Habergeon – A hauberk or sleeveless mail-coat.

Hadhodrond – This Grey-elven word, an Elvish name for the great Dwarf-city of MORIA, is a rare example of an Elvish attempt to reproduce a Dwarvish (Khuzdul) word phonetically. The Dwarves’ name for Moria was of course Khazâd-dûm, of which Hadhodrond (‘Halls of the Hadhod [Khazâd, i.e. Dwarves]’) was the phonetic equivalent.

Hador – From 2278–2395 Third Age, the seventh Ruling Steward of Gondor. He made the final correction to the (slightly imperfect) Stewards’ Reckoning system of calendar computation, adding one day to the year 2360 to repair a minor accumulated deficit.

Hador Lórindol – One of the great Chieftains of the Edain of the First Age; the son of Hathol and great-grandson of Marach; and the father of Galdor the Tall, Gundor and Gloredhel. He was the first Lord of Dor-lómin. Hador was born in the Year of the Sun 389, and, while still a young man, entered the service of Fingolfin High King of the Noldor. As a reward for his services, and because of the love that Fingolfin bore him, he and his people were granted Dor-lómin in vassalage. There he gathered most of the Edain of the Third House, and within a generation had made this northern land the most powerful and renowned of the realms of the Edain.

From the Elves’ point of view, the enlistment of the most numerous and warlike of the Houses of the Edain made a great deal of sense. The land of Hithlum, Fingolfin’s realm, was too vast for the Elves alone to defend; and by ceding its south-western part – Dor-lómin – to the Edain, while simultaneously retaining Hithlum itself and adjacent Mithrim, Fingolfin freed the Noldor from having to garrison overmuch territory. Better still, the strong arms of Hador’s people were now in the ‘front line’ of the Siege. The most easterly and northerly of the outposts of Hithlum, the Tower of Eithel Sirion on the borders of Ard-galen, was also garrisoned by Hador’s men.

For another forty years Hador ruled the Edain of Dor-lómin; but when he was sixty-six Morgoth, after long preparation, unleashed sudden war: the Battle of Sudden Flame as it was called, for the plains of Ard-galen were kindled and the running flames claimed many lives before the fighting had even begun. The Eldar and their allies were driven back to the ramparts of Hithlum, and withdrew, after loss, into their fortresses. But this retreat was only made possible by the courage and sacrifice of Hador: for at the cost of his own life, and of that of his second son Gundor, he defended the Elves’ rearguard and so aided their escape. Twenty years later his grandsons Húrin and Huor were to perform a similar service, and at similar cost. Hador was succeeded as Lord of Dor-lómin by Galdor.

Note: the Edain of the Third House were for the most part golden-haired; Hador’s Elven surname Lórindol means ‘the Golden-headed’. For this reason the Rohirrim of a later Age held themselves descended – albeit remotely – from this heroic people.

Haerast ‘Further Shore’ (Sind.) – See NEVRAST.

Haladin – The People of Haleth, the Second House of the Edain. They were the least warlike – though not the least doughty – of all the Adûnaic peoples, and also the least numerous; but whereas the Men of the First and Third Houses could understand each others’ speech, and therefore must once have shared a common ancestor (or at least a common pasture), the Haladin were in many ways different to them, though still accounted Edain. For in addition to speaking a tongue markedly unlike that of the Peoples of Bëor and Marach, the Men of the Second House were physically different: shorter and darker, though not as Easterlings are; and, moreover, they had no great love for open lands and the pasturing of flocks, but sought rather for woods and forests wherein to dwell and build their homes. But impelled by the same urges and compulsions, they too set their faces west at an early time, and together with the other two Peoples of Men came over the Blue Mountains into Beleriand at the beginning of the fourth century after the first rising of the Sun.

They might have lingered in Ossiriand, for that was a green, secret country much to their liking, but the Green-elves of that land did not desire it; and so the Haladin turned north, about the skirts of Dolmed, and passed into Thargelion. Here they dwelt for some years.

At this early date the Haladin were not yet a ‘people’ in the true sense of the word. They had only rudimentary social organisation. Life was centred almost exclusively on the family group or clan, and concepts of nationhood or even tribality did not exist. They had not acquired the custom of centralised rule. They were, as a consequence, slow to unite. But when, in the twentieth year of their sojourn in Thargelion, their encampment was suddenly attacked by Orcs, the old, slow ways were instantly abandoned. One of their number, a head-of-family called Haldad, took the initiative and the command, gathering his people into the only defensive position that could readily be contrived. And there, for weeks, the Haladin endured a siege without hope of succour. Haldad was killed together with his son Haldar, and the leadership of the newly united Haladin passed to his daughter Haleth, a forceful woman who did not disdain to wield sword and bow in the general defence of the stockade. But still the siege pressed closer until, at the eleventh hour, the defenders were saved from annihilation by the arrival of the Elves of Thargelion, led by their lord Caranthir. Hitherto this Elven-lord, the haughtiest of the sons of Fëanor, had altogether ignored the Haladin (as being of little worth); but now, seeing the heaps of slain and the grim faces of the besieged, he changed his mind (besides, he must by now have heard of other Elven-lords taking these Edain into their service, as allies and vassals). Caranthir then offered Haleth and her people honourable status as vassals within his own kingdom, but Haleth refused; for these lands had grown hateful to the Haladin. So they parted, and the survivors crossed over Gelion at the nearby ford (Sarn Athrad), and passed west, deep into Beleriand, following the footsteps of their kin. But their immediate sufferings were not yet over. Their route, had they known it, led through Estolad and Dor Dînen into the perilous land between the northern fences of Doriath and the Mountains of Terror; Nan Dungortheb, the Valley of Dreadful Death, the haunt of evil creatures of monstrous proportion and ferocious appetite. Many of the old and sick and wounded of the Haladin perished on this journey, and their will faltered, but Haleth led them forward – until Dimbar lay behind them.

Before them, between Teiglin and Sirion, lay wide, unoccupied lands. Beyond the Teiglin was a vast plain or moor, claimed by Nargothrond as part of its realm but thinly peopled for all that. Many of the Haladin, weary of narrow roads and looming heights, now passed out on to the plain and became a wandering people. But most remained with Haleth, and went into the nearby Forest of Brethil, where they made a woodland realm – after first coming to an understanding with Thingol of Doriath, the suzerain of all Beleriand and especially of the lands bordering his kingdom of Doriath. Here the Haladin dwelt, until the ending of the Age; and their rustic domain was to outlast all other kingdoms and realms of that time.

From this time forward the Haladin never abandoned the idea of unity, so painfully learned. They continued to recognise chieftains, of whom, according to their own lore, Haleth was the first. Their dwellings lay deep within the Forest, on the slopes of the hill Amon Obel, and these were fortified in later days, after the woodland manner, with stockade and earthen wall. But so far as they could they eschewed the war. Nevertheless, the defeat of the Dagor Bragollach radically altered the strategic situation, and in the years following that faraway battle the people of Haleth found themselves for the first time in the forefront of the conflict. And now, for the first time, they made common cause with the Elves of neighbouring Doriath (on one notable occasion this alliance brought about the annihilation of an entire legion of Orcs marching through Dimbar). This was in the days of Halmir, whose own son and daughter were wedded to the daughter and elder son of the Lord of Dor-lómin (the Third House). In this way the urgencies and exigencies of war brought the Haladin closer to others of the Edain, rather than the other way about. The lesson of unity had been well learned.

But now a time was approaching when all realms of the Eldar and Edain would fall into the greatest peril, if not kept secret and hidden. The Nirnaeth Arnoediad – to which a contingent from Brethil, led by Haldir, had gone, none of whom afterwards returned – ended for ever the days of open warfare and panoplied hosts. The North became ravaged by a new kind of fighting, deadly and merciless, demanding secret bases, high mobility, a knowledge of the country, and the determination to resort to ‘ignoble’ tactics – of the hit-and-run sort – if it meant damaging the enemy.

It was at around this time that BRANDIR THE LAME, grandson of Haldir who had been slain at the Nirnaeth, built the Ephel Brandir, on Amon Obel. But no mere stockade of wood could have withstood the enemy who now approached – Glaurung the Dragon, new-come from the sack of Nargothrond. The Haladin were preparing to flee when a certain warrior of the Edain (though not of their House), who was then dwelling with them in the Ephel, took the wrath of the Dragon upon his own head and went out to fight to save Brethil from the destroying flames. This of course was TÚRIN TURAMBAR; and meshed in his Doom were, among others, the People of Haleth. In the end the Dragon never came to Brethil.

The Haladin were now, like all the Edain and Eldar, grievously reduced in number, and in such daily fear that they posed no further threat to Morgoth’s dominion; and they kept hidden as best they might. In this way a remnant survived the ending of the Age, and the inundation of their long home, afterwards gathering in Lindon. And in the 32nd year of the New (Second) Age, when most of the surviving Edain, of all Three Houses, set sail across the Sea to found Númenor, some of the People of Haleth went also, as part of that expedition.

Halbarad – Ranger of Eriador and the captain of the Grey Company. He led the Dúnedain to the aid of their Chieftain during the War of the Ring, but fell in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Haldad – See HALETH.

Haldan – A chieftain of the HALADIN of Brethil.

Haldar – See HALETH.

Haldir – The son of Halmir of the HALADIN. He wedded a noble-woman of the Third House (of Dor-lómin), Gloredhel daughter of Hador Lórindol (while at the same ceremony his sister Hareth wedded the Heir of Dor-lómin, Galdor). The son of Haldir and Gloredhel was Handir. Haldir perished at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, fighting in Fingon’s rearguard, together with most of the force sent to that battle from Brethil. Also (Third Age) the name of one of the Galadhrim (Tree-Elves) of Lothlórien, a marchwarden of the land.

Haleth – The first real chieftain of the HALADIN, the daughter of Haldad and sister of Haldar. Both father and brother were slain in the defence of the stockade in Thargelion, after which Haleth stepped into her father’s shoes (he had organised the defence which had saved them) and took the leadership of the Haladin. She led them a dangerous road across northern Beleriand, but brought them to safety at last. Haleth then founded the settlement in the woods of Brethil, and dwelt there until her death, undisputed chieftainess of a House of Men. She was succeeded by her nephew Haldan. Everafter the Haladin called themselves, in her honour, ‘the people of Haleth’.

Also (Third Age) the elder son of King Helm Hammerhand of Rohan. He was slain defending the King’s Hall when the Dunlendings invaded the Mark in 2758 Third Age.

Halfast of Overhill – Samwise Gamgee’s ‘cousin Hal’; the son of Halfred of Overhill, a village in the Westfarthing of the Shire.

Half-elven – The PEREDHIL.

Halflings – A translation of the Sindarin word Periannath; the name in the Common Speech for the Shire-folk; who spoke of themselves as Hobbits, a word derived from quite a different meaning.

Half-orcs – An epithet used in Rohan for a particular race of creatures from Isengard; a fell breed with the height of true Men and all the ill-favoured characteristics of Orcs.

Halfred Gamgee – The second son of Hamfast Gamgee and elder brother of Samwise. When a young Hobbit, he quitted Number Three Bagshot Row and moved to the Northfarthing.

Halfred Greenhand – The eldest son of the fabled Holman the Greenhanded of Hobbiton. In token of his father’s prowess, Halfred adopted the surname Greenhand. His only son Holman, the last of that family, passed on the gardener’s trade to Hamfast Gamgee.

Halfred of Overhill – The younger brother of Hamfast Gamgee and son of Hobson ‘Roper’ Gamgee of Tighfield. Halfred had one son, Halfast, born after he went to live at Overhill in the Westfarthing.

Halifirien – The northernmost of the seven BEACON-HILLS which lay along the feet of the White Mountains between Gondor and Rohan. Its original name was Eilenaer. The Halifirien overlooked the Firienwood, which stood at the border of the two countries. On a high place of the mountain stood the tomb of Elendil, built by his son Isildur in the days following the Victory of the Last Alliance. (In those days the Halifirien was the mid-point of the realm of Gondor.) Halifirien means ‘Holy Mountain’ in the tongue of Rohan, and long before it had been known to the Dúnedain as Amon Anwar, the ‘Hill of Awe’; the Firienwood was called the ‘whispering wood’.

Halimath – The ninth month in the Shire Reckoning. (In Bree the same month was called Harvestmath.)

Halla – The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘tall’; also the title of the tehta or ‘sign’ used for breathed h. The tehtar were diacritic marks which acted as vowel substitutes in the Fëanorian alphabet. Halla was a vertical raised bowless stem.

Hallacar – The son of Hallatan of Hyarastorni of Númenor; husband of Tar-Ancalimë.

Hallas ‘Long-leaf’ (Sind.) – From 2567–2605 Third Age, the thirteenth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Hallatan of Hyarastorni – A lord of Númenor, descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur.

Hallows – A sacred or holy place; also a name for a tomb-complex. The Tombs of the Kings and other great men of Gondor were built on a high plateau behind the city of Minas Tirith, and could be reached only through a guarded door, Fen Hollen, on the inside of the sixth wall of the city.

Halls of Waiting – See following entry.

Halls of Mandos – The name given in traditions of the Eldar to the Houses of the Dead, in the Uttermost West of Valinor; the place of Awaiting after Death, where the spirits of the departed go perforce, to sit in meditation on their past lives before being released; thereupon the souls of earth-bound Elves awaken once more in the Blessed Realm, but the souls of Mortal Men pass on, away from Arda for ever, to be gathered into the Thought of Ilúvatar. The Keeper of the Houses of the Dead – and judge of the time of abiding there – is the Vala Námo, more often called Mandos (though this is properly the name of the Halls themselves).

Halmir – See HALADIN.

Háma – The younger son of King Helm Hammerhand of Rohan. In the winter of 2758–59 Third Age he was besieged in the Hornburg, together with his father and many of the King’s followers. He led a party of desperate men on a foray early in the new year and was lost in the snow. Helm himself died a short time afterwards. Also the name of the Captain of King Théoden’s household and the Door-ward of Meduseld. He fell during the Battle of the Hornburg (March, 3019 Third Age) and was buried there in a separate mound.

Hamfast ‘the Gaffer’ Gamgee – The son of Hobson ‘Roper’ Gamgee and the father of the illustrious Samwise. For much of his life Hamfast was the most well-respected gardener of Hobbiton and district, being rightly renowned as much for his rural witticisms as for his superb potatoes. He was born in 2926 Third Age (1326 Shire Reckoning), second son to a family of rope-makers in Tighfield. Young Hamfast, however, was more interested in the trade of his older ‘cousin’ Holman Greenhand, a gardener of note, who lived in Hobbiton by the Pool of Bywater. He became apprenticed to Holman and eventually succeeded him as the area’s principal horticulturalist, being employed mainly in the extensive gardens of Bag End.

Hamfast married Bell Goodchild, who bore him six children, of whom Samwise was the youngest. Yet only Sam shared his father’s love of the soil; he assisted in the gardens at Bag End until ‘the Gaffer’ retired, whereupon Sam in his turn took over the job. Old Hamfast enjoyed his retirement, living quietly in Number Three Bagshot Row – apart from a minor upset in 1419 Shire Reckoning, when he was temporarily evicted – until finally, in the year 1428, at the age of 102, he died content. In his later years the Gaffer had seen his favourite son acclaimed as a hero of the Shire, a leader of society and (best of all) as the greatest gardener of all time.

Also the name given by Samwise to his fourth son.

Hamson Gamgee – The eldest son of Hamfast Gamgee and elder brother of Samwise. Rather than follow his father’s trade of gardening, Hamson moved back to Tighfield (where a branch of the family still lived), and pursued instead his uncle Andy’s profession of ropemaking.

Handir – The father of Brandir the Lame of the HALADIN, the son of Haldir and Gloredhel of Dor-lómin. In his time he succeeded to the chieftainship of the Men of Brethil, but was slain in battle with Orcs while still in middle life. Brandir succeeded him.

Harad ‘South’ (Sind. from Q. Hyarmen) – The name given in Gondor to all those lands south of the river Harnen; a fuller title was Haradwaith ‘[Lands of the] South-peoples’. This area was divided (according to the reckoning of the Dúnedain) into Far and Near Harad, and comprised a patchwork of petty kingdoms, all of which were frequently – indeed, almost continually – at war with Gondor during the Third Age.

Haradrim ‘People of-the-South’ (Sind.) – The inhabitants of the lands of Harad; the Southrons, a fierce race of Men divided into a number of different but belligerent kingdoms. Throughout much of the Third Age their armies repeatedly marched against Gondor; mostly they were defeated and driven back to their desert lands. Yet on only one occasion were the Haradrim totally overthrown by Gondor’s might (see HYARMENDACIL I); and for over two thousand years they remained an unpredictable threat on the southern borders.

For all their (observed) warlike intentions and (ascribed) lust for gold, the Haradrim were nonetheless accounted True Men. Their methods of warfare were unlike those of other folk: many horsemen, and troops of giant war-beasts, called mûmakil, on the backs of which rode their chieftains. Their soldiers were armed with spear and shield, helm and scimitar, all adorned with gold and much ornament. They were also reportedly darker-skinned than the Dúnedain of Gondor, due no doubt to the long effect of the bright Sun in those distant lands. By all accounts, the Men of Harad were formidable warriors and determined opponents, and their enmity towards Gondor was deep-rooted.

The principal issue behind the initial outbreak of hostilities between the two peoples was the possession of Umbar, which lay on the coast of Haradwaith some seventy leagues south of the river Harnen. Traditionally Black Númenorean land, it had been seized by Gondor in the tenth century of the Third Age; and in 1015 the Haradrim – stirred up by the dispossessed Black Númenoreans – attacked Umbar in great strength. Ciryandil King of Gondor was slain and both the Havens and City of Umbar were invested. But the besieged Dúnedain held out, and some years later the Southron Federates were heavily defeated by King Ciryaher – so heavily, in fact, that for several hundred years afterwards none of the Haradrim dared to cross the Poros, and the wide lands between that river and the Harnen became subject to Gondor.

But in the course of time Gondor’s hold over the Harad was loosened and eventually broken. In 1540 a second King of Gondor was slain by the Southrons, and even though King Hyarmendacil II avenged him, Gondor could no longer prevent the Haradrim from raiding her frontiers. Moreover, it seems clear that from this point onwards there was an increasing measure of co-operation between the Haradrim and the Corsairs of Umbar (for Gondor had not long held Umbar, having lost it again in 1448). In any event the Haradrim themselves were in possession of Umbar by the nineteenth century; furthermore, in 1944 they made an alliance for the first time with an Easterling people (the Wainriders). So the net around Gondor drew ever tighter.

Yet although Gondor was eventually forced to evacuate the debatable land of Harondor, for many centuries her strength still proved sufficient to defend her shortened borders. And though there was intermittent raiding by land and sea throughout this period, it was not until almost a thousand years later that any further full-scale assault came from south of the Poros. It was Sauron himself – or rather, his emissaries – who brought this about; for in 2885 their whisperings stirred up the Haradrim, who invaded South Ithilien by their traditional route. This army was heavily defeated and driven south in disarray (see BATTLE OF THE CROSSINGS OF POROS).

Nonetheless the Haradrim were never again quiescent while the Third Age lasted. Their incessant border-raiding bled Gondor’s strength at a time when Sauron the Great was once more openly returning to power in Mordor; and in due course Sauron brought them more and more under his sway. During the War of the Ring, a great force of Haradrim, supported by many mûmakil, fought for Sauron’s part at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. But in that great clash at Gondor’s gate, they were defeated yet again, and their hopes of plunder dashed once more. Nevertheless, the warriors of Haradwaith were not so easily subdued, and in the first decades of the Fourth Age there was fighting again along the Harnen.

Harad Road – The main route between the Harad lands and Gondor. In the latter years of the Third Age, this road, originally built by Men of Gondor, was mainly used by her enemies, the Haradrim, to speed their forces northwards.

Haradwaith ‘Lands-of-the-South-peoples’ (Sind.) – All the lands south of the river Harnen.

Haranyë ‘Century’ (Q.) – The hundred-year cycle in the system of KINGS’ RECKONING.

Hardbottle – A village of the Shire, home of the Bracegirdle family.

Harding – A knight of King Théoden’s Household. He perished in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Harding of the Hill – The great-grandson of Samwise Gamgee (through his son Frodo Gardner). The Gardners of the Hill lived in Bag End following Sam’s departure from the Shire.

Hareth – The daughter of Halmir chieftain of the HALADIN; She wedded Galdor the Tall of Dor-lómin, the son of Hador Lórindol, thus uniting the Second and Third Houses of the Edain. Her own Sons were Húrin and Huor.

Harfoots – One of the three breeds or clans of Hobbits; the ‘most normal and representative variety of Hobbit, and far the most numerous [and] most inclined to settle in one place’.1 Harfoots also maintained the archaic habit of dwelling in burrows (or smials) for longer than other Hobbits. Most Shire-hobbits were Harfoots.

Harlindon ‘South-Lindon’ (Sind.) – That part of the Elvish land of LINDON which lay south of the Gulf of Lune.

Harlond ‘Southern-haven’ (Sind.) – The name for at least two separate harbours in Middle-earth: a haven in the Gulf of Lune, and the landings on the Anduin which served Minas Tirith as a river-port.

Harma – The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘treasure’; also the title of Tengwa number 11, which represented the sound (hard) ch (as in loch). This sound later became ‘softened’ to simple h (e.g. from Rochand to Rohan), except at the end of words and before the consonant t.

Harnen ‘South-water’ (Sind.) – This river was accounted the frontier between South Gondor and the lands of Harad. It rose in the southern range of the Ephel Dúath (Mountains of Shadow) and flowed westwards to find the sea some two hundred miles south of the Anduin delta.

Note: on early maps of Third Age Middle-earth, this river, though marked, is not named.

Harondor ‘South-Gondor’ (Sind.) – The name given in Gondor to all the lands between the rivers Poros and Harnen. In the early Third Age the Dúnedain of the South claimed these barren desert lands as part of their realm. Later, Harondor became a contested region between Gondor and the Harad.

Harrowdale – The high vale in the northern White Mountains, above which lay Dunharrow, the most ancient stronghold in Rohan.

Harry Goatleaf – One of the Big Folk of Bree, employed in the year 3018 Third Age as a watcher on the western gate. Like one or two other Bree-men, he was of inferior sort and easily corrupted. He later became a common footpad and his fate is not recorded.

Harvestmath – See HALIMATH.

Hasufel – A noble horse of Rohan; a handsome grey whose rider, Gárulf, was slain during the War of the Ring, in a battle between Orcs of Isengard and the éored of Éomer, Third Marshal of the Mark. Éomer later lent Hasufel to Aragorn and the horse served him well.

Hathaldir the Young – One of the Edain of the First House; he was a companion of BARAHIR in the last campaign made on Dorthonion in the years following the Dagor Bragollach.

Hathol – The Grandson of Malach Aradan of the Third House of the Edain; father of Hador Lórindol of Dor-lómin.

Hatholdir – A lord of Númenor and friend of King Tar-Meneldur. His son Orchaldor wedded the King’s daughter Ailinel.

Hauberk – A sleeveless mail-jacket designed to protect the neck and upper body.

Haudh-en-Arwen ‘Howe [Burial-mound] of the Maiden Queen’ (Sind.) – The burial tumulus, in Brethil, of HALETH. Also known as Tûr Haretha (‘Haleth’s Mound’) in the early form of Adûnaic spoken by the Haladin.

Haudh-en-Elleth ‘Mound-of-the-Elf-maid’ (Sind.) – The burial barrow of Finduilas daughter of Orodreth King of Nargothrond, at the Crossings of Teiglin. She was slain by Orcs.

Haudh-en-Gwanûr ‘Mound-of-the-Twins’ (Sind.) – The barrow which covered the remains of the brothers Fastred and Folcred of Rohan. It stood by the river Poros. See BATTLE OF THE CROSSINGS OF POROS.

Haudh-en-Ndengin ‘Hill-of-Slain’ (Sind.; also known as Haudh-en-Nirnaeth, ‘Mound-of-Tears’) – The great mound of corpses – of Elves and Men alike – built by the Orcs of Angband after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, in Anfauglith.

Haunted Mountain – A translation of the Northern Mannish word Dwimorberg; being the name given in Rohan to a peak of the White Mountains, which overhung Dunharrow.

Haunted Pass – Cirith Gorgor.

Haven of the Swans – A translation of the Quenya name ALQUALONDË; the chief city and haven of the Sea-elves of Aman (the Teleri).

Havens of Sirion – The secret harbour near the Sirion delta, founded by Elves after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and the fall of the Falas.

Havens of the Falas – EGLAREST and BRITHOMBAR. See also FALATHRIM.

Haysend – A village of southern Buckland. It was located at the mouth of the Withywindle, where this river flowed out of the Old Forest and became part of the Baranduin (Brandywine).

Hayward – A family of Buckland-hobbits, traditional keepers and patrollers of the High Hay.

Headstrong – A family of Shire-hobbits related to the Brandybucks.

Heathertoes – A family of ‘Big People’ of Bree.

Heavy-handed – An early Elvish epithet for the race of Men.

Heirs of Anárion – The ruling dynasty of Gondor, from the death of Elendil at the end of the Second Age to the passing of King Eärnur (2050 Third Age). Anárion was the younger son of Elendil the Tall, who founded both Arnor and Gondor in the year 3320 Second Age. From that date onwards, Anárion ruled Gondor conjointly with his elder brother Isildur, until his own death at the siege of Barad-dûr in 3440. When Elendil himself died, one year later, the lordship of Arnor was taken up by Isildur, and Gondor’s rule was then given to Meneldil, Anárion’s son. From Meneldil, the Kings of Gondor descended in line unbroken for nearly a thousand years.

Throughout the second millennium of the Third Age, the maintenance of the Line of Anárion became ever more difficult, and at last open dispute flared between rival claimants to the Throne. There then ensued the disastrous Kin-strife, the civil war of Gondor which nearly brought an end to the South-kingdom. Nevertheless, the Heirs of Anárion endured until the days of Eärnur, the thirty-third King; after him the last link with Elendil was broken. For Eärnur rode away to Minas Morgul and never came back, and he left no son to succeed him. Gondor was thereafter ruled by her Stewards (of the House of Húrin).

See also LINES OF DESCENT.

Heirs of Isildur – The ruling dynasty of Arnor (and Arthedain). Although the North-kingdom itself dwindled in both size and strength and eventually passed away altogether, its ruling House was maintained against all odds in line unbroken – until, at the very end of the Third Age, the last Heir of Isildur was able to restore both the Kingship in Arnor and the ancient union with the South-kingdom of Gondor. Isildur was the elder son of Elendil the Tall, High-King of Arnor and Gondor and founder of both the Realms in Exile. Upon his father’s death Isildur assumed the High-Kingship and in Year 2 Third Age journeyed to Arnor to take up the Sceptre. But he never reached the North-kingdom, and his youngest son Valandil – whose three brothers were also lost with Isildur – then became King. All the Kings of Arnor and Arthedain (and the subsequent Chieftains of the North) were descended father to son from Valandil. The last Heir of Isildur in the Third Age was Aragorn II, sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain; he later became ruler of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor. See also LINES OF DESCENT.

Helcar ‘Icy’ (Sind.) – The name given in the lore of the Eldar to the great Inland Sea of the north and east of Middle-earth, formed in ancient days by the destruction of the Mountain of Illuin. The Lake of Cuiviénen, the ‘Water of Awakening’ of the Elves, was a bay of Helcar.

Helcaraxë ‘Jaws of Ice’ (Q.) – The Northern Ice. Where the coasts of Aman and Middle-earth approached one another, in the Far North of the World, the Sea had frozen, and cliffs and bergs of ice and uncounted smaller floes ground together everlastingly. Only once in recorded history was a crossing on foot ever successfully completed: that undertaken by the Noldor of the Houses of Fingolfin and Finarfin, after these rebelling High-elves had been treacherously abandoned in Aman by Fëanor.

Helevorn ‘Black-glass’ (Sind.) – The lake in the extreme north of Thargelion, about which Caranthir of the Noldor made his realm.

Hells of Iron – A translation of the Sindarin name Angband.

Helluin ‘Blue Ice’ (Sind.) – The Elves’ name for the Dog Star.

Helm Hammerhand – From 2741–59 Third Age, the ninth King of Rohan and the last of the First Line of the Mark. A strong man of great size, Helm received the nickname ‘Hammerhand’ when he slew a renegade chieftain, Freca, with one blow from his fist. This act precipitated civil war in Rohan. A force of Dunlendings led by Freca’s son Wulf invaded the Mark and Helm’s elder son Haleth was slain defending the King’s Hall. The King himself was defeated at the Isen and forced to seek refuge within the Hornburg.

Helm’s misfortunes unhappily coincided with the Long Winter of 2758–59 Third Age, when the hardships already suffered by the besieged were exacerbated by famine and severe cold. Helm’s younger son Háma perished, and the King, in his grief, took to clothing himself in white and stalking his enemies across the snow on moonless nights. One morning Helm failed to return from a sortie, and was found standing on the Dike, stiff and still as a statue, stone dead. The line of the Kings of Rohan was recommenced with Fréaláf, son of Helm’s sister Hild.

Helmingas – The ‘Sons-of-Helm’; a name adopted by the Men of Westfold in Rohan as a tribute to the great warrior-king HELM HAMMERHAND, who died in defence of the Westfold during the Long Winter.

Helm of Hador – See DRAGON-HELM (OF DOR-LÓMIN).

Helm’s Deep – The general name for the complex of fortifications at the head of the Deeping Coomb in the northern White Mountains; the hold was originally built by Gondor but later strengthened by Kings of Rohan. The ‘Deep’ itself was the narrow and precipitous gorge of Aglarond, an ancient refuge and strong-place of the Westfold. To guard the entrance to the gorge (Helm’s Gate), various defensive walls and towers were built, the chief of which was the Hornburg. It was in this fortress that the renowned Helm Hammerhand took refuge during the Long Winter of 2758–59 Third Age. See also BATTLE OF THE HORNBURG.

Helm’s Dike – The great fosse or defensive ditch across the head of the Deeping Coomb; the outermost of the fortifications known collectively as Helm’s Deep.

Helm’s Gate – The entrance to the gorge of Aglarond, guarded by the Deeping Wall and its towers. The gorge itself, together with its complex of fortifications, was known as Helm’s Deep.

Henderch – A mariner of Númenor, companion of Tar-Aldarion.

Henneth Annûn ‘Window of the Sunset’ (Sind.) – An outpost of Gondor built in the contested province of Ithilien during the latter years of the Third Age. For by that time (over a century before the War of the Ring), it had at last become apparent that Gondor could no longer maintain a foothold in North Ithilien: Mordor-orcs roamed the country and the few remaining settlements there were heavily fortified. Therefore, foreseeing the type of warfare that Gondor would need to employ in order to make Ithilien a dangerous gain for the Enemy, Steward Túrin II constructed hidden refuges among the uplands and forests of that fair country. Of these secret places, the longest-guarded and best-concealed was Henneth Annûn, a complex of natural caves and passages hidden behind a high waterfall which faced west over the Anduin vale. A secret passage led up to the caves from the forest below, and a further tunnel gave access to the rock platform at the head of the waterfall. The refuge was kept amply provisioned and provided an excellent base from which the Rangers of Ithilien were able to foray against the Enemy.

Hensday – See HEVENSDAY.

Herblore of the Shire – A notable treatise on botany written by Meriadoc Brandybuck sometime during the early Fourth Age. Unfortunately, the work as a whole has not survived.2

Herefara – A knight of the Household of King Théoden of Rohan, slain on the Fields of the Pelennor (March, 3019 Third Age).

Heren Istarion ‘The Order of Wizards’ (Q.) – See WIZARDS.

Herion – From 2116–48 Third Age, the third Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Herubrand – One of the house-carles of King Théoden of Rohan, slain in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (March, 3019 Third Age).

Herucalmo – See ANDUCAL (TAR-ANDUCAL).

Herugrim – The name of the sword borne by King Théoden of the Mark. It was kept in a scabbard richly ornamented with gold and beryl-stones.

Herumor ‘Black-lord’ (Sind.) – See FUINUR.

Herunúmen ‘Lord-of-the-West’ – The Quenya equivalent of the Adûnaic title ADUNAKHÔR.

Hevensday – A translation of the Quenya word Menelya, used as the fifth day of the week in the Shire Reckoning. In its original form this word was spelt Hevensdei, but by the end of the Third Age it had evolved into Hevensday (or Hensday).

Hewer of Caves – A translation of the Khuzdul words felak-gundu, rendered (in Sindarin) Felagund. See FINROD FELAGUND.

Hidden City – Gondolin.

Hidden King – Thingol Greycloak.

Hidden Kingdom – Doriath.

Hidden Rock – A translation of the Sindarin word Gondolin, itself a punning rendition of the Quenya name Ondolindë (‘Stone-song’).

Hiding of Valinor – A translation of the Quenya phrase Nurtalë Valinóreva, meaning the period after the raising of the Sun in which the Valar fortified and concealed their land.

Highday – The seventh (and chief) day of the week in the Shire Reckoning, equivalent to Valanya (Q.) in Kings’ Reckoning. An earlier form of the word was Highdei.

High-elves – A translation of the Quenya term Tareldar; properly speaking, the title High-elves should apply to all the Calaquendi of Eldamar and Valimar. However, in translations from the Red Book, and following the usage of the Dúnedain, the term has been primarily used to indicate those of the Noldor (the Second Kindred) who returned to Middle-earth in Exile. See also ELDAR.

High Faroth – See TAUR-EN-FAROTH.

High Hay – A great hedge built by the Hobbits of Buckland around their eastern border, in order to prevent the encroachment of the Old Forest. It extended nearly twenty miles in a loop from the Great East Road in the north to the confluence of the Withywindle and Baranduin (Brandywine) in the south. The Hay was carefully tended, fourteen feet high, several feet thick, and virtually impenetrable.

High Kings (of the Dúnedain) – The title High King was first assumed by Elendil the Tall, son of Amandil of Andúnië, after the fall of Númenor and the return of the Faithful, whom he led, to Middle-earth. As it implies, the title refers to a sovereign supreme over other sovereigns, an upward extension of the feudal system. After Elendil this title was briefly borne by his elder son Isildur, but with Isildur’s death lapsed for a period of three thousand years. It then was restored by Aragorn II (Elessar).

High Kings (of the Noldor) – Although the Vanyarin lord Ingwë was always accounted High King over all Elves, the Noldor who returned to Middle-earth instituted a separate High-kingship, to mark their severance of all the old allegiances. The first High King to be proclaimed was Fingolfin; for although both he and his (older) half-brother Fëanor were the sons of Finwë (who did not go into exile), and were the two leaders of that revolt, no agreement was reached concerning the question of who was to be the final arbiter of all policy; and the hosts journeyed separately to Middle-earth. But shortly afterwards the problem solved itself with Fëanor’s death, and Maedhros his son offered the High-kingship to Fingolfin, who bore it for more than four and a half centuries before perishing in the Dagor Bragollach. On Fingolfin’s death, the title passed to his elder son Fingon; and when Fingon was slain, twenty years afterwards, at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, his younger brother Turgon (of Gondolin) succeeded him. When Turgon himself also perished, in the fall of Gondolin, thirty-nine years after the Nirnaeth, the title passed to Fingon’s son Ereinion Gil-galad – though by now the High-kingship was purely a nominal title, for the Elf-kingdoms were well-nigh destroyed.

Gil-galad was the longest to reign of all High-kings of the Noldor. He took the title before the ending of the First Age, as is told above, and did not relinquish it until his death, in combat with Sauron, at the end of the Age which followed. He therefore reigned for more than three thousand years. His death marked the extinction of the title, which was never resuscitated. Henceforth, the leadership of the remaining Eldar, both Noldor and Sindar, was given to Elrond of Imladris, who at the great Battle of Dagorlad had been Gil-galad’s Herald.

High Speech – Quenya.

Hild – The sister of Helm Hammerhand, ninth King of Rohan, and mother of Fréaláf (Hildeson), tenth King.

Hildor ‘Aftercomers’ (Sind.) – An Elvish name for the race of Men.

Hildórien – The name given by the Elves to that region of the east of Middle-earth wherein the race of Men was said to have originated.

Hill of Erech – See STONE OF ERECH.

Hill of Hearing – A translation of the Sindarin words AMON LLAW.

Hill of Ilmarin – Mount Oiolossë, in the Undying Lands, highest of the Mountains of Valinor (the Pelóri). Upon its summit, in the great palace of Ilmarin, dwelled the Lord of the Valar, Manwë, and his spouse, Elbereth.

Hill of Sight, Hill of the Eye – Two common translations of the Sindarin name Amon Hen.

Hills of Evendim – A separate range of hills in north central Eriador. They sheltered the beautiful Lake Evendim, or Nenuial (‘Lake-twilight’), and guarded Elendil’s City of Annúminas, which lay by the southern shores of the lake.

Himlad ‘Cool plain’ (Sind.) – The northernmost part of East Beleriand, the land which lay between Aros, Celon and the Hills of Himring. Until the Dagor Bragollach Himlad was the realm of the brothers Celegorm and Curufin.

Himring ‘Ever-cold’ (Sind.) – The tallest of the range of hills which formed the northern boundary of the land of Himlad (see preceding entry). Upon its summit Maedhros, eldest of the seven sons of Fëanor, built a great fortress, to guard against the evil from the north. This fortress fell in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and the lands it had guarded became infested by Morgoth’s forces.

Hirgon – An errand-rider of Gondor during the War of the Ring. He was sent from Steward Denethor to Théoden, King of Rohan, with the traditional token of impending war, the Red Arrow. Hirgon never returned to Minas Tirith, being slain in Anórien by ambushing Orcs.

Hirilondë ‘Haven-finder’ (Q.) – The hugest of the many great ships built by Prince Anardil of Númenor (later Tar-Aldarion the Mariner). It was unofficially known, to its crew, as Turuphanto ‘the Wooden Whale’.

Hírilorn ‘Tree of the Lady’ (Sind.) – The name given by the Sindar of Doriath to the three-trunked beech-tree in which Lúthien Tinúviel was imprisoned by her father Thingol, in order to prevent her joining Beren on the Quest of the Silmaril; however, as is told elsewhere, Lúthien escaped from this arboreal prison, and followed Beren, and rescued him from Sauron’s clutches.

Hirluin the Fair – The Lord of Pinnath Gelin in the Langstrand of Gondor at the time of the War of the Ring. To the aid of Minas Tirith he led three hundred of his own green-clad men, but himself perished in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

Hisilómë ‘Land of Mist’ (Q.) – The High-elves’ original name for the land known to the Grey-elves as HITHLUM.

Hisimë ‘Misty’ (Q.) – The eleventh month in the Kings’ Reckoning, and the eighth in the New Reckoning of the Fourth Age. The Sindarin equivalent, used only by the Dúnedain, was Hithui.

Hithaeglir ‘[Chain of] Misty-peaks’ (Sind.) – The Grey-elven name for the MISTY MOUNTAINS.

Hither lands, Hither Shores – See NEVRAST.

Hithlain ‘Mist-threads’ (Sind.) – A substance woven by Elves of Lothlórien and used by them for many purposes, especially the making of ropes. The name aptly describes the fine texture of these ropes, as reported by Samwise (himself having a family interest in the art of rope-making). They were grey in colour, light, and packed surprisingly closely. They were also extremely strong and, like many things of Elvish craft, served their bearers well in unexpected ways.

Hithlum ‘Land of Mist’ (Sind.) – The most north-westerly of all the Noldorin realms of Middle-earth, founded by Fingolfin the High King after the Battle-Under-Stars, and ruled by him until his death in the Dagor Bragollach. Hithlum was a great, enclosed plain, fenced on the south, east and west by the ranges of Ered Wethrin and Ered Lómin, and open only to the north. It was fifty leagues wide at its widest point.

Together with its southern provinces, Dor-lómin and Mithrim, Hithlum was held by the Noldor and their allies until after the Dagor Bragollach, for the mountain-shield held back the advancing tide from Angband; even the death of Fingolfin did not bring about its fall. But fifteen years after the Dagor Bragollach came the terrible day of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and on that field well nigh all the strength of Hithlum was slain. This last of the northern realms then fell to Morgoth, for there were no Elves or Men left to defend it.

Hithui – See HISIMË.

Hlothram – In original (as opposed to translated) Hobbit-speech, the forename Hlothram meant ‘Cottager’. This name has been translated from the Red Book as Cotman. See COTTON.

Hlothran – In untranslated Hobbit-speech the element hloth meant a simple (i.e. two-roomed) cottage. The suffix -ran indicated a group or cluster of dwellings, and therefore the full word indicated a village of such cottages. It was a reasonably common Shire-name and has been translated from the Red Book as Cotton.

‘The Hoard’ – This poem is No. 14 in the collection of similar Hobbit-verses assembled under the title The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. It is thought to have been modelled on fragments of tales, both Elvish and Númenorean, found by Hobbits in Rivendell – or passed on to them second-hand by others with some knowledge of the legends of the First Age. The poem concerns the destiny of a hoard of Elvish treasure which is abandoned by the Elves and then passes to an ancient Dwarf, who increases its worth by his own labours, becoming so absorbed in his wealth and skills that he makes easy prey for the inevitable Dragon – which dispossesses him, taking the hoard for his own. Years later, the Dragon is slain by a Man, who founds his own kingdom on the Dragon-hoard. But he grows old and heartless, and his gold becomes more to him than his realm or his people. He, in his turn, is overthrown – and goes to his grave with the secret of the hiding-place of the Hoard.

Hoarwell – The river Mitheithel, which rose in the Ettenmoors in northern Eriador and flowed south to join the Bruinen (Loudwater); just above Tharbad the enlarged Hoarwell merged with the Glanduin and the river was then known as the Greyflood (or Gwathló).

Hobbiton – One of the older villages of the Shire. It sprawled around the Hill of Hobbiton, near the Pool of Bywater, in the West-farthing. Both Bywater and Hobbiton formed a single community.

Hobbitry-in-arms – The Shire-militia, led by the Thain when occasion demanded. As occasion did so only infrequently, the Shire-muster was a rare enough sight, though most Hobbits had some skill with weapons and many were accomplished archers.

Hobbits (diminished form of Holbytlan ‘Hole-builders’) – For a full account of the origins, histories and customs of this remarkable people – who play so notable a part in the great War of the Ring – readers are firmly advised to refer to available translations of the Red Book of Westmarch3 – which, in addition to being the prime source of information about the Third Age of Middle-earth, is of course the chief surviving repository of all Hobbit-lore. Moreover, as the Red Book was written by Hobbits, and concerns the events of the War as seen by the most notable Hobbits of all time, not surprisingly it contains more revelations (intentionally or otherwise) about the Halfling folk than any other document in existence.

Accordingly, for an account of Hobbits’ origins and customs, see the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings; for information concerning their language and names, see Appendix F.

Hob Gammidge – The son of Wiseman Gamwich of Tighfield, and the founder of the (Tighfield) Gamgees’ rope-making business. He was known as ‘Old Gammidgy’. Hob married Rowan, daughter of Holman the Greenhanded of Hobbiton, and their son Hobson continued with the family trade. See also GAMGEE; GAMWICH.

Hob Hayward – A Hobbit of Buckland. The Haywards were presumably the traditional keepers and patrollers of the High Hay.

Hobson ‘Roper’ Gamgee – The son of Hob Gammidge and the grandfather of Samwise. He was the first of the family to take the name Gamgee (doubtless from his father’s nickname of ‘Gammidgy’). See also GAMGEE; GAMWICH.

Holbytla ‘Hole-builder’ – An archaic word in the tongue of northern Men. The word Hobbit is thought to be a ‘worn-down’ version of this term.4

Holdwine – The name given in Rohan to Meriadoc Brandybuck.

Holfast Gardner – The son of Frodo Gardner and the grandson of Samwise Gamgee. He inherited Bag End from his father.

Hollin – The name given among western Men to the High-elven realm of EREGION, built and destroyed during the Second Age. It was so named because holly was the token of the Elven-smiths of that land.

Hollowbold – A translation into Mannish speech of the Dwarvish (Khuzdul) name Tumunzahar (Sind. Nogrod), being the more southerly of the two great Dwarvish cities of the Blue Mountains.

Holman Cotton – The son of Cotman of Bywater and Rose (‘Greenhand’). He was known as ‘Long Hom’.

Holman Greenhand – The son of Halfred Greenhand and the grandson of the legendary Holman the Greenhanded of Hobbiton. Young Holman was Bilbo Baggins’ first gardener at Bag End, and before he retired, he passed on his skills to his cousin Hamfast Gamgee (formerly of Tighfield), who taught them in turn to his own son Samwise.

Holman the Greenhanded – The fabled Hobbit-gardener of Hobbiton, founder of the renowned Greenhand clan (through his son Halfred Greenhand).

Holy Mountain – Oiolossë.

Horn – A knight of the Household of King Théoden of Rohan, slain in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (March, 3019 Third Age).

Hornblower – A Southfarthing family of Shire-hobbits.

Hornburg – The principal fortress of Helm’s Deep, built early in the Third Age by Men of Gondor (when it had been called Aglarond) and later strengthened by Kings of Rohan. It commanded the entrance to the Deep, being situated upon a spur of rock which dominated the Deeping fortifications. The Hornburg consisted of a single tower or keep, surrounded by high walls of stone; its name stemmed from the fact that ‘a trumpet sounded upon the tower echoed in the Deep behind, as if armies long forgotten were issuing to war.’5 See also BATTLE OF THE HORNBURG.

Horn-call of Buckland – Although Hobbits of the Shire were generally rather complacent about possible dangers from ‘outside’, their kinfolk living in Buckland, on the far side of the river, did not as a rule share this sense of security. The High Hay was one indication of the greater precautions Bucklanders took against unauthorised entry; they also preserved the habit of locking their doors at night, and maintained an ancient general alarum, a swooping horn-call, only blown at times of urgent need.

House of Durin – The descendants of Durin the Deathless, greatest of all Dwarves.

House of Elros – The line of the Kings of Númenor, commenced by ELROS TAR-MINYATUR and ended with Tar-Palantír. Ar-Pharazôn was a usurper, from a junior branch of this dynasty.6

House of Eorl – The Eorlingas, ‘Sons-of-Eorl’; the Line of the Kings of Rohan, descended from Eorl the Young, last Lord of Éothéod and first King of the Mark.

House of Hador – The Third House of the Edain. See HADOR.

House of Húrin – The Line of the RULING STEWARDS of Gondor, descended from Húrin of Emyn Arnen, Steward to Minardil (twenty-fifth King) and a man of noble ancestry. The Stewardship later became largely hereditary and, after Steward Pelendur, the Rod of Office passed as a matter of course to the eldest son. The banner of the House was plain silver with no device or marking.

House of Ransom – A translation of the Sindarin words BAR-EN-DANWEDH.

House of the Golden Flower (of Gondolin) – See GLORFINDEL.

Houses of the Dead – The HALLS OF MANDOS.

Houses of the Edain – The Three Kindreds of the Atani, the Elf-friends, who came across the Blue Mountains into Beleriand before the end of the First Age and fought Morgoth as allies of the Eldar. The First House was that led into Beleriand by Bëor the Old; the Second was the people known as the Haladin. The Third was that kindred led into Beleriand by the chieftain Marach. This was the most numerous and hardy of all the Houses of the Edain, but it afterwards became known as the House of Hador after its greatest chieftain, Hador Lórindol.

The First House, the People of Bëor, dwelt for a while in Estolad, but later journeyed for the most part into the far north, to Dorthonion, where in Ladros they made a realm in alliance with Angrod and Aegnor, of the House of Finarfin. They were savagely attacked during the Dagor Bragollach, and though they maintained a presence there for some few years afterwards, were eventually overwhelmed and driven out. The survivors came eventually to Brethil, where they sought sanctuary among the Haladin, and to Dor-lómin, where they were received by Hador’s people. But Barahir, their last chieftain, and all who remained with him, were slain, save Barahir’s son BEREN, who of all the First House is the most renowned in song and story.

The Haladin, as is told elsewhere, came by dangerous paths to Brethil, west of Doriath, and there founded a woodland realm. But though in later days many grievous affairs touched them, they remained unconquered by Morgoth. The most renowned of this Kindred of Men is the lady HALETH, who led her people on the perilous journey, from Thargelion – where the Haladin had been well nigh wiped out – to West Beleriand.

The Third House was the most renowned in the wars with Morgoth. HADOR LÓRINDOL (‘the Goldenhaired’) was the first Lord of Dor-lómin, and the chief ally of Fingolfin the High King of the Noldor. Warriors of his House served the Noldor, and garrisoned the most dangerous outpost of all, the Eithel Sirion. Hador himself was slain during the Dagor Bragollach, in defence of this fortress, and GALDOR THE TALL, his elder son, then took the lordship of his House. Galdor fell in battle seven years after his father, and was succeeded by HÚRIN THALION, his own elder son. And Húrin – the greatest warrior of all the Edain of the First Age – led the last stand of the Men of Dor-lómin at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, in which his brother Huor was slain; but was himself captured and grievously used by Morgoth. Dor-lómin fell to the enemy, and the survivors of the Third House were enslaved by Easterlings allied to Morgoth.

Most tragic of all the heroic Edain of the First Age was TÚRIN TURAMBAR. Túrin’s grandfather Galdor had wedded Hareth of the Haladin; their sons were Húrin and Huor. Húrin wedded Morwen Eledhwen of the First House – and their children were Túrin and Nienor. The blood of all Three Houses therefore ran in Túrin’s veins. (His story is told in many places and needs no recapitulation here.)

TUOR son of Huor was similarly descended, for his father had wedded Rían daughter of Belegund of the First House; she was the cousin of Morwen Eledhwen. But Tuor’s story is happier than that of his cousins Túrin and Nienor: and through him the blood-lines of all Three Houses of the Edain, allied with the House of Fingolfin of the Noldor, were passed on, and survived the Wars, and became linked with the descent from Thingol and Lúthien, and (after the passing of two full Ages) with the Line of Finarfin, becoming the most royal of the LINES OF DESCENT of Middle-earth.

Hrávë ‘Flesh’ (Q.).

Hrívë (Q.) – The fifth of the six ‘seasons’ of the ancient High-elven loa or year. Hrívë (Sind. rhîw) corresponded to winter (although the Eldarin loa actually concluded with a further ‘season’: coirë, ‘stirring’). See also CALENDAR OF IMLADRIS.

Hröa ‘Body, garment’ (Q.) – The Eldarin conception of an individual ‘person’ divided it into two components: the hröa, or corporeal part, and the fëa, or spirit.7

Huan ‘Mighty-Hound’ (Sind.) – The Hound of Valinor, the greatest and noblest dog ever to walk in Middle-earth, Companion of Beren and Lúthien, and Slayer of the Wolf Carcharoth. He was in his origins the Hound of the Vala Oromë; but far back in the Elder Days Oromë gave him to Celegorm of the Noldor; and Celegorm, when he came to Middle-earth in exile, brought the great animal with him.

Huan served his second master faithfully for many hundreds of years. But the Hound was not fated to remain with Celegorm. For during the years which followed the Dagor Bragollach (and the dispossession of Celegorm), his path was crossed by Lúthien and Beren; as a result of these encounters Huan abandoned Celegorm, who had now fallen into evil ways, and allied himself to Beren and Lúthien – and indeed without his aid they could never have entered Angband, nor stolen a Silmaril in fulfilment of the vow made by Beren to Lúthien’s father Thingol. During these adventures Huan slew many foes – among them the Werewolf-lord Draugluin – and with his enchantments enabled his companions to escape detection. But at the ending of the quest, there came a meeting long prophesied – with the greatest Wolf of all, Carcharoth. Huan fought and slew the Wolf of Angband, but was himself mortally wounded in the fight, as indeed was Beren of the Edain.

Hunthor – One of the Haladin; he was a companion of Túrin Turambar in the expedition against the Dragon Glaurung, but was killed – by accident – before he had been able to strike a blow.

Huor – The younger son of Galdor of Dor-lómin and brother of HÚRIN THALION. Huor wedded Rían, daughter of Belegund (of the First House of the Edain); their son was Tuor, who wedded Idril Turgon’s daughter. Huor himself did not live to see this, for he was slain, fighting valiantly alongside his brother, at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. But through him the House of Hador was perpetuated, and linked with still mightier Houses, of the Eldar.

Huorns – Sentient trees (or possibly regressed Ents) of Fangorn Forest, who dwelt only in the deepest dales of that land. Like the Great Willow of the Old Forest in Eriador, they were ‘limb-lithe’ and could move very swiftly from place to place, wrapped in tree-shadow. They were extremely dangerous – most of all to Orcs, whom they hated with an unbridled passion. Huorns were, however, under the control of true Ents.

Húrin Thalion – The greatest warrior of all the Edain of the First Age, Lord of Dor-lómin after Galdor his father, brother of Huor, and father of Túrin Turambar and Nienor ‘Niniel’. He was born in Dor-lómin, in the house of his father, some 15 years before the Dagor Bragollach, in a time of peace. Both he and his younger brother Huor represented a mingling of the chiefly lines of descent of both the Second and Third Houses of the Edain, for their mother was Hareth of the Haladin. But when Húrin was still young, Morgoth unleashed sudden war, and both the sons of Galdor went east to fight. As is told elsewhere, they escaped capture (or worse) and came by lofty paths to the Hidden City of Gondolin, the first of all Men to do so (though not the last), and so became known to Turgon the king. Thus the foundations were laid of an alliance which would outlast the Age.

Returning to Dor-lómin, to the house of Galdor their father, the brothers refused to reveal where they had been. (Nevertheless, before long, word came to Morgoth of the mysterious disappearance of these young princes of Men; and for the first time he paid attention to Húrin.) It was at about this time that Galdor was slain in a sudden attack upon Hithlum; but Húrin took the leadership and briskly repelled the invaders. He was now Lord of Dor-lómin. Eight years later he led the entire warriordom of his realm to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, to fight on behalf of the High King in the set-piece battle which was intended to crush Morgoth’s armies for ever. But it was the Eldar and the Edain who were destroyed on that dreadful day; and only by the valour of the Men of Dor-lómin, led by Húrin and Huor, was anything at all saved from the wreck. For they covered the retreat of the army of Gondolin. Huor and all the Edain who were in that rearguard were killed; but Húrin fought to the last. Then he was captured (by the special order of Morgoth) and brought, a prisoner, to Angband.

There is no need to dwell on the horror of that place, nor the steadfastness with which Húrin faced his chief Enemy. So high was his courage that Morgoth forbore to have him tortured, for he knew that this warrior of Men would defy him to the last. Instead, therefore, he cursed Húrin, and his children, and set him in a high place, chained to a chair of stone, to watch the world wheel by; while in the world beyond, Morgoth’s forces went whither they would, reaping the last fruits of the Nirnaeth.

For twenty-eight years Húrin ‘the Steadfast’ (Thalion, a surname bestowed upon him by the Eldar, carries this meaning) endured his slow torment. Then he was released, to go where he might. This was not charity, for Morgoth hated him as much as ever; yet he knew that Húrin might yet betray a secret or two – or worse – if left to wander.

And so it proved. Húrin came to Gondolin – for whom he had fought to the last, beyond all hope for himself – and inadvertently revealed its whereabouts to Morgoth’s spies. Then he went to Nargothrond and found it a ruin; and then to Brethil, where he learned of the fates which had overtaken his son and daughter – and found again his wife Morwen, whom he had not seen for nearly thirty years; and he held her in his arms before she died, of grief and long weariness. Then Húrin’s bitterness was complete. Finally he journeyed to Doriath to reproach Thingol for the fate of his kin, but repented of his anger and departed, never again to be seen by any Elf or Man. Soon afterwards he slew himself, the last victim of the curse upon his line. Here indeed was a man who deserved a better fate.8

Húrin of Emyn Arnen – The founder of the House of the Stewards of Gondor (and the Steward to Minardil, twenty-fifth King). See RULING STEWARDS.

Húrin I – From 2204–44 Third Age, the fifth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Húrin II – From 2605–28, the fourteenth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Húrin the Tall – The Warden of the Keys of Minas Tirith and the chief official of that City (after the Steward). During the War of the Ring, he commanded the City while the Army of Gondor advanced to the Black Gate of Mordor.

Hwesta – The Quenya (or High-elven) name for ‘breeze’, but more properly, the title of Tengwa number 12, which represented the voiceless w sound (as in white). In Sindarin (or Grey-elven) usage, this letter was employed to indicate the (harder) sound chw.

Hwesta Sindarinwa – The title of Tengwa number 34, one of the additional (i.e. later) letters of the Fëanorian alphabet. Like letter 12 (see previous entry), it represented the sound of voiceless w, being an alternative for this letter used only by the Grey-elves – as the Sindar employed the older letter 12 to signify the typically Grey-elven sound chw.

Hyarmen – The Quenya name for ‘south’; also the title of Tengwa number 33, which represented the sound hy in those languages which required it. It also stood for (directional) South, even to those peoples who did not speak Quenya and had not learned the Tengwar.

Hyarmendacil I (born Ciryaher) – From 1015–1149 Third Age, the fifteenth King of Gondor, the last of her four ‘Ship-kings’, and the mightiest war-leader in Gondor’s history. Ciryaher’s father, Ciryandil, was slain by the Haradrim, in 1015, at the beginning of the long siege of Umbar, which had been repossessed by Gondor some eighty years before. However, since Umbar could not be captured while Gondor commanded the seas, the new king awaited a propitious moment before attempting to raise the siege by counter-attack. By the year 1050 Gondor’s strength was rebuilt, and Ciryaher crossed the Harnen with a great army; while at the same time, his fleets disembarked another host on the coasts of the Harad. The Haradrim were so severely defeated in the ensuing battle that for several centuries afterwards they posed no further threat to the South-kingdom. To celebrate this victory, one of the greatest in Gondor’s history, Ciryaher adopted the royal name Hyarmendacil, ‘Victor-of-the-South’.

Hyarmendacil II (born Vinyarion) – From 1540–1621 Third Age, the twenty-fourth King of Gondor. Like his most illustrious forbear, he won a great victory over the Men of Harad (in the year 1551); and in token of this, Vinyarion took the royal name Hyarmendacil II.

Hyarmentir ‘Guardian-of-the-South’ (Q.) – The name given in Eldamar to the second highest of all the Pelóri, the great mountain which stood far to the south, opposite the land of Avathar.

Hyarnustar ‘Southwestlands’ (Q.) – The south-westerly cape-province of Númenor.9

Hyarrostar ‘Southeastlands’ (Q.) – The south-easterly cape-province of Númenor.10