Paladin (II) Took – From 1415–34 Shire Reckoning (3015 Third Age-Year 13 Fourth Age), the thirty-first Thain of the Shire, and father of the illustrious PEREGRIN TOOK. Paladin held office during the War of the Ring, at the time of the occupation of the Shire by agents of Saruman; and until the return of the Ring-bearers he was the only clan-leader to offer serious resistance to these ruffians. The Tooks indeed refused all dealing with the invaders, barring their folkland and shooting any who attempted to force entry. Thus, when the time came for a general uprising in the Shire, a sizeable body of armed and experienced Hobbitry was available for military purposes. Paladin then put all the forces he could spare under Pippin’s leadership and sent them to take part in the Battle of Bywater, while he himself cleared the southern part of the Shire with the remainder of his forces. He held office as Thain until the year of his death, being succeeded by Peregrin, his only son.

Palantír ‘That-which-looks-far-away’ (Q.) – The eight Seeing-stones of Eldamar, made by Fëanor of the Noldor during the Elder Days, seven of which were given by his House to the Lords of Andúnië in Númenor during the Second Age. They were kept as heirlooms until the Fall of Númenor, after which the Seven Stones were brought to Middle-earth in nine ships carrying the Faithful, led by Elendil the Tall.

Each of the palantíri was in fashion like a globe of crystal, in the heart of which flickered a tiny flame.1 One who gazed into the Stone saw this light expand until the surface of the globe became a mass of spinning colour, into which the mind might cast itself, to be transported whithersoever the gazer wished, unrestricted by time or space.2 The Stones were all in accord with each other, but some were more potent than others and one was the master of them all. After their arrival in Middle-earth they were distributed throughout the Númenorean realms-in-exile, being kept at Annúminas, Amon Sûl and the Tower Hills in Arnor; and at Osgiliath, Orthanc, Minas Ithil and Minas Anor in Gondor. Each Palantír had different characteristics and performed according to the nature of the person who commanded it; but they responded best when the user (or his agent) was of the true descent of Elendil. Using the Seven Stones, the Dúnedain were long able to guard and unite the Realms in Exile; but with the passing of time, many of the palantíri were lost or were taken by enemies of the Dúnedain.

The Palantír of Osgiliath disappeared when the Dome of Stars was destroyed during the Kin-strife (1437 Third Age); the Stones of Amon Sûl and Annúminas were lost in the waters of the Ice Bay with King Arvedui of Arthedain in 1974; the Stone of Minas Ithil was captured by Sauron in 2002, when the Tower of the Moon was taken by his servants, the Ringwraiths (though this was not known for many years); the Palantír of Orthanc fell into the clutches of the traitor Saruman (c. 3000); and finally, the Stone of Minas Anor (Minas Tirith) fell virtually under the control of Sauron (who used it to break the mind of Denethor II, last Ruling Steward). By the time of the War of the Ring, only the Palantír of the Tower Hills remained untouched by evil. (Since it ‘looked’ only towards the Far West, it was quite useless to those struggling for power, and it had long been in the keeping of the High-elves.) As for the eighth of the stones, the ‘Master-stone’ or Chief Palantír, this had never left the Undying Lands; it stood in the Tower of Avallónë, in Eressëa, and was in direct accord with the Stone of the Tower Hills, which was the Master-stone of the Seven, though subservient to the Palantír of Eressëa. During the War of the Ring the Ithil-stone, long before taken by Sauron, was destroyed in the Fall of Barad-dûr, and that of Minas Tirith rendered completely unusable (save by a person with an iron will). Only the Orthanc-stone, recovered from Saruman by a strange mischance, remained to the new King of Gondor for use during the Fourth Age; for the Palantír of the Tower Hills was secretly put aboard Master Elrond’s ship by Círdan the Shipwright, and so passed over Sea back to Eressëa at the end of the Third Age.

Palantír (Tar-Palantír) – See INZILADUN (AR-INZILADUN).

Palarran ‘Far-wanderer’ (Q.) – The first great ocean-going ship designed and built by Prince Anardil, later King Tar-Aldarion of Númenor. His earlier vessel Eämbar had been a floating palace rather than a ‘blue-water’ argosy.

Pallando – A name for one of the ‘Blue Wizards’, Istari who came to Middle-earth in the third Age and then passed away into the East. He is said to have been of the Maiar of Oromë.

Parma – The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘book’; also the title of Tengwa number 2, which represented the value of the sound p in those languages which required it.

Parmaitë ‘Book-handed’ (Q.) – A name given to Tar-Elendil of Númenor, a great historian and loremaster.

Parmatéma – See TÉMA.

Parth Celebrant ‘Field of Silverlode’ (Sind.) – The name given in Lórien to the area of grassland between the rivers Limlight and Celebrant (Silverlode), claimed as part of the Elven-land but in later years incorporated by soldiers of Gondor into their system of defence against invasions across the narrows (Undeeps) of Anduin.

Parth Galen ‘Green Field’ (Sind.) – A swathe of cool greensward which lay between the river Anduin and the lower slopes of Amon Hen on its western bank, some little distance north of the Falls of Rauros.

Party Field – The name given by local Hobbits to the large field which lay on the Hill of Hobbiton below the gardens of Bag End. In it stood a single tree, the ‘Party Tree’, beneath which Bilbo Baggins erected an imposing marquee for his ‘private’ dinner party on the day of his 111th birthday. The field was partially dug up during the War of the Ring by agents of Saruman and the Tree was wantonly cut down. It was later replaced by a single shapely Mallorn grown by Samwise Gamgee from a seed brought back from Lothlórien.

Pass of Aglon – The ‘Narrow Pass’ (the meaning of Aglon) which led from Himlad into Lothlann. On the west reared great sheer heights, the eastern walls of the Dorthonion plateau; to the east the hills were lower. The Pass itself was some six leagues long. For obvious strategic reasons, this defile was a potential weak point in the chain of kingdoms created by the Noldor after the Battle-under-Stars. The brothers Celegorm and Curufin, sons of Fëanor, therefore fortified the Pass and held large forces in Himlad, in a reserve capacity. Ten leagues to the east their elder brother Maedhros had his stronghold on the Hill of Himring, and beyond him Maglor’s cavalry rode far out upon the plain.

Nonetheless, in the Dagor Bragollach all this great array was swept out of the North for the time being. But Maedhros held out on Himring, which formed the nucleus in the East for a later regrouping of the Sons of Fëanor and their hosts; and after a dozen years or so Aglon was re-captured, and held for a while. Then came the Nirnaeth Arnoediad; after that battle the reconstitution of the realms of the Noldor in the North was no longer a possibility. Aglon, and all the lands of the North, fell under the domination of Morgoth and were never recovered.

Pass of Anach – The seven-league ravine which descended from western Dorthonion to Dimbar and Nan Dungortheb. On the west the peaks of the Encircling Mountains towered above the pass; to the east loomed the Mountains of Terror. The upper reaches of the Pass of Anach were captured by Morgoth after the fall of Dorthonion, and soon afterwards armies began to come down into Beleriand by means of this route. It was briefly recaptured before the Nirnaeth, but lost again soon afterwards.

Pass of Light – The CALACIRYA.

Pass of Sirion – The five-league defile which led into Beleriand from Ard-galen in the north. It was walled on the west by the Ered Wethrin, and on the east by the sheer edge of the Dorthonion plateau. Through the pass, in a southerly direction, ran the great river Sirion (the action of whose waters had carved the defile in ancient days). For the exiled Noldor the Pass of Sirion was of immense strategic importance; for it was the veritable western cornerstone of their defence against Morgoth. It had additional value as a natural redoubt because of the Fen of Serech – deliberately never drained by the Noldor – which covered any sudden approach from the north. Further to fortify the Pass of Sirion, Finrod son of Finarfin built a tall watch-tower (called Minas Tirith) on the island of Tol Sirion, in the middle of the river and squarely in the neck of the pass. Tol Sirion was captured shortly after the Dagor Bragollach, by Sauron the servant of Morgoth; indeed all the routes from north to south were taken from the Eldar at this time; but most – including the Pass of Sirion – were won back in the years immediately preceding the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. After which, of course, they were again lost, this time for ever.

Paths of the Dead – The name given in Rohan to the Haunted Road under the Dwimorberg mountain which led from Dunharrow in the north to an unknown destination (actually the source of the river Morthond) in the south. It was constructed – for what purpose none could say – early in the Second Age by the Men of the White Mountains, and was part of the great megalithic complex known as Dunharrow.

Pelargir ‘Enclosure-of-[Royal] Ships’ (Q.) – The most ancient port of Gondor, forty leagues upstream from the Mouths of Anduin, above the confluence with the Sirith. The haven was founded in the Second Age (2350) by mariners of Númenor and, though neither the greatest in size nor the most important, soon became the chief haven of those Númenoreans who called themselves the Faithful. Elendil himself landed there after the Downfall of Númenor.

For the first centuries after the founding of the realm of Gondor, Pelargir was allowed somewhat to fall into disrepair, and it was not until the reign of the first ‘Ship-king’ that Gondor attempted to regain any of her ancestral naval might. The second ‘Ship-king’, Eärnil I, repaired the ancient harbour and enlarged the basin to take the massive fleets that the Dúnedain then began to build: for to the south, the older and larger Haven of Umbar was filled with seafaring folk unfriendly to the Dúnedain, and Eärnil had determined to end the threat they posed. Gondor indeed conquered Umbar, and held it, and for a while both harbours were filled with the warships of Gondor. The South-kingdom extended her influence along the coasts north, south and west, and soon reached the summit of her power.

With the Kin-strife of the middle Third Age the navy of Gondor became rebellious, and Pelargir was then controlled by the disloyal elements who were opposed to King Eldacar. Even after these rebels had been soundly defeated at the Battle of the Crossings of Erui (1447) Pelargir still held out against the lawful King; and in the end the rebels took the fleets and sailed away to Umbar, which they made into a seafaring city-state opposed to the rule of Gondor.

Nonetheless Pelargir remained the chief port of the South-kingdom although its exposed position and rich commercial traffic made the harbour especially vulnerable to seaborne raiding. During the War of the Ring the Haven was once more assailed by the Corsairs – but in the nick of time they were defeated and their ships seized for another purpose. The port remained in Gondor’s control throughout the War and, in the Fourth Age which followed, once again prospered in the manner of earlier times.

Pelendur – A Steward of Gondor, descended from Húrin of Emyn Arnen and, in a sense, Gondor’s first ‘Ruling Steward’. It was Pelendur’s lot to govern the South-kingdom during the one-year interregnum (1944–45 Third Age) following the untimely death in battle of King Ondoher and his two sons. The situation was further complicated by the strong claim to the Throne of Gondor made by King ARVEDUI of Arthedain. In his capacity as temporary ruler, Pelendur was chiefly responsible for Gondor’s rejecting Arvedui’s claim, although his own choice seemed wise enough: Eärnil, a victorious General of proven ability and acceptable antecedents. Eärnil duly became King – and his own son Eärnur became the last King of the Line of Anárion. After Eärnur’s death (2050), the descendants of Pelendur took office as (hereditary) Ruling Stewards, maintaining this weighty responsibility until the ending of the Age and the Return of the King.

Pelennor ‘Enclosed-lands’ (Sind.) – The fenced townlands of Minas Tirith. See also BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS.

Pelóri ‘Mountains of Defence’ (Q.) – The Mountains of Valinor, tallest in the World and impassable save by a single ravine, the Pass of Calacirya, through which the ancient Light of the Two Trees flowed from Valimar into Eldamar and the long shorelands of the Blessed Realm. The highest of the Pelóri was Oiolossë (older name Taniquetil, ‘High-white-peak’), sometimes also called the Hill of Ilmarin. Upon its summit, at the roof of the world, stood the Oromardi (‘High halls’) of the Lord of the Valar and his spouse, the Lady Elbereth (Varda).

People of the Great Journey – The ELDAR.

People of Haleth – The HALADIN.

People of the Stars – A translation of ELDAR.

Peredhil (sing. -edhel) ‘Half-elven’ (Sind.) – A term applied by the Elves to the brethren Elros and Elrond, sons of Eärendil (the Mariner) and the Lady Elwing the White; also, less specifically, to all those of mixed Eldarin and Mannish descent: Eärendil himself; Dior Eluchíl; Dior’s children, Eluréd, Elurin and Elwing; and Elrond’s children, Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen Evenstar. See also LINES OF DESCENT.

Peregrin Took – From Year 13–63 Fourth Age (1434–84 Shire Reckoning), the thirty-second Thain of the Shire, and one of the most notable Hobbits of his day, being renowned both as a member of the Fellowship of the Ring and as one of the Captains who led the uprising of the Shire-folk against the agents of the renegade Wizard Saruman at the end of the War of the Ring. Peregrin – more usually known as Pippin – later became a Counsellor of the reconstituted North-kingdom and remained a close personal friend of King Elessar (Aragorn II) throughout his life.

Peregrin was born in Tuckborough in the year 1390 Shire Reckoning (2990 Third Age) and was therefore only in his late twenties (having not yet ‘come-of age’) when the great events of that time began to unfold. Both he and his kinsman Meriadoc Brandybuck learned somewhat of the Ring-bearer’s plans before Frodo had even left the Shire, and thus were able to pressure him into accepting their company on the road East. At that time Frodo’s plans led no further than Rivendell, and it must be said that his two young kinsmen did not particularly distinguish themselves during this part of the journey. Nonetheless, when the time came to allot the places in the Fellowship of the Ring with an infinitely more dangerous journey ahead, Gandalf the Grey supported their inclusion in the Company. And later on both Peregrin and Meriadoc came into their own, influencing great events far beyond their understanding at the time. The story of Pippin’s role in the War of the Ring is told in great detail elsewhere, and needs only brief recapitulation in these pages. Like his kinsman Meriadoc, he was separated from Frodo at Parth Galen on February 26th 3019, and thereafter his adventures took him across the plains of Rohan (in captivity); to Fangorn Forest (as a guest of Treebeard the Ent); to Isengard (where he witnessed the destruction of Saruman’s fortress); to Dol Baran at the southern end of the Misty Mountains (where he foolishly ‘abstracted’ the Palantír of Orthanc and inadvertently misled Sauron), and finally, in company with an exasperated Gandalf, to the city of Minas Tirith – where he impulsively swore allegiance to the Steward Denethor II and was made a Guard of the Citadel.

While in Minas Tirith Peregrin witnessed the Siege of the City and was instrumental in saving Faramir, Denethor’s Heir, from an untimely death. He afterwards marched away with the Host of the West to the Black Gate and fought honourably in battle there, slaying a giant Troll-chief and thus saving his comrade Beregond son of Baranor from death under the creature’s claw.

Peregrin was knighted by King Elessar for his services to Gondor and afterwards returned to the Shire with his three original companions, playing a crucial part in the uprising which ensued. He personally rode through the night of November 2nd in order to bring reinforcements from his father, Thain Paladin II, and with this aid turned the tide at the Battle of Bywater the following day. For this feat both he and Meriadoc were afforded great honour among their kinfolk – and unlike Frodo and Samwise, they never really rejected any opportunities to parade around in fine style, wearing the arms and armour of Gondor and Rohan. Their splendid appearance (and their relatively enormous size, thanks to certain draughts quaffed while they had been guests of Treebeard the Ent) impressed the Shire-folk to a great extent, and of course both young Hobbits duly succeeded their fathers in positions of responsibility. Peregrin became Thain in 1434 Shire Reckoning, having already wedded Mistress Diamond of Long Cleeve (a descendant of Bullroarer Took, whom Peregrin had always greatly admired). That same year both he and Meriadoc (and Samwise Gamgee, now Mayor of the Shire), were appointed Counsellors of the North-kingdom.

The remainder of Peregrin’s long life was happy and prosperous, and he became one of the greatest Thains in Shire-history. Like Meriadoc, he maintained the friendships he had made during the War, and rode often to Gondor, becoming something of an authority on the history of the Dúnedain (though it is not recorded that he ever actually undertook any historical writing on his own account). In Year 63 Fourth Age he handed over his Office to his only son Faramir (born Year 9 Fourth Age) and, together with his lifelong comrade Meriadoc, rode away out of the Shire, to pass his last days in Gondor amongst old friends. He was laid to rest in the House of the Kings in Rath Dínen.

Perian, Periain ‘Halfling’ (Sind.) – The several alternative spellings of this word and its plurals which appear in the Red Book doubtless indicate a word in the actual process of mutation from an antique form into a more colloquial, ‘everyday’ expression. For, when the events of the War of the Ring brought several ‘Halflings’ to the attention of the people of Gondor, they revived the old Sindarin name for them. The Grey-elven word for ‘Halfling’ was, of course, adopted by the Dúnedain of Gondor; the form given above was doubtless one of the newer versions. One Hobbit would be called Perian while a finite plural (e.g. two Hobbits) would earn the word Periain. However, Hobbits as a race were called i Periannath (the Halfling Folk’). The older form of the word may be found in use during a ‘ceremonial’ occasion involving the antique Ph prefix: Pheriain, Pheriannath.3

‘Perry-the-winkle’ – One (No. 8) of the humorous verses in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

Petty Dwarves – A translation of NOEGYTH NIBIN.

Pharazôn (Ar-Pharazôn) ‘the Golden’ – From 3255–3319 Second Age the twenty-fourth and last King of Númenor. He was the son of Gimilkhâd, who was the younger of the two sons of Ar-Gimilzôr, an iron ruler hostile to the Eldar. Of the two princes Gimilkhâd took most after their father, while his elder brother Inziladûn (Palantír) most resembled their mother Inzilbêth (of Andúnië) in that he repented of the heretical ways of the later kings and desired the knowledge and conversation of the Eldar. And as he was the elder son, so he, and not Gimilkhad, came in time to the kingship.

But the years waned, and Gimilkhâd’s son Pharazôn grew to manhood, and Palantír waned. Then Gimilkhâd died, and now it was Pharazôn who led the party opposed to the reforms of Palantír. This faction grew in strength throughout Palantír’s reign, and on his death seized power, from Míriel, the king’s daughter and the Heir of the Sceptre. Pharazôn proclaimed himself King of Númenor and, to make the bond final, forcibly wedded Míriel, even changing her (Eldarin) name to one of Adûnaic form, Ar-Zimraphêl. He was now firmly in the seat of power, and was never to be challenged again during his reign. Pharazôn had ruled for only six years when he made his first decisive move, setting sail with a great fleet to Middle-earth, where Sauron the Great reigned unchallenged. He landed at Umbar, determined to give battle for the mastery of all Middle-earth; but Sauron was unable to contest the power of Númenor, and instead abased himself, begging mercy from the King (and playing on his pride). So Pharazôn took Sauron ‘prisoner’ and proudly carried him back to Númenor, thus sowing the seeds of his own downfall and that of his people.

For, characteristically, Sauron was soon at work on the natural weaknesses of his foes, and it cannot have taken him long to discover the Númenoreans’ obsession with the one prohibition ever laid upon them: the BAN OF THE VALAR, which forbade them from sailing to the Undying Lands, where the Valar, Guardians of the World, made their own home. Sauron, who almost from the first had ceased to be considered a ‘prisoner’, then seized on Ar-Pharazôn’s constant pride and growing fear of Death, suggesting that the immortality which the Númenoreans sought was within their grasp.

In 3310 this false and evil counsel finally prevailed, for Ar-Pharazôn was then an old man and near death. He gave orders for the construction of the mightiest fleet the world had ever seen: the Great Armament, so huge and powerful that it took nine years to build and assemble. In 3319 the Host of Ar-Pharazôn embarked and went with war into the Western Seas, to contest the rule of the world – and the immortality which accompanied it – with the Valar.

It will never be known exactly what happened when the last King of Númenor set foot on the shores of Valinor, for none survived of that Host to tell the tale, and the High-elves did not come to Middle-earth in later Ages. Certainly no less than a change in the physical and metaphysical structure of the World was the result of Pharazôn’s appalling sacrilege. The Sea rose in huge waves from the West and raged unchecked over Númenor, burying everything under a wall of black water which utterly destroyed the civilization of three thousand years (apart from a few who left in the nick of time, escaping to Middle-earth in Exile). And the Undying Lands were removed for ever from mortal seas, and so from further temptation.

Phurunargian ‘Dwarf-delving’ (West.) – The name given in the Common Speech to the ancient Dwarf-city of Moria beneath the Misty Mountains. It has been translated from the Red Book as Dwarrowdelf.

Pickthorn – A family of Big Folk (Men) of the Bree-land.

Pillars of the Kings – A translation of the Sindarin word ARGONATH.

Pincup – A small village of the Green Hill Country in the Southfarthing of the Shire.

Pinnath Gelin ‘Green Ridges’ (Sind.) – A broad range of fertile green hills in the Anfalas coastal strip of Gondor.

Note: the suffix -ath indicates a collective plural; gelin is the plural of the Sindarin word galen ‘green’ (e.g. Parth Galen ‘Green Lawn).

Pipe-weed – Hobbits were, of course, aware that their ‘Art’ of smoking – of inhaling, without apparent discomfort, the smouldering leaves of the herb nicotiana – caused great amazement to other folk; and for this reason they included throughout their various histories any accounts of the weed’s singular properties, first discovery, and so on. Nonetheless, even in the Shire there were some who were more knowledgeable than others in the love of this Art, and of these the chief was Meriadoc Brandybuck (Master of Buckland from 1432–84 Shire Reckoning).

He incorporated all of his knowledge on this fascinating subject in his famous Herblore of the Shire (a work on the subject of comparative botany). Meriadoc discussed the history of the weed, its probable route north from Gondor, where it grew wild, to Bree, and then to the sheltered gardens of the Southfarthing, and – most important – the horticultural coup on the part of one Tobold Hornblower which led to the herb’s fulfilment of its natural role (as the Hobbits saw it).

He traced Old Toby’s singular achievement (the first recorded growing of the true Pipe-weed) to the year 1070 Shire Reckoning. The weed had, of course, been smoked prior to that date but only in Bree. The importance of Tobold’s raising of the herb was the vast improvement in quality brought about by the warmer climate of the Southfarthing (even Bree-dwellers confessed as much); Southfarthing pipe-weed was acknowledged by all to be immeasurably superior in aroma, strength, taste and overall quality. More importantly, it grew abundantly there and was as a consequence plentiful in the Shire (unlike the Bree-strain, which was often adversely affected by the climate of central Eriador).

A more significant aspect in the history of the weed was the role its unofficial export (in 1418–19 Shire Reckoning) played during the War of the Ring. To find large consignments of the best weed in Saruman’s fortress of Isengard may have been a revelation to the Hobbits Meriadoc and Peregrin, but it was no tribute to the Shire-dwellers’ business acumen; nor did it bode well for the internal security of the Shire. It had been through the leaf trade that Saruman had initially acquired a controlling interest in the affairs of Lotho (‘Pimple’) Sackville-Baggins, and through Lotho that Saruman had come to dominate the Shire itself.

Pippin Gamgee – The third son (and fifth child) of Samwise Gamgee, born in Bag End in Shire-year 1429 (Year 8 Fourth Age).

Pippin Took – See PEREGRIN TOOK.

Pool of Bywater – ‘The Water’ was the nearest thing to a major river which passed through the Shire. From the northern part of the Westfarthing it flowed gently through the little land, eventually reaching the Brandywine (Baranduin) a little way north of the Bridge of Stonebows. In this journey (of about thirty leagues) it formed a middling-sized lake (also known, rather confusingly, as ‘The Water’) near Frogmorton, and a rather smaller pool not far from the Threefarthing Stone, close to the villages of Overhill, Hobbiton and, of course, Bywater. This smaller lake was known locally as Bywater Pool.

Pools of Ivrin – See IVRIN.

Poros – A great river of southern Middle-earth; the largest of the Anduin’s eastern tributaries. It arose high in the stony vales of the southern Ephel Dúath (Mountains of Shadow) and descended through a wide valley to join the Great River some forty miles above its Delta. Thus it formed a natural barrier between South Ithilien and the Harad Lands, and was as a consequence often – especially during the late Third Age – a frontier of war. Luckily for the Dúnedain, the river could only be forded with safety at one point, the Crossings of Poros, and it was here that most invasions from Haradwaith were met.

Powers – A translation of the Quenya word VALAR.

The Prancing Pony – The chief inn of the Bree-land – which is to say it was the only tavern of any consequence (the ‘Forsaken Inn’ lay a day’s journey to the East and was little frequented as the lands grew wilder). The Pony occupied a prominent and convenient location within the village of Bree itself and was ideally situated to cater for the needs of travellers. It was an imposing building, built of timber on three storeys after the Mannish fashion, with two wings running back from the road into the hill behind, enclosing a courtyard equipped with stables. The ‘Little Folk’ (Hobbits, of whom there were many in Bree) were provided for by specially fitted chambers, close to the ground with round windows in the approved Hobbit manner. The Innkeepers of The Prancing Pony were the family of Butterbur, and the ale served by this prestigious Bree-family was highly regarded in the district. Nonetheless the inn’s main attraction (for the locals) lay in the entertaining standard of conversation to be found in the public rooms whenever travellers stayed the night (as they frequently did). News from Bree was a Shire synonym for ‘up-to-date’ – and most news had its origins in the rapt, smoke-filled common room of The Prancing Pony.

Primula Baggins – The mother of Frodo Baggins and wife of Drogo. She was tragically drowned, together with her husband, in a boating accident when their son was only twelve. The orphaned Frodo afterwards went to live with his older cousin Bilbo Baggins.

‘Princess Mee’ – One of the verses (No. 4) in the Adventures of Tom Bombadil collection. It was reportedly scribbled by an anonymous hand in a margin of the Red Book and cannot as a consequence be accounted one of the more important poems in the collection.

Proudfoot – A family of Shire-hobbits, related to the Bagginses by marriage.

Prophecy of the North – Another name for the CURSE OF MANDOS.

Puddifoot – A family of Shire-hobbits, closely associated with the village of Stock in the Eastfarthing, and therefore probably of Stoorish descent.

Púkel-men – The name given by the Rohirrim to the ancient graven statues which were to be found at each turn of the winding, precipitous road which climbed from Harrowdale to the Hold of Dunharrow many hundreds of feet above. These images had been carved by the mysterious builders of the Hold, which had been constructed at least an Age before the Riders came to Rohan. Who they had been none could state with certainty, although the forlorn, large-waisted, mournful, man-like creatures depicted in the statuary were not unlike the ‘Wild Men’ of Druadan Forest, which lay beyond the borders of Rohan. What their relationship had been with the stonemasons of the White Mountains during the Accursed Years was never discovered. See also WOSES.