The Complete Tolkien Companion Page 2

  The Adventures of Tom Bombadil – A collection of assorted hobbit-poems taken from various sections of the Red Book and published, together with explanatory notes, under the title of the most well-known of the verses.

  ‘The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’ – A Hobbit-poem about the semi-legendary (to some Hobbits) dweller ‘down-under-hill’ in the Old Forest on the eastern borders of the Shire. It dates to the early Fourth Age. The poem, together with many others, has been published as a separate supplement to the available translation of the Red Book of Westmarch; it appears under the same general title (see previous entry).

  Aeglos ‘Snow-thorn’ (Sind.) – See AIGLOS.

  Aegnor ‘Fell-fire’ (Sind. [originally Aikanáro, Q.]) – The fourth of the sons of Finarfin of the House of Finwë, one of the princes of the Noldor who came back to Middle-earth during the Elder Days to make war upon Morgoth for the recovery of the Silmarils. At the beginning of the Long Peace, he and his brother Angrod took the northern part of the Dorthonion highland; they held it in fief from Finrod, their elder brother, as the northernmost bulwark of the Elves’ domains against the evil of Morgoth. In the four hundred and fifty-fifth year since the return of their father’s people to Middle-earth, Morgoth, long quiescent in Angband, unleashed sudden war upon the Noldor: the Battle of Sudden Flame, in which the hills of Dorthonion in the north were literally kindled in the fire of his onslaught. In that desperate fight Aegnor and his brother Angrod were among the first to fall.

  ‘A Elbereth Gilthoniel’ – The opening line (and title) of the beautiful Hymn sung by the Eldar of Middle-earth to Elbereth, or Varda (Q.), in her aspect as Fanuilos, the divine or demiurgic intercessary.1 In the Hymn she is pictured as standing on the slopes of Mount Everwhite (Oiolossë, Q.), arms raised, listening to the cries for aid of Elves and Men. Although the language is Sindarin, it is unlikely that this verse is of Grey-elven origin. It was the Exiles, the High-elves who dwelt among the Sindar in Lindon, in Lórien and in Rivendell, who most longed for the solace of the Vala Queen Elbereth, with whom they had once dwelt in bliss. The style of the poem bears hallmarks of Quenya inflection, especially in the High style of the language chosen and in the reverential second person singular used throughout.

  Note: compare with the High style of Quenya used in Namárië, the Lament of Galadriel in Lothlórien.2

  Aelin-uial ‘Meres of Twilight’ (Sind.) – The name given by the Elvenfolk of Doriath, Thingol’s kingdom in Beleriand, to the region of eerie marshes which bordered their forested land in the southwest, where the river Aros flowed into the Sirion. Here lay a flood-plain, and here the renewed waters of the Sirion diverged, temporarily, into wide fens before gathering together once more into the great Falls of Sirion. The Meres were part of the defensive circle of enchantment woven about Doriath by its Queen, the Lady Melian, after the rebellion of Morgoth.

  Aeluin ‘Blue-mere’ (Sind.) – A small lake in eastern Dorthonion. See TARN AELUIN.

  Aerandir ‘Sea-wanderer’ (Q.) – A mariner of the Edain, one of those three who accompanied their lord Eärendil on his great journey from Middle-earth to the Undying Lands, at the end of the First Age. As all know, that journey brought about the mustering of the Valar and the overthrow of Morgoth. Aerandir, however, never set foot on the shores of Aman the Blessed; for he and his two companions, Falathar and Erellont, were bidden by Eärendil to remain in the boat Vingilot while he himself continued the journey on foot. After the deliberations of the Valar the three were given a new ship, and sent speedily back to Mortal Lands. Their fate was not that of Eärendil.

  Aerie – A poetic invention in the Hobbit style, supposedly a name of Elvish origin. It occurs in the poem ‘Errantry’ (part of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil collection) and refers to an imaginary Elf kingdom.

  Aerin – A woman of the Edain, a kinswoman of Húrin of the Second House, who dwelt in Dor-lómin during the First Age. The fall of Dor-lómin in the wars brought about occupation of that land by a lesser race of men, Easterlings brought thither by Morgoth and planted as a colony. Aerin, despite her lineage, was wedded perforce to one of these, named Brodda. She is remembered in the tales of Men as one who secretly lent aid to Morwen the mother of Túrin Turambar; later it was this same woman Aerin who revealed to Túrin whither his mother had departed, and so unwittingly brought home to him the import of his deeds. Túrin, in his rage, slew Brodda at his own board and fled into the night. Of Aerin’s eventual fate no tales speak, though it is likely she was slain by vengeful Easterlings.

  Aftercomers – A translation of the Grey-elven word Hildor, a name for the race of Men.

  Afterlithe – The name given in the Shire Reckoning to the month of July, being the seventh month of the year. In Bree, the name used for this month was Mede.

  Afteryule – The name given in the Shire to the first month ‘after Yule’ of the year. The Bree name was Frery.

  Agarwaen ‘Bloodstained’ (Sind.) – Part of the riddling name assumed by Túrin Turambar when he dwelt in Nargothrond for a while during the wars against Morgoth. The full name was Agarwaen son of Umarth (‘The Bloodstained, Son of Ill-fortune’).

  Aglarond ‘Halls-of-Glory’ – The Sindarin name for the ‘Glittering Caves’ of Helm’s Deep. The existence of this name shows that these remarkable natural wonders were known in Gondor long before the Men of Éothéod took possession of the land which afterwards became known as Rohan. In fact the first fortification of this area – the tower known to its builders as Aglarond – was raised by the Dúnedain, to serve with Angrenost (Isengard) as a guard-post for the Gap of Calenardhon.

  The Rohirrim themselves paid scant courtesy to the beauty of the caverns (which they called Glœmscrafu, ‘Caves of Radiance’) using them as store-houses to supply the fortress known as Helm’s Gate: the Hornburg, the Deeping Wall and the Deeping Tower. Thus the gorge of Aglarond formed the strongest fortress in all Rohan, and the caves and their wonders went unseen by folk of other races – until the Fourth Age, when a colony of Dwarves, led by Gimli Glóin’s son, settled there.

  Note: see jacket illustration of this Companion for Ted Nasmith’s illustration of the Glittering Caves of Aglarond.

  Aglon – See PASS OF AGLON.

  Aha – The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘rage’, but more properly the title of the Tengwa (or ‘letter’) number 11 which represented the sound of hard h. (Aha replaced the more ancient name harma, ‘treasure’.)

  Aiglos ‘Snow-thorn [Icicle]’ (Sind.) – Also spelt Aeglos. A gorse-like plant with white flowers that grew on Amon Rûdh; also the name given to the Spear of Gil-galad, last of the High-elven Kings in Middle-earth. He used this weapon throughout his long wars with Sauron; at the Battle of Dagorlad (3434 Second Age) the Spear was indefatigable. It was destroyed with Gil-galad on the slopes of Orodruin, in final combat with Sauron.

  Ainu (pl. Ainur) ‘Holy One’ (Q.) – The name given in High-elvish tradition to the Spirits brought into being by Ilúvatar (God) before the Beginning, who participated in the Creation and who made and ordered the World (Arda), in preparation for the arrival of the Erusen, the Children of God. As is told in the AINULINDALË, many of them afterwards came to Arda and dwelt there, whereafter they were known as the VALAR and MAIAR.

  Ainulindalë ‘Music-of-the-Ainur’ (Q.) – The Myth of the Creation, as set down long ago in the First Age by the earliest of the Noldorin loremasters, Rúmil of Tirion, in the Undying Lands. It is by far the most ancient of all creation myths. The Ainulindalë appears in its entirety as the first part of The Silmarillion; no need therefore exists for a repetition or summary in these pages. Of interest, however, is the demiurgic role played in the Creation by the Ainur, or Holy Ones, some of whom afterwards dwelt in Arda (the World) and were known as Valar and Maiar. Their part was active in all aspects of the Creation – save their own creation – yet the Ainulindalë stresses throughout that, in so doing, the Ainur were but following a Theme already chosen by the Creator. Their role in the Beginning is one of embel
lishment, refinement, preparation and amendment. They have no part of the basic Design; they are but agents.

  And yet their role is very great. It is the Ainur who shape the World, who cause new stars to shine, who set waters on the face of the earth and who raise mountains on the edges of the seas. They build great lamps to bring Light to Arda, and when these lamps are thrown down (by one of themselves, a renegade) they cause Trees to grow – which also bring Light. They cause beasts to thrive, and birds to multiply. Only from the creation of intelligent Life do they hold back, for here their agency ceases.

  This ‘demiurgic’ role is of interest when contrasted with the later legends of Men, who, although they have not altogether forgotten the part played at the Beginning by the Holy Ones, have for long minimised or overlooked it. The Powers are seen, or remembered, only in their lesser (and later) role of intercessaries (see FANUILOS); and the story of their own beginnings is nowadays a matter for poets rather than theologians.

  Akallabêth ‘The Downfall [of Númenor]’ (Adûn.) – A moral and historical work in the keeping of the Stewards of Gondor. It detailed the arising, eventual seduction and fall of the Númenoreans, and the swallowing up of that land under the Sea.

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

  Alcarin (Tar-Alcarin) – From 2637–2737 Second Age, the seventeenth King of Númenor.

  Alcarinquë ‘Jupiter’ (Q.) – One of the stars created by Varda (Elbereth).

  Alcarondas ‘Castle of the Sea’ (Adûn.) – The great warship which bore the last Númenorean King, Ar-Pharazôn, on his last sea journey, from Númenor to the Undying Lands.

  Alda – The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘tree’; also the title of Tengwa number 28, representing the sound Id. In Sindarin-inflected languages, this letter stood for the sound lh. Naturally enough, the name for ‘tree’ was much used in Elvish speech, and alda forms a root for many words and names of Quenya origin. The Sindarin form of the same name was galadh.

  Aldalómë – A poetic combination of images and ideas in a single word, typical of Quenya. It means ‘Tree-shadow’ and, as used by Treebeard the Ent,3 refers to the ancient black heart of the forest of Fangorn. See also ALDA above.

  Aldamir – From 1490–1540 Third Age, the twenty-third King of Gondor and the second son of Eldacar. His elder brother was killed in the war that temporarily deposed his father from the throne of Gondor (see KIN-STRIFE), and so Aldamir came to rule after his father. He was killed in battle.

  Aldarion (Tar-Aldarion) – From 883–1075 Second Age, the sixth King of Númenor. He was a great mariner, and because of this took a great interest in forestry – his interest being in the furnishing of timber for shipbuilding rather than the trees themselves. His incessant voyaging to Middle-earth brought him into conflict with his father the King Tar-Meneldur and, even more disastrously, with his wife Elendis; after she had borne him a daughter, Ancalimë, they separated. Aldarion never had a son and for this reason was succeeded by his daughter, who became the first Ruling Queen.4

  One fruit of his great voyages to Middle-earth, however, was that he became the close friend and counsellor of Gil-Galad of the Elves; and it was through Aldarion that the Elven-king first asked for the help of Númenor against the new Shadow arising in the East of Middle-earth – aid that was furnished on an ever-increasing scale thereafter.

  Aldaron ‘Lord of Trees’ (Q.) – One of the Elves’ most ancient names for OROMË THE GREAT of the Valar.

  Aldburg – The chief settlement of the Folde of Rohan. Here Eorl the Young built his house (it was his successors who raised Meduseld). In due course the settlement became the operational base of the men of Eastfold in days of war. At the time of the War of the Ring Aldburg was occupied by Éomer, Third Marshal of the Mark.

  Aldëa – The name given in KINGS’ RECKONING to the fourth day of the week. Although the Númenoreans took the Elvish week and left it largely intact, they changed the older name of this day – Aldúya, given in honour of the Two Trees of Valinor – so that it referred only to the White Tree. Aldëa was later used in Middle-earth (when the Dúnedain week became adopted by most of the Westron-speaking people). However, the Dúnedain themselves used the Sindarin equivalent Orgaladh. The Hobbits called this day Trewesdei (later Trewsday). See also ALDA.

  Aldor the Old – From 2570–2645 Third Age, the third King of Rohan and grandson of Eorl the Young. At the feast given by his father Brego to celebrate the building of the King’s Hall Meduseld, Aldor’s elder brother Baldor publicly vowed to walk the ‘Paths of the Dead’. He did not return. A sorrowing Brego died the following year and Aldor became King.

  During his long (75-year) reign, the Rohirrim consolidated their newly acquired territory of Calenardhon, moving both north and westward, driving out the last of the Dunland people who dwelt in the valleys of the White Mountains, and re-occupying older fortresses such as Dunharrow and the Hornburg. It was thus around this time that the Rohirrim earned the particular enmity of the Men of Dunland.

  Aldudénië ‘Lament-of-the-[Two] Trees’ (Q.) – A song of mourning, now lost, made in the Elder Days by Elemmirë of the Vanyar; its theme is the poisoning of the Two Trees of Valinor by Morgoth.

  Aldúya ‘Trees’-day’ (Q.) – The ancient Eldarin name for the fourth day of the week, from which the Númenorean ALDËA was derived.

  Alfirin – A small white flower which grew in the fields of Lebennin, south of the White Mountains in the realm of Gondor. Also called Uilos and (in Rohan) Simbelmynë.

  Almaren – The name given by the Valar to their first earthly dwelling. Where the light of the great lamps Illuin and Ormal met and blended, lay a green isle in the midst of a lake. This was Almaren; the first of all Blessed Lands. It was destroyed in the early conflicts between the Valar and the renegade Ainu, Melkor; after which the Valar left Middle-earth and went to dwell in the isle of Aman.

  Almarian – An early queen of Númenor; she was the daughter of the hero-mariner Vëantur – who first achieved the voyage back to Middle-earth in year 600 – and wife of Tar-Meneldur. Their son was Anardil (Aldarion) the Mariner.

  Alphabet of Daeron – The name given, in Grey-elven (Sindarin) lore, to the certhas (runes) devised in Beleriand in the First Age by Daeron, minstrel and loremaster to King Elu Thingol (Greycloak) of Doriath. Although runes had been used by the Sindar from earliest times, Daeron’s system was a significant departure from the older unfinished forms, for it was greatly influenced and enriched by the Tengwar script of the High-elves (whose return to Middle-earth in the First Age had an overwhelming effect on Grey-elven culture as a whole).

  The Dwarves held Daeron’s runes in such high esteem that the House of Durin in Moria later adopted the alphabet for its own, after which these certhas became known as the Angerthas (‘Long-rune-rows’) of Moria. These runes were subsequently further adapted by the Moria Dwarves to their own specialised needs. Much later, the Dwarves of Erebor further modified the Angerthas in a manner that reverted more closely to the original (Elvish) forms.

  Alphabet of Fëanor – The alphabet of ‘letters’, or TENGWAR, devised by the Noldor (High-Elves) in the Undying Lands and brought back with them to Middle-earth in their exile. The Tengwar of Fëanor were so-called because their creation was ascribed to him, although it was acknowledged by the Noldor that the Fëanorean letters owed much to the older Alphabet of Rúmil (which was unknown in Middle-earth).

  From the High-elves in Middle-earth, knowledge of the Fëanorean letters then spread among the Grey-elves, whose ALPHABET OF DAERON was greatly influenced by the more cursive Tengwar – a system based upon brushes and pens rather than carving and inscription.

  Eventually the Sindar wholly adopted the Fëanorean Tengwar according to their own ‘open’ mode. The West-door of Moria was inscribed in this fashion, with certain Tengwar being accorded proper vowel fun
ctions, replacing the older system in which the vowels were represented only by diacritic marks (generally placed above the preceding consonant).

  As can be seen, the Sindarin substitution of vocalic letters for the diacritic tehtar, or ‘signs’, expands the originally consonantal group of Tengwar into a full alphabet. This system was known as the Mode of Beleriand. The same inscription, in the older, High-elven usage, would have been written thus:

  Both forms of Tengwar were fully phonetic: letter values were assigned according to mode and point of articulation. Thus the Tengwar could theoretically be used by all races, though the Dwarves never adopted them, preferring the ‘Long Rune-rows’ of Moria. By the end of the Third Age the letters of Fëanor (in the older mode) were known to all men of learning in the West.

  The Alphabet of Fëanor was divided into four series of six separate grades of Tengwar, with twelve ‘additional’ letters. There were a number of ‘signs’ (tehtar) to modify groups of consonants with vowel-values. Each of these letters had its own ‘title’, or name, in the Quenya tongue (the initial sound of which was invariably the same as the letter concerned).

  Alphabet of Rúmil – The Tengwar (‘letters’) of Rúmil: the oldest form of Eldarin cursive writing, known only to the Eldar of the West; the invention of this writing-system is credited to the Noldorin Elf Rúmil of Tirion. Never to be seen in its original form in Mortal Lands, this system nevertheless deeply influenced the later ALPHABET OF FËANOR, which was to become widespread in Númenor during the Second Age and in Middle-earth during the Third.

  Alqualondë ‘Swans’-haven’ (Q.) – High-elven city of Eldamar, built during the Elder Days by Olwë King of the Telerin Elves, after the belated arrival on the shores of Valinor of that remnant of his people which he led. The Haven was so named because the Teleri reached Aman with the aid of great swans; these towed their enchanted ships the last stage of the Great Journey, from Eressëa to Eldamar. Alqualondë lay to the north of Tirion.