The Complete Tolkien Companion

by J. E. A. Tyler

  Faramir Took – The only son of Peregrin Took, born in Year 9 Fourth Age (1430 Shire Reckoning) to the union of his famous father and Diamond of Long Cleeve. Peregrin named his only son Faramir in honour of the new Prince of Ithilien, whom Peregrin greatly admired. Faramir Took eventually married Goldilocks, one of Sam Gamgee’s many children, thus uniting two of the Shire’s most illustrious families.

  Far Downs – The green-grey, treeless uplands which sloped away to the Grey Havens on the western edge of the Shire.

  Far Harad – The southernmost reaches of Middle-earth. Little was mentioned of its people in the records of Gondor, since prolonged if intermittent warfare between the Haradrim and the Dúnedain of the South poisoned relationships between the two races.

  Farin – A Dwarf of Durin’s House. He was the son of Borin and uncle of Thrór, first of the second Line of Kings under the Mountain.

  Farmer Cotton – Tolman ‘Tom’ Cotton; in the last fifty years of the Third Age (and a good many of the Fourth), one of the most prosperous Hobbits of Bywater and its district.

  Farmer Cotton’s only daughter Rose became Sam Gamgee’s wife in 3020 Third Age, the Great Year of Plenty. Thus were links forged between the Cottons (who played a prominent part in the Scouring of the Shire) and the ascendant Gamgee family.

  Farmer Maggot – A well-known and important Hobbit-farmer of the Eastfarthing, renowned for the prosperity of his holdings (and the excellence of his mushrooms). Yet for all his respectability, Maggot was also considered a canny person with his ear close to the soil; and it seems certain that he was on terms of friendship and mutual respect with Tom Bombadil.

  Faroth ‘Hunters’ (Sind.) – See TAUR-EN-FAROTH.

  Far West – The meaning of the direction West carried a special significance for the inhabitants of Middle-earth. For this was the direction in which all things flowed – where Elves sailed when they grew weary of mortal lands, and where the Valar themselves dwelt, in the Uttermost West, in Valimar of the Twilight.

  Men of Gondor faced West in Standing Silence at the commencement of each meal: ‘we look towards Númenor that was, and beyond to Elvenhome that is, and to that which is beyond Elvenhome and will ever be.’7

  ‘Fastitocalon’ – The age-old myth of the giant sea-beast which mariners mistake for an island (with disastrous consequences) is the subject of the Hobbit-poem ‘Fastitocalon’, which, together with ‘Oliphaunt’, is a good example of the Hobbits’ taste for comic bestiary lore. The poem is published as No. 11 in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (though originally it was no more than an anonymous scribble in the margins of the Red Book).

  Fastred – A Knight of Rohan; one of King Théoden’s house-carles, who fell at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (3019 Third Age) and was laid to rest among his fellows there, beside the Great River.

  Fastred and Folcred – The twin sons of Folcwine, fourteenth King of Rohan. Together they brought aid to Gondor in one of her southern wars, thus fulfilling the Oath of Eorl. Under the twins’ leadership, the Rohirrim turned the Battle of the Crossings of Poros (2885 Third Age) against the invading Haradrim; however, both sons of Folcwine were slain in the battle, and their burial mound afterwards guarded the Crossings.

  Fastred of Greenholm – In her thirty-first year Elanor ‘The Fair’, eldest child of Sam Gamgee, wedded Fastred of Greenholm (a descendant of Holman the Greenhanded), and together they moved to the Westmarch of the Shire. They were later made Wardens of Westmarch and eventually became custodians of the Red Book, which their descendants (the Fairbairns) continued to maintain down the years.

  Fathers of Men – A translation of the Quenya word Atanatári.

  Fatty Bolger – FREDEGAR BOLGER.

  Fatty Lumpkin – A well-fed pony of great common-sense; a faithful companion of Tom Bombadil.

  Fëa ‘Spirit’ (Q.) – The soul. From the older form phaya (Q.). See also FAIRË; HRÖA.

  Fëanáro ‘Spirit-of-Fire’ (Q.) – See following entry.

  Fëanor ‘Spirit-of-Fire’ (Sind., after the Q. Fëanáro) – The eldest of the three sons of Finwë (the only child of Finwë’s first spouse Míriel), and after the death of his father the joint High King of all the rebelling Noldor; the greatest craftsman of all time, whose pride grew together with his fabled skills until, in the end, his mightiest accomplishment brought about his own downfall, and the downfall of the Elven-people he ruled – not to mention years untold of misery for the guiltless inhabitants of Middle-earth, whither he went in exile. Fëanor was the first of the royal Exiles to be slain in Middle-earth, and dwells still in the Halls of Mandos.

  Much is said of Fëanor and of his deeds – and even more of the fruits of his deeds – in records of the First Age, and little more than encapsulation is needed within these pages. His real name was Curufinwë (‘the Skill of [the House of] Finwë’); though he was known all his life as Fëanáro (his mother’s name for him), and survives in records and tales as Fëanor. Born during the Eldest Days, in Tirion the Fair, he was a prodigy among Elves. Amazingly skilled at matters of craft, and with a formidable intellect which made him the foremost loremaster and inventor of his people, he embodied the dynamic principle of activism, and was constantly at work, learning, experimenting, storing, devising, practising, polishing and developing; until he had altogether redirected his inherent drives, away from ‘passive’ understanding and contemplation, towards ‘active’ subcreation of the highest order. So he is remembered for lore, and for skill, but not for wisdom.

  Nonetheless, he wrought many objects of wonder, and in all his chosen fields accomplished more than all his successors. Among the lesser marvels were the palantíri (the Seeing-stones which were so prized in Númenor and Middle-earth many thousands of years later). And Fëanor himself also perfected the ancient Eldarin Tengwar, the ALPHABET OF FËANOR which served his people and others ever after. Such were Fëanor’s deeds of mind and hand in Eldamar while the White Tree and the Golden still shone.

  It has been recorded that only Fëanor was ever able to make the substance silima, the crystalline material from which he later created the chief source of his overweening pride. For his greatest achievement of all was the fashioning of the three silmarilli, the ‘Jewels-of-silima’, that captured the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor and preserved it within their depths, so that they shone with glory like stars and gladdened the eyes of all who beheld them.

  But the glory and splendour of the Silmarils led to terrible events. The Great Jewels tempted even one of the Valar (who was already given over to evil). He slew Finwë, and stole the Jewels, and poisoned the Trees so that their Light was dimmed for ever and the Land of the Valar plunged into twilight. This fallen Vala – now called (by Fëanor) Morgoth – then fled to Middle-earth in possession of the Silmarils.

  Instead of accepting this turn of events and thus following the example of the Valar (whose loss was far greater), Fëanor grew wroth, and in the folly of his pride he vowed to pursue Morgoth across the Sea to Middle-earth in order to regain the Jewels by force. A great number of the Noldor supported him; but the Valar prohibited the venture. Nevertheless, Fëanor had his way, for the Noldor rebelled, and many of that Kindred followed the banners of Fëanor and Fingolfin back to Middle-earth in a great fleet of ships. But even as they sailed away from the Blessed Realm, great shadows rolled across the face of the Sea behind them, barring their return.

  In the event, the Exile of the Noldor in Middle-earth endured for many bitter years. Finally defeated in their long wars against Morgoth, they were only saved from complete destruction by the intervention of the Valar, who cast out the Enemy and overthrew his realm. Most of the Exiles were then allowed to return to Eldamar, but not all – and not Fëanor, for the leader of the rebellion had been slain, together with a great number of his kin, in the War for the Great Jewels that he had made: for Fëanor was mortally wounded at the Battle-under-Stars, and died in the arms of his sons before the rising of the first Moon over Middle-earth.

  Note: in the
Second Age the survivors of Fëanor’s House were led by Celebrimbor, his grandson. In their time they too reached a peak of craftsmanship which came to an end with the making of a peril hardly less deadly than that created by their Forefather in the days of his pride.

  Fëanturi ‘Masters-of-Spirits’ (Q.) – Two of the great Valar: the brethren MANDOS and LORIEN.

  Feast of Reuniting – A translation of the Grey-elven words Mereth Aderthad, being the name given by Fingolfin the High King of the Noldor to the great feast he ordained for all the Eldar in Middle-earth, Noldor and Sindar alike, in the 21st Year of the Sun, First Age. It was celebrated at the Eithel Ivrin.

  Feast of the Spring of Arda – The celebration ordained by the Valar after the completion of the shaping of the World; it was held in Almaren. At this feast Tulkas, newly come to Middle-earth, wedded Nessa the sister of Oromë.

  Felagund ‘Lord of Caves’ (from orig. Khuz. felak-gundu ‘Cavehewer’) – The name given by the Dwarves to the Elven-king Finrod son of Finarfin, after he had, with their aid, enlarged and occupied the ancient delvings of Nulukkizdîn in the gorge of the river Narog. This underground city was of course known to Elves and Men as Nargothrond.

  Felaróf – The steed of Eorl the Young. The first of the fabled Mearas of Éothéod and Rohan. The Mearas were a long-lived line of horses thought to be descended from the steeds of Béma (the Huntsman of the Valar); they would bear no one but the rightful King or his offspring, and would accept no bridle or stirrup.

  First caught and bridled by Léod, Lord of Éothéod, Felaróf bolted, throwing Léod and causing his death. His son Eorl was expected to slay the horse, but instead he subdued the animal, named him and rode him thereafter. The horse understood the speech of Men and proved as long-lived, being laid to rest with his master in the same mound of the Barrowfield (in 2545 Third Age).

  Fellowship of the Ring – The eight companions of Free Peoples who were chosen by Elrond to accompany the Ring-bearer on the Quest of Mount Doom. They were: Gandalf; Aragorn, Dúnadan of the North, and Boromir, Prince of Gondor (for Men); Legolas, son of King Thranduil (for the Elves); Gimli, son of Glóin (for the Dwarves); and four Hobbits – Meriadoc, Peregrin, Samwise, and Frodo, the Ring-bearer. The Fellowship set out from Rivendell on December 25th in the year 3019 Third Age.

  Fell Winter – In Third Age records, this term refers to the winter of 2911, which struck northern Eriador with great severity, causing many of its rivers to freeze. At that time packs of white wolves from the North invaded the Shire.

  Fengel – From 2903–53 Third Age, the fifteenth King of Rohan, son of Folcwine of the Second Line. He was grasping and unpleasant, especially towards his children; therefore, Fengel’s son Thengel, of his own choice, spent much of his life in Gondor, where he won renown. Thengel was the father of Théoden.

  Fen Hollen ‘Closed Door’ (Sind.) – A solemnly guarded ornamental door or postern gateway in the sixth circle of Minas Tirith, upon the side facing Mount Mindolluin. It led to the Hallows, the final resting-place of Gondor’s great, upon a high plateau between the City and the cliffs above.

  Fenmarch – The low-lying border country between the Mouths of Entwash and the White Mountains, north of the Mering Stream; the frontier of Rohan and Gondor. Most of the eastern part of Rohan’s Eastfold was fen country, drained by the broad river Entwash.

  Fen of Serech – A region of marshy ground surrounding the confluence of the upper Sirion and the Rivil stream, in south-western Ard-galen, guarding the Pass of Sirion from the North. It was thus a natural defence of the Noldor against the evil of Morgoth, especially in latter days, and for this reason perhaps they never drained the marsh or reclaimed the ground.

  Fens of Sirion – The westerly fringe of the AELIN-UIAL marsh.

  ‘Ferthu Théoden hal!’ – ‘Hail Théoden on thy going!’

  Field of Cormallen – The Field of the Ring-bearers where, on April 6th, 3021 Third Age, the Host of the West gave thanks for the downfall of the Dark Lord, and the Ring-bearers Frodo and Samwise were publicly honoured by the King. The occasion was distinguished (particularly for Samwise) by the first performance of the Lay of Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom, which was composed especially for the event.

  The Field of Cormallen was in North Ithilien, between the refuge of Henneth Annûn and the isle of Cair Andros.

  Fields of Pelennor – The rich and fertile townlands of Minas Tirith; that area (about three leagues in diameter at its widest) which was enclosed by the Rammas Echor, the out-wall of the City.

  Fíli and Kíli – The two Dwarf-sons of Dís, descended from the Line of Erebor. Both marched on the Quest of the Lonely Mountain, led by their uncle, Thorin Oakenshield; and both fell during the Battle of Five Armies (2941 Third Age), defending him from Orcs. Thorin was also slain and Dáin Ironfoot of the Iron Hills then became King under the Mountain.

  Fimbrethil ‘Slender-birch’ (Sind.) – Wandlimb the lightfooted; an Entwife of Treebeard’s youth. She was lost with the other Entwives when their gardens were turned into Brown Lands during the wars of the Second and Third Ages.

  Finarfin – The third and youngest of the three sons of Finwë of the Noldor, brother of Fingolfin and half-brother of Fëanor. Though the youngest of the three brothers, he was accounted by the Eldar the wisest, for he alone forsook the march into exile, and repented of the rebellion, and thus returned from Araman to Eldamar with a great many of his people, to continue dwelling with the Valar, and with the ‘Fair-elves’, the Vanyar. Both Finarfin and his brother Fingolfin were akin to the Vanyar, for their mother Indis was of this people; and they and their descendants were for the most part golden-haired, like all the Fair-Elves.

  However, Finarfin’s own children – Finrod, Orodreth, Angrod, Aegnor, and Galadriel – were not so wise as he, and they joined their hosts to that led by Fingolfin, and so came to Middle-earth in exile, and shared in the deeds of that time. But all save Galadriel were slain in the War of the Great Jewels.

  Note: in records of the Third Age this name is occasionally written Finarphir. The reason is not immediately obvious – unless the intended spelling is actually Finarphin and a typographical error has resulted in the final n being replaced with an r. To confuse matters further, in early editions of The Lord of the Rings the Noldorin Elf Gildor Inglorion identifies himself as ‘of the House of Finrod’, but in later editions as ‘of the House of Finarphir’, whereas throughout The Silmarillion the name of the father of Finrod is always written Finarfin. The latter spelling must be regarded as the more accurate.

  Finarphir – See note under preceding entry.

  Findegil – A scribe of the Court of Gondor during the second century of the Fourth Age. In the year 172 he was instructed to make a copy, exact in all respects, of the Red Book of the Periannath – which was itself a copy of the Thain’s Book of the Shire, originally made at the request of King Elessar. Findegil’s copy was formally presented to the descendants of Peregrin Took and was kept at Great Smials ever after.

  Finduilas – The name of the Elven-daughter of Orodreth, King of Nargothrond after the death of his elder brother Finrod Felagund. She was the beloved (he had named her Faelivrin) of the Elf-lord Gwindor, a prince of that same city; but Gwindor was captured during the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and afterwards enthralled in Angband. And when he escaped and later returned to Nargothrond he came accompanied by Túrin of the Edain. Though Gwindor still loved Finduilas, unhappily for him she fell in love with Túrin. The Elf nobly released her from her earlier promises and bade her go where love called, though he added a warning against the fate surrounding Túrin, and he told her who Túrin really was.

  It was shortly after this that Nargothrond fell to the power of Morgoth. Most of the Elf-women and -children were captured – including Finduilas – and Gwindor was slain; but Túrin, pursuing the Orcs who had captured her, became further enmeshed in the net of his doom, and never caught up with her. To his grief he afterwards learned that she had been killed by the Orcs, n
ot far from the Crossings of Teiglin. She was buried in a barrow nearby, the Haudhen-Elleth (‘Mound of the Elf-maid’); but her spirit passed into the West.

  Also the name of a princess of Dol Amroth in the late Third Age, the daughter of Adrahil and later wife of Steward Denethor II of Gondor. She bore Denethor two fine sons, Boromir and Faramir, but died early, from loneliness and depression, in 2988 Third Age, four years after her husband had come into his Stewardship. Denethor never wed again.

  Finglas ‘Hair-leaf’ (Sind.) – Leaflock the Ent; one of the surviving Onodrim of the Elder Days still living in Fangorn at the time of the War of the Ring. As the years slowly passed, Finglas gradually began to resemble one of his flock, eventually regressing to total treehood.

  Fingolfin – The second son of Finwë of the Noldor, elder brother of Finarfin and (younger) half-brother of Fëanor. Fingolfin was accounted by the Noldor the bravest of the three sons of Finwë; but although there had been enmity between himself and Fëanor, like the latter, Fingolfin unwisely chose to avenge the death of their father and repay the hurts offered to their House, and he too rebelled against the Valar; for he had but lately vowed to Fëanor that he would follow where his half-brother led. With him into exile went all his House, including his two sons Fingon and Turgon and his only daughter Aredhel Ar-Feiniel.

  The long story of the deeds of the Elves’ first High King in Exile is stirring, yet ultimately tragic and wasteful. Abandoned in Aman by Fëanor after the Kinslaying at Alqualondë (in which, to his everlasting regret, he had played a part), Fingolfin was nevertheless undaunted, and accomplished the daring and desperate feat of crossing the Northern Ice, the Helcaraxë, into Middle-earth; though not without severe loss. It is said that the first Moon to grace the night-skies of Arda shone coldly down upon the Elf-host of Fingolfin in the freezing wastes of the North. At this time, unknown to Fingolfin, the Battle-under-Stars had already been fought in Middle-earth, and Fëanor lay dying in Ard-galen. But Fingolfin marched now swiftly south, towards Mithrim, where the Sons of Fëanor and their hosts were encamped beside the lake; but perceiving that the appearance of the new Sun in the sky had put all creatures of Morgoth to flight, he wheeled his great army across the passes of Ered Wethrin and crossed the seventy leagues of Ard-galen to stand before the very gates of Angband. There for the first time the Elf-lord truly understood the reality of the Power to whom he and the other Noldor had so rashly opposed themselves; and it was at this moment that he first conceived the ‘containment’ stratagem which was hereafter to govern the methods by which the Noldor waged war against their Enemy. For Fingolfin had a warrior’s eye, and had perceived that the might of Angband was too great – infinitely too great – ever to be overthrown by assault or direct action. The only possible chance lay in decoying Morgoth’s armies to destruction upon Ard-galen; and this in turn meant setting a leaguer, or siege line, around Angband, with the double aim of protecting Beleriand to the south and (eventually) of provoking Morgoth into some rash action.