A Dictionary of Tolkien

by David Day

  Morgoth used Glaurung as well to hold the territories he gained; but force in battle was not the only power this monster knew. He brought many under his sway with the binding power of his serpent eye and the hypnotic Dragon-spell.

  Years after Glaurung had sacked and laid waste the kingdom of Nargothrond, the “Narn i Hîn Húrin” tells how he was slain by the mortal Túrin Turambar. For this son of Húrin came on the Fire-drake by stealth and drove the sword Gurthang deep into the beat’s underbelly, but, by the poison of the black blood and the venom of the Dragon’s last words, Túrin Turambar was also killed.

  Though Glaurung was named Father of Dragons, the greatest Dragon that ever entered the World was one named Ancalagon the Black. Ancalagon was the first of the winged Fire-drakes, and he and others of that breed came out of Angband like mighty storm clouds of wind and fire as a last defence of Morgoth’s realm was made. “Rushing Jaws” is the meaning of his name, and his ravening majesty devastated the army of the West in the Great Battle and the War of Wrath at the close of the First Age of Sun. This was the first the World had seen of winged Dragons and for a time Morgoth’s foes were in retreat. Yet Eagles and all the warrior birds of the Earth came out of the West together with that great flying ship “Vingilot” and the warrior Eärendil. The battle of these beings of the air lasted a long time, but at last Eärendil was victorious, and yet Ancalagon was cast down and the other Fire-drakes were slain or fled. So the War of Wrath ended and the power of Morgoth was broken for ever within this world.

  So great was the defeat of the Dragons in the Great Battle that it is not until the Third Age of the Sun that the histories of Middle-earth speak again of the Dragons. In that time they inhabited the wastes beyond the Grey Mountains of the North. And, it is said, their greed led them to the hoarded wealth of the Seven Kings of the Dwarves.

  Mightiest of the Dragons of the Grey Mountains was one named Scatha the Worm who drove the Dwarves from their halls in fear and dread, but a prince of Men stood and gave battle. This was the warrior Fram, son of Frumgar, chieftain of the Éothéod, and Scatha was killed by the hand of this Man. Yet this was but temporary release from the terror that lurked in the mountains, for in time many Cold-drakes returned to the Grey Mountains. Though the Dwarves’ defence was valiant and long, they were over-whelmed; one by one their warriors fell and the gold-rich Grey Mountains were left entirely to the Dragon legions.

  In the twenty-eighth century of the Third Age, the chronologies of the Westlands tell how the greatest Dragon of the Age came from the North to the kingdom of Dwarves in Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. This Fire-drake called Smaug the Golden was vast and Bat-winged and a fearsome bane to Dwarves and Men. With consuming Dragon-flame, Smaug ruined the city of the Men of Dale and broke the door and wall of the Dwarf Kingdom of the Lonely Mountain. The Dwarves fled or were destroyed and Smaug took the riches of that place: gold and gemstones, mithril and silver, elf-gems and pearls, the many-faceted crystals of emerald, sapphire and the brilliance of diamonds.

  For two centuries Smaug ruled Erebor unchallenged. Yet, in the year 2941, a company of adventurers came to the mountain: twelve Dwarves led by the rightful king of Erebor, Thorin Oakenshield, and the Hobbit mercenary who was named Bilbo Baggins. They approached the Dragon by stealth and were amazed, for Smaug was huge beyond all that they had imagined and glowed golden-red with serpent rage. He was armoured as all of his race with scales of impenetrable iron, but in wariness he also protected his soft underbelly from assault: as he lay sprawled upon the wealth of his hoard he allowed diamonds and gemstones to imbed in his belly, and in this way armoured his only weakness. Yet, by cunning, the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins discovered one point upon the broad breast of the beast that was not sheathed in jewels, where sharp steel might cut.

  When Smaug was aroused by the adventurers he came out in wrath and loosed his fire on the land. In vengeance he came to Esgaroth on the Long Lake, for the Lake Men had aided the adventurers. Yet there lived a Northman, valiant and strong, named Bard the Bowman who, guided by the secret of the Dragon’s weakness, drove a single black arrow into the beast’s one vital place. Wondrously the great Dragon screamed and fell flaming from the sky. So died Smaug the Golden, mightiest Dragon of the Third Age.

  It was rumoured that Dragons continued for many centuries to inhabit the Northern Waste beyond Grey Mountains, but no tale that has come to Men out of Middle-earth speaks again of these evil, yet magnificent beings.

  Draugluin

  Werewolf Lord of Tol-in-Gaurhoth. Draugluin was the sire and lord of the Werewolf race, which came out of Angband to terrorize the Elves. During the Wars of Beleriand, Draugluin and the greater part of his brood inhabited Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the “Isle of Werewolves”. Under the command of Sauron, Draugluin led his Werewolves out time and again against Elvish forces. During the Quest of the Silmaril, after Beren and his companions were captured, Princess Lúthien with Huan, the Hound of the Valar, dared to challenge Draugluin. Draugluin joined battle with Huan on the bridge of Tol-in-Gaurhoth. He was at last overcome by Huan and crept away to die at the feet of Sauron. After Draugluin’s death and Beren’s release, both Lúthien and Beren used Draugluin’s Werewolf skin to disguise themselves and enter Angband.

  Druadan Forest

  During the time of the War of the Ring, there was an ancient forest some thirty miles north-west of the White Tower of Gondor that was inhabited by a strange tribe of primitive people called the Woses. This woodland was called the Druadan Forest. By the Third Age, Druadan had come to mean “wildman”, but it was a corruption of Drúedain, the Elvish name for the Woses during the First Age of the Sun when they were allied with the Edain. After the War of the Ring in which the Woses aided the allies of Gondor against the legions of Sauron, King Elessar of the Reunited Kingdom gave control of the Druadan Forest to the Woses, commanding that no others may enter it unless they wished them to do so.

  Drúedain

  Drúedain or Drúath was the Grey-elf name for the primitive Wildmen of the forests, the Woses. By the Haladin they were called Drûgs, by the Rohirrim Rógin and by the Orcs Oghor-hai.

  Dúlin

  The most loved bird-song on Middle-earth is that of the nightingale, which the Grey-elves call Dúlin, the “night-singer”, and Tinúviel “twilight-maiden”. For, like the Elves themselves, the nightingales are delighted by starlight and bring forth the most beautiful song and joy into a dark World.

  Dumbledors

  In the playful Hobbit poem “Errantry”, a part tells of a ferocious race of winged insects. They are named Dumbledors, but nothing more is told of their origin and history.

  Dúnedain

  The histories of the Dúnedain, the Men of Westernesse, begin at the start of the Second Age of the Sun, for the Dúnedain were the remnant of the Edain of the First Age. These people were honoured by the Valar and given a land that lay in the Western Sea between Middle-earth and the Undying Lands. This place was named Númenórë, Westernesse in the common tongue of Men. The history of the Dúnedain of that time is told in the “Akallabêth” and in the tale of the Númenóreans, for the Dúnedain of Númenórë were known by that name. These people were mighty and their downfall was terrible when their land was plunged beneath the sea and the belly of the World was torn out. In that holocaust all the Númenóreans were lost, except those known as the Black Númenóreans, who in earlier times had gone to the southern haven of Umbar, and those known as the Elendili, who made the realms of Arnor and Gondor. So when the histories speak of the Dúnedain they most often mean the Elendili, whose name means “faithful”.

  The histories of Middle-earth tell how, in the year 3319 of the Second Age of the Sun, nine ships came upon a great wave out of the Western Sea. These were the ships of Elendil the Tall who, with his sons, brought the surviving faithful Dúnedain to Middle-earth. Elendil then made Arnor, the North Kingdom of the Dúnedain, and built Annúminas as its first city near the Elven lands of Lindon; while Anárion and Isildur went to the South and m
ade Gondor, the South Kingdom of the Dúnedain, and built Osgiliath as its first city. In Arnor were the extensive provinces of Rhudaur, Cardolan and Arthedain; whereas in Gondor were the fiefs and territories of Anórien, Ithilien, Lebennin, Lossarnach, Lamedon, Anfalas, Tolfalas, Belfalas and Calenardhon.

  The Dúnedain prospered peacefully for a century of that Age while they strengthened their new kingdoms, but another power was also growing. Out of Mordor came Sauron and the Nazgûl, and Orcs and Men of many races who were his thralls. So there was war once again, but a pact was made that in later times was named the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Gil-galad, the last High King of the Elves on Middle-earth, led the Elves of Lindon, and Elendil commanded the Dúnedain. Sauron’s servants fell before their strength and Sauron himself was forced into battle at last. And although Elendil, Anárion and Gil-galad were all killed, so too was the power of the Ringwraiths and Sauron ended. Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand and Sauron, the Ringwraiths and all his servants went into the shadows.

  This was the war that ended the Second Age of the Sun. With Sauron gone, a time of peace was anticipated, but the Third Age was also doomed to end in bloody war, for Isildur did not destroy Sauron’s Ring and within the Ring a terrible power remained. In the second year of the Third Age, Isildur was ambushed upon Gladden Fields, slain by black Orc arrows, and the Ring was lost in the River Anduin. So, as the “Red Book of Westmarch” and the “Annals of the Kings and Rulers” tell, though there was peace for a time, strife was doomed to return to the Westlands. The Dúnedain were attacked from all sides: Balchoth and Wainriders out of Rhûn; Black Númenóreans and Haradrim from the South; Variags from Khand; Orcs and Dunlendings from the Misty Mountains; Hillmen and Trolls from the Ettenmoors; and Ringwraiths risen once again in Mordor, Angmar, Morgul and Dol Guldur. So did the Third Age pass, with the Dúnedain warring with those who were driven by a single force that had at last regained a form and resided in the mighty tower of Barad-dûr in Mordor: Sauron the Ring Lord.

  At times the Dúnedain grew still more powerful in those years and their lands increased far into Rhûn and Harad. But through the centuries they were like sea-cliffs, worn down by the tides: Arnor as a kingdom was broken apart, and in 1975 the last city of Arnor fell. Though an heir to the throne remained hidden in the land, this Dúnedain kingdom was completely lost. After that time, in the North, those who were rightful kings of the Dúnedain were only chieftains. In the South, though frequently besieged and threatened, most of the Dúnedain kingdom of Gondor remained intact and strong, yet the royal line was broken and the kingdom was ruled by Stewards.

  Through the Third Age Sauron’s power increased, until at last he came forth openly in war, determined to drive the Dúnedain and the Elves from the World and make Middle-earth his domain for ever. This was the War of the Ring, which ended the Third Age; and its history is told in the masterwork called the “Red Book of Westmarch”.

  In that War, among the Dúnedain of the North rose Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the one true heir of Isildur and rightful king of all the Dúnedain of Middle-earth. His knights were the Rangers of the North: horsemen armed with sword and spear in hooded travellers’ cloaks of forest-green and high leather boots. Aragorn himself went about the land in this guise, weather-worn, yet strong, brave and keen of eye.

  In that time he was called Strider, but in the many adventures of his long life he went by other names: he was Estel among the Elves of Rivendell in his youth, and Thorongil as the captain of Gondor who went to the South and destroyed the fleets of Umbar. During the War of the Ring he fought at the Hornburg, Pelargir, Pelennor Fields and before the Black Gate of Mordor itself.

  He proved to be a true leader of Men and, as the heir of Isildur, was crowned King Elessar Telcontar, ruler of all the Dúnedain of the twin realms of Gondor and Arnor, after the War of the Ring.

  Upon his succession Aragorn was totally transformed from rugged Ranger into a king, fierce and lordly yet glad, wise and Elven-eyed. He was enthroned and crowned beneath three banners, green, blue and sable: Rohan, Dol Amroth and Gondor. He wore the White Crown of the Dúnedain, the tall warrior’s helm of mithril with white seabirds’ wings of pearl and silver. A circlet of seven adamant gems was set around it, and a single Elf-gem on the crown glowed with a bright, clear light. Aragorn was compared with the noblest of the Númenóreans of old and even with the Elven-lords. Indeed, he took the Elf-princess Arwen Undómiel as his queen, and they ruled wisely over the Westlands long into the Fourth Age and brought peace to all the people of Middle-earth.

  Dunharrow

  One of the most ancient and mysterious fortress refuges on Middle-earth, Dunharrow was a part of Rohan during the War of the Ring. It was one of the main refuges during various wars for those in the vale of Harrowdale beneath it. Dunharrow appeared to be almost impossible to attack successfully as it was approached by a switch-back road up the steep cliffs of the mountains. Each switchback doubled sharply back on the lower one, and at each roadside turning were huge round stones in the shape of squatting pot-bellied men. It was a monumental piece of engineering, and snaked back and forth in a high pyramid of roads until it reached a wall of rock at the top through which a gap was cut and an incline leading onto the Hold of Dunharrow. This was a high, broad and well-watered alpine meadow on which many thousands could encamp themselves in times of war. Upon this plateau was a great corridor in the form of a long line of unshaped black standing stones which marched across the plain in a straight line leading toward the Dwimorberg, or the “Haunted Mountain”, and a black wall of stone pierced by a tunnel called the Dimholt. This led to a secret glen that was haunted by the spirits of the dead who prevented living men from crossing to the far side of the White Mountains by this abandoned pass. Dunharrow was built during the Second Age by the Men of the White Mountains who were ancestors of the Dunlendings, but who inhabited the land before the coming of the Men of Gondor. Although they later swore allegiance to Gondor, these people had already been corrupted by Sauron, and so in time of war betrayed their new allies. For the breaking of this oath, the spirits of these people were never allowed to rest and for all the years of the Third Age the ghostly army known as the Dead Men of Dunharrow haunted this part of Dwimorberg above Dunharrow which was called the Paths of the Dead. It was not until the arrival of Aragorn that the Dead Men were allowed to make amends and Dunharrow’s haunting spirits were at last laid to rest.

  Dunlendings

  In the Second Age of the Sun, before the Dúnedain came to Middle-earth and made the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, there lived a tall, dark-haired people in the fertile valleys below the White Mountains. For many centuries, it is said, they developed a civilization apart from other people and built many great fortresses of stone. No history tells of the fate of these men of the White Mountains, yet they vanished and only those descendants named Dunlendings remained in their lands.

  Long before the Dúnedain made the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, Dunlending power had dwindled. The people had become divided. Those who had remained in Dunharrow became allies of the Men of Gondor; others had wandered North and settled peaceably in the land of Bree. Yet most of the Dunlendings had retreated to the hills and plains of Dunland and had become a tribal herding people. Though they kept their language and remained fierce warriors, they became a barbaric folk.

  In the twenty-sixth century of the Third Age, the Men of Gondor granted the Rohirrim a province called Calenardhon, but the Dunlendings considered it theirs by right. So these two people grew to hate one another, and in the year 2758 a Dunlending named Wulf led a great invasion of his people against the Rohirrim and was victorious. But this was at great cost, for in the next year the Rohirrim arose and drove the Dunlendings back into the hills, and Wulf the war lord was himself slain.

  So it was that for nearly three centuries the Dunlendings remained in the hill lands and left the fertile valleys to the Rohirrim. Yet they did not forget their hurt, and the tall, dark Men of Dunland made an evil p
act with the rebel Wizard Saruman, who had brought vast numbers of the Great Orcs (called Uruk-hai) into Isengard. And it is recorded that by some evil act of sorcery the Dunlendings were bred with the Uruk-hai, and evil offspring called Half-orcs were the result of this union. Half-orcs were black, lynx-eyed Men with evil Orkish features; combined with the Dunlendings and Great Orcs, the Half-orcs made a huge army of terrifying strength.

  When the power of Gondor and Rohan seemed to wane, this army gathered in Isengard about the banner of Saruman’s White Hand, to fight against the Rohirrim. The “Red Book of Westmarch” tells how the fierce Dunlendings in tall helms and sable shields advanced to the Battle of the Hornburg at Helm’s Deep with the Uruk-hai and Half-orcs.

  But the Battle of the Hornburg was great disaster for the Dunlendings; they were overthrown and the fierce Uruk-hai and Half-orcs were annihilated. Those who were not slain could only sue for peace, promising never again to arise against their Rohirrim conquerors.

  Durin I

  Dwarf king of Khazad-dûm. Durin I was the first and eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves who were conceived by Aulë the Smith in the Ages of Darkness. King Durin I’s realm was Khazad-dûm, the greatest Dwarf kingdom, which was found beneath the Misty Mountains. After the destruction of Beleriand at the end of the First Age of the Sun, the histories of Elves and Men primarily tell us of the Dwarves of Durin’s line. Durin lived to such a great age that he was called Durin the Deathless. The name was also a reference to the belief that he would be reincarnated seven times as king of the people, and each time he would take the name of Durin.