by David Day
Númenor was blessed with many beautiful forests of fragrant blossoming trees. It had many fair meadows and two major rivers: the Siril, which flowed south from the slopes of Meneltarma to the sea near the fishing town of Nindamos, and the Nunduinë which flowed west to Eldalondë the Green, the fairest port of Númenor. Through the Second Age Númenor was so great that the kings grew vain beyond reason. Corrupted by the evil promptings of Sauron the Ring Lord, in 3319 King Ar-Pharazôn dared to send a great navy against the Valar in the Undying Lands. The result was the utter destruction of Númenor as the sea literally swallowed up the island kingdom. This was the time that was known as the Change of the World, for not only was Númenor obliterated, but the Undying Lands were taken out of the Spheres of the World into a dimension that is beyond the reach and the understanding of mortals. Although a part of its people escaped the cataclysm and went to Middle-earth and built kingdoms and empires there, Númenor never arose again. For many ages legends spoke of it as a magical downfallen land beneath the sea under the names of Akallabêth, Marn-nu-Falmar and Atlantë on Atlantis.
Númenóreans
When the First Age of the Sun was ended and the power of Morgoth was broken, there remained but a remnant of the race of Men called the Edain, who were the allies of the Elves in the terrible Wars of Beleriand.
After the Great Battle, the Valar took pity on the Edain who had suffered so grievously and whose lands had been lost, and the Valar created a great island for them in the Western Sea, between Middle-earth and the Undying Lands. With this land they were given a gift of long life and greater powers of mind and body and many skills and much knowledge that had previously only been granted to Elves. These people were much changed and were now called the Númenóreans, for their land was Númenor or Westernesse. But it was also named Andar, “land of gift”, and Elenna, “land of star”, and Mar-nu-Falmar on Atalantë.
The deeds of the Númenóreans in the Second Age of the Sun were outstanding, for the Númenóreans were greatly strengthened by the gifts of the Valar and the Eldar. First of the kings of Númenor was Elros Half-elven, the brother of Elrond who later ruled in Rivendell. Elros chose to become mortal, yet his rule lasted 400 years. In that land he was named Tar-Minyatur. All over the World the Númenóreans sailed, even as far as the Gates of Morning in the East. However, they were never able to sail westwards, for a ban had been made that could not be broken: no mortal might tread the blessed shore of the Undying Lands of Eldamar and Valinor.
In Númenor the fortunes of Men increased, while darkness rose in Middle-earth once again. For though Morgoth the Enemy was gone from the World, his great servant, the Dark Lord Sauron, had returned and the Men in the southern and eastern lands of Middle-earth worshipped his evil shadow.
The tale of the Rings of Power tells how, at this time, Sauron made a sorcerous Ring with which he hoped to rule all Mortal Lands, and he made war on the Elves and slew them terribly and drove them back into the Blue Mountains. But the power of the Númenóreans had also grown, and they came to the aid of the Elves and made war on Sauron, and he was driven out of the western land. For a time there was peace and the Númenóreans again increased, building the ports of Umbar in the South and Pelargir in the North of Middle-earth. But they grew proud and wished to declare themselves lords of Middle-earth as well as lords of the seas. So in the year 3262 of the Second Age of the Sun they came to the Dark Land of Mordor with such a mighty host of arms and Men that Sauron could not withstand them. To the amazement of all the world, Sauron came down from his Dark Tower and surrendered to the Númenóreans rather than daring to fight such a host. So the Dark Lord was made prisoner and was taken in chains to the great tower of the king of Númenor.
Yet Sauron’s surrender was only a ploy by the master deceiver to achieve by guile what he could not achieve by force of arms. For in the Númenóreans he perceived the fatal flaws of pride and ambition, and he believed that he could tempt them with the gifts of his powers. And so, once within the kingdom of Númenor, he managed to achieve the greatest evil that was ever committed against the race of Man: Sauron corrupted the king of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn. In Númenor great temples were built to Morgoth the Lord of Darkness and human sacrifice was made on his altar. Then Sauron advised the Númenóreans to make war on the Valar and Eldar who lived in the Undying Lands. The greatest fleet that ever sailed the World was then assembled and it sailed into the West toward the land that was forbidden to Men. Passing through the Enchanted Isles and the Shadowy Seas, the fleet came to the Undying Lands. As the vast navy reached the Undying Lands the “Akallabeth” tells how a great doom fell on the world. Though the king came to conquer, his first step brought the Pelóri Mountains down on him and all his vast armada. To a man the Númenóreans were lost, but this was not all, for a greater disaster followed. The waters rose up in wrath and Meneltarma – the mountain that was the centre of Númenor – erupted and great flames leapt up and all of Númenor sank in an immense whirlpool into Belegaer, the Great Sea.
Thus came what was called the Change of the World. For in that year, 3319 of the Second Age of the Sun, the Undying Lands were taken from the Circles of the World and moved beyond the reach of all but the Chosen, who travelled in Elven-ships along the Straight Road through the Spheres of both Worlds.
Yet a part of the Númenórean race lived on. Some had fled the sinking of Númenor and had sailed in nine ships to Middle-earth. These were the Elendili, the “faithful”, who were not corrupted by Sauron and refused to abandon the ancient ways of the Valar and Eldar. These people sailed away to Middle-earth in nine ships and made two mighty kingdoms in Arnor and Gondor. Others, too, survived the Downfall of Númenor and were in later times named the Black Númenóreans and they settled in the land of Umbar.
Nurn
The southern part of Sauron’s evil realm of Mordor was known as Nurn. While Sauron ruled, this was a land filled with the slaves of the Ring Lord who joylessly worked its vast croplands to provide food for Mordor’s armies. Through the fields of Nurn ran four main rivers which drained into the inland sea of Nûrnen. Little is told of this place or its people, but after the War of the Ring, King Elessar freed the slaves and turned the croplands of Nurn over to them for their own.
Oo
Oghor-hai
The name Oghor-hai was the Orkish name for the primitive Wildmen of the forests who often ambushed and raided Orc legions that wandered into their lands. They were known to Men as the Woses.
Oiolairë
Among the Númenórean sea kings, there was a custom of blessing a ship with safe passage and safe return. This was done by cutting a bough of the sacred, fragrant tree called Oiolairë and setting it on the ship’s prow. This “Green Bough of Return” was an offering to Ossë, the Master of the Waves, and Uinen, the Lady of the Calms. A gift to the Númenóreans from the Elves of Eressëa, Oiolairë means “ever-summer”.
Óin
Dwarf of Thorin and Company. Óin, the son of Gróin, was born in 2774 of the Third Age, and joined the Quest of Erebor in 2941. After the slaying of Smaug the Dragon and the re-establishment of the Dwarf-kingdom under the Mountain, Óin settled for a time in Erebor. However, in 2989, he set out with Balin and Ori in an attempt to re-establish a Dwarf kingdom in Moria. He was killed there in 2994, by the monster called the Watcher in the Water.
Old Forest
By the Third Age of the Sun, the ancient forest that used to cover all of Eriador was reduced to a small area east of the Shire between the Brandywine River and the Barrow-downs. This was the Old Forest and within it were many malevolent tree spirits who made travel perilous. The most formidable of these was Old Man Willow who had the power of enchanting travellers with his whispering songs, entangling them with his mobile roots, and finally enclosing them within his trunk. Fortunately, another friendlier spirit called Tom Bombadil lived by the eastern side of the forest and had the power to command the malevolent tree spirits to release their prey.
Oliphaunts
Into the Hobbit lands of the Shire crept many legends about the mysterious hot lands that lay far in the south of Middle-earth. Most fascinating to the Hobbits were the tales of the giant Oliphaunts: tusked war beasts with huge pounding feet. It was rumoured that the savage Men of Harad placed battle towers on the backs of these creatures when they rode into battle. Sensible Hobbits believed these tales were the workings of fanciful minds, even though some of their own people claimed to have sighted these creatures, which the Men of Gondor commonly called Mûmakil.
Olog-hai
In the Third Age of the Sun, it is said that the Ring Lord Sauron, who ruled in Mordor, took some of the ancient Trolls that Melkor bred in Angband and from them made another race that was known as the Olog-hai in Black Speech. The creatures of this race were true Trolls in size and strength but Sauron made them cunning and unafraid of the light that was deadly to most of the Troll race. The Olog-hai were terrible in battle for they had been bred to be like ravening beasts that hungered for the flesh of their foes. They were armoured with stone-hard scale and were easily twice the height and bulk of Men. They carried round shields, blank and black, and were armed with huge hammers, clutching claws and great fangs. Before their onslaught few warriors of any race could hold firm a shield wall of defence, and blades unblessed by Elvish spell could not pierce their strong hides to release their foul black blood.
Yet strong as they were, the Olog-hai were wholly destroyed at the end of the Third Age. For these creatures were animated and directed solely by the will of the Dark Lord, Sauron. So when the One Ring was destroyed and Sauron perished, they were suddenly without senses and purpose; they reeled and wandered aimlessly. Masterless, they lifted no hand to fight and so were slain or lost. Therefore, the histories of the Fourth Age do not speak of the Olog-hai for they had already passed from the World for ever.
Olvar
In the Music of the Ainur were many prophecies. One was that before Elves and Men entered the World there would come spirits who would be guardians of all Olvar (living things that grow and are rooted in the Earth). For the Olvar, from the great forest trees to the smallest lichen, could not flee their enemies, and so Yavanna brought forth their guardians, called the Ents.
Olwë
Elven king of Alqualondë. Olwë was the brother of Elwë, the first High King of the Teleri Elves. The brothers led their people on the Great Journey at the beginning of the Ages of Starlight. However, in Beleriand. Elwë was enchanted by Melian the Maia and remained to found the kingdom of the Grey-elves. Olwë became the High King of the Teleri and led his people, first to Tol Eressëa, and finally to Alqualondë in Eldamar.
Onodrim
In the forests of Middle-earth in the time of the Rekindling of the Stars there came forth a giant people. These were the great Tree-herds, who were more often known as Ents but the Sindarin Elves called them the Onodrim. These fourteen-foot giants were secret protectors of the forest, and in form they were likened to both tree and Man. For the most part the Ents were gentle and slow to act. They were indifferent to the wars of other peoples, unless those disputes greatly diminished their forest realms. Yet once their anger was aroused, their wrath and power were beyond measure, and they annihilated their foes. During the War of the Ring the rebel Wizard Saruman learned the cost of incurring such anger, for the Onodrim destroyed both his army and his fortress of Isengard.
Orcs
Within the deepest Pits of Utumno in the First Age of Stars, it is said Melkor committed his greatest blasphemy. For in that time he captured many of the newly risen race of Elves and took them to his dungeons, and with hideous acts of torture he made ruined and terrible forms of life. From these he bred a Goblin race of slaves who were as loathsome as Elves were fair.
These were the Orcs, a multitude brought forth in shapes twisted by pain and hate. The only joy of these creatures was in the pain of others, for the blood that flowed within Orcs was both black and cold. Their stunted form was hideous: bent, bowlegged and squat. Their arms were long and strong as the apes of the South, and their skin was black as wood that has been charred by flame. The jagged fangs in their wide mouths were yellow, their tongues red and thick, and their nostrils and faces were broad and flat. Their eyes were crimson gashes, like narrow slits in black iron grates behind which hot coals burn.
The Orcs were fierce warriors, for they feared more greatly their master than any enemy and perhaps death was preferable to the torment of Orkish life. They were cannibals, ruthless and terrible and often their rending claws and slavering fangs were gored with bitter flesh and the foul black blood of their own kind. Orcs were spawned as thralls of the Master of Darkness; therefore, they were fearful of light, for it weakened and burned them. Their eyes were night seeing, and they were dwellers of foul pits and tunnels. In Melkor’s Utumno and in every foul dwelling in Middle-earth they multiplied. More quickly than any other beings of Arda their progeny came forth from the spawning pits. At the end of the First Age of Stars was the War of the Powers in which the Valar came to Utumno and broke it open. They bound Melkor with a great chain, and destroyed his servants in Utumno and with them most of the Orcs. Those who survived were masterless and went wandering.
In the Ages that followed were the great migrations of the Elves, and, though Orcs lived in the dark places of Middle-earth, they did not appear openly, and the Elven histories speak not of Orcs until the Fourth Age of Stars. By this time the Orcs had grown troublesome. Out of Angband they came in armour of steel-plate and linked chains, and helmets of iron hoops and black leather, beaked like a hawk or vulture with steel. They carried scimitars, poisoned daggers, arrows and broad-headed swords. This brigand race, with Wolves and Werewolves, dared, in the Fourth Age of Stars, to enter the realm of Beleriand where the Sindarin kingdom of Melian and Thingol stood. The Grey-elves knew not what manner of being the Orcs were, though they did not doubt they were evil. As these Elves did not use steel weapons at that time, they came to the Dwarf-smiths of Nogrod and Belegost and bartered for weapons of tempered steel. Then they slaughtered the Orcs or drove them away.
Yet, when Melkor returned to Beleriand in the last Age of Stars, out of the Pits of Angband, the Orcs came, rank upon rank, legion upon legion, in open war, and this was the beginning of the Wars of Beleriand. Because in the valley of the River Gelion they were met by King Thingol’s Grey-elves and Denethor’s Green-elves. In this First Battle the Orcs were decimated and driven shrieking in flight to the Blue Mountains, where they found no refuge but only the axes of the Dwarves. None of that army escaped. Yet Melkor had sent forth three grand armies. The second army of Orcs arose and overran the Western lands of Beleriand and besieged the Falas, but the cities of the Falathrim did not fall. So the second army of Orcs joined the third army and marched north to Mithrim, to slay the newly arrived Noldorin Elves. But the Orcs were little prepared for these Elves. In strength of body the Noldor were far beyond the darkest dreams of the Orcs. The eyes of these Elves alone seared the flesh of the Orcs, and the fierce light of Elven swords drove them mad with pain and fear. So the second Battle of Beleriand was fought against the Noldor whom Fëanor led, and this battle was called the Battle under Stars, the Dagor-nuin-Giliath. Though the Noldor king Fëanor was slain, the second and third armies of Melkor were entirely destroyed.
A second Noldor army led by the lord Fingolfin came out of the West and the great light of the Sun mounted the ramparts of the sky as if with a great shout that brought fear to every servant of Melkor. So the First Age of the Sun began and for a time the ambitions of the Orcs were checked by the new light of the Sun. Soon, however, under cover of darkness Orcs came in yet another grand army, more numerous than the other three and more heavily armed, hoping to catch the Noldor unaware. In the Glorious Battle, the Orc legions were slaughtered again. At this time the Siege of Angband was begun and, though Orcs at times sallied forth in bands, for the most part they were held within Angband’s walls. Yet Melkor’s might grew, for by dark sorcery he bred more
of the Orc race and also Dragons, and about him were Balrogs, Trolls, Werewolves and monsters many and great. When he deemed himself ready the mighty host came into the Battle of the Sudden Flame, and this broke the siege of Angband and the Elven-lords were defeated. From this mighty battle is counted the reign of terror that the Orcs remember as the Great Years.
At that time Tol Sirion fell and the kingdoms of Hithlum, Mithrim, Dor-lómin and Dorthonion were overrun. The Battle of Unnumbered Tears was also fought: this was the Fifth Battle in the Wars of Beleriand and the Elves and Edain were completely defeated. The evil Orc legions of Angband then marched into Beleriand. The Falas fell to the Orcs, as did both the cities of Brithombar and Eglarest. The Battle of Tumhalad was fought and Nargothrond was sacked; because of his disputes with Dwarves and the Noldor, Menegroth was twice overrun and the Grey-elf lands were ruined. Finally Gondolin, the Hidden Kingdom, fell. So Melkor’s victory was all but complete; his Orc legions went wherever they wished in Beleriand. All the Elven kingdoms were ruined; no great city stood and the lords and the greatest part of the Elves and Edain were slain. Such is the tale of days that are joyful to the black hearts of the Orcs and their allies.