The Complete Tolkien Companion Page 7

  Bain son of Bard – From 2977–3007 Third Age, the second King of Dale, following the death of the Dragon Smaug and the rebuilding of that city at the feet of the Lonely Mountain. His father was Bard the Bowman, slayer of the Dragon.

  Balan – See BËOR (THE OLD).

  Balar – The great Bay of Balar lay in the south of Beleriand, forty-five leagues from cape to cape at its widest point. In the mouth of the bay lay a tiny islet, the Isle of Balar, said to be a remnant of the greater island of Tol Eressëa (removed to the Far West).

  Balbo Baggins – An illustrious member of the Baggins family (of the Shire), wedded to Berylla Boffin. He was Bilbo’s great grandfather.

  Balchoth ‘Horrible-horde’ (Sind.) – The name given in Gondor to a fierce clan of Easterlings who, in the latter part of the Third Age, forcibly occupied the wide realm of Rhovanion, south and east of Mirkwood. Princes of this land had traditionally been friendly with Gondor (Eldacar had been born there), but they were no match for the invading Balchoth, who were given to evil ways and wholly under the sway of the Dark Lord.

  In 2510 they abandoned their petty pillaging of the lower vales of Anduin and crossed the River in strength to invade Calenardhon, the sparsely peopled northernmost province of Gondor. They were aided by Orcs and other fell creatures. During the ensuing battle, the northern army of Gondor was driven back in a desperate retreat and all seemed lost, when the horsemen of Éothéod suddenly charged from the North – in response to a belated plea for aid from Cirion, Ruling Steward of Gondor. The Riders routed the Easterlings and hunted them to the death across the fields of Calenardhon. In gratitude (and desire to have a strong ally to his north), Cirion ceded the province to the Men of Éothéod. In Gondor this new realm was then known as Rohan.

  See also BATTLE OF THE FIELD OF CELEBRANT.

  Baldor – The eldest son of Brego, second King of Rohan. Baldor’s rashness brought about both his father’s untimely end and his own lonely death. The Rohirrim, newly settled in the former province of Calenardhon, had chosen a green hill at the feet of the White Mountains on which to build the Kings’ Seat; this ‘Golden Hall’ was named Meduseld, and Brego held a great feast there to celebrate its completion. In front of the assembled company, Baldor then vowed to walk the PATHS OF THE DEAD. He duly passed the Dark Door in Dunharrow and was never seen again by any men of Rohan. His father died of grief the following year (2571 Third Age) and Baldor’s brother Aldor became king in his stead.

  Balin son of Fundin – A noble Dwarf of the House of Durin and a lifelong follower of the Kings of Erebor. Gentle, though no less proud than others of his race, Balin nonetheless became a great warrior and adventurer of his day, fighting at the Battle of Azanulbizar (where his father Fundin fell). He was afterwards one of the companions of Thráin son of Thrór, and was journeying with him when Thráin was taken by the forces of Dol Guldûr (2845 Third Age) and afterwards slain. Balin then became a follower of Thráin’s son Thorin Oakenshield, and was one of the Thirteen Dwarves (and one Hobbit) who re-took Erebor from the Dragon Smaug, re-establishing the Dwarf-kingship ‘under the Mountain’. Some years later, Balin became restless with peace and luxury and resolved to lead an expedition to Moria, most ancient of all Dwarf-realms in Middle-earth and long lost to Dwarf-kind. The colony was exterminated in 2994, five years after Balin had declared himself ‘King of Moria’. He was entombed in the Chamber of Mazarbul.

  Balrog ‘Demon-of-Power’ (Sind., from Q. Valarauka) – In their origins, as a part of the Thought of Ilúvatar, these were MAIAR of the following or service of Melkor, the mightiest of the Ainur. They had the form of spirits of fire. At the beginning of days they took service with Melkor, and were swiftly corrupted to his purposes, appearing everafter to Elves and Men as demonic beings of great size, fire-enshrouded, who bore, as their principal weapon, a whip of many thongs. Only the mightiest among the Eldar could hope to withstand them, for no ordinary weapons or warriors could harm or daunt these most dreadful of all Morgoth’s servants.

  Gothmog their lord was finally slain by Ecthelion, Captain of Gondolin, in single combat in the courtyard before the King’s Tower, during the final stages of the sack of that Elven-city. The Balrogs took part in all the major assaults of Morgoth during the War of the Jewels, and were nearly all destroyed in the fall of Angband. Yet one at least survived the breaking of Thangorodrim and fled to the safest place it knew – the roots of the mountains.

  And yet this hiding-place was not secure enough. In 1980 Third Age by mischance the Dwarves of Moria were delving deep under Caradhras for mithril and thus accidentally released the entombed Balrog, which slew two of their Kings: Durin VI and (the following year) his son Náin I. The Dwarves then fled from Moria, never to return while the Third Age lasted. Inside the dark halls of Khazâd-dûm the Balrog walked and even the Orcs feared its presence. It was finally destroyed by Mithrandir, at the cost of his own life.

  Note: a curious early legend states that the name Gothmog, given to that ‘Lord of Balrogs’ who slew Fëanor at the Battle-under-Stars in the North (and many other of the Eldar besides), and was slain by Ecthelion, is derived from Kosomot (Q.), who is in turn named as the ‘son of Melkor’.1

  Bamfurlong – A locality in the Shire, not far from Maggot’s Farm in the Marish of the Eastfarthing.

  Ban – In original (as opposed to translated) Westron (the Common Speech) spoken by the Hobbits of the Third Age, the root banmeant ‘half’. Thus the Westron name for one of the Hobbit race was banakîl, ‘halfling’. The name Banazîr, ‘halfwise’, was the original Westron version of Samwise, as it is commonly translated from the Red Book.

  Bandobras ‘Bullroarer’ Took – One of the tallest ‘Halflings’ in Shire-history and the most notable Hobbit up to the period of the War of the Ring. Being four feet five and able to ride a horse, this adventurous Took was given the admiring nickname of ‘Bullroarer’. He was also the first Hobbit in history to fight (and win) a battle: that which occurred at Greenfields in 2747 Third Age, after marauding Orcs led by Golfimbul of Mount Gram had invaded the Northfarthing. Bullroarer slew the leader and the remaining Orcs fled in dismay.

  Banks – A common Hobbit-name, found in Bree and the Shire.

  Ban of the Valar – A mighty prohibition laid upon the founders of Númenor (the Edain) by the Valar, Guardians of the World. While the Númenoreans were allowed to explore the Seas to the east of their island – and to return to Middle-earth – the Ban specifically restricted them from sailing westward out of sight of their own shores. This was to ensure that none of the (mortal) Edain ever reached the Undying Lands, which then lay within sight of keen-eyed watchers upon the Meneltarma, highest mountain in Númenor.

  At first the Edain respected the Ban, confining their exploratory voyages to the eastern reaches of the Great Sea, including the shores of Middle-earth; but as their power grew, they became ever more jealous of the immortality of the Elves. Eventually the growing resentment of the Ban became a Númenorean obsession. The few remaining ‘Faithful’, who still followed the Eldar and used the Elvish tongues, were increasingly persecuted; while most of the Númenoreans continued to look westward with growing envy and yearning. In the end the proud and deranged King Ar-Pharazôn was seduced by Sauron into breaking the Ban – by carrying battle into the Western Seas, in an attempt to take immortal life from the Valar by force. As a result, the world was altered, the Seas devoured Númenor, and the Undying Lands were withdrawn for ever from all further temptation.

  Barad-dûr ‘Dark Tower’ (Sind.) – The ancient fortress of Sauron’s might. It crouched upon a great south-pointing inner spur of the Ashy Mountains in Mordor, with its ‘towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons; eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant.’2 First constructed early in the Second Age (and completed with the power of the Ring, which rendered its foundations impregnable), the Barad-dûr was incomparably the mightiest strong
hold of the Age – and, when rebuilt, of the Age which followed. The Dark Tower was destroyed (for the first time) after a seven-year siege by the Army of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age. But its huge foundations, built with the power of the Ring, survived and could not be unmade. More than two thousand years later, Sauron, again arisen, secretly waited for many years in his lesser fortress of Dol Guldûr in Mirkwood while the Barad-dûr was raised once more. Finally, in 2951 Third Age, Orodruin burst once more into flame and the Dark Lord openly returned to the Dark Tower. At the end of the War of the Ring the Barad-dûr was thrown down for the second and final time, its foundations at last unmade by the annihilation of the Ruling Ring.

  Note: called Lugbúrz (‘Dark Tower’) in the Black Speech.

  Barad Eithel ‘Tower of the Well’ (Sind.) – A tower built on the borders of Ard-galen by Fingolfin son of Finwë, at the beginning of the wars against Morgoth; the chief stronghold of the neighbouring lands, Fingolfin’s kingdom of Mithrim and his son Fingon’s of Dor-lómin. The Barad Eithel was Fingon’s redoubt at the commencement of the Battle of Numberless Tears; the place outside whose walls the Elf Gelmir son of Guilin was deliberately and cruelly put to death in order to enrage the defenders of the Tower. The device succeeded, and Fingon sortied from Barad Eithel – to meet his death in the battle. The tower then came into the possession of Morgoth.

  Barad Nimras ‘White Tower’ (Sind.) – A coastal fortress raised by Finrod son of Finarfin to guard the havens of Brithombar and Eglarest from the sea. It was an out-work of Nargothrond, Finrod’s kingdom, but garrisoned by Elves of the Falas, whose lord, Círdan, was an ally of Finrod’s. It was captured the year following the Battle of Unnumbered Tears by the armies of Angband, and thrown down.

  Baragund – One of the Edain of the First House; the younger brother of Belegund, and son of Bregolas the brother of Barahir; Baragund was thus the cousin of Beren Erchamion. He was the father of Morwen Eledhwen, who wedded Húrin of the Third House. Together with all his clan, Baragund dwelled in Dorthonion, which this House of Men held in fief from the sons of Finarfin. But after the great defeat on Ard-galen, in the Battle of Sudden Flame, the northern kingdoms were for the most part swept away; and the Men of Dorthonion were nigh on annihilated. Only Barahir still held out, with twelve comrades, including both Baragund and Belegund and his own son Beren. Three years later, after many desperate adventures, the band of outlaws was betrayed by one of their number – GORLIM THE UNHAPPY – and all save one, including Baragund and his brother, were slain.

  Barahir – A chieftain of the First House of the Edain; the father of Beren Erchamion. While he was still a boy, Barahir’s people removed from Estolad, which had been their first dwelling in Beleriand, to Ladros (Dorthonion), which they held in alliance with the Noldor. But after a while Morgoth unleashed war upon the Eldar and the Edain and in the Battle of Sudden Flame overthrew the siege upon his land. Dorthonion was overrun, and the Elves were driven back. In that battle Barahir saved the life of the Elven-king Finrod, and as a reward Finrod gave him his ring, with pledges of friendship to Barahir’s House and kin. Three years afterwards Barahir, who with twelve faithful companions was all that remained of the Edain of Dorthonion, was slain in an ambush. Of the twelve, only his son, Beren, survived.

  Also, from 2395–2412 Third Age, the name of the eighth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

  Finally, the name of a Prince of Ithilien in the Fourth Age. Like his grandfather Faramir, this latest Barahir had scholarly interests, and the ‘Tale of Aragorn and Arwen’ is ascribed to his composition.

  Baran (of Estolad) – The elder son of Bëor of the Edain; he assumed the chieftainship of the First House following his father’s departure to take service with Finrod Felagund.

  Baranduin ‘Golden-brown-[long] River’ (Sind.) – The Grey-elves’ name for one of the three principal rivers of Eriador. The Hobbits of the Shire knew it as the Brandywine (orig. Bralda-hîm, ‘Heady-ale’, more formally Branda-nîn, ‘Border-water’). The Baranduin long served as a natural eastward defence of the Shire; so far as the Hobbits knew, it was crossable at only one point: the Bridge of Stonebows at the north end of the Buckland. This arched bridge, built in the early years of the North-kingdom to speed the King’s messengers between east and west, was known to the Hobbits as the Brandywine Bridge.

  The lesser river Withywindle (‘Winding-willow-river’) flowed into the Baranduin at the southerly edge of the Buckland; from here the enlarged river passed into the Overbourn marshes and then out of knowledge of the Hobbits at Sarn Ford. It eventually reached the Sea in a great estuary south of Harlindon.

  Barazinbar – The Dwarvish (Khuzdul) name for the great peak of the Misty Mountains known to Men as the Redhorn and to Elves as Caradhras. It was the most northerly of the three mountains under which lay the vast and ancient Dwarf-kingdom of Khazâd-dûm – and under Barazinbar itself lay the fabulous mithril mother-lode. For many reasons, the exiled Dwarves of Moria were only too familiar with the cruel profile of the mountain.

  Bard (I) of Esgaroth – From 2941–77 Third Age, King of Dale; otherwise known as Bard the Bowman, for his deed of slaying the great dragon Smaug when it attacked the lake-town of Esgaroth (in 2941). Bard subsequently led an army to the Lonely Mountain (Erebor), in alliance with Elves of Mirkwood, to exact compensation from the Dwarf-expedition which had stirred up the Dragon in the first place. A disastrous confrontation with the Dwarves was avoided by the timely arrival of an enemy hostile to all: the Goblins of the North. Bard’s forces helped secure a victory against these Orcs in the ensuing Battle of Five Armies, after which he rebuilt Dale and became its first King since Girion. His son Bain ruled after him.

  Bard II – The son of Brand son of Bain, and thus the great-grandson of Bard the Bowman. He was the fourth King of Dale restored. After his father fell in battle at the doors of Erebor during the War of the Ring, Bard jointly led the combined forces of Men and Dwarves which raised the siege of the Lonely Mountain and drove the Easterlings away.

  Bardings (from Bardingas ‘Sons-of-Bard’) – The followers of King Bard (‘the Bowman’) of Esgaroth and his descendants; Men of Dale.

  Bar-en-Danwedh ‘House of Ransom’ (Sind.) – The bitter name given to his own dwellings upon Amon Rûdh by the Dwarf Mîm, after his capture by Túrin Turambar.

  Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg ‘House of the Petty-Dwarves’ (Sind.) – The name of Mîm’s house on Amon Rûdh before his capture by Túrin.

  Bar-erib – One of the strongholds used by Túrin’s band during the campaign of Dor Cúarthol.

  Barliman Butterbur – During the time of the War of the Ring, the innkeeper of The Prancing Pony, chief hostelry of the Bree-land. His family had owned and run this important inn for generations.

  Barrow-downs – A range of low, grey-green hills lying east of the Shire, between the Old Forest and Bree. A region of dread to Shire- and Bree-dwellers alike – and rightly so – they were also the site of the most ancient memorials to Men of Middle-earth, having been occupied by the ancestors of the Edain, before this people crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand during the First Age. The hills were crowned with old stone circles, isolated dolmens and numerous ‘barrows’, or stone-chambered burial-mounds, where the early Men had buried their noble dead. Their remote descendants, the Dúnedain of Arnor, therefore revered (and feared) the barrows, which they knew as Tyrn Gorthad, ‘Mounds-of-Dread’; later princes of Arthedain and Cardolan inhumed their own royal dead there in similar mounds. But after the final fall of the North-kingdom, evil spirits from faraway Angmar entered the mounds and animated the dead. These ‘Barrow-wights’ walked in the hollow places among the stone-rings and the Downs became more than ever a place of fear to those of nearby lands.

  Barrowfield – The burial-field which flanked the main road on the approaches to Edoras, the chief city of Rohan. There, all the Kings of the Mark were buried, together with their royal accoutrements, in long ‘barrows’ or grave-mounds. The First Line (of nine Kings from Eo
rl the Young to Helm Hammerhand), were inhumated in a row of nine mounds on the west of the road; the Second Line, beginning with the barrow of Fréaláf Hildeson, stood to the east. There were seventeen mounds raised altogether during the Third Age.

  Barrow-wights – According to ancient Mannish belief, certain evil spirits who possessed the power to inhabit and animate the bodies of the dead. See also BARROW-DOWNS.

  Battle of Azanulbizar (2799 Third Age) – Also known as the Battle of Nanduhirion. One of the great battles of the Third Age: a decisive and exceptionally sanguinary confrontation between traditional enemies, and the conclusive battle of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.

  Losses on both side were heavy for, although the Dwarves had righteous anger and superb weaponry on their side, the sky was cloudy and no sun appeared to hinder the light-hating Orcs of AZOG, gathered in ranks on the slopes above the ancient gates of the Dwarf-realm. The warriors of Thráin, Thrór’s son, charged repeatedly, but their initial assaults were repulsed with great loss. Indeed, many of the mighty among them had fallen before – almost too late – reinforcements finally arrived, from the Iron Hills. These were led by Náin, son of Grór. Náin was killed by Azog, but his own son Dáin (Ironfoot) slew the great Goblin and hewed off his head. The few surviving Orcs fled southwards.

  The numbers of Dwarf-dead were almost beyond counting; and much to their grief (for it went against custom), the Dwarves were forced to heap the bodies of their fallen and burn them in a great fire, rather than leave them to wolf and worse. Accordingly, in Dwarf-lore, a ‘Burned Dwarf’ was one of those warriors who fell at Azanulbizar. They were greatly honoured in memory.

  Battle of Bywater (November 3rd, 1419 Shire Reckoning/3019 Third Age) – The final battle of the War of the Ring, in which the agents of Saruman were defeated and driven out of the Shire by a Hobbit-force led by Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, and the first to be fought in the Shire for nearly three hundred years.