The Complete Tolkien Companion

by J. E. A. Tyler

  Gladden Fields – A rendering into Common Speech of the Grey-elven-name Loeg Ningloron (‘Pools-of-golden-water-flowers’); the wet green lands about the mouth of the river Gladden, where this ran into the Anduin. Here many flowers grew, among them iris (gladden). See also BATTLE OF THE GLADDEN FIELDS.

  Glœmscrafu ‘Caves of Radiance’ – The name in Rohan for the Glittering Caves of Aglarond.

  Glamdring and Orcrist – A matching pair of Elf-swords made by the Noldor during the War of the Jewels in the First Age. At that time, Glamdring (‘Hammer-of-Foes’) was borne by Turgon, King of the High-elven city of Gondolin. But both Turgon’s sword and its mate Orcrist (‘Cleaver-of-Goblins’) fell to the armies of Morgoth the Enemy. Both swords remained hidden for almost two full Ages, until they found their way into a Troll’s hoard, from which they were afterwards rescued by Thorin Oakenshield and Gandalf the Grey. Thorin claimed Orcrist for his own; and when the Dwarf fell at the Battle of Five Armies (2941 Third Age), the sword was laid in his tomb. Gandalf bore Glamdring throughout the War of the Ring.

  Glamhoth ‘Yelling-horde’ (Sind.) – A name for ORCS.

  Glanduin – A river which flowed north of Dunland to find the Greyflood (Mitheithel) above Tharbad. Where it flowed through a region of fens and meres, peopled by many swans, it was called Nîn-in-Eilph, ‘swan-fleet’.

  Glanhir – The name given in Gondor to the MERING STREAM.

  Glaurung – The greatest Dragon of the First Age, and the first, though perhaps not the largest, of those beasts specially to be bred for warfare by Morgoth. He was the forefather of the Urulóki, the Fire-dragons, but unlike some of his descendants did not possess the power of flight. Even so, throughout his long career Glaurung wrought great woe among Morgoth’s enemies, and in so doing served his Master well.

  Glaurung first went to war two hundred years before the Dagor Bragollach, when he was still (relatively) young, and therefore both inexperienced and over-confident. In that battle, the assault of the Fire-drake was ignominiously beaten off, by Fingon of the Elves. Morgoth is said to have been angered at this insubordination on the part of the Worm, for he had intended to hold this weapon in reserve until the time should become ripe – and yet forewarned as they now were, the Elves proved quite unable, in the two centuries which passed before Glaurung was next unleashed upon them, to contrive means to deal with beasts of this sort. And in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad the Worm of Morgoth (as they called him) wrought havoc, slaying many Men and Elves before (on the latter occasion) being driven off the battlefield by a gallant host of armoured Dwarves from Belegost. Because of their comprehensive body-armour the Dwarves were able to withstand the heat and flame, and attack Glaurung from close quarters; but their king, Azaghâl, was mortally wounded and the Dwarves fought no other foes that day.

  But it was in the years which followed the Nirnaeth that Glaurung wrought his greatest evils. The creature played a leading part in the fulfilment of the grim destinies of the Children of Húrin: Túrin and Nienor. His bewitchments and machinations ensured that the family was never to be re-united; and he took away the power of memory from Nienor, so that she, unknowing, later came to wed her own brother: with terrible consequences for them both. The Dragon had already played the leading part in the sack of Nargothrond, and afterwards took what remained of the kingdom founded by Finrod as his share of the profits (Dragon-fashion, he turned upon his allies when the time came and seized the entire hoard for his own). Glaurung was later slain, by Túrin wielding the Black Sword Gurthang (Anglachel), at Cabed-en-Aras.

  Glede – A hot coal or burning ember.

  Gléowine ‘Joy-lover’ – The royal minstrel of King Théoden of Rohan. His last song was dedicated to the glorious death of the King upon the Fields of Pelennor.

  Glingal – The name given by King Turgon of Gondolin to the Image or replica of the Golden Tree of Valinor, Laurelin, that he wrought to grace his halls in exile. Its sister-tree (also an image, of the Silver Tree Telperion), was Belthil.

  Glirhuin – One of the Edain of the Second House (the Haladin of Brethil); he is said to have made a song prophesying inviolability for the ‘Stone of the Hapless’ – the name in Brethil for the grim monument above the Cabed Naeramarth, which marked the burial of Túrin Turambar, and of Morwen his mother; and the last known whereabouts of Nienor his sister. See also TOL MORWEN.

  Glithui – One of the tributaries of the river Teiglin; it flowed down from the Ered Wethrin.

  Glittering Caves – See AGLAROND.

  Glóin – From 2289–2385 Third Age, the King of the Dwarf-colony in the Grey Mountains. He was the son of Thorin I of Durin’s Line.

  Glóin son of Groin – A Dwarf of Durin’s Line and one of the members of Thorin Oakenshield’s renowned expedition to Erebor. As a result of the success of that undertaking, Glóin became wealthy and important in his own right; and, together with his son Gimli, was sent as an emissary to Rivendell, where he represented the King under the Mountain at the Council of Elrond (3018 Third Age).

  Gloredhel – The daughter of Hador Lórindol, Lord of Dor-lómin, and sister of the brethren Húrin and Huor. She wedded Haldir of the Haladin – her eldest brother Galdor simultaneously wedded Hareth the sister of Haldir, thus doubling the link between the Second and Third Houses of the Edain. Gloredhel later bore Haldir a son: Handir, whose own son was Brandir the Lame (destined to be slain in Brethil by Túrin Turambar, a grand-nephew of Gloredhel of Dor-lómin and his own second cousin).

  Glorfindel ‘Golden-haired’ (Q.) – In the narrative of Frodo Baggins, written at the end of the Third Age, this name is borne by an Elf-lord of Rivendell, golden-haired, mighty among Elrond’s counsellors, and leader of the host of Imladris. It is he who meets and assists the Ring-bearer and his companions on the East Road. Afterwards, this Elf is said (by Gandalf, who ought to have known) to come ‘of a house of princes’. Glorfindel of Imladris is clearly one of the mighty among the surviving Noldor of Middle-earth. It was he who was responsible for the defence of Rivendell during the years while Arthedain declined, and who led a force to the Battle of Fornost, when his timely appearance completed the rout of Angmar begun by the cavalry of Gondor.

  Herein lies a puzzle. In records of the First Age, the name Glorfindel is also borne by a golden-haired prince of the Noldor, who is prominent throughout the last days of Gondolin and makes possible, by his own heroism, the escape, from the doomed city, of Tuor, Idril his wife, and Eärendil their son. This earlier Glorfindel is identified as a lieutenant of Turgon king of Gondolin, and said to have been the chief or leader of the House of the Golden Flower – presumably a noble family of the Gondolindrim. This great warrior fought at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and was a comrade of Ecthelion. Both were the chief servants of the king, Turgon.

  Thus far the two identities, two full Ages apart though they be, can nevertheless be reconciled in one (long-lived) personality. It is therefore highly inconvenient to discover, as we do, that the earlier Glorfindel (of Gondolin) is quite definitely said to have perished in mortal combat with a Balrog, and to have been buried under a cairn in the Encircling Mountains.

  One of two possible solutions to the riddle is that Glorfindel of Gondolin indeed perished in battle as reported, but was afterwards re-born in Middle-earth. If so, this is only the second instance when any of the Eldar are ever known to have done so, for the spirits of their dead pass West as far as the Halls of Mandos: later, and by the consent of Mandos, to be re-born – but in Valinor, not Middle-earth. Only Lúthien of Doriath lived out a second lifespan in mortal lands, so far as records tell. The other, which is supported by some authority,8 is that Glorfindel, having perished in Gondolin, went to Mandos but was released early, since his sins – compared to those of the other Noldor – were trifling, and his redemption total. He dwelled in Valinor for half an Age before returning to Middle-earth with the leave of the Valar to help Gil-Galad and Elrond in their growing danger (the rise of Sauron to power). This matter may never be fully resolved.

>   Glornan ‘Valley of light’ (Sind.) – An early Grey-elven name for the Golden Wood.

  Goatleaf – A Bree-family of ‘Big People’.

  Goblins – A translation of the Grey-elven yrch (sing. orch). See ORCS.

  Golasgil – The lord of Anfalas (in Gondor) at the time of the War of the Ring.

  Goldberry – A naiad or Water-sprite of the Old Forest; the bride of Tom Bombadil and daughter of the ‘River-woman’ of Withywindle.

  The Golden Perch – The chief inn of the village of Stock in the East-farthing of the Shire. Its beer was renowned.

  Golden Wood – The name given by Men to the forest of Lothlórien.

  Goldilocks Took – The sixth child and second daughter of Samwise Gamgee. She wedded Faramir, son of Peregrin Took, in 1463 Shire Reckoning (Year 42 Fourth Age), thus linking the two most important families in the Shire.

  Goldwine – From 3680–99 Third Age the sixth King of Rohan.

  Golfimbul – An Orc-chieftain, leader of the Goblins of Mount Gram (the location of which is not known, though it may have been near Gundabad in the Misty Mountains). Golfimbul led a raid deep into western Eriador in 2747 Third Age, during the course of which he was slain by the Hobbit Bandobras ‘Bullroarer’ Took, in what later became known as the Battle of Greenfields.

  Gollum – See SMÉAGOL-GOLLUM.

  Golodhrim ‘The Wise’ – The Sindarin equivalent of the Quenya word Noldor; the collective term in use among the Grey-elves for the High-elves of the West who came back to Middle-earth during the Elder Days. The singular form was Golodh (normal pl. Gelydh).

  Golug – An Orkish term for one of the Noldor.

  Gondolin ‘Hidden Rock’ (Sind.) – A punning mutation or rendering of the original Q. Ondolindë, ‘Stone-song’. The most beautiful, most renowned and longest to endure of all the Noldorin city-kingdoms founded in Middle-earth during the First Age. Completed in the second century of the exile of the Noldor by Turgon son of Fingolfin the High King, it stood in splendour and secrecy for a further four hundred years, the last hope of the Noldor in mortal lands; but fell at last, through treachery, and was destroyed, never to rise again. The fall of Gondolin marked the final victory of Morgoth in the War of the Great Jewels; but its memory lived on, beyond that dark time, into the New Age.

  Long before Elves awoke in Cuiviénen, in an age of the World forgotten by all save the Valar, a deep lake filled a valley in the Encircling Mountains in the north of Beleriand. The valley, which was circular, may originally have been formed by volcanic action, for there was a tall hill rising from its exact centre, an island in the enclosing lake, steep and precipitous. This valley afterwards became known as Tumladen, and the hill amidmost as Amon Gwareth – though by this time the lake had vanished, drained away through channels long dried up, and all that remained was the vale, green and fair, and the steep hill of Amon Gwareth. It was Turgon of the Noldor who gave them these names, for no Elf before him ever walked in Tumladen or climbed the precipitous sides of the hill. Indeed Turgon himself could not have come there had it not been for the assistance of outside agency; for there was only one entrance to Tumladen through the Encircling Mountains, and that remained long hidden. For precisely this reason Turgon, who was utterly convinced of the need to prepare a well-thought-out ‘last refuge’ against foretold disaster, determined to build such a refuge in this hidden valley; yet as he also wished to dwell in a fair place, as much like faraway Tirion as he could contrive, he planned carefully and built with love. Fifty years after the first stone had been laid, at the beginning of his second century of exile, Turgon and his people secretly quitted Nevrast, where they had been living since the return to Middle-earth, and vanished into the mountains. From that day forward few Elves ever passed the outer doors (until the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, which then lay more than three and a half centuries in the future). Gondolin became the ‘Hidden City’, its whereabouts unknown even by its allies. But within the impassable mountain-perimeter all that was fair in Elven-culture was preserved, consciously, and with reverence.

  In time the city was made stronger and fairer than any other city that has ever been in Middle-earth, for Turgon never ceased to add to its strength, and its beauty. High towers were built, and mighty walls; yet the towers were slender pinnacles of grace and proportion; and the walls shone in the sunlight.9

  Centuries passed, the years of the Siege of Angband, by which Morgoth’s movements were to some extent proscribed – although little else could be done, in all that time, to discomfit or damage him. Meanwhile the two most powerful Eldarin city-kingdoms – Nargothrond and Gondolin – lay far behind the Siege lines, enjoying an era of peace and splendour. But no one had foreseen the appalling speed with which the Siege would eventually be overthrown, nor the permanent confusion this defeat would wreak among the Eldar and their allies. Kingdom became sundered from kingdom during that perilous time, and though the north-west held out for a further fifteen years, the tide had now turned irrevocably against the Eldar. The last of all offensives to be mounted by them against Morgoth – to which Turgon brought the host of Gondolin, thus appearing among his allies and kin for the first time in over three hundred and fifty years – led only to the catastrophe of the Nirnaeth, in which the Eldar were overthrown for ever. Only the Gondolindrim held together as a body; they cut their way to safety, aided by the self-sacrificing heroism of the Men of Dor-lómin, led by Húrin and Huor. This was the first and only time the host of Gondolin went to war; henceforward war would come to them.

  In the case of Nargothrond, it was pride which led to the Elves’ undoing; but with Gondolin, it was treachery. Yet for some time Morgoth had guessed that Gondolin lay somewhere in the mountains to the west of Dorthonion, for this had been (unwittingly) revealed to him by Húrin of the Edain.

  The sack of Gondolin came on the eve of the festival known as the Gates of Summer (the last day of tuilë); and it was brutal and annihilating, for Morgoth had long desired to strike this blow, and as he had no other foes left in Middle-earth was as a result able to use as much force as he wished. No fortress could have withstood such an onslaught. Turgon fell, and Ecthelion was slain by, and himself slew, the mightiest of the Balrogs. But Tuor of the Edain killed Maeglin the Traitor, and then fled the city, together with his wife Idril, the daughter of Turgon, and their son Eärendil. Behind them, Dragons set the city aflame, so that the sky over Tumladen was filled with the greatest burning it had known since the far-off days of the valley’s making.

  But the Line of Gondolin lived on, in Idril and Eärendil, and so in Elrond and Elros and all who came after. And even by its fall Turgon’s city played a part in the final overthrow of Morgoth. For if Eärendil had not been carried in flight to the sea-lands, he might never have grown up beside the sea, never have become a mariner. He might never have made his historic voyage out of Middle-earth. Yet the idea of sending messengers into the West, to beg the forgiveness and aid of the Valar, was not in origin Eärendil’s; for Turgon his grandfather had long held the belief that the only hope of the Noldor lay in the West, and this hope was fostered in his descendants also. Turgon was a pious ruler; and Gondolin had been intended to be a mirror in Middle-earth of Tirion the Fair (there were even Images of the Two Trees standing, or seeming to stand, in Turgon’s halls). Perhaps for these reasons Gondolin was allowed to outlast all other Elven-cities of Middle-earth in the Elder Days. But it fell at last, and its fall was all the more terrible for being postponed.

  Gondolindrim – The Elves of the city of Gondolin; Noldor of the House of Fingolfin, subjects of Turgon Fingolfin’s son.

  Gondor ‘Stone-land’ (Sind.) – The South-kingdom of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth; one of the two Realms in Exile founded by Elendil the Tall after the Downfall of Númenor; and for many centuries the most powerful Kingdom anywhere in western Middle-earth. Unlike its northern sister-realm of ARNOR, the South kingdom survived the turmoils of the Third Age and held out against increasing odds until, with victory of the War of the Ring, Go
ndor was finally reunited with the North-kingdom, and the High-kingship of both Realms was established once more.

  At the founding of the realm, in 3320 Second Age, Gondor included most of the lands about the feet of the White Mountains, save only for the far western dales beyond the river Lefnui. Her chief provinces were the royal fiefs of Ithilien and Anórien, and her rule extended as far as the coastal regions of Anfalas and Belfalas. Her greatest cities were Minas Anor, Tower of the Sun, on the eastern shoulders of the White Mountains; Minas Ithil, Tower of the Moon, in the western vales of the Ephel Dúath; and Osgiliath, Citadel of the Stars, which lay in between, upon either side of the Great River. Elendil himself was the High-king of both Arnor and Gondor, but the South-rule he committed to his sons Isildur and Anárion; they dwelled in Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, and the Realm was administered from Osgiliath, where also was kept the chief palantír of Gondor.

  In those days Sauron the Great was believed to have perished in the ruin of Númenor, and so the survivors of that same disaster did not hesitate to build their South-kingdom upon the very borders of his ancient Realm. But he, too, had survived. He returned in secret to Mordor, and, after little more than a hundred years, declared himself once more, and made war upon the Dúnedain: for he feared and hated the Númenoreans and their works. But Sauron struck too late (or too soon), and with too little strength for his purpose; he underestimated his foes and so was defeated in battle when the Last Alliance forged against him proved too strong for his power to withstand; he was driven back to the Barad-dûr and later overthrown altogether.

  For many years the South-kingdom grew steadily more powerful and splendid, until, by the eleventh century of the Third Age, its sway extended as far as the Greyflood and the Sea of Rhûn, and lesser states paid tribute. But this early period of intense activity was followed by an epoch of ostentation and luxury, in which most of the gains made by the ‘Ship-kings’ were allowed to slip away. Nevertheless, Gondor was slow in decline, and it was not until the middle years of the Age that assaults upon her frontiers began again in earnest. These came mainly from the East and South, and were often only driven back at great cost in toil and lives. More ominously, the Line of Anárion (the hereditary ruling dynasty of Gondor) now began to wither, and at last one of the Kings took to wife a woman of a lesser (but sturdier) race. This act later precipitated the civil war of Gondor, the Kin-strife, which destroyed much that was fair in the South Kingdom, and further sapped the dwindling strength of the Dúnedain. And although Gondor managed to resist her foes for many years, the Line of Anárion had altogether failed by the beginning of the third millennium.