.
The tenth ruler of Númenor was its second Ruling Queen: Tar-Telperiën.
She was the eldest child of King Tar-Súrion, and became a proud and wilful Queen. What records we have of her reign state that she refused to wed, and so died without an heir. During her rule in Númenor, momentous events were taking place in Middle-earth; the Rings of Power were forged, and Sauron’s armies swept through Eriador. It was left to Tar-Telperiën’s successor, Tar-Minastir, to react to these events.
Tar-Telperiën ruled Númenor for one hundred and seventy-five years, and was succeeded by her nephew, the son of her younger brother Isilmo, who ruled as Tar-Minastir.
* Tar-Vanimeldë (forest)|Tar-Vanimeldë|Tar-Vanimelde
‘Forest of the Great Fear’, Sindarin name of Mirkwood. See Taur-nu-Fuin.
* Tar-Vanimeldë (Queen of Númenor)|Tar-Vanimeldë|Tar-Vanimelde Third and last of Númenor’s Ruling Queens.
The daughter of Tar-Telemmaitë inherited the rule of Númenor from her father to become the island’s sixteenth monarch, and third Ruling Queen.
She gave little thought to the practicalities of government, though, and preferred music and dancing. The day-to-day affairs of state she left to her husband Herucalmo, who was of noble descent himself, and effectively ruled Númenor while his wife sat on the throne.
Tar-Vanimeldë was Queen for one hundred and eleven years. When she died, she should have been succeeded by her son, but Herucalmo refused to give up his power. Instead, though he had no legal claim to the throne, he took the name Tar-Anducal and ruled as King for the next twenty years.
After Herucalmo’s death, the line passed back to its rightful heir, his son, who became King Tar-Alcarin.
* Tarannon Falastur|Tarannon
Twelfth King of Gondor. See Falastur.
–—
The first of Gondor’s four Ship-kings.
The son and heir of King Siriondil of Gondor, who was famed for his naval exploits, and founded the line of the Ship-kings that continued until the time of Hyarmendacil I. His Queen was the notorious Berúthiel, who Tarannon was forced to send into exile, so that he died without an heir. He was succeeded instead by his nephew, who ruled as the second of the Ship-kings, Eärnil I.
* Taras
Mountain on a promontory of Nevrast; beneath it was Vinyamar, the ancient dwelling of Turgon before he went to Gondolin.
–—
The seaward peak of Nevrast.
The mountain on the shores of Nevrast under which Turgon built his halls of Vinyamar. Long after Turgon had deserted Nevrast for Gondolin, Tuor came there and spoke with Ulmo.
* Taras-ness
The headland from which Mount Taras rose.
–—
The headland on which Vinyamar was built.
The headland of Mount Taras, on the shores of the land of Nevrast, where Turgon had his original citadel of Vinyamar.
* Tarcil
The sixth King to rule in Arnor.
The son and heir of Arantar of Arnor, and the great-great-grandson of Isildur himself. The sixth King to rule the North-kingdom, his reign lasted for eighty years in the middle of the first millennium of the Third Age. He was succeeded by his son Tarondor.
* Tarciryan
Ancestor of the later Ship-kings of Gondor.
One of the sons of King Siriondil of Gondor. His elder brother was Tarannon, who took the title Falastur and ruled as King of Gondor after his father. Tarannon’s Queen Berúthiel was sent into exile. Tarannon therefore died childless, and so it was Tarciryan’s son who succeeded Tarannon to the throne. This was Eärnil I, the second of the Ship-kings after Tarannon himself.
* Tárion|Orbelain|Rodyn|Valanya
The last day of the Elves’ week.
A name for the last and most important of the six days that made up the Elves’ week, dedicated to the Valar or Powers. Tárion was a Quenya name, as was the more common name for the same day, Valanya. In Sindarin, this day was called Orbelain or Rodyn.
* Tarmasundar
‘Roots of the Pillar’, the five ridges extending from the base of the Meneltarma.
* Tarondor (King of Arnor)|Tarondor
The seventh King to rule over Arnor.
The seventh King to rule over Arnor, the son of King Tarcil. He ruled the North-kingdom in a time of peace, long before the troubles came that would overwhelm and destroy it. He was succeeded as King by his son Valandur.
* Tarondor (King of Gondor)|Tarondor
Gondor’s longest-reigning King.
The twenty-seventh King of Gondor, who came to the throne in his youth after his uncle King Telemnar and all his children were lost in the Great Plague. It was Tarondor who moved the King’s House from Osgiliath to Minas Anor (later to be named Minas Tirith). He reigned for 162 years, and was succeeded by his son who became the famous warrior King, Telumehtar Umbardacil.
* Tarostar
Given name of Rómendacil I.
–—
The birth-name of Rómendacil I.
A Man of Gondor, born into its Royal House in the time his great-grandfather Eärendil ruled as King. He lived through the reigns of his grandfather Anardil and his father Ostoher before becoming King of Gondor himself.
Two years before his succession, Gondor was suddenly beset by Wild Men out of the East, and Tarostar went to war in place of his father, who was in the last days of his old age. Tarostar’s war with the Easterlings was a hard one, lasting for ten years, and seeing the death of Ostoher and Tarostar’s own succession to Gondor’s throne. At last, the Easterlings were driven back, and Tarostar took a new name, Rómendacil, ‘East-victor’, under which to rule the South-kingdom.
Decades later, the Easterlings renewed their attacks on Gondor. Once again, Tarostar rode out to meet them, but the name of ‘East-victor’ did him no good - he was slain in the assault and his reign came to an end.
It fell to his son Turambar to take up the challenge; he avenged his father by driving back the Easterlings once again and claiming much land east of Anduin for Gondor.
The events of Tarostar’s life were strangely mirrored some seven centuries after his time. Another great Gondorian, Minalcar, took charge of Gondor’s armies in place of its King, and like Tarostar he led them to victory in the east. Following Tarostar’s example, he too took the name Rómendacil, and would one day rule as Rómendacil II.
* Tarn Aeluin|Aeluin
A clear blue mountain lake in the highlands of Dorthonion, said to have been hallowed by Melian. It was here that the outlaws of Barahir hid from Morgoth’s forces after the Dagor Bragollach, and where they were slain.
* Tasarinan
The valley of willows.
A name for the watery willow-forest that grew up in central Beleriand where the River Narog met the Sirion. It is more commonly known as Nan-tathren, or sometimes as Nan-tasarion. All these names have the same meaning; ‘valley of the willows’.
* Taur-en-Faroth|High Faroth|Faroth
The wooded highlands to the west of the river Narog above Nargothrond; also called the (High) Faroth.
–—
The high woodland above the gates of Nargothrond.
The hills that lay above Finrod’s citadel of Nargothrond; they took their name (meaning ‘Forest of the Hunters’) from the woodlands the grew there.
* Taur-im-Duinath
‘The Forest between Rivers’, name of the wild country south of the Andram between Sirion and Gelion.
–—
The forest between two rivers.
The dark and gloomy forest that extended over a vast area of land to the south of Beleriand.
* Taur-nu-Fuin
‘Forest under Night’; later name of Dorthonion. See Deldúwath.
–—
The Forest under Nightshade.
After the Dagor Bragollach, the darkness of Morgoth began to corrupt the northern forests of Dorthonion, and they came to be called Taur-nu-Fuin, the Forest under Nightshade. This name is sometimes also used for the land of Dorthonion itself, after its capture by Morgoth.
* Tauron
‘The Forester’ (translated in the Valaquenta ‘Lord of Forests’), a name of Oromë among the Sindar. See Aldaron.
–—
‘Lord of Forests’.
A name of the Vala Oromë, variously translated as ‘The Forester’ or
‘Lord of Forests’.
* Tawar-in-Drúedain|Tawar-in-Druedain
The Drúadan Forest.
* Tawarwaith
The ‘Forest People’, the Silvan Elves.
* Ted Sandyman|Sandyman
The Hobbiton miller’s son.
The son of Sandyman the Hobbiton miller, who fell under the influence of Lotho Sackville-Baggins during the War of the Ring and became a collaborator with ‘Sharkey’s‘ regime.
* Tehtar
Symbols associated with Fëanorian script.
A series of signs and symbols used when writing with the tengwar, consisting of a variety of dots, curls and other marks written above or below Elvish letters. Most commonly, they were used to represent vowel-sounds, since Fëanorian script as it was commonly used did not provide characters to represent vowels.
* Teiglin
A tributary of Sirion, rising in Ered Wethrin and bounding the Forest of Brethil on the south; see also Crossings of Teiglin.
–—
The river that ran through Brethil.
A river of Beleriand that rose in the Ered Wethrin on the borders of Dor-lómin, and flowed southeastwards through the Forest of Brethil to meet the River Sirion.
* Telain|Talan|Talans
The wooden platforms in the trees of Lothlórien on which the Galadhrim dwelt (singular talan).
–—
The tree-platforms of the Galadhrim.
Platforms built by the Elves of Lórien in the trees of that land, used mainly for as guard-posts or for ceremonial purposes, but common in the city of Caras Galadhon.
* Telchar
The most renowned of the smiths of Nogrod, the maker of Angrist and (according to Aragorn in The Two Towers III 6) of Narsil.
–—
The renowned smith of Nogrod.
A Dwarf of Nogrod in the Blue Mountains, and one of the greatest smiths in the history of Middle-earth. Among his works were Angrist (the knife that freed the Silmaril from the Iron Crown), Narsil (the sword of Elendil, later reforged for Aragorn as Andúril) and the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin.
* Telco|Lúva|luva
A stroke in Elven writing.
The straight ‘stem’ line that appears in written tengwar, which can extend above or below the writing line. Combined with the lúva (‘bow’) stroke, it forms the basis of all the standard Fëanorian characters.
* Telcontar
The royal house founded by Aragorn Elessar.
The name of the royal house established in the Reunited Kingdom by Aragorn Elessar after the War of the Ring. The name Telcontar is a translation into Elvish of Aragorn’s common nickname in the north;
‘Strider’.
* Telemnar
Twenty-sixth King of Gondor.
–—
The hapless twenty-sixth King of Gondor.
Telemnar’s Kingship was one of Gondor’s shortest and most tragic. He succeeded to the throne after his father Minardil was brutally slain in a sudden Corsair attack on Pelargir, but he was not to reign for long.
After just two years on the throne, the Great Plague came out of the east and ravaged Gondor. Telemnar and all his children died of the sickness; he was succeeded by his nephew, Tarondor.
* Teleporno
High-elven name of Celeborn of Lórien.
* Teleri|Teler
The third and greatest of the Three Kindreds of the Eldar on the Great Journey from Cuiviénen; of whom were the Elves of Alqualondë in Aman and the Sindar and Nandor in Middle-earth.
–—
The Third Clan of the Eldar.
The third and greatest of the three Elf-kindreds of the Great Journey, from whom the Nandor and the Sindar were descended. The Teleri came last to Aman, and dwelt in Alqualondë on the western shores of the Great Sea.
* Telerin
Of or pertaining to the Teleri.
* Telerin (language)|Telerin
The little-known language of the Teleri.
The language of the Teleri of Aman, a tongue related to both Quenya and Sindarin.
* Telperion|Tree of Silver|Silver Tree|Tyelperion The elder of the Two Trees of Valinor. Called the White Tree. In Telerin Tyelperion. See also Laurelin.
–—
The White Tree.
The elder of the Two Trees of Valinor, called the White Tree, which shed silver light on the domain of the Valar. His leaves were of dark green, shining silver beneath, and his boughs were decked with brilliant flowers that shed a rain of silver dew.
Telperion endured throughout the Years of the Trees, but came to an end in the dreadful event known as the Darkening of Valinor. Even though the elder tree did not survive, he was not the last of the White Trees.
Yavanna had made an image of him in Tirion, called Galathilion, from whom the White Trees of Númenor and later of Minas Tirith were descended. More importantly, one of Telperion’s flowers survived the Darkening, and was set aloft by the Valar; this was the light we call the Moon.
* Telumehtar
An ancient name for the constellation of Menelvagor.
An old name given in Quenya to the constellation we know today as Orion.
This form was less common than the Sindarin equivalent, Menelvagor.
* Telumehtar Umbardacil|Telumehtar
Twenty-eighth King of Gondor; called Umbardacil ‘Conqueror of Umbar’
after his victory over the Corsairs in Third Age 1810.
–—
The King who defeated the Corsairs.
King of Gondor during the late second millennium of the Third Age. His reign was most notable for Gondor’s reconquest of Umbar, and the final defeat of the Corsairs.
* Telumendil
Name of a constellation.
* Témar|Temar
The four series of Fëanorian writing.
The four ‘series’ of the tengwar, each of which contained six tyeller or grades giving different qualities to a basic sound.
* Tengwar
The Fëanorian script.
The letters devised by Fëanor, originally to represent the sounds of the Quenya language, but later widely adopted for writing most of the languages of Middle-earth.
* Thain of the Shire
Title of the Oldbucks and the Tooks.
The largely honorary title of the military leader of the Shire. The first Shire-thain was Bucca of the Marish, and the title was held by eleven of his descendants the Oldbucks until their removal across the River Brandywine to Buckland. Thereafter the title was held by the head of the Took clan, from Isumbras I onwards.
It is known that there were at least thirty-three Shire-thains, from Bucca, who became Thain in III 1979, to Faramir I, who took on the title in IV 63, more than a thousand years later.
–—
1- Bucca of the Marish (Thain from III 1979): The first Thain was given the title in III 1979 (379 by the Shire-reckoning) in a time when the northern lands were recovering from a devastating war in which the old kingdom of Arthedain had come to an end. He was succeeded by Thains of the Oldbuck line.
2-11- Ten Thains of the Oldbuck line (Thains for about 300 years to III 2340): Bucca was followed by Thains whose names are not recorded, but who took the surname ‘Oldbuck’ in honour of their ancestor.
12- Gorhendad Oldbuck (Thain to III 2340): The line of the Oldbucks came to an end with Gorhendad, who crossed the River Brandywine and founded Buckland, changing his name to Brandybuck. The Thainship passed from him to the Took family, and Gorhendad was succeeded by the first Thain of the Took line.
13- Isumbras I (Thain from III 2340): The thirteenth Thain in line from Bucca, and the first of the Took line. Isumbras’ descendants would hold the Thainship for the rest of the recorded history of the Shire.
14-21- Eight Thains of the Took line (Thains for about two hundred years to III 2683): The eight Tooks to hold the Thainship after Isumbras I are nowhere named, but we can infer some of their identities from the names of later holders of the office. Among these eight must have been Isengrim I, Ferumbras I, Paladin I and Isumbras II, but no records of their Thainships are known.
22- Isengrim II (Thain for 39 years to III 2722): The twenty-second Thain, and tenth of the Took line. He began the excavation of Great Smials, which would become the seat of the Thains in the Tookland. He became Thain soon after the first pipe-weed was introduced into the Shire by Tobold Hornblower. He was succeeded by his son.
23- Isumbras III (Thain for 32 years to III 2759): His younger son was Bandobras Took, the famous ‘Bullroarer’. In Isumbras’ time the Shire was greatly troubled by Orcs, and Bandobras defeated a band of them at the Battle of Greenfields during his Thainship. Bandobras, though, was Isumbras’ younger son - the Thainship passed instead to his older brother.
24- Ferumbras II (Thain for 42 years to III 2801): He was succeeded by his son.
25- Fortinbras I (Thain for 47 years to III 2848): At the beginning of his Thainship, the Shire would have seen much activity as Dwarves of Durin’s Folk travelled westward to settle in the Blue Mountains. He was succeeded by his son.
26- Gerontius (Thain for 72 years to III 2920): The famous Old Took, who held the office of Thain for a total of seventy-two of his one hundred and thirty years, and had a total of twelve children. During his Thainship, the Shire suffered the dreadful privations of the Fell Winter, and invasions of White Wolves. He was succeeded by the eldest of his many sons.
27- Isengrim III (Thain for 10 years to III 2930): Due to the Old Took’s many years in office, his eldest son Isengrim was no less than eighty-eight years old when he inherited the Thainship. He held it for just ten years and died without leaving an heir. He was succeeded by his younger brother.
28- Isumbras IV (Thain for 9 years to III 2939): Like his brother Isengrim, Isumbras came old to the Thainship, being ninety-two when he took office. After his short time as the Shire-thain, he was succeeded by his son.
29- Fortinbras II (Thain for 41 years to III 2980): Early in his time as Thain there was a sensation in Hobbiton, due to the mysterious disappearance into the Wild - and later reappearance - of one Bilbo Baggins of Bag End. Fortinbras was succeeded by his son.
30- Ferumbras III (Thain for 35 years to III 3015): He was Thain at the time of Bilbo Baggins’ famous farewell feast and Birthday Party, which indeed he attended. He never married, and so left no heir. The descent of the Thainship passed to the line of Gerontius’ fourth son Hildigrim, and specifically to Hildigrim’s grandson.
31- Paladin II (Thain for 19 years to IV 13): Born in the time that his great uncle Isumbras IV was Thain, Paladin took up a farming life at Whitwell in the Tookland. He was Thain during the War of the Ring, and held the Tookland against the ruffians who invaded the Shire at that time. He was succeeded by his fourth child, but eldest son.
32- Peregrin I (Thain for 50 years to IV 63): Peregrin Took of the Fellowship of the Ring inherited the Thainship some thirteen years after his return from adventuring in the south, and held the title into his old age. At the age of ninety-four, he gave up the office and rode away once again into the countries of the south with his friend Meriadoc Brandybuck; they were never seen in the Shire again. He was succeeded by his son.
33- Faramir I (Thain from IV 63): Named for Faramir the Prince of Ithilien, little is known of Thain Faramir, except that he married Sam Gamgee’sdaughter Goldilocks. Doubtless he was succeeded by further generations of Shire-thains, but of them we have no record.
* Thain’s Book
A copy of the Red Book of Westmarch made at the request of King Elessar and brought to him by the Thain Peregrin Took when he retired to Gondor; much annotated afterwards in Minas Tirith.
–—
The book that held the original stories of the Silmarillion.
A copy of the Red Book of Westmarch, and the only one to include Bilbo Baggins’ Translations from the Elvish. Made in Gondor by Findegil, it was kept by the head of the Took family, the Thain of the Shire, at Great Smials.
* Thalion
‘Steadfast, Strong’; see Húrin.
–—
Title and surname of Húrin son of Galdor, the Lord of Dor-lúmin. It is said to mean ‘Steadfast’.
* Thalos
The second of the tributaries of Gelion in Ossiriand.
–—
Second of the tributaries of Gelion.
The second of the six rushing rivers that rushed down from the Blue Mountains to meet the great River Gelion. The Thalos, whose name comes from the Elvish for ‘torrent’, is important in the history of Men. It was in the high valley of its upper course that the first Bëor and his followers, the first Men to cross the mountains, made their camp, and where they were discovered by Finrod Felagund.
* Thangail
‘Shield-fence’, a battle-formation of the Dúnedain.
* Thangorodrim
‘Mountains of Tyranny’, reared by Morgoth above Angband; broken down in the Great Battle at the end of the First Age.
–—
The three towering peaks above Angband’s gates.
The three mighty peaks that Morgoth raised from the Iron Mountains above the gates of Angband when he returned there at the beginning of the First Age. They were destroyed in the fall of Ancalagon during the War of Wrath.
The name means ‘Mountains of Oppression’.
* Tharbad
River-port and town where the North-South Road crossed the river Gwathló, ruined and deserted at the time of the War of the Ring.
–—
The city at the crossings of Greyflood.
An ancient city of Men that grew up where the North-South Road crossed the River Gwathló (Greyflood). Tharbad was deserted in the late Third Age after it was devastated in the floods that followed the Fell Winter.
* Thargelion
‘The Land beyond Gelion’, between Mount Rerir and the river Ascar, where Caranthir dwelt; called also Dor Caranthir and Talath Rhunen.
–—
The land beyond Gelion.
Name, meaning simply ‘land beyond Gelion’, given to the northern parts of the region that lay between the River Gelion and the Blue Mountains.
After the Return of the Noldor, Caranthir dwelt here, and after this time it was more normally called Dor Caranthir (‘Caranthir’s land’).
* Tharkûn|Tharkun
‘Staff-man’, Dwarves’ name for Gandalf.
–—
The name given to Gandalf the Grey by the Dwarves.
* The Black
Title of various evil characters, including Ancalagon the dragon and Ulfang the Easterling.
* The Blessed
A title given to Eärendil the Mariner, who by his great voyage at the end of the First Age delivered Elves and Men from the tyranny of Morgoth.
* The Bowman
Bard the Dragon-shooter.
A title given to Bard of Lake-town, and later Lord of Dale, who was famed for shooting the dragon Smaug.
* The Brown
Title and symbolic colour of Radagast the Wizard.
* The Cruel
An ancient title granted to Caradhras in the Misty Mountains, and also used of Sauron.
* The Darkness
The dominion of the Dark Lord.
A term usually used symbolically for the dark power of Sauron and the regions under his sway. During the War of the Ring, though, Sauron’s Darkness became a dreadful reality, as it spread out of Mordor and covered the lands of the West for many days.
* The Dead
The Men of the White Mountains at the end of the Second Age who swore an oath of allegiance to Isildur. Breaking it, they were cursed to walk the Paths of the Dead until they could redeem themselves, which they did more than three thousand years later when they followed Isildur’s descendant Aragorn in the War of the Ring.
* The Deeping
The guarded vale of the Deeping-stream.
The deep valley in the northern White Mountains where Helm Hammerhand took refuge from the Dunlendings during the Long Winter, and was afterwards more commonly called ‘Helm’s Deep’.
* The Dispossessed
The House of Fëanor.
* The Downfallen
The lost home of the Númenóreans.
A name for Númenor after its destruction in the late Second Age.
* The Dragon
See Glaurung, Smaug.
* The Dunlending
Saruman’s agent, the ‘squint-eyed southernet’ in the inn at Bree.
* The Enemy
A common term for either Morgoth or Sauron, or their forces.
* The Ever-young
A title given to Vána, the lesser sister of Yavanna Kementári. She was wedded to Oromë the Huntsman of the Valar, and dwelt in gardens filled with golden flowers.
* The Fair
The title and surname of Celegorm, the third son of Fëanor. This title was also used of Sam Gamgee’s daughter, Elanor.
* The Fat
A title of those famed for their rotundity.
There are few characters in Tolkien’s works whose defining characteristic is their girth. Perhaps the best known, and indeed the only one mentioned by name in The Lord of the Rings, is Forlong the Fat, the Lord of Lossarnach who met his fate in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. In his Letters, though, Tolkien introduces us to a character who shares Forlong’s title - Lalia the Fat, the widow of Thain Fortinbras Took II of the Shire.