A Dictionary of Tolkien

by David Day

  Simbelmynë

  Near Edoras, the Golden Hall of the kings of the Mark, lay the great barrow graves of the kings who for the last five hundred years of the Third Age of the Sun had ruled Rohan. By the end of the Third Age the graves were laid in two rows: one of nine for those of the First Line; the other of eight for those of the Second Line. On these graves, like glittering snow, grew the white flowers called Simbelmynë, which in common speech of Men is “Evermind” and by the Elves was known as Uilos. They blossomed in all seasons, like the bright eyes of Elves, glinting always with starlight.

  Simbelmynë grew whitest and thickest on the grave of Helm Hammerhand, the ninth king of the First Line, who during the Siege of the Hornburg went alone among his foes, the Dunlendings. And Simbelmynë reminds these foes of him who was the fiercest king of the Mark. Through the famine of the Fell Winter Helm Hammerhand had sounded his mighty horn and like a snow-troll hunted his foes and slew them. And though he perished at that time, his wraith was said still to walk the land and his horn could be heard in the Helm’s Deep.

  Sindar

  How the Grey-elves, who are called the Sindar, came to be a separate race, is told in the tale of the Journey of the Elves. In the beginning they were of the Third Kindred, the Teleri, and their king was the High King of all Teleri. In those first years he was named Elwë Singollo and he was the tallest of Elves. His hair was silver and he alone of the Teleri (with the Noldor Lord Finwë and the Vanyar Lord Ingwë) was taken by Oromë, the Horseman of the Valar, to the Undying Lands to experience the Light of the Trees of the Valar. When Elwë Singollo was brought back to his people to tell them what awaited the Elves in the Undying Lands no one was more eager to reach the Light than he. The Teleri were largest of the hosts that went to the West but because they were so numerous they were always farthest behind on the long road. Many of the Teleri were lost on that Journey, but Elwë always urged them on, until they came at last to Beleriand beyond the Blue Mountains. In Beleriand for a time they made a camp near the River Gelion in a wood. In this place, according to Elven-lore, Elwë Singollo entered the Wood of Nan Elmoth and fell under a timeless spell. His people searched for him, but as years passed many gave up hope and gave the kingship to Olwë, his brother, and they resumed their Journey to the West. But many others would have no other king and would not leave that place. So these people remained in Beleriand and called themselves the Eglath, the “forsaken”, and thereafter they were divided from the Teleri kindred.

  In time, the Eglath had their reward, for Elwë Singollo returned from the Wood of Nan Elmoth but the great change that had occurred in him amazed his people. With him came the source of his enchantment, Melian the Maia, Elwë’s queen and wife. The light of her face was brilliant and lovely, and the Eglath worshipped her and wept in joy at the return of their king.

  The king was changed in other ways, for he wished no longer to go to the West but to stay in the Forest of Beleriand and draw about him his people and make a kingdom there. The light on the face of Melian was to him more fair than that of the Trees. So a new kingdom was made; its people were no longer called the Eglath but the Sindar, the “Grey-elves”, and the Elves of the Twilight.

  In the Ages of Stars the Sindar became the greatest of the Elvish people in Mortal Lands and all the lands of Beleriand belonged to them. They found a remnant of the Teleri, called the Falathrim, living by the sea and these people, under their lord Círdan, welcomed the returned king and swore allegiance to him. So it was too with a remnant of the Nandor who had come to Beleriand (and were later named the Green-elves and Laiquendi); these people also accepted Elwë as their king. In time, a new Elvish tongue arose among the Sindar and in that Sindarin language their king was no longer Elwë Singollo, but Elu Thingol, “King Greymantle”.

  In the Ages of Starlight, it is told, a strange people who called themselves Khazâd came out of the Blue Mountains; the Elves called them Naugrim, or the “stunted people”. They were Dwarves, who came in peace to trade with the Elves of Beleriand. There was great prosperity between the two peoples and they learned many crafts from each other. With the help of the Dwarves the greatest Elven city of Middle-earth was built, called Menegroth, the “thousand caves”. Though it was a city within a mountain, it was described as a beech forest in which gold lanterns shone, birds sang, beasts wandered and silver fountains ran. It was always light there and throughout the forests around Menegroth, for this Sindarin kingdom was all-powerful, being ruled by a combination of Elf and Maia. From the union of Elu Thingol and Melian came forth a daughter who was called Lúthien, and the tales say she was the fairest creature ever to enter the World.

  But the Ages of peace beneath the Stars drew to an end; war broke out in Valinor and the Trees of Valar were destroyed. Melian, however, was a wise queen, gifted with fore-knowledge, and she chose to take the Sindar away from the evil that was to befall the land about them. She cast a powerful spell and wove an enchantment in the Great Forest of Doriath around Menegroth, so that the Sindarin realm became a hidden kingdom. This enchantment was stronger than any citadel’s high walls and was named the Girdle of Melian, and no evil could break that spell from without, and all evil was lost before it could enter.

  So, though the Noldor, pursuing Morgoth, came out of the Undying Lands and, in Beleriand, the War of the Jewels raged, for the most part the Sindar were not at risk. Nor did they choose to deal with or aid these Kinslayers, for they had heard of the Noldorin deeds in the Undying Lands and how the Noldor had slain their kindred and stolen the ships of the Teleri of Alqualondë.

  But as is told in the tale of Lúthien and Beren, great evil came in unexpected ways from within the kingdom. For of the race of Men, one named Beren came to Thingol and asked for the hand of Lúthien. Thingol looked on mortals with disdain and was tempted to put him to death, but rather than slay him he set Beren an impossible task. As a bride-price Beren was to cut a Silmaril from Morgoth’s Iron Crown and bring it to Thingol. This was the Quest of the Silmaril, which brought so much evil to the Sindar. This Quest drew the Sindar into the Doom of the Noldor and the curse that lay on the Silmarils.

  In a deed beyond belief, Beren, with the help of Lúthien and the Wolfhound Huan, completed his task, but he incurred not only the wrath of Morgoth but also that of the Dwarves and the Noldor. For, desiring the Silmaril, the Dwarf workmen who lived within the Hidden Realm and who had laboured for Thingol, now murdered him and stole the jewel. But they could not escape and were themselves killed. On the death of Thingol, Melian veiled her power and, weeping, left Middle-earth for ever. In that moment the ring of enchantment fell from the Hidden Realm in Doriath.

  Now that a barrier no longer guarded it, the Dwarves of Belegost, and the Noldor sons of Fëanor came to the citadel of Menegroth and laid it waste. So the great kingdom was gone for ever, though a few of its lords survived.

  In the Second Age of the Sun some of these Sindar lords, with many of the Noldor, took ships to Tol Eressëa and built the city and haven of Avallónë. But there were other Sindar lords who remained in the remnant of Beleriand called Lindon. As the years passed some sons of the Sindar lords left Lindon for the lands beyond the Misty Mountains, where they made new kingdoms among the Silvan Elves. Two of the most famous were Thranduil, who went to Greenwood the Great and there made the Woodland Realm, and Celeborn, the kinsman of Thingol, who with the Noldor princess Galadriel made the kingdom of Lothlórien, the Golden Wood. Then too some Sindar lords settled in Rivendell with Elrond and in the Grey Havens with Círdan the Shipwright. In the War of the Ring the most famous Elf was Legolas, the son of Thranduil. Legolas was one of the nine heroes of the Fellowship of the Ring and after the War of the Ring he founded one last woodland Elf-colony in the fair forests of Ithilien in Gondor.

  Finally, in the Fourth Age of the Sun, all the Eldar powers were fading from the World, and with the other Elves the last of the Sindar sailed from the Grey Havens to the Undying Lands.

  Sirion River

  T
he most important river system in Beleriand was that of the Sirion, whose delta emptied into the Bay of Balar. The Sirion and its many tributaries drained all of central Beleriand south of the Mountains of Shadow and the Mountains of Terror. Its major tributaries were the Narog and Ginglith in the realm of Nargothrond and the Aros, Celon, Esgalduin, Mindeb, Teiglin and Maduin in Doriath. In its northernmost reaches was the important fortified island of Tol Sirion which guarded the Sirion Pass. A stone bridge crossed its tributary, the Esgalduin in central Doriath, and entered the Thousand Caves of Menegroth, that wonderful hidden city of the Grey Elves, while the canyon and caverns of the Narog tributary was where the Noldor Elves of Finrod built their city of Nargothrond. The Sirion is believed to have come into being in the confusion and conflict of the War of Powers at the end of the First Age of Stars, when the Valar destroyed Utumno. It was obliterated at the end of the First Age of the Sun and the War of Wrath when the Valar and Eldar destroyed the Angband and all of Beleriand sank into the sea.

  Skinbark

  Ent of Fangorn Forest. Skinbark was one of the three oldest surviving Ents, or “Tree-herds”, surviving at the time of the War of the Rings. Skinbark was called Fladrif by the Elves and most resembled a birch tree in appearance. At the time of Saruman’s rise to power, Skinbark lived just west of Isengard, where he was attacked and wounded by Orcs. He fled to the highest hills of the Fangorn Forest and remained there, refusing to come down even during the March of the Ents on Isengard.

  Smaug the Golden

  Dragon of Erebor. Smaug was the greatest Dragon of the Third Age. A huge golden-red Fire-drake, Smaug had vast bat-like wings and a coat of impenetrable iron scales. His one vulnerable part, his belly, was protected by a waistcoat of gemstones which became embedded there from centuries of laying on jewelled treasure hoards. Although his beginnings are obscure, he is known to have lived in the Grey Mountains before he came, in the year 2770, to Erebor. There he burned and sacked Dale before he entered the Kingdom under the Mountain, where he slaughtered or drove out the Dwarves. For two centuries he contentedly lay on his hoard within Erebor. Then in 2941, his slumbers were disturbed by the theft of a part of his treasure from Thorin and Company. In a rage, he attacked the Lake Men of Esgaroth and was killed by a shot with a black arrow from Bard the Bowman which pierced the one spot on his belly not covered by his gemstone armour.

  Snaga

  Among those evil beings that in the histories of Middle-earth are named Orcs, there were many breeds, each it seemed being made to suit some particular evil. The most breed was that which in Black Speech was called Snaga, meaning “slaves”. Orcs, being creatures filled with hatred, were also self-contemptuous, for they were indeed a race of slaves and were thralls to the Dark Powers who directed them. Snaga also appears to have been the name of one particular Orc of Cirith Ungol. This Orc was one of the Orc guardsmen of the Tower of the Spider Pass who fought under the Uruk captain, Shagrat, against the Morgul Orcs for possession of Frodo Baggins’ mithril mail coat. He survived that battle, only to die by breaking his neck during a struggle with Samwise Gamgee.

  Snowmane

  Meara, Horse of Rohan. During the War of the Ring, Snowmane was the mount of King Théoden, King of Rohan. He carried his master into the Battle of Hornburg. At the Battle of Pelennor Fields, both were slain by the Witch-king.

  Snowmen

  In the northern land of Forochel, in the Third Age of the Sun, there lived a primitive people who were descendants of the ancient Forodwaith. In Sindarin these were the Lossoth, but in the common western tongue they were called the Snowmen of Forochel. They were not a strong people and they chose to live on the shore of a great icy bay so that they might be beyond the reach of the more war-like folk of the South. They were a wary people, but wise in the ways of ice and snow and able to withstand the harshness of the wastes. They hunted where other folk could find no game; they built warm homes of snow where others would perish of terrible cold; and they travelled swiftly over ice with skates of bone and sledges where others would flounder and make no passage at all. Indeed, they were undisputed masters of this frozen land of their choice.

  Southrons

  A part of the histories of the Westlands is given to the fierce people who, in the Second and Third Ages of the Sun, came from the hot deserts and forests of the Sunlands, which lay in the South of Middle-earth. These people were ruled by many kings and lords, until in time Sauron the Maia corrupted them and called them to war. The Dúnedain named them Southrons, though more often they were called the Haradrim.

  The Southrons were brown- and black-skinned Men who came forth fiercely in war, ornamented with much gold. Their banner was a black serpent on a scarlet ground. Their armour was of bronze, their robes crimson, and they carried spears and scimitars. They came on foot, in the ships on the sea, on Horses and even on the backs of the mighty war beasts that are named Mûmakil.

  Speakers

  The Elves were conceived in the Music of the Ainur and were the first race to give voice to the music and make song. They were also the first to use speech in Arda, and it is said that their speech was as bright and subtle as starlight on running water. For their language was not just the first but also the fairest tongue that ever was conceived. The Elves therefore called themselves the Speakers, which in that first Elven tongue was the “Quendi”. All living beings who could learn such skills were taught the arts of language from these first Elves.

  Spiders

  Among the foulest beings that ever inhabited Arda were the Giant Spiders. They were dark and filled with envy, greed and the poison of malice. Greatest of the giant beings that took Spider form was Ungoliant, a mighty and evil spirit that entered the World before the Trees of Valar were made. In the waste land of Avathar, between the Pelóri Mountains and the dull cold sea of the South, Ungoliant lived alone for a long while. She was dreadful and vile, and possessed of a web of darkness, called the Unlight of Ungoliant, that even the eyes of Manwë could not penetrate.

  The Great Spider Ungoliant was the most infamous creature, for she came with Melkor to Valinor and destroyed the Trees of the Valar. And, as she devoured the Light of the Trees, Ungoliant tried to take even Melkor as her prey. Had not the demons of fire called Balrogs come and lashed her with their whips of flame, she might have devoured the Lord of Darkness himself.

  But come the Balrogs did, and they drove Ungoliant from the North. And so this heart of darkness came into Beleriand and she entered that place called Nan Dungortheb, the “valley of dreadful death”, where other monsters of her race lived. Though not so vast nor so powerful as Ungoliant, these Spiders were none the less immensely strong, for Melkor had bred them long ago among the evil monsters that came forth before the Light of the Trees was made. Ungoliant now bred with them, and few Elves or Men ever dared to enter that valley.

  Yet perhaps Ungoliant was too vast an evil for the World to hold. In time she travelled beyond Beleriand to the south lands, pursuing whatever she could consume, for her gluttony was a fearful thing, and it is said that in her ravening hunger she finally consumed herself in the deserts of the South. In Nan Dungortheb her many daughters lived all the years of the First Age of the Sun, but, when the land was broken in the War of Wrath, it is said few could save themselves from the rushing waters.

  But, among the few, one great daughter called Shelob and some of the lesser Spiders crossed the Blue Mountains and found shelter in the Shadowy Mountains, which walled the realm of Mordor. In the mountain passes of this evil place the Spiders grew strong again, and in the Third Age of the Sun they came into the forest of Greenwood the Great. This they made evil with the ambush of their webs and so Greenwood went dark and was re-named Mirkwood. Though the Spiders of Mirkwood were but small forms compared to their great ancestors, they were large in number and wise in their evil craft of entrapment. They spoke both Black Speech and the common tongue of Men, but in the Orkish fashion, full of evil words and slurring rage.

  After the First Age of the
Sun only Shelob the Great approached the majesty of Ungoliant; she inhabited the place called Cirith Ungol, the “Spider’s Pass”, in the Shadowy Mountains. For two Ages she lived in this pass, and though many a Dúnedain and Elvish warrior came to her realm, none could stand before her; she devoured them all. Like her great mother she spun black webs and vomited darkness from her belly. She was armed with venom from her great beak and horns, and she had a long claw of iron on each of her many gnarled and jointed legs. Her bloated body was black and thick-skinned. There was no vulnerable place on the beast except the great, globed cluster of her eyes. Her vast form was black and stained, with hair-like spikes of steel and an underbelly paled with streaks of green slime and luminous with her septic poisons. Vast and strong as she was, Shelob’s long life ended before the Third Age was gone. She met her end at the unexpected hand of the Hobbit, Samwise Gamgee, the least of all her challengers. For the Hobbit put out one of Shelob’s great eyes, and by her own act Shelob impaled herself upon his Elven-blade. Before the end of the Third Age, the greater part of the Great Spiders had also disappeared from the World, for after the mortal wounding of Shelob, Mordor and Dol Guldur were destroyed and the Spiders of the Shadowy Mountains and even the Spiders infesting the gloomy Mirkwood perished.