A Dictionary of Tolkien

by David Day

  Wargs

  In the Third Age of the Sun in Rhovanion, there lived an evil breed of Wolves that made an alliance with the mountain Orcs. These Wolves were named Wargs and often when they set off for war they went with the Orcs called Wolf-riders, who mounted the Wargs like Horses. In the battles of the War of the Ring, the Wargs were devastated along with most of the Orc hordes and after that time the surviving histories of Middle-earth speak no more of these wild creatures.

  Watchers

  In the west hall of Mordor, it is told, there was a narrow passage named Cirith Ungol, where the Great Spider Shelob lived in the Third Age of the Sun. There was also an Orc watch-tower with a great wall that held the road should any bypass Shelob, the fearful guardian. In the tower’s wall were two tall gate-posts that seemed to have no gate. But a gate there was, and though it was invisible it proved very strong. The massive gate-posts were named the Watchers and each was a stone figure seated on a throne. They were triple-faced and triple-bodied, their heads were like vultures’ and they had vultures’ claws. They were filled with malice and their black eyes glittered with a fearful will, for spirits dwelt within these stone figures. They were aware of enemies visible and invisible, and they barred the gateway with their hatred. For though any army might attempt to force that gate, it could not pass by strength of arms; only by a will greater than the Watchers’ malice could a passage be forced. If such a will could be summoned, then the Watchers would raise an alarm from their six vulture heads. They would emit a high shriek and a long cry that brought the Orkish soldiery upon the intruders.

  Weather Hills

  Within Eriador, just north of the Great East-West Road between Bree and the Trollshaws, are the Weather Hills. This range of hills running northward from its main peak of Weathertop, just above the road, once formed the boundary between Arnor’s fiefs of Arthedain and Rhudaur. Although heavily fortified and defended by the Dúnedain during their war with the Witch-king of Angmar, they were overrun by the fifteenth century. By the time of the War of the Ring, the Weather Hills were largely uninhabited.

  Werewolves

  In the First Age of the Sun there came to Beleriand a race of tortured spirits who were thralls of Melkor. Whether they were Maiar spirits who once served Melkor in Utumno and were shorn by the Valar of their earthly forms, or whether they were evil beings of another kind, is not known. Yet it is certain that these evil spirits entered the forms of Wolves by sorcery. They were a fearsome race and their eyes glowed with dreadful wrath. They spoke and understood both the Black Speech of the Orcs and the fair speech of the Elves.

  In the long Wars of Beleriand the greatest number of the Werewolves came, under the banner of Sauron, to the Noldor tower on the River Sirion, and it fell before them. The tower was re-named Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the “isle of Werewolves”, and Sauron ruled there. Beneath Tol-in-Gaurhoth there were deep dungeons, and on the battlements the Werewolves stalked.

  In the Quest of the Silmaril, Huan, the Wolfhound of the Valar, came to Tol-in-Gaurhoth and slew many Werewolves. At last one named Draugluin, sire and lord of the Werewolf race, came to fight Huan. There was a great battle, but in the end Draugluin fled to the tower, to the throne of Sauron, his captain. Before Sauron Draugluin spoke the name of Huan, whose coming had been foretold, then he died. Sauron, the shape-shifter, then became a Werewolf himself. In size and strength he was greater than Draugluin, but even so Huan held the bridge and took Sauron by the throat, and by no act of sorcery or strength of limb could Sauron free himself. He therefore surrendered the tower to Beren and Lúthien, whom the Wolfhound served. The evil enchantment fell from Tol-in-Gaurhoth and the Wolf forms of the dread spirits fell from the Werewolves. Sauron fled in the form of a great Vampire Bat and the evil sorcerous power that held the realm of the Werewolves was broken in Beleriand for ever.

  Wereworms

  In the tales of the Hobbit folk there lived in the Last Desert, in the East of Middle-earth, a race that was named the Wereworms. Though no tale of the Third Age of the Sun tells of these beings, the Wereworms were likened to Dragons and serpents. To Hobbits they were perhaps but memories of those creatures that stalked the Earth during the Wars of Beleriand in the First Age.

  West Elves

  In the age of the Awakening of the Elves, a great Messenger came out of the West. He was the Vala Oromë, and he beckoned the Elves to a land of Eternal Light. Some chose to make the Journey to the West and were called West Elves or Eldar. Those who chose to remain were named East Elves or Avari, the “unwilling”. The East Elves dwindled and became lesser spirits, while the West Elves grew mighty and famous in legend and in song.

  Westmansweed

  In Middle-earth a herb came into use that the Hobbits discovered gave great pleasure if slowly burned and the smoke inhaled. This was the herb nicotiana, which in the Western tongue was called Westmansweed, but most commonly was simply named Pipe-weed. Its use spread from the Shire lands of the Hobbits widely over Middle-earth and was enjoyed, for better or worse, by Men and Dwarves.

  White Horn Mountains

  The great range of snow-capped mountains that formed the backbone of Gondor was the White Horn Mountains. Sometimes called by their Elvish name Ered Nimrais, or simply the White Mountains, this mountain chain was at least six hundred miles long and ran westward from the Anduin River almost to the sea. The earliest inhabitants of the White Horn Mountains appear to have been the ancestors of the Dunlendings and the Woses, but for most of the Third Age it was primarily inhabited by the Rohirrim and the Men of Gondor. In its northern reaches were found the Rohirrim fortress refuges of Helm’s Deep and Dunharrow. On the slopes of the range’s easternmost mountain was built Minas Tirith.

  White Tower

  In the year 1900 of the Third Age, King Calimehtar of Gondor rebuilt the fortress-city of Minas Tirith, and on its citadel, the topmost of its seven defensive ring walls (and each one raised a hundred feet above the other), built a shining White Tower. It was rebuilt and improved in 2698 by the Steward Ecthelion I. The royal court was found here in its great hall and the palantír (“Seeing Stone”) was kept in a chamber under the Tower’s dome.

  Often many of the allies and enemies of Gondor used the term White Tower when they were referring to the whole fortress-city of Minas Tirith and its people.

  Wild Men

  Long before the coming of the kings of Gondor, a primitive race of woodland hunters dwelt in the Druadan Forest. They were the Woses, whom others called the Wild Men, and they were a tribal people armed with bows and blow-pipes. They were wiser in the ways of the forest than any race of Men in Arda.

  Willows

  In the Ages of the Lamps when the Great Forests of Arda were made, ancient Willow trees appeared within the forests. The Willow spirits were strong and loved swamp-lands and slow river courses. They lived quietly for a long time and cared neither for the new-come race of Men, nor for the older races of Dwarves and Orcs who hewed and burned wood. Some among the Willows grew sentient and limb-lithe; they were numbered among those named Huorns and their will was bent on destroying all enemies of the forests.

  Among Willows, the mightiest recorded in the tales of Middle-earth, is Old Man Willow, who in the Third Age of the Sun lived on the banks of the Withywindle in the Old Forest. He was black-hearted, limb-lithe and filled with a great enchanting power of song. All the land of the Old Forest was held in sway by his will. His great song bent all paths to his feet. Travellers were held in his hypnotic spell; a great song of water and wind on leaves brought them to a deep sleep by his ancient trunk. And with gnarled root or the gaping cavern of his trunk he would capture them, then crush them, or drown them in the river. His power made the Old Forest rightly feared by travellers, and, but for the power of Tom Bombadil, few could have passed safely through his domain.

  Wilwarin

  During the Spring of Arda, which was in the years of the Lamps, the Valar brought forth forests and many creatures that had no voice, yet were beautiful to behold.
Among them was the Wilwarin, which in later times Men called the Butterfly. So content were the Valar with this lovely creature that, when Varda took the silver dew of Telperion to make brilliant the light of the Stars, she also placed the shape of the Wilwarins as a constellation among the wide-wheeling Stars of the heavens.

  Window of the Sunset

  A cavern refuge of the Rangers of Ithilien which was hidden behind the curtain wall of a spectacular waterfall in north Ithilien. Its waters flowed into the River Anduin near the Field of Cormallen and just south of Cair Andros. Called Henneth Annûn, meaning Window of the Sunset or Window of the West, it was built by Túrin of Gondor in 2901. During the war of the Ring it was often used by Faramir and his Rangers. The Ringbearer, Frodo Baggins, was give shelter here during the Quest of the Ring.

  Winged Beasts

  In the time of the War of the Ring it is told how those undead spirits called the Nazgûl were carried aloft by Winged Beasts. Swifter than the wind were these creatures that had beak and claw of bird, neck of serpent and wing of Bat. It is said they were fed on Orkish meats and grew beyond the size of any other winged creature of the Third Age. Yet black and evil as the Winged Beasts were, they were not undead beings and wraiths like their masters; rather they were living creatures like Dragons, but more ancient still. They had been bred by Melkor in lurking shadows in the Ages of the Lamps, when Kraken and serpent came from the Pits of Utumno.

  Yet, ancient as they were, and though strong and fearsome in their service to Sauron in the War of the Ring, their time on Middle-earth was brought to an end. One Winged Beast was slain by the Elf Legolas, and a second was killed by the sword-maiden Éowyn; those that remained were destroyed in the holocaust that consumed Mordor in the last years of the Third Age.

  Witch-king

  Nazgûl lord of Ringwraiths. The Witch-king was originally a sorcerer king of the Second Age who was given the first of the Nine Rings by the Lord of the Rings. He became the Lord of the Nazgûl, or Ringwraiths. During the Second Age, he commanded Sauron’s forces and fought his battles, but with the downfall of the Ring Lord and the taking of the One Ring, he was swept away into a shadowy limbo. However, since the One Ring was not destroyed, after a thousand years Sauron called him back from the shadows. In 1300 of the Third Age, he rose up in the form of the Witch-king of Angmar. For nearly seven centuries he made constant war on the North-kingdom of Arnor until 1974, when he destroyed its last stronghold in Arthedain. The next year, his own forces were routed and his evil kingdom of Angmar destroyed after the Battle of Fornost. The destruction of the North-kingdom of the Dúnedain having been achieved, in the year 2000 he turned his attentions to the South-kingdom of Gondor. He attacked and took Minas Ithil, and renamed it Minas Morgul. As the Witch-king of Morgul, he fought and harried the realm of Gondor for a thousand years. In 3018, disguised as one of the Black Riders, he led the other Ringwraiths to the Shire in search of the One Ring. At Weathertop, he wounded the Ringbearer, then pursued him as far as the Fords of Rivendell. In 3019, the Witch-king led his vast Morgul army and his Haradrim allies in an attack on the White Tower. In the Battle of Pelennor Fields he slew King Théoden, but – in a strange fulfilment of the prophecy that he could not be slain by the hand of Man – he met his death at the hands of the Rohirrim shield-maiden, Éowyn, and the Hobbit, Meriadoc Brandybuck, armed with a charmed Elven blade.

  Witches

  In Middle-earth there were beings of many races who wielded sorcerous powers. Among the late-come race of Men, those who gave themselves over to sorcerous power were known as Witches. The most powerful Witches were the Ringwraiths, who were named Nazgûl in Black Speech. For these were the Men who were given Nine Rings of Power by Sauron and who brought so much terror into the World.

  Of these nine Witches, one emerged whose power was supreme. In the Third Age of the Sun, he arose in the north of Eriador and made himself an evil realm in Angmar. For many centuries Men spoke fearfully of this Witch-king of Angmar who laid waste the North Kingdom of the Dúnedain. Later, the same Witch-king arose again in the South against the realm of Gondor and took from Gondor a tower that afterwards was named Minas Morgul. There the Witch-king ruled until the days of the War of the Ring, when he was destroyed, and he and the other Witches vanished for ever from the face of Arda.

  Withywindle

  A small river called the Withywindle flowed through the Old Forest which lay just east of the Shire lands of the Hobbits. Its source was the hills of the Barrowlands and it meandered through the forest until it reached the Brandywine River. Its valley, which was called the Dingle, was filled with willow trees and was the home of that great forest spirit called Old Man Willow. The spirit-being called the River-woman of the Withywindle was the mother of Tom Bombadil’s wife, Goldberry the River-daughter.

  Wizards

  Those whom common Men named Wizards were, as ancient tales reveal, chosen spirits from the Maiar of Valinor. Elves called them the Istari, and under that name the greater part of their deeds in Middle-earth is recorded.

  These Wizards came from the West to redress the imbalance that was made by the Dark Lord Sauron in Middle-earth. They came in secret in the form of Men, for it was doomed they could not come forth in the full force of their immortal Maiar spirits but were to be limited to the powers that they might acquire in Mortal Lands. They appeared as old Men dressed in long robes and, filled with the wisdom of the lands, they travelled. They were far-famed as clever conjurors. It is said there were five who in the Third Age of the Sun wandered the lands of Middle-earth, but the histories speak of three only: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey and Radagast the Brown.

  Wolf-riders

  The “Red Book of Westmarch” records how some among the Orcs of Rhovanion came into the Battle of Five Armies mounted on the backs of the Wolves that were called Wargs. These Orcs were named Wolf-riders by Elves, Dwarves and Men and they formed the cavalry of the Orc legions.

  But this alliance of Orc and Wolf was not newly formed in that Age, for both Wolves and Orcs were bred by the evil hand of Melkor the Enemy in the Ages of Stars. Their pact of evil began before the race of Men awoke and the light of the Sun flooded the World. The histories of Beleriand in the last Ages of Stars tell how the Sindarin Elves of Beleriand fought the Wolf-riders many times.

  Wolfhounds

  From the realms of Melkor the Dark Enemy, in the Ages of Stars, many evil beasts came to torment the people of Middle-earth. Chief among these creatures were the Wolves and Werewolves of Melkor. In defence the Elves of Beleriand bred hunting hounds with which they might destroy these evil beings.

  In the histories of Middle-earth, the greatest of these Wolfhounds was one named Huan, who was not born in Mortal Lands. He was bred by Oromë, Huntsman of the Valar, who had given him to the Noldor prince Celegorm in the Undying Lands. The Valarian Wolfhound was an ageless beast that never tired or slept. He was immortal in the manner of Elves and of massive size. By decree of the Valar Huan spoke only three times with words, though he could always understand the speech of Elves and Men. He could not be slain by sorcery nor could spells bewitch him.

  Brought to Middle-earth by the exiled Noldor princes, a great doom fell on Huan. In the Quest of the Silmaril he played a large part: for love of Lúthien Tinúviel he went to Sauron’s tower on Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves. There he killed many evil beasts on the bridge of the Isle and finally slew Draugluin, lord and sire of Werewolves and chief of Sauron’s servants in that realm. Then Sauron himself came forth in Werewolf form and there followed a terrible struggle on the bridge of Tol-in-Gaurhoth between Huan and Sauron. Sauron was a mighty terror in that form, but Huan’s power was even greater. He took the greatest of the Maia by the throat and with crushing strength held him, bringing him near to death. And so Sauron gave over the tower to Huan and Lúthien and surrendered the hero Beren who was imprisoned in that place. All the powers of enchantment dropped away from Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the servants of Sauron fled, and Sauron, in the shape of a
great Vampire, in fear and wrath flew across the sky.

  Yet still another battle lay before Huan, the Wolfhound. This was with the Wolf Carcharoth, the Red Maw, who was the evil guardian of the Gates of Angband. This was the greatest Wolf that ever entered the World and he was raised by Morgoth’s hand. By chance the Wolf had swallowed the Silmaril that Beren had taken from Morgoth’s crown. The jewel burned within the Wolf and he went mad with the torment. None could stand before Carcharoth’s fury, even the warrior Beren fell before his power. And as was foretold Huan came and there was the greatest battle of beast against beast that ever was fought. All the goodness of the Valar was with Huan and all the evil of Morgoth with Carcharoth. The hills sounded with their battle but at last Huan slew Carcharoth, though he himself was mortally hurt by the evil beast, for in the fangs of the Wolf was a dread poison. Knowing death was upon him he came to Beren who was also dying and spoke for the last time with words, saying only “farewell”.

  Wolves

  Before the Sun shone, in the Pits of Utumno in Middle-earth many evil beasts were bred that stalked the World with evil Orcs. Chief of the beasts that allied with the Orcs were the Wolves, which first came into the Westlands in the years of Stars. Some of great size served as mounts for Melkor’s servants and they were a source of great terror.