by David Day
Roheryn
Horse of Aragorn II. During the War of the Ring, Roheryn carried Aragorn into many battles. A shaggy, but strong and proud horse, he was the gift of the Elven princess Arwen to her betrothed future king. Roheryn means “horse of the lady”. During the War he served Aragorn in the Battle of Hornburg, through the Paths of the Dead into the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and right up to that final cataclysm before the Black Gates of Mordor.
Rohirrim
In the year 2510 of the Third Age of the Sun, a host of golden-haired horsemen came to the Battle of the Field of Celebrant to rescue the routed army of Gondor from the Balchoth and Orc hordes. These were the Éothéod whom the Men of Gondor later named the Rohirrim, the “Horse-lords”. They were Northmen who inhabited the Vales of Anduin, and they were renowned as warriors and Horse-masters.
King Eorl the Young was most praised of their people, for he first tamed the Mearas, the noblest and fairest Horses of Middle-earth, which were said to be descended from Nahar, Oromë the Vala’s steed. And, as is told in the “Book of Kings”, it was Eorl the Young who had brought his warriors to the Battle of the Field of Celebrant. At the desire of the Men of Gondor, Eorl made a kingdom in the province of Calenardhon, which was renamed Rohan and the Mark. And he was made the first of the kings of Rohan who for five centuries of the Third Age ruled the Mark.
Yet the Rohirrim were often called to war, to defend both Gondor and Rohan, for they were bordered by many enemies. The Rohirrim were constantly prepared for battle and always wore silver corselets and bright mail. They were armed with spears and with long swords that were set with green gems. Their hair was braided in long golden plaits, and they wore silver helmets with flowing horsetail manes. They carried green shields emblazoned with a golden Sun and green banners adorned with a white Horse. So armed, and mounted on steeds which were white and grey, the blue-eyed Rohirrim advanced against Easterlings, Dunlendings, Haradrim, Uruk-hai and Orcs.
On the rolling hills near the White Mountains were built the royal courts of Edoras in which was Meduseld, the feast hall of Rohan’s kings, which was roofed with gold. The histories of the nine kings of the Mark are chronicled in the “Annals of the Kings and Rulers”. After Eorl the Young, the king of the greatest fame was Helm Hammerhand, the last of the First Line of kings. For though in his time Rohan suffered disaster by Dunlending invasions, famine and the bitter cold that came in the Long Winter of the year 2759, this king’s valour and strength were so great that his name alone brought terror to his enemies. For it is said Helm walked through blizzards of snow like a huge Troll in the night. He stalked his foes without weapons and slew them with the strength of his bare hands alone. And though he died before the Long Winter ended, the Dunlendings claimed his wraith remained in that place to haunt them and all enemies of the Rohirrim for many years thereafter.
The tale of the War of the Ring tells how Théoden, the last of the Second Line of kings, fell under the power of the Wizard Saruman. But with the aid of Gandalf, Théoden threw off that enchantment and led his warriors to victory at the Battles of Hornburg and of Pelennor Fields against the Dark Powers. And though he was an old man, it is told how he slew a king of Harad on the Pelennor Fields and was granted a warrior’s death there also, for he in turn was slain by the terrible Witch-king of Morgul.
So the lordship of the Rohirrim passed to Théoden’s sister’s son, who was named Éomer. He was counted among the greatest kings of the Mark, for with the Men of Gondor he made firm the old alliance. After the War of the Ring he often rode out to subdue the peoples of the East and South, and the Rohirrim had victory and their children lived in peace in the Fourth Age of the Sun.
Yet in the War of the Ring there was one other of the Rohirrim who won the greatest fame. This was Éowyn, the fair sister of Éomer. For though she was slender and tall she was filled with strength and was wise in the use of weapons of war. As a warrior of Rohan she came to the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and over Théoden, the fallen king, she stood against the Witch-king of Morgul. She then achieved a deed that in four thousand years of terror the mightiest warriors of all Middle-earth could not, for it had been foretold that the Witch-king could not be slain by the hand of Man. So Éowyn revealed that she was not a Man but a shield-maiden, and with her sword she slew the Winged Beast that was the wraith’s steed. Then with the aid of the Hobbit, Meriadoc Brandybuck, she slew the Witch-king himself.
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Samwise Gamgee
Hobbit of the Shire. Samwise Gamgee was born in 2980 of the Third Age and became a gardener at Bag End. A faithful servant of first Bilbo, then Frodo Baggins, Sam travelled with the Ringbearer to Rivendell, where he became a member of the Fellowship of the Ring. Samwise was the only one to remain with the Ringbearer through the entire quest. On numerous occasions Sam saved Frodo’s life in many perilous encounters. Most remarkable of all, was Sam’s fight with Shelob the Giant Spider. Using the Phial of Galadriel and the Elf blade Sting, he blinded and mortally wounded the monster. He then helped his weakened master to enter Mordor and reach the fires of Mount Doom where the One Ring was finally destroyed. When Frodo sailed to the Undying Lands, Samwise inherited Bag End, and became a highly famous and respected figure in the Shire. He married Rose Cotton and sired thirteen children. He was elected Mayor of the Shire seven times. After the death of his wife in the eighty-second year of the Fourth Age, Samwise sailed to the Undying Lands to rejoin his friend and master, Frodo Baggins.
Saruman
Istari, Wizard of Isengard. Saruman the White was the head of the Istari, the Order of Wizards, who came to Middle-earth about the year 1000 in the Third Age of the Sun. In the Undying Lands he was Curumno, a Maia spirit of Aulë the Smith. When he first appeared he wore white robes, had raven hair and spoke with a voice both wise and fair. Called Curunír, meaning “man of skill” by the Elves, he wandered Middle-earth seeking to overcome the Dark Lord. But after a time he grew proud and wished to have power for himself. In the year 2759, Saruman entered Isengard, and the tower of Orthanc, and summoned Orcs, Half-orcs, Uruk-hai and Dunlendings under a black banner marked with a white hand. He became ensnared in the Ring Lord’s web and unwittingly became his servant. Yet, in the War of the Rings, Saruman’s power was annihilated by a combination of the Ent’s March on Isengard, and the Rohirrim in the Battle of Hornburg. Finally, his staff was broken and his sorcerous power was taken from him by Gandalf. So low did Saruman fall that in defeat he looked for petty vengeance in the Shire. There, in a pathetic last bid for dominion, Saruman was bested by the Hobbits, then slain by his own lowly servant, Gríma Wormtongue.
Sauron
Maia, Lord of the Rings. Once a Maia spirit of Aulë the Smith, Sauron, meaning “the abhorred”, became the chief lieutenant of Melkor, the Dark Lord. In the Ages of Darkness, while Melkor ruled in Utumno, and in the Ages of Stars while Melkor was chained by the Valar, Sauron ruled the evil realm of Angband. During the Wars of Beleriand, Sauron served his master until Melkor was cast into the Void, at the end of the First Age of the Sun. Sauron reappeared on Middle-earth during the fifth century of the Second Age as Annatar, “giver of gifts”. In 1500 he seduced the Elven-smiths into forging the Rings of Power. Then he made himself Lord of the Rings by forging the One Ring. In the War of Sauron and the Elves, from 1693 to 1700, Sauron laid waste to Eregion and was only stopped from annihilating the Elves by the arrival of the Númenóreans. For the next 1500 years, Sauron built up the power of Mordor and brought the Men in the East and the South under his dominion. Finally, the Númenóreans came to make war on him in 3262, but so great was their power that Sauron surrendered to them. Unable to beat them militarily, he managed to corrupt them. In this he was so successful that he brought about the total destruction of Númenor. In that cataclysm, Sauron’s fair form was destroyed. Yet his spirit fled to Mordor, and with the One Ring made himself into the Dark Lord – a fearsome warrior with black armour on burnt black skin, and terrible, raging eyes. However, even this form was destroy
ed at the end of the Second Age, after war with the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, when the One Ring was cut from his hand. Yet, because the One Ring had not been destroyed, Sauron’s spirit was able to rise again. In the year 1000 of the Third Age, he manifested himself in the form of one great, lidless Eye. It was like the eye of a huge cat, but filled with hate, wreathed with flame and ringed in darkness. For nearly two thousand years, Sauron hid himself in Mirkwood and was known only as the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, while he sent Ringwraiths, Orcs and barbarian kings against the Dúnedain and their allies. In 2941, Sauron re-entered Mordor and began to rebuild the Dark Tower. Unfortunately for Sauron, this was the same year that the One Ring came into the possession of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. Even less fortunately for Sauron, in the year 3018, just months before he launched the War of the Ring, Frodo Baggins undertook the Quest of the Ring, which resulted in the destruction of the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Once more, and finally, Sauron was swept into the shadows. Never again did his spirit arise.
Scath the Worm
Dragon of Grey Mountains. Scatha the Worm was a Dragon who in the second millennium of the Third Age of the Sun led his brood of Cold-drakes into the gold-rich kingdom of the Dwarves in the Grey Mountains. There they slaughtered the Dwarves and took their hoards of gold. In time, Prince Fram, son of Frumgar of the Éothéod entered the Grey Mountains, slew Scatha the worm and took his hoard.
Sea-elves
Of all the Elves, the Third Kindred, the Teleri, most loved the seas of Ulmo the Ocean Lord and lived longest on the shores of Belegaer, the Sea of the West. They were wisest in its lore and so were named the Sea-elves. They were the first people to build ships, for they were taught by Ossë, a Maia of the turbulent waves. His spouse was Uinen, Lady of the Calms, and together they taught the Sea-elves about the life in the sea: its fishes and its grottoes and gardens, and the wealth of its precious gem stones and pearls.
And so the Sea-elves sailed on the sea in the fairest ships, which were white and shaped like the great Swans of Ulmo that once drew them to the shores of Eldamar. And in the Undying Lands they sail and sing with voices like the rippling waves, for they know the language of the sea, a language which is subtle beyond the reckoning of the wisest of the races of Men.
Secondborn
Before the World was made, in that dimension before Time began, it had been foretold that Ilúvatar alone would call forth two great peoples out of the World to Be. The Firstborn of Ilúvatar was the immortal race of the Elves who arose with the Rekindling of the Stars. Those who were named the Secondborn, the mortal race of Men, came into being when Arien the Sun first shone on Middle-earth. In the Quenya tongue Secondborn translates as “Atani” and in the Sindarin as “Edain”; and these were the names by which the first Men to enter the lands of Beleriand were known.
Seregon
In ancient Beleriand was once a stony hill called Amon Rûdh, the “bald hill”, wherein were cut the caverns of the last of the Petty-dwarves. Upon that hill nothing would grow except the hardy Seregon plant. In Elvish its name means “blood-stone”, for when the plant blossoms with its dark red flower the stone summit appears to be covered in blood. This vision proved to be prophetic, for the outlaws of Túrin Turambar were slaughtered upon the summit, and the last of the Petty-dwarves put to death in the caverns below.
Shadow Host
In the War of the Ring there was a great battle before the ancient port of Pelargir when the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar were conquered by phantom warriors. These warriors were the Dead Men of Dunharrow, ghosts who through the long years of the Third Age had lingered on Earth because of a broken oath. To fulfil that oath and become released from limbo, this Shadow Host led by Aragorn, son of Arathorn, came to battle against the Corsairs, enemy of the Dúnedain. Once victory was assured the Shadow Host vanished from Earth for ever.
Shadowfax
Meara, Horse of Rohan. Greatest of the Mearas “horse-princes” of Rohan at the time of the War of the Rings, Shadowfax was tamed and ridden without bridle or saddle by Gandalf the Wizard. Called Shadowfax because of his silver-grey coat, he was the only horse who could outrun the phantom black Horses and Winged Beasts of the Ringwraiths. He carried Gandalf the White to the defence of the Tower of Gondor and into the last battle before the Black Gates of Mordor.
Shadowy Mountains
In the histories of Middle-earth there are two mountain ranges which are called the Shadowy Mountains. One was in the north-west of Beleriand in the First Age and by the Elves was called the Ered Wethrin, the “mountains of shadow”. They formed a natural defensive border around the Noldor kingdoms of Hithlum. The second Shadowy Mountain range was so-named in the Second Age and formed the thousand-mile border of western and southern Mordor. Known by the Elves as Ephel Dúath, the “fence of dark shadow”, they formed two sides of the great horseshoe of mountains that were Mordor’s primary defence. The Shadowy Mountains of Mordor appear to have been virtually unclimbable and had only two known passes, Cirith-Gorgor and Cirith Ungol.
Shagrat
Uruk-hai of Cirith Ungol. During the War of the Ring, Shagrat was the Captain of the Orcs of the Tower of the Spider’s Pass.
His Orc band became involved in a brief, bloody battle with a Morgul Orc band, over possession of Frodo Baggins’s mithril mail coat. Although grievously wounded, Shagrat managed to keep the mail coat and take it to his master, Sauron the Ring Lord.
Shelob
Spider of Cirith Ungol. Shelob was the largest and nastiest of the Great Spiders to survive the destruction of Beleriand. Through the Second and Third Ages, Shelob the Great and her lesser offspring lived in the Mountains of Mordor and forests of Mirkwood. By the end of the Third Age, her offspring had taken over large parts of Mirkwood, while Shelob largely kept to her den in Cirith Ungol, where she fed on anyone of any race who attempted to enter Mordor via that pass through the mountains. In the year 3000 she captured Gollum, but released him so he might bring her more victims. In 3019 Gollum brought Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee to her lair. Shelob paralysed Frodo the Ringbearer, and would have consumed him but for Samwise who first blinded Shelob with the light of the Phial of Galadriel, then severely wounded her with an Elf blade. She appears to have crept away to die in her lair.
Shire
The green and pleasant land of the Shire in Eriador – just west of the Brandywine River and east of the Far Downs – had been the homeland of the Halfling people called the Hobbits since the seventeenth century of the Third Age of the Sun. Once a part of the kingdom of Arnor that through centuries of war had become deserted, the Shire was given over to the Hobbits in 1601 by decree of the Dúnedain king Argeleb II of Arthedain.
The Shire itself was divided into four primary areas, called the Four Farthings; later, in 2340, the Hobbit family called the Oldbucks crossed the Brandywine River and settled in what became called Buckland. In the Fourth Age, Buckland, along with the lands of Westmarch from the Far Downs to the Tower Hills, was officially added to the Free Lands of the Shire. The humble ways of the Hobbits were well suited to those fertile lands and through their modest farms and honest labour they prospered. The Shire villages and towns of huts and Hobbit holes grew: Hobbiton, Tuckborough, Michel Delving, Oatbarton, Frogmorton and a dozen others. It appears that aside from a few natural disasters and a single Orc raid in 2747, the Shire was an extraordinarily peaceful land, largely unaware of the world about it. It managed to escape most of the conflicts of the Third Age until the time of the War of the Ring, when this sleepy land was suddenly caught up in events. For here lived Bilbo Baggins, who joined the Quest of the Lonely Mountain, and on that adventure acquired a magic Ring. This chance discovery drew Bilbo, his heir Frodo Baggins and all the Hobbits of the Shire into the greatest drama of that age. So it was that the Hobbits, the meekest and least of all the peoples of Middle-earth, came to hold the fate of all the World in their hands.
Silvan Elves
Those Elves who undertook the Great Journey
were the Teleri. Of this kindred were those called the Nandor, “those who turn back”, who stopped their westward march at the Anduin River and went no further. Of these Nandor, there were some who settled in Greenwood and Lothlórien. These were named Silvan Elves, for most of them lived in forests: they were a tribal people who built no cities and had no kings.
In the years that followed the First Age of the Sun, however, the numbers and lands of these Noldorin and Sindarin Elves had dwindled and to swell their kingdoms these High Elves took Silvan Elves as their subjects. In this way the Silvan Elves learned much of the High Elven language and culture, and many of the skills that had come from the Undying Lands. For a time the Silvan Elves grew strong and prosperous under these lords. The greatest power and beauty were to be found in the Silvan Elves whom Celeborn and Galadriel ruled in the Golden Wood of Lothlórien. For Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol, was counted among the greatest lords of the Sindar, and Galadriel was the daughter of the High King of the Noldor, who had stayed in the Undying Lands; thus, she was noblest of the Elves who stayed in the Middle-earth. The power of Celeborn and Galadriel over the Golden Wood held evil powers at bay, and the Silvan Elves remained prosperous through the troubles of the Third Age though thrice attacked. These Elves were the Galadhrim, “tree-people”, and not until Queen Galadriel finally went to the Undying Lands did the light and glory of the Golden Wood fade.
It is told in the Elvish writings how in Greenwood the Great (which was later named Mirkwood) through the Second, Third and Fourth Ages of the Sun there was the Woodland Kingdom of the Sindar Lord Thranduil. The concealed city of the Silvan Elves of Thranduil was beautiful and magical, for it was the diminished image of the ancient Sindar realm of Menegroth – once the fairest city of Middle-earth. But a part of its beauty had lived on and withstood the dark invasions of the Third Age, even the Battle under the Trees during the War of the Ring. It is told that in the Fourth Age, the son of the king took part of the Silvan Elves of this realm to the woodlands of Ithilien in Gondor. This prince was named Legolas and he became lord of the Elves in Ithilien. For a time these people also prospered, for this was the Elf who had won fame in the War of the Ring and who with his great friend Gimli the Dwarf had fought in the battles of the Hornburg, Pelargir and Pelennor Fields. Indeed, as one of the Fellowship of the Ring, his bright Elvish eyes, his forester’s knowledge and his keen archery were much needed in the Quest. And though Legolas ruled his new realm for many years in the Fourth Age, after a time, with Gimli, he took an Elven-ship to the Undying Lands.