Aragost – From 2523–8 Third Age, the eighth Chieftain of the Dúnedain of Arnor.
Arahad I – From 2455–2523 Third Age, the seventh Chieftain of the Dúnedain, and the father of Aragost.
Arahad II – From 2654–2719 Third Age, the tenth Chieftain.
Arahael – From 2106–77, the second Chieftain. Arahael was the son of Aranarth and the grandson of Arvedui, ‘Last-king’.
Araman ‘Beyond-Aman’ (Q.) – The name given by the Eldar of the Undying Lands to a region of cold semi-desert which lay north of Eldamar, on the eastern side of the Mountains of Defence, and which extended into the Far North. This land grew wider as one journeyed north, for the Pelóri range bent to the north-westward, away from the sea-coast. Araman was uninhabited, as was the equally barren southern waste of Avathar.
Aranarth – From 1974–2106 Third Age, the first Chieftain of the Dúnedain. The death of his father, King Arvedui, and the final destruction of Arthedain, caused the Heirs of Isildur to conceal their royalty and pass into the shadows as Rangers of the North. The line of succession, however, remained unbroken. Aranarth was the first of fifteen Chieftains before the final restoration of the fortunes of the House of Isildur.
Arandor ‘King’s Land’ (Q.) – The most populous part of Númenor, containing the Meneltarma, the city of Armenelos and the harbour of Rómenna.
Arandur ‘Servant of the King’ (Q.) – The Stewards of Gondor.
Aranel ‘Star-king’ (Sind.) – One of the birth-names of DIOR ELUCHÍL.
Aranrúth ‘Anger-of-the-King’ (Sind.) – The sword of Thingol Greycloak of Doriath; it was probably of dwarf-make, and may have been forged for him by the smiths of Nogrod at the beginning of the wars of Beleriand. In a late source, we are told that this weapon survived the sack of Doriath and ultimately came into the possession of the Kings of Númenor.9 Presumably – since there is no mention of the sword in Third Age records – it was lost for ever, along with many other ancient treasures, in the Inundation.
Arantar – From 339–435 Third Age, the fifth King of Arnor.
Aranuir – From 2177–2247 Third Age, the third Chieftain of the Dúnedain.
Aranwë ‘Kingly’ (Q.) – An Elf of Gondolin, the father of VORONWË.
Araphant – From 1891–1964 Third Age, the fourteenth King of ARTHEDAIN. During Araphant’s reign, contact with Gondor, long broken, was renewed. Little, however, came of the contact. Aid was sent to Araphant’s son Arvedui, but it arrived too late to save the North-kingdom from final destruction.
Araphor – From 1409–1589 Third Age, the ninth King of Arthedain. In 1409, the last year of his father’s reign, a great host came out of Angmar and entered the lands of Cardolan and Arthedain, razing the country and burning the Tower of Amon Sûl. King Arveleg of Arthedain was defeated and slain; but his son Araphor, though still a stripling, drove the forces of the Witch-king away and successfully defended Fornost on the North Downs. In this he had the aid of the Elves of Lindon. For most of his reign afterwards Eriador had peace, Angmar having been temporarily checked by Elves of Lindon and Rivendell (and, it is said, Lórien).
Arassuil – From 2719–84 Third Age, the eleventh Chieftain of the Dúnedain.
Aratan ‘Royal-man’ (Q.) – The second son of ISILDUR. During the War of the Last Alliance, he and his brother Ciryon were entrusted with guarding the western approach to Mordor (Cirith Dúath, later Cirith Ungol) in case Sauron should sortie from that place. Together with his father and two of his brothers, he was slain at the Gladden Fields (Year 2, Third Age).
Aratar ‘High-ones’ (Q.) – The innermost council of the VALAR, eight in number.
Arathorn I – From 2784–2848, twelfth Chieftain of the Dúnedain.
Arathorn II – From 2930–33 Third Age, the fifteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain, and father of ARAGORN 11, the Renewer. In the prime of his life he married Gilraen the Fair, daughter of Dirhael, descendant of Aranarth, first Chieftain. Their only child was Aragorn; when the son was in his second year and the father in his sixtieth, the Chieftain was struck in the eye by an orc-arrow and perished, proving exceptionally short-lived for one of his race (as had indeed been foreboded some years before).
Araval – From 1813–91 Third Age, the thirteenth King of Arthedain.
Aravir – From 2247–2319 Third Age, fourth Chieftain of the Dúnedain.
Aravorn – From 2588–2654 Third Age, the ninth Chieftain of the Dúnedain.
Araw – Sindarin form of the High-elven name OROMË, given to one of the great Valar, the Huntsman, who alone visited Middle-earth frequently in the Elder Days. In the Northern Mannish tongues he was known as Béma. The Elves said that he stocked Middle-earth with noble animals of all kinds to further the pleasures of the Chase. The Mearas, the royal horses of Rohan, were thought to have been descended from an animal brought by him from ‘West-over-Sea’, as were the beasts known as the ‘Kine of Araw’.
Archet – A village of the Bree-land, peopled by both Hobbits and Men. It lay upon the northern edge of the Chetwood, which stretched east from the Bree-country into the wilds beyond.
Arciryas – A Prince of Gondor and younger brother of Narmacil II (slain in battle with the Wainriders in 1856 Third Age). He was also an ancestor of Ëarnil II, the victor of the Battle of the Camp (1944).
Arda – The Quenya word for ‘kingdom’ or ‘realm’, but more properly the name given by God to the World as He originally created it. Also the title of Tengwa number 26, representing the sound rd in the High-elven tongue and the softer rh in Grey-elven and Mannish usage.
Ardamin (Tar-Ardamin) – From 2825–99 Second Age, the nineteenth King of Númenor.
Ard-galen ‘Green-region’ (Sind.) – The name given by the Elves of Beleriand to the vast, grassy plain north of Dorthonion and east of the Mountains of Shadow (the Ered Wethrin). North of Ard-galen lay the Iron Mountains which were the southern border of Morgoth’s realm of Angband. Ard-galen was a region rather like Calenardhon (Rohan) in later days, steppe as we would call it today – in other words ideal cavalry country. But in the Battle of Sudden Flame the Elvish horse-archers, who had manoeuvred freely on the plain throughout the Long Peace, were overcome by fire; and they were burned to death or driven forth. The Green Region of the north became a desert, arid, lifeless and evil. It was then named Dor-nu-Fauglith ‘Land-[buried] under-choking-ash’, and Anfauglith, the ‘Gasping-dust’.
Aredhel – The daughter of Fingolfin of the Noldor, sister of the Elven-kings Fingon and Turgon, and wife of the Grey-elf Eöl the Smith. Aredhel was also the mother of Maeglin the Traitor.
She was born, like all the Noldor of those days, in Eldamar, and she joined her brothers and her father in their support of the rebellion of Fëanor, and thus shared their exile. Together with Fingolfin’s host, she made the perilous crossing of the Helcaraxë (the northern ice) into Middle-earth, and afterwards dwelt with her youngest brother Turgon, in his first kingdom of Nevrast by the Sea and later in Gondolin, the Hidden City. But long before, in Eldamar, she had been called Ar-Feiniel, the White [Royal] Lady, for she was dark-haired and pale, and dressed always in the palest colours; but she had a passion for adventure, fulfilled in former days only by hunting.
It was this restlessness of hers which proved her undoing; for she wilfully decided to go and visit the Sons of Fëanor, her old friends, ignoring – or overlooking – her brother’s admonitions concerning her safety. As a result she lost sight of the escort that had been told off to guard her, and came, by various paths, into the dreary forest of Nan Elmoth, wherein she was caught and taken to wife by the ‘Dark Elf’, Eöl the Smith. Aredhel bore Eöl a son, named by his father Maeglin but by his mother Lómion. After some years, both he and she decided to escape from the dour life they were forced to lead, and in so doing made their way to Gondolin – where Turgon, overjoyed to see them, granted them sanctuary and honour.
But they had been pursued: by Eöl, who was taken when trying to enter the Hidden City. And in the course of the interv
iew which followed, the crazed Eöl attempted to slay his son Maeglin with a poisoned shaft. The point instead struck Aredhel, who died from the venom. Eöl was executed for this crime. Maeglin survived.
Ar-Feiniel – See AREDHEL above.
Argeleb I – From 1349–56 Third Age, the seventh King of Arthedain and the first to claim lordship over all the former lands of Arnor – in token of which he took his royal name with an AR- prefix. Argeleb’s hopes for a reunited North-kingdom led to defiance and ultimately invasion from Rhudaur, where the Dúnedain were few and the Line of Isildur extinct. It was later learned that Rhudaur was in secret alliance with the evil realm of ANGMAR at this time.
In the war that followed, Argeleb fortified his eastern frontier, but fell in battle with Angmar and Rhudaur. His son Arveleg I succeeded him and, for a time, drove away the forces of Angmar from the Weather Hills.
Note: the ruined fortifications described in Book I Chap. 10 were those constructed by Argeleb (except the Tower of AMON SÛL, raised long before by Elendil himself).
Argeleb II – From 1589–1670 Third Age, the tenth King of Arthedain. It was this ruler who, embroiled in endless wars with Angmar, freely gave permission for the Hobbits Marcho and Blanco, together with their following, to cross the Baranduin and settle in the fertile lands beyond. All that he asked of the Hobbitry in return was: ‘that they should keep the Great Bridge in repair … speed his messengers, and acknowledge his lordship’.10 So the Hobbits first came to the Shire, as they called their new land. Three hundred years later the North-kingdom came to an end and the Shire-dwellers soon forgot (except in tradition) that there had ever been a King.
Argonath ‘Pillars-of-the-Kings’ (Sind.) – The mighty carven stones on either side of the Anduin, where it flowed through a chasm into Nen Hithoel. They were built by Rómendacil II of Gondor (c. 1340 Third Age), to mark the Realm’s northern frontier and to forbid all but legitimate travellers from passing further. The Argonath were fashioned in the likenesses of Isildur and Anárion: ‘still with blurred eyes and crannied brows they frowned upon the North. The left hand of each was raised palm outwards in a gesture of warning; in each right hand there was an axe; upon each head there was a crumbling helm and crown.’11
Argonui – From 2848–2912 Third Age, the thirteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain of Arnor.
Arien – One of the female MAIAR, a fire-spirit, who was chosen by the Valar to guide the Sun, ANAR, on its celestial course. See also TILION.
Arkenstone – The greatest and most prized possession in the hoard of the Dwarf-kings of Erebor, lost to their House when the dragon Smaug pillaged the Lonely Mountain (2770 Third Age). The Arkenstone was a great white gem of brilliant translucency, mined from ‘The-Heart-of-the-Mountain’ – as the jewel was itself afterwards called by the Dwarves of Durin’s House. Unexpectedly recovered from the Dragon by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the year 2941, it was later used by him in an attempt to secure peace between Dwarves, Men and Elves before the Battle of Five Armies. It was afterwards laid to rest with Thorin Oakenshield, who was mortally wounded in that battle.
Armenelos (the Golden) ‘Royal-fortress-of-the-Heavens’ (Q.) – The chief city of Númenor, where the kings of that land dwelled throughout the latter part of the Second Age. It stood near the centre of the island, in the Arandor (‘Kings’-land’), at the feet of the Meneltarma, the highest mountain of Númenor. Originally, Andúnië in the west of Númenor had been the capital, but the regions about Meneltarma had been hallowed at the founding of the land, and Elros Tar-Minyatur, the first king, had built a tower and a citadel upon a hill, not far from the valley of the royal tombs, which had always been at the feet of Meneltarma. As time passed Andúnië lost the supremacy, and Armenelos grew, and became the royal residence.
Arminas and Gelmir – Two Elves of Finarfin’s House, more specifically of the people of Angrod, who came from Círdan bearing a message of warning to the King of Nargothrond (Orodreth: his elder brother Finrod was dead). The message was not heeded, and Nargothrond fell shortly afterwards.
Arnach – A shortened form of the name Lossarnach, the province of Gondor which lay to the south of the White Mountains between the rivers Sirith and Erui, one day’s journey from Minas Tirith. The word is of (pre-Adûnaic) Mannish form, and its meaning is not recorded.
Arnor – The more northerly of the two Númenorean REALMS IN EXILE, founded by Elendil the Tall in the year 3320 Second Age, after he and his House escaped the wreck of Númenor and returned to Middle-earth with the remnant of the Dúnedain. Though it was the elder and more prestigious of the twin states, the fortunes of Arnor did not mirror those of its sister-realm, the South-kingdom of Gondor. Whereas for over a thousand years Gondor grew ever more powerful and glorious, the North-kingdom allowed itself, comparatively early in its history, to be dissolved into three separate states – a factor which led to its subsequent conquest and eventual destruction.
Elendil himself wielded the High-kingship of both realms from his Northern capital of Annúminas; he was thus also accounted first King of Arnor. Upon his death (in 3441 Second Age) the Highkingship, and the rule of Arnor, passed to his elder son Isildur – who never reached Annúminas to take up the Sceptre, perishing instead at the hands of the Orcs while on the northward journey (Year 2, Third Age). The kingship of Arnor (but not the High-kingship of both realms) then passed to Isildur’s fourth son Valandil – who, being only a child, had remained in Rivendell and thus escaped the massacre by the Gladden where his father and three elder brothers were slain. Valandil was accounted Arnor’s third King. On the death of Eärendur, tenth King, in 861, Arnor ceased to exist as a single Realm – after his three sons quarrelled over the succession. As a result, the proud Kingdom was divided into three separate states: Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur.
It was not until almost five hundred years later that the first attempt was made to reconstitute Arnor as a single Kingdom, when Argeleb I of Arthedain, noting that the Line of Isildur was extinct in Cardolan and Rhudaur, thus claimed lordship over both. Cardolan wavered, but Rhudaur fiercely rejected the claim; it was later learned that Rhudaur was in secret league with the Witch-realm of Angmar, even then arising to the north of the Ettenmoors and preparing for the long wars which would eventually destroy the North-kingdom. But before its final destruction one other attempt was made to re-establish the Kingdom of Arnor – indeed, to re-join both Arnor and Gondor under the ancient High-kingship.
Following the death of King Ondoher of Gondor in 1944 Third Age, King Arvedui of Arthedain, who had married Ondoher’s daughter Fíriel some four years previously, claimed the throne of Gondor. Isildur, he said, had not intended that Arnor and Gondor be divided for ever. Moreover, the sons of Ondoher had died with him in battle; whereas the Northern Succession to which he, Arvedui, was Heir, stood in line unbroken from Isildur, and before that from Elendil himself. But Gondor ignored this claim, and awarded the Crown instead to a victorious general, Eärnil.
Eärnil of Gondor was a wise King and, although the realm of Arthedain might seem a small thing to a ruler of all Gondor, he made a point of assuring Arvedui that he did not ‘forget the royalty of Arnor, nor deny our kinship … I will send to your aid when you have need, so far as I am able.’12 To honour his pledge, he sent his son Eärnur north with a great fleet, but the Army of Gondor was too late to save the North-kingdom. Arvedui perished in the North and with him passed the Kingship of Arthedain, and of Arnor.
Note: the original realm of Arnor constituted all Eriador between the Misty Mountains and the river Lhûn, excluding the lands of Hollin (Eregion) and Rivendell (Imladris). In contrast, its successor-state of Arthedain contained only the north-western region of old Arnor, as far east as the Weather Hills and as far south as the Great Road.
Arod – A fleet-footed horse of Rohan who bore the Elf Legolas and the Dwarf Gimli throughout the War of the Ring.
Aros – A river of Beleriand, which formed the southern border of Thingol Greycloak’s Kingdom of Doriath. It
rose from two sources high in the precipices of southern Dorthonion and flowed southwards; below the confluence of these source-streams, the Aros was fordable only at the Arossiach, where the road from Nan Dungortheb and Dor Dínen crossed into Himlad. To the south-east of Doriath the Celon joined its waters to the larger river, after which the renewed Aros bent westward and flowed through the southern marches of Thingol’s land before forming a confluence with the still greater river Sirion, north of the marshes of Aelin-uial.
Arroch – The horse of Húrin of Dor-lómin.
Arossiach ‘Fords-of-Aros’ (Sind.) – See AROS above.
Artamir – The elder son of King Ondoher of Gondor. Along with his father and younger brother Faramir, he fell in battle with the Wainriders (in 1944 Third Age), thus giving ARVEDUI of Arthedain cause to claim the crown of Gondor.
Artanis ‘Noble Woman’ (Q.) – The name given to the Elf-princess GALADRIEL by her father Finarfin.
Artano ‘High-smith’ (Q.) – A name adopted by Sauron in the early years of the Second Age, when he put on a fair form and walked among Elves and Men.
Arthad – One of the twelve faithful comrades of Barahir of the Edain, who dwelled with him in Dorthonion after its capture by Morgoth during the War of the Great Jewels, and who shared his adventures and sufferings. He was later slain, as a result of the betrayal of the outlaws by one of their number, Gorlim the Unhappy.
Arthedain – The meaning of the name, ‘The-Kingdom-of-the-[Dún]Edain’, indicates the lineage of this realm, last of the Númenorean North-kingdoms to perish and State-apparent to the lordship of ancient ARNOR. Being divided into three on the death of Eärendur, tenth King, Arnor did not survive beyond the ninth century of the Third Age; yet the smaller realm of Arthedain lingered on, often in desperate straits, for a further thousand years. This was no doubt due to the fact that the Line of Isildur was strictly maintained there.
The Complete Tolkien Companion Page 5