by David Day
When the magical metal, mithril, otherwise known as true silver, was discovered in the Misty Mountains, Celebrimbor and his people were overcome by a desire to possess it. So they travelled to Eregion, which was named Hollin by Men, and lived at the foot of the Misty Mountains in the city of Ost-in-Edhil, near the West Door of Khazad-dûm, the mightiest city of Dwarves. The Dwarves and the Gwaith-i-Mírdain made a pact between themselves whereby both races chose to put all their past quarrels to rest, and in fact they managed to keep that peace for a thousand years. For many years the trade between Dwarves of Khazad-dûm and Elves of Eregion brought prosperity to both races.
However, in the year 1200 one named Annatar came among them. None knew him, but his knowledge was great and he freely gave what aid he could to the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, as well as gifts that he made himself. By 1500 they had come to trust him fully and planned to make many magical things with his aid. So it was that the Rings of Power were made by the Gwaith-i-Mírdain. For a full century Celebrimbor and his people laboured on this great work. However, Annatar was in fact Sauron the Dark Lord disguised, and in that time among the Dwarves and the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, in secret, he made the One Ring, the Ruling Ring that would wield power over all the others. With this One Ring, the Dark Lord hoped to rule the World.
Yet once Sauron placed the Ring on his finger, the Elves knew him for the Dark Lord, and they removed their Rings and hid them from him. The War of Sauron and the Elves followed; Eregion was destroyed and Celebrimbor was slain with the greater part of his people. In that year of 1697 of the Second Age, the few Gwaith-i-Mírdain who remained were given aid by Elrond Half-elven. At the command of Gil-galad, Elrond came out of Lindon with a guard of warriors and took the survivors to a place of refuge – a deep, narrow valley in Rhudaur – which they named Imladris but which Men called Rivendell. Thereafter, this refuge of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain was the last surviving Elf-kingdom between the Misty Mountains and the Blue Mountains.
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Haladin
In the First Age of the Sun, three hosts of Men first came to the Elf-realms of Beleriand and allied with the Noldorin Elves. The hosts were the Three Houses of Elf-friends, the Edain; of the Three Houses the Second was named Haladin. A forest-loving people, the Haladin were less numerous and smaller than those of the other Houses. Their first chieftain was Haldad who, along with many of his people, was slain by Orcs. His daughter Haleth then led the Haladin to the Forest of Brethil, where they grew wiser in the ways of the woodlands. There, like the wise Green-elves of Ossiriand, they fought against the minions of Melkor. But, as the tide of the Wars of Beleriand turned against all the Edain, and though such a great hero as Túrin Turambar came to fight with them, the Haladin also suffered loss and dwindled before the evil onslaught of Orc legions.
Half-orcs
Among the Dunlendings who, in the Third Age of the Sun, came to Saruman’s banner of the White Hand in Isengard, were some whose blood, by the sorcery of Saruman, became mixed with that of the Orcs and Uruk-hai. These were large Men, lynx-eyed and evil, who were called Half-orcs. Many were among the strongest servants of Saruman. They mostly perished at the Battle of Hornburg, either before the fortress walls or in the Huorn forest. Yet some lived beyond that day of doom and followed Saruman into exile, even to the Shire, where they served the fallen Wizard until his last breath.
Halflings
No history tells how or when the Hobbits, the smallest of the peoples of Middle-earth, entered the World, but it is thought that perhaps it was in the First Age of the Sun, as they are near relatives of Men. However, in the time that Men arose, there were many wars and great deeds wherein powerful races and forces fought for supremacy. In the struggle for dominion, little heed was taken of such a diminutive people, who, being half the height of Men were by Men most often called Halflings.
Harad
South of the realms of Gondor and Mordor were the wild barbarian lands of Harad. During Sauron’s many wars, the brown-skinned men of Near Harad and the black-skinned men of Far Harad often came to fight for the Ring Lord against the Dúnedain. Harad, meaning “south” in Elvish, was also called the Sunlands, Sutherland and Haradwaith. Its people were called the Haradrim or the Southrons. The land itself was vast and hot with great deserts and forests stretching far into the uncharted lands in the south of Middle-earth. It was divided into numerous warrior kingdoms; some were primarily foot soldiers, others cavalry, and still others were mounted on the backs of the tusked Mûmakil, the giant ancestors of the elephants. One of the greatest ports of Harad was Umbar, the home of those sea-going Haradrim, known as the Corsairs of Umbar.
Haradrim
In the histories that were written in the days of the War of the Ring, much is told of the brown-skinned Men of the South who were named the Haradrim, and how they came forth fiercely in war. Some Haradrim appeared on horseback and others on foot, and those who were named Corsairs came in dread fleets of their black ships called dromunds. But most famous were those Haradrim who rode in war towers on the broad backs of the great Mûmakil. Such Haradrim armies caused terrible destruction, because Horses would not come near the Mûmakil. From their towers the Haradrim shot arrows and threw stones and spears. With tusk and trunk and great pounding feet the Mûmakil would break the shield-walls of its foes and overthrow mighty armies on Horse and foot.
In the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the Haradrim were most numerous among the servants of the Witch-king of Morgul. They were fierce and they rallied under a red banner marked with a black serpent. These warriors were clothed in scarlet cloaks and had gold rings in their ears and golden collars and great round shields, both yellow and black, studded with steel spikes. All had black eyes and long black hair in plaits braided with gold, and some as well had paint like crimson blood upon their faces. Their helmets and corselets of overlapping plates were of bronze. They were armed variously with bows, crimson-headed spears and pikes, curved daggers and scimitars. They were said to be as cruel as Orcs and in battle gave no quarter and expected none.
Although most of the Haradrim in the army that came to Mordor were of brown skin, the lands of the Haradrim were vast, and part of the army came from Far Harad, where the tribesmen of the Sunlands were black. These were mighty warriors, who were compared with Trolls in strength and size.
All these people, strong though they had grown, owed their source of power to the coming of the Dark Lord Sauron. Their King of Kings was always Sauron throughout the Second and Third Ages, and allegiance to Mordor and the Dark Lord’s emissaries – the Ringwraiths – was their law.
In the Second Age Sauron came among the Haradrim and gave them many gifts of power. To him they made sacrifice and gave worship. In time the might of the Haradrim increased and they ventured north against the kings of Gondor. Among them came other emissaries of the Dark Lord Sauron including a few of the Númenóreans who had turned against the Powers of Arda. In the Second Age two of these Black Númenóreans became great lords among the Haradrim and these were Herumor and Fuinur.
The “Book of the Kings” tells how the power of the Haradrim in the North was destroyed in the Second Age. As they rallied about the power of Sauron in Mordor, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was formed and there was a mighty battle before the Black Gate. The Gate was broken, and the Haradrim, Easterlings and Orc-hordes were crushed, and Mordor fell. And finally, after a seven-year siege, Sauron and the Ringwraiths were defeated and driven into the shadows. This was not the end of the Haradrim, for the One Ring was not destroyed. Sauron and the Ringwraiths eventually returned in the Third Age and they again called the Haradrim to arms, promising them great wealth and making evil threats. So the Haradrim came to Mordor once again.
In the “Book of the Kings” it is told that when the Men of Gondor sailed to Umbar and broke the power of the Black Númenóreans, the Haradrim arose, in the year 1015 of the Third Age, and made war on Gondor. In battle they slew Ciryandil, third in line to the Ship-kings of Gondor, but the Haradrim could not br
eak Gondor’s hold on the port at that time. The next king of Gondor destroyed their armies in 1050 and the Haradrim had no power to come again against the Men of Gondor for nearly four hundred years, when there was a rebellion in Gondor itself. A great navy of rebels – sons of one named Castamir the Usurper – came to Umbar and made an alliance with the Haradrim against the Men of Gondor. So for all the centuries of the Third Age, with the rebels who were named the Corsairs of Umbar and with some of the Black Númenóreans, the Haradrim raided and harassed the borderlands and shores of Gondor’s realms.
In the year 1944, the histories of Gondor again speak of the land armies of the Haradrim. At that time the Haradrim and the Variags of Khand made a pact with the Easterling barbarians called the Wainriders. The purpose of their alliance was to achieve a simultaneous two-pronged attack on Gondor, from the East and from the South. Thus, the forces of Gondor were split, and the Wainriders succeeded and broke the army of East Gondor and slew the king, but they had not counted on the valiant general Eärnil of the southern army of Gondor. Eärnil, having swept the Haradrim and Variags from the field at the Battle of Poros Crossing, then turned to the east marches and struck down the unprepared Wainriders at the Battle of the Camp.
In the year that the War of the Ring was declared many legions of the Men of Harad went to Mordor: brown Men in crimson from Near Harad on Horse, on foot and riding the great Mûmakil in war towers; and terrible black tribesmen from Far Harad. With them came the Corsairs out of Umbar, the fierce Variags from Khand and the Easterlings from near and far: bearded axe-men, footmen and cavalries. And finally there were the legions of Orcs, Uruk-hai, Olog-hai and Trolls. No greater army was amassed in that time in Middle-earth. But as is told in the “Red Book of Westmarch” their doom was sealed by power beyond strength of arms, and, though valiant in battle, they were crushed and destroyed at the Battle of Pelennor Fields and at the Black Gate of Mordor. Sauron was cast down for ever and with him all his servants. But it is told a new king who was both strong and merciful came to Gondor and he made a peace with the Haradrim that long endured into the Fourth Age of the Sun.
Haradwaith
All the lands of Middle-earth that lay south of Gondor were, in the histories of the West, called Harad, meaning the “south”. Its people were sometimes called Haradwaith, sometimes Southrons, and most commonly Haradrim.
Harfoot
Most numerous and typical of the Hobbit strains were those who were named the Harfoot. They were the smallest of the Halflings and their skin and hair were nut-brown. The Harfoot were the first of the Hobbit people to leave the Vales of Anduin and cross over the Misty Mountains into Eriador. This migration was in the year 1050 of the Third Age. They were friendliest with the Dwarves, for they loved hillsides and highlands, and hole-dwelling to them was a joy.
Helcar
The Inland Sea in the far northeast of the continent of Middle-earth was called Helcar. It was located where the mighty northern pillar of the Lamp of the Valar once stood as a light to the world through the most ancient days of Arda. After the destruction of the Lamps and at the time of the Rekindling of the Stars, it was in the Mere of Cuiviénen, a bay on the eastern shores of this same Sea of Helcar, where the race of the Elves was first awakened. These waters of the Inland Sea of Helcar were constantly fed and refreshed by a multitude of crystal springs, streams and rivers.
Helcaraxë
Until the end of the Second Age of the Sun and the Change of the World, there was a northern narrow gap of sea and ice between the Undying Lands and Middle-earth. This was called Helcaraxë, the Grinding Ice. It was over this bridge of ice that Melkor and Ungoliant the Great Spider fled after they destroyed the Trees of the Valar and stole the Silmarils.
Helm Hammerhand
Northman, king of Rohan. Helm Hammerhand was born in 2691 of the Third Age. He became the ninth king of Rohan in 2741. Helm ruled for seventeen years before Rohan suffered from a devastating Dunlending invasion. After the Rohirrim defeat at the Crossings of Isen in 2758, Helm and his army retreated to the fortress of Hornburg, where he held the enemy at bay through the Long Winter. He often terrorized his Dunlending besiegers by going out in the snow at night and silently slaying his enemies with his bare hands. On one of these raids, Helm froze to death. Helm’s Deep, Helm’s Dike and Helm’s Gate were all named after Helm Hammerhand.
Helm’s Deep
The huge fortified gorge in the White Mountains in the Westfold of Rohan was called Helm’s Deep. Named after the Rohirrim king Helm Hammerhand, Helm’s Deep and Dunharrow were Rohan’s two major places of refuge during times of war. Helm’s Deep referred to the entire fortified system which included the gorge, the Deeping Wall built across the gorge, the fortress of Hornburg, the cavern refuge known as Aglarond (“glittering caves”) and the Deeping Stream that flowed from the gorge. The defences of Helm’s Deep were largely built by the Men of Gondor, although the caverns of Aglarond were believed to have been delved during the Second Age by the Númenóreans. In 2758, the Rohirrim under Helm Hammerhand defended it against the Dunlendings, and during the War of the Ring, King Théoden fought the Battle of Hornburg here against the forces of Saruman.
Helmingas
In the twenty-eighth century of the Third Age of the Sun, a king of great stature came to the Rohirrim, the Horse-lords of Mark. He was ninth in the line of kings, and his people called him Helm Hammerhand. Though his rule ended in tragedy during the Long Winter and Dunlending Invasions, his legend grew strong among his foes. He was compared with a great Troll, for he hunted the Dunlendings by night and with his bare hands slew them in the snow. Even after his death the Dunlendings feared his wraith, who they claimed pursued them for many years.
The Rohirrim often called upon the spirit of that fearful king in war, and in his honour they called his mountain stronghold Helm’s Deep, and named themselves the Helmingas.
High Elves
Of all the Elves, the mightiest were the High Elves, those of the Eldar who first reached the shores of Aman, the Undying Lands, in the days of the Trees of the Valar. These were called the High Elves, and they were those Elves who arrived in that place named “Elvenhome” and were granted great wisdom and many skills by the Valar and Maiar. In large part they dwell there still, though the Trees have been destroyed and the Undying Lands have been taken from the Circles of the World and cannot now be reached by any device of Men.
Hildor
When Arien the Sun first shone on the World, there came forth the race of Men far to the East of Middle-earth. They were late-comers to the World, for many other races had arisen before them. Therefore, the Elves named them Hildor, for its meaning is the “followers”.
Hillmen
In the Ettenmoors in Eriador there lived an evil race of Hillmen who served the Witch-king of Angmar in the Third Age of the Sun. These barbarian Hillmen were fierce and numerous and they were allied with the Orkish legions. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it is told, they subdued the provinces of Rhudaur and Cardolan of the Dúnedain of the North Kingdom. In 1974, after six centuries of intermittent war this alliance finally brought down Arthedain, the last of the proud Dúnedain provinces of the North Kingdom.
But this too was the time of the Hillmen’s own ruin. Hardly had the Hillmen and their Witch-king taken Fornost, the last citadel of the Dúnedain, when they were attacked by a great army led by Eärnur of the South Kingdom of Gondor, Círdan of Lindon and Glorfindel of Rivendell. In this Battle of Fornost the power of the Hillmen was broken, the Orcs exterminated and the kingdom of Angmar was destroyed. The Hillmen became a hunted people, scattered and forgotten.
Hobbiton
The most famous village in the land of the Hobbits of the Shire was a humble Hobbit village built on and around Hobbiton Hill with a mill and granary on a stream called the Water. The village became famous because on that hill was the street of Bagshot Row and the Hobbit hole of Bag End. This was the home of the most celebrated of all Hobbits on Middle-earth, Bilbo an
d Frodo Baggins, who played such critical roles in the War of the Ring.
Hobbits
When the bright fire of Arien the Sun came into the World there arose the race of Men, it is claimed that in that same Age there also arose in the East the Halfling people who were called Hobbits. These were a burrowing, hole-dwelling people said to be related to Men, yet they were smaller than Dwarves, and the span of their lives was about a hundred years.
Nothing is known of the Hobbit race before 1050 of the Third Age, when it is said they lived with the Northmen in the northern Vales of the Anduin between the Misty Mountains and the Greenwood. In that century an evil force entered the Greenwood, and it was soon renamed Mirkwood. It was perhaps this event which forced the Hobbit people out of the Vales. For in the centuries that followed, the Hobbits migrated westwards over the Misty Mountains into Eriador, where they discovered both Elves and Men in an open fertile land.
All Hobbits, both male and female, shared certain characteristics. All measured between two and four feet in height; they were long-fingered, possessed of a well-fed and cheerful countenance, and had curly brown hair upon their heads and peculiar shoeless, oversized feet. An unassuming, conservative people, they judged their peers by their conformity to quiet Hobbit village life. Excessive behaviour or adventurous endeavour were discouraged and considered indiscreet. The excesses of Hobbits were limited to dressing in bright colours and consuming six substantial meals a day. Their one eccentricity was the art of smoking Pipe-weed, which they claimed as their contribution to the culture of the World.