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  Andúnië ‘Sunset’ (Q.) – The most westerly city of ancient Númenor, renowned for loyalty to the Eldar and reverence for Eldarin beliefs, culture, and modes of speech. The haven was founded by the Faithful (as Lords of the House of Valandil later termed themselves) in the province later known as Andustar, and lay north of the great Bay of Eldanna. The Lords of Andúnië counted themselves descendants of Valandil (first Lord), through him, of Silmariën, and through her, of Elros Tar-Minyatur, first King of Númenor. The Silver Rod of the Lords of Andúnië survived the Downfall of Númenor and was carried to Middle-earth by Elendil (son of the last Lord, Amardil) to become the symbol of High-kingship in the realms of Númenor-in-Exile: Arnor and Gondor.

  Andúril ‘Flame of the West’ (Q.) – The Sword of Aragorn, greatest heirloom of the House of Isildur, so named after its re-forging by the Elven-smiths of Rivendell for use in the War of the Ring. It had formerly been Isildur’s own sword NARSIL, and was of immense age, having been made by the Dwarf master-smith Telchar of Nogrod during the First Age. The re-forged sword’s new name was engraved upon the blade and its sheath, together with many runes of virtue and designs of seven stars (to symbolise the High kingship) with a rayed Sun and crescent Moon (for the twin realms of Gondor and Arnor).

  Andustar ‘Westlands’ (Q.) – The name given by the early Númenoreans to the westernmost cape-province of their land.7

  Andwise ‘Andy’ Roper – Son of Hobson ‘Roper’ Gamgee of Tighfield in the Shire, and uncle of Samwise Gamgee, to whom he imparted some of his rope-lore and tricks with knots.

  Anfalas ‘Long-coast’ (Sind.) – The long northern coastline of the great Bay of Belfalas; a region of Gondor. Sometimes translated Langstrand.

  Anfauglir ‘Jaws-of-thirst’ (Sind.) – A name for the great Wolf of Morgoth, Carcharoth.

  Anfauglith ‘Gasping-dust’ (Sind.) – Alternatively Dor-nu-Fauglith ‘Land-[buried] under-choking-ash’. The name given by the Eldar and the Edain of Beleriand to the former rich grasslands of ARD-GALEN, devastated and destroyed in the Battle of Sudden Flame.

  Anga – The Quenya word for ‘iron’ (used in various place- and personal-names, such as Angmar, Angbor and Carach Angren). Also the name of Tengwa number 7, used to signify a soft j sound; in Sindarin it represented a harder g.

  Angainor – A mighty chain forged during the Eldar Days by Aulë the Smith of the Valar; twice used as a fetter for the renegade Vala, Morgoth: after the Battle of the Powers, and at the overthrow of Angband.

  Angamaitë and Sangahyando – Great-grandsons of Castamir the Usurper and leaders of the Corsairs of Umbar. Together, they led the band of Corsairs who slew Minardil, twenty-fifth King of Gondor, during a raid on the port of Pelargir in 1634 Third Age.

  Angband ‘Prison-of-Iron’ (Sind., from Q. Angamando) – The lesser and more westerly of the two fortresses built in Middle-earth by Melkor (Morgoth) during the First Age. The older, and far greater, of these strongholds was called UTUMNO (‘The Pit’). Angband was delved in the far north-west of Middle-earth, being conceived and planned by Melkor as a western outpost of his domain, a first defence against the West. Like Utumno, it was protected from the south (and partly from the west) by a giant range of peaks, called Ered Engrin, the ‘Iron Mountains’. The raising of this barrier had been the first defensive work undertaken by Morgoth.

  Like Utumno, Angband was almost wholly delved in the ground. In the Battle of the Powers, the Valar’s first-ever assault upon the evil of Melkor, the fortress of Angband gave them little trouble; they razed it rapidly and with haste, passing on to set a siege about the greater fortress of Utumno to the east wherein Melkor then dwelt, but in their haste they omitted to destroy all of Angband, or seek out its lowest pits; and so many evil creatures, by lying hidden or buried, escaped their wrath. Among these who thus survived the first ruin of Angband was its lord, the Lieutenant of Morgoth, Sauron the Abhorred. Not for the last time did Sauron thus by unhappy chance escape annihilation at the hands of his enemies.

  Many ages passed, of captivity for Melkor, who had utterly lost the war. The eerie ruins of Utumno and Angband in the north slumbered; but after a while, the evil creatures which had escaped the vengeance of the Valar bred anew, and came forth to plague the lands round about, especially those to the south and east. Indeed it was this above all which first caused the Valar to fear for the Elves, and for the later Children who were yet to come. Therefore they summoned the Elves to make the Great Journey into the West and there dwell for ever, free – as they thought – from peril.

  A further age passed. Melkor was released and ‘paroled’. But his repentance was feigned; and after a time he hatched his plots anew. Poisoning the Two Trees of Valinor, and stealing the Silmarils, he fled back to Middle-earth, a renegade once more and for the last time. His first act was to build himself a new stronghold in Middle-earth. Utumno was ruined beyond hope of reconstruction, but Angband less so; and Morgoth chose this more westerly site as the place for his new domain. Old delvings were repaired; new mines and shafts and tunnels were dug and excavated – all underground, for the Dark Lord meant to make this fortress of Angband no less strong than Utumno of old. But because the Iron Mountains, his bulwark against the south, were also a hindrance to his own forces, he delved a great tunnel under the range, a boring which issued from the ground in the north-west of the plain of Ard-galen, through a great door of iron, closely guarded. As a final buttress against attack, he protected the lands between the doors of Angband and the Ered Engrin behind with an artificial range of jagged peaks: Thangorodrim, the Mountains of Tyranny.

  Such was the dreadful realm of Angband in the days of its power. From here Morgoth directed the war against the Eldar and Edain – a war which went at first against him, so that Angband became ringed on its southern approaches by a chain of hostile Eldarin kingdoms; but the initiative inevitably passed to the Dark Power of the North; then the gates opened; the hosts of Angband poured forth, and overthrew the siege, and Morgoth became, not a prisoner, but the greatest power in Middle-earth, the ultimate source of all the miseries of that and all later times. In Angband’s deepest chamber he sat on his throne and wore the Iron Crown in which were set the Silmarils he had stolen. But in the end he was overthrown, and in his ruin Angband, his last stronghold in Mortal Lands, was also destroyed: totally, unto the last pit. In its overthrow the world itself was changed, and the freezing seas poured in. The lands that remained became bitterly cold and desolate. Apart from this Northern Waste, little trace remained, two full Ages later, of the Dark Power that had broken endless hosts of Elves and Men. Only the evil colds of Morgoth lingered.

  Angbor the Fearless – Lord of Lamedon, a province of Gondor in the southern vales of the White Mountains. During the War of the Ring Angbor’s forces engaged the landing parties of the Corsairs at Linhir on the river Gilrain. They were still fighting when, unlooked for, assistance arrived from the north; for the Heir of Isildur came to Linhir on his way to Pelargir, and the host that he led swept the field of friend and foe alike. But Angbor mastered his fear and so met Aragorn, who bade him gather his folk and reinforce besieged Minas Tirith as quickly as he might. Seven days later his forces reached the City and augmented its garrison while the main army of Gondor advanced on the Morannon.

  Angelimar – The twentieth Prince of Dol Amroth in Gondor. He died in 2977 Third Age.

  Angerthas Daeron – Originally an Elvish runic script, attributed to the legendary Daeron, bard and loremaster to the Elven-king Thingol of Doriath during the First Age. It was later adopted by the Dwarves of Durin’s House for their own exclusive use, after which it became known as the ANGERTHAS MORIA. (At this point the Grey-elves appear to have given up the use of runes altogether, turning instead to their distinctive adaptation of the TENGWAR.)

  See also ALPHABET OF DAERON.

  Angerthas Moria – The name given to the ALPHABET OF DAERON sometime after this runic system had become more closely associated with the Dwarves of Moria than with the Elv
es of Beleriand who had originated and developed it. In general, Dwarves employed several modifications to the Elvish certhas (runes), mainly in order to reproduce certain sounds in the Dwarvish tongue (Khuzdul) which did not occur in Elvish or Mannish modes of speech. Later the Dwarves of Erebor (the Moria-exiles) made further changes but, by chance or design, these changes to the Alphabet tended to revert to an earlier, Elvish mode.

  Note: the inscription on the Tomb of Balin8 is in these Moriarunes. It reads:

  In Khuzdul, this epitaph may be rendered: BALIN FUNDINUL UZBADKHAZADDUMU ‘[Here lies] Balin/Son of Fundin/Lord of Moria’.

  Anghabar ‘Iron-mine’ (Sind.) – A rich iron lode in the Encircling Mountains north of Gondolin, discovered and initially worked by the Elves of that city – in particular, by Maeglin Eöl’s son, who was skilled in these crafts.

  Anglachel ‘Iron-flame’ (Sind.) – One of a pair of matching swords (the other was called Anguirel) made during the Elder Days by the Grey-elven smith Eöl from a strange metal found by him in the heart of a stone that had fallen from the sky. This metal, resembling common iron, was nonetheless harder than both iron and steel, and it was black, reflecting no light. The sword found its way into King Thingol’s hoard (in payment of a fee); and afterwards was given by Thingol, on request, to the great warrior-elf Beleg Cúthalion – against the advice of the Lady Melian, who foresaw disaster in the ownership of the weapon.

  So it proved. Beleg was afterwards accidentally slain, with his own sword Anglachel, by his great friend Túrin Turambar; after which the sword passed to the ownership of Túrin, who wielded it with renewed ferocity against the foes of the Eldar and Edain. In the Elven-city of Nargothrond it was re-forged for him, and named Gurthang, ‘Iron-of-death’, possibly in an attempt to evade the foretold disaster.

  But there was no escaping the curse on the weapon. Under its new name the Black Sword took many lives that had been Morgoth’s to command; but it also slew innocents: and in due course, when Túrin at last renounced his own life, it slew him at his own bidding. In this final act of bloodletting the Black Sword fractured into two shards, which were afterwards buried with Túrin.

  Angle – The Angle, as it was known to folk of Eriador, comprised all the land between the two tributaries of the Greyflood: Mitheithel and Bruinen. Early in the Third Age, when the Angle was part of the North-kingdom of Rhudaur, one of the three clans of Hobbits – the Stoors – dwelt there for a while. But when the climate grew colder as the land became infiltrated by evil from the neighbouring Witchrealm of Angmar, the Stoors deserted Eriador and many went back to Wilderland, not to return until the founding of the Shire.

  There was also the Angle of the Naith of Lothlórien, known as Egladil. It was a cool green lawn which lay between the waters of Anduin and Silverlode.

  Angmar ‘Iron-home’ (Sind.) – The principal force behind the fall of Arnor and Arthedain was the evil and implacably hostile realm of Angmar, which rose early in the second millennium of the Third Age. Angmar, whose lands lay beyond the Ettenmoors on both sides of the Misty Mountains, was ruled from its beginnings by a dreadful Sorcerer known simply as the WITCH-KING, later revealed as Lord of the Ringwraiths and Sauron’s most terrible Lieutenant. His task, to purge the North of his Master’s enemies, was greatly eased by the division of Arnor into three separate successor-states, which had taken place some four centuries earlier at the death of Eärendur in 861. The Dúnedain were therefore already in self-inflicted disunity; but the Witch-king, now established in his great fort of Cam Dûm, was to be satisfied with no less than the utter destruction of his enemies. In wars that lasted no less than seven hundred years he ruined: first Rhudaur, by subversion; then Cardolan, by invasion; and finally Arthedain itself, last memory of royal Arnor, by massive assault.

  By early 1974, King Arvedui, ‘Last-king’ of Arthedain, was in desperate straits. Though already reinforced by an Elf-host from Lindon, in his great need he had also sent to Gondor for aid. That spring – too late for Arvedui or Arthedain – a mighty host arrived from Gondor, led by Eärnur, son of King Eärnil. In alliance with Elves of Lindon and Rivendell, Eärnur utterly defeated the forces of Angmar, who were already feasting and revelling in Fornost, believing their victory complete. The Witch-king escaped, having accomplished his main purpose: the destruction of the North-kingdom. But he afterwards counted Eärnur of Gondor chief among his enemies.

  Angren – The Sindarin name for the river Isen.

  Angrenost ‘Iron-citadel’ (Sind.) – An earlier name, given in Gondor, for the Ring of ISENGARD.

  Angrim ‘Iron-net’ (Sind.) – Father of GORLIM THE UNHAPPY, of the First House of the Edain.

  Angrist ‘Iron-cleaver’ (Sind.) – A dagger of Dwarf-make, forged by the great smith Telchar (who also wrought the sword NARSIL) during the First Age in the city of Nogrod. It later came into the possession of one of the Sons of Fëanor, Curufin the Crafty. When, in the course of the treacheries of those days, Curufin made war upon his ally Beren of the Edain, he was defeated and the knife Angrist was taken from him; by Beren, who with its aid was able to cut a Silmaril from Morgoth’s Iron Crown.

  Angrod ‘Iron-champion’ (Sind. from Q. Angarato) – The brother of AEGNOR.

  Anguirel – See ANGLACHEL.

  Anna – The Quenya word for ‘gift’; also the title of Tengwa number 23, used as consonantal y in those languages which required it.

  Annael – A Sindarin Elf who fostered the man-child Tuor son of Huor in his secret dwelling in the Androth, the caves of Mithrim. Of all his people, he alone had returned from the Nirnaeth.

  Annatar ‘Lord-of-gifts’ (Q.) – A benevolent title assumed by Sauron the Great at the beginning of the Second Age, in furtherance of his then policies of apparent friendliness towards the Eldar.

  Annon-in-Gelydh ‘Gate-of-the-Noldor’ (Sind.) – The concealed entrance to Nevrast: a tunnel through the eastern wall of the Echoing Mountains on the borders of Dor-lómin, built by Turgon’s people when they still dwelled in Nevrast.

  Ann-thannath – A mode of verse and song used by the Elves of Beleriand, difficult to render into Common Speech (Westron) because of its Elvish patterns of thought and inspiration. The Lay of Leithian was originally composed in this mode.

  Annúminas ‘Tower-of-the-Sunset’ (Sind.) – The first and only capital of Arnor, a fair city on the banks of Lake Evendim (Nenuial), built by Elendil after the fall of Númenor. Annúminas did not long survive the division of Arnor (861 Third Age), and was allowed to fall into ruin after the Heirs of Elendil removed to Fornost Erain, which then became the capital of Arthedain. The chief palantír of the North was kept there.

  Anod – See ENTS.

  Anor – Sindarin form of the Quenya word ANAR (the Sun).

  Anórien ‘Sun-land’ (Sind.) – One of the two oldest provinces of Gondor. It contained most of the realm west of the Anduin and east of the White Mountains. Its chief city was Minas Anor, later renamed Minas Tirith.

  Anto – The Quenya word for ‘mouth’; also the title of Tengwa number 13, used for nt sounds and (in Sindarin and Mannish) for dh.

  Anwar – See AMON ANWAR

  Apanómar ‘After-born’ (Q.) – An early Elvish term for the race of Men.

  Appledore – A common Bree name.

  Ar(a) – A royal prefix to the names of those later Kings of Númenor who took their ceremonial titles in ADÛNAIC, discarding the Eldarin prefix Tar-. Ar- meant ‘ruler, king’ in early Mannish tongues, themselves partially derived from ‘proto-Quenya’; and, as an acknowledgement of their Númenorean (and Eldarin) ancestry, all Kings and Chieftains of the Dúnedain of the North (beginning with Argeleb I) also adopted this prefix in their names (e.g. Aragorn, Araphant, Arassuil).

  Aradan ‘Royal-man’ (Sind.) – See MALACH ARADAN.

  Arador – From 2912–30 Third Age, the fourteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North, and grandfather of Aragorn. He was captured and put to death by hill-trolls.

  Araglas – From 2327–2455 Third
Age, the sixth Chieftain of the Dúnedain.

  Aragorn I – From 2319–27 Third Age, the fifth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, slain by wolves.

  Aragorn II – Born in Rivendell (2931 Third Age), the only son of Gilraen the Fair and Arathorn II, fifteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain of Arnor. When his father died in battle only two years after Aragorn’s birth, the boy in his turn became Chieftain. His mother then took him to safety in Rivendell, where the young Dúnadan was fostered by Elrond himself. There he bore the name Estel (‘Hope’) to conceal his true lineage from the emissaries of Sauron who were scouring the North for the last Heir of Isildur. On his twentieth birthday, Elrond revealed his true name and ancestry, and the ancient hopes of his House, and he gave to Aragorn the heirlooms of his Line: the Ring of Barahir and the shards of Elendil’s sword Narsil.

  Then Aragorn went out into the world and took up his part in the fight against Mordor. He made many journeys and served many notable Lords (including King Thengel of Rohan and Ecthelion II, Ruling Steward of Gondor). He became the hardiest and wisest of living men, having also the friendship of Gandalf the Grey. But because of the many burdens he carried, Aragorn also grew sad and stern of countenance; and he was clad ever in simple green and brown as a Ranger of the North.

  Yet he was no less than the direct descendant – through Kings of Arnor and Arthedain, and Chieftains of the North – of Isildur, Elendil’s son; and, through Elendil, of Elros Tar-Minyatur, first King of Númenor and brother of Elrond Halfelven of Rivendell. And the Halfelven were themselves of the kin of Lúthien Tinúviel, whose Line, it was said, should never fail. To re-establish the ancient Kingship of both Gondor and Arnor was Aragorn’s sworn duty, and his great hope. See also LINES OF DESCENT.