The Complete Tolkien Companion

by J. E. A. Tyler

  Lobelia Sackville-Baggins – If the available records of the period can be relied upon in this particular instance, then the long-standing feud between the Bagginses and the Sackville-Bagginses of the Shire was a truly regrettable affair in which most Hobbits sided with Bilbo and his heir, Frodo – presumably less for the justice of their cause than as a reaction against the unpleasant and shrewish nature of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

  Lobelia had been born a Bracegirdle of Hardbottle, but had later married Otho, son of Longo Baggins and Camellia Sackville. Otho was an undistinguished Hobbit and Lobelia concentrated her affections upon their only son, Lotho (whose pimply countenance was reportedly a source of much unkind mirth among younger Hobbits). As Bilbo’s nearest relatives (Otho was actually his cousin), the Sackville-Bagginses longed inexpressibly to dwell in his magnificent residence at Bag End. And when, in 2942 Third Age (1342 Shire Reckoning), the then heirless Bilbo disappeared while on an adventure in the East, Lobelia and her husband initiated proceedings to have him declared legally dead so that they might inherit his luxurious hole. Bilbo himself relates (in There and Back Again) how he most inconveniently returned just as his belongings were being auctioned off – riding up the Hill of Hobbiton with a pony laden with gold, and looking remarkably fit and unquestionably alive. The Sackville-Bagginses contested his identity for a while and the feud continued until Bilbo’s disappearance in the year 3001 (1401 Shire Reckoning), when the disposal of his entire estate (which included the Desirable Residence) significantly omitted the Sackville-Bagginses – save for a ‘gift’ of spoons. The prestigious smial was left to Frodo, whose relations with Lobelia remained strained until his eventual decision to leave the Shire, and sell the place to her. Lobelia was thus obliged to wait for almost eighty years from the time she had first believed Bag End to be hers.

  Vindictive and grasping as she undoubtedly was, Lobelia was also indomitable, and she thus earned great respect from other Hobbits during the occupation of the Shire by agents of Saruman. On one occasion, after being insulted by one of these rogues, she attempted to savage him with her umbrella, although she was then very old and less than half his size. As a result, she was imprisoned in the Lockholes; and during her confinement there, her weakling son was murdered by Wormtongue, at Saruman’s order.

  Lobelia was released from her prison after the Battle of Bywater, emerging to great applause and cheering. She was touched by this but also stricken by the news of her only son’s death, and she relinquished Bag End to Frodo in order to return to Hardbottle, where she died the following spring. In her will, she left her money to help Hobbits made homeless during the occupation.

  Lockholes – Storage-smials or tunnels in the township of Michel Delving, converted into prisons by agents of Saruman during the occupation of the Shire in 3019 Third Age (1419 Shire Reckoning).

  Loeg Ningloron ‘Pools-of-golden-water-flowers’ (Sind.) – The GLADDEN FIELDS.

  Loendë – Midsummer’s Day, the Mid-year’s Day of Kings’ and Stewards’ Reckoning. There were three such ‘extra’ days (belonging to no particular month) in the old Númenorean Calendar of Kings’ Reckoning, and five in the later revised system of the Stewards. In the Fourth Age the system was again revised so that the year began in spring instead of mid-winter; therefore, in this New Reckoning, loendë fell between the months which were equivalent to our September and October.

  Lómelindi ‘Dusk-singers’ (Q.) – The High-elven name for nightingales (the birds of Melian). See also TINÚVIEL.

  Lómion ‘Child-of-Twilight’ (Q.) – The secret name given by Ar-Feiniel, the White Lady of the Noldor, in her own (proscribed) tongue, to the son she bore Eöl, in Nan Elmoth. Eöl himself afterwards named the boy MAEGLIN.

  Lond Daer ‘Great Havens’ (Sind.) – In the Third Age, the name given to the ancient ruins at the mouth of the river Gwathló (Greyflood) during the Third Age (They are not shown on all maps.) They were in fact the partly inundated ruins of the haven of VINYALONDË, built in the first Millennium of the Second Age by Aldarion the ‘Great Captain’ of Númenor. In time the site proved vulnerable, to enemies and, most of all, to the sea itself.

  Lonely Isle – A translation of the composite (Sindarin/Quenya) name Tol Eressëa.

  Lonely Mountain – A translation of the Grey-elven name EREBOR.

  Longbeards – The Dwarves of Durin’s House. A noble growth was considered a sign of wisdom, age and maturity in all Dwarves, but the beards of Durin’s Line exceeded all others; they were often forked and worn tucked into the belt.

  Longbottom – A village in the Southfarthing of the Shire where was grown most of the PIPE-WEED SO much in demand elsewhere. The Southfarthing was more sheltered and sunny than other parts of the Shire, and ‘leaf’ (especially those favourite varieties known as ‘Old Toby’, ‘Longbottom Leaf’ and ‘Southern Star’) grew richly and abundantly there. The first recorded appearance of this curious herb was about the year 2670 Third Age (1070 Shire Reckoning) in the gardens of Tobold Hornblower, ‘Old Toby’ himself.

  Long Cleeve – A village in the Northfarthing, home of the North-Tooks, who were descendants of Bandobras ‘Bullroarer’ Took, hero of the Shire and one of the great Hobbits of history.

  Longholes – A family of Bree Hobbits.

  Long Lake – A lake in northern Wilderland some miles south of Erebor and Dale; it was watered by the Forest River of Mirkwood and the river Celduin or River Running which passed out of the southern end of the lake and wandered for many miles before emptying into the Inland Sea. The Long Lake was particularly notable for its Lake-town of Esgaroth, which was built upon stilts.

  Longo Baggins – The second son of Mungo Baggins of Hobbiton, and the uncle of Bilbo. He married Camellia Sackville, and their only child Otho was the first of the Sackville-Bagginses.

  Long Peace – The name given by the Eldar of Beleriand to the period of two centuries which followed the first appearance of the Dragon Glaurung, during which Morgoth lay quiescent in Angband and attempted nothing openly against his enemies. The Long Peace ended – shockingly – with the Battle of Sudden Flame; and henceforth war never ceased in Beleriand.

  Long Wall – A translation of the Sindarin name ANDRAM.

  Long Winter – The winter of 2758–59 Third Age, when snow fell thickly over the westlands of Middle-earth, and hardships were accentuated by the famine which followed. Both Gondor and (particularly) Rohan suffered additionally from attacks made against their realms at this time (see HELM HAMMERHAND).

  Lóni – A Dwarf of Erebor and a member of Balin’s expedition to Moria (2989 Third Age). In the year 2994, Orcs attacked the colony and Lóni, together with his comrades Frár and Náli, fell defending the Bridge and the Second Hall.

  Lord of All – A title awarded to Melkor (at the instigation of Sauron) by the (heretical) later Númenoreans.

  Lord of Caves – See FINROD FELAGUND.

  Lord of the Earth – A title assumed by Sauron the Great during the period of his ascendancy in Middle-earth during the Second Age – the Accursed Years, as they were called by his subjects.

  Lord of the Nazgûl – See MORGUL; RINGWRAITHS; WITCH-KING.

  Lord of the Rings – Sauron the Great of Mordor, Enemy of the Free Peoples and self-styled Master of Middle-earth – in his aspect as Ruler of the One Ring, which in turn ruled all the Rings of Power.

  Lord of the West – A translation of the Adûnaic title Ar-Adûnakhôr, adopted by the twentieth King of Númenor in preference to the traditional High-elven royal name (the Quenya equivalent was Herunúmen). This signalled both a return to the ancient Mannish tongue of the Edain and a deliberate renunciation of Eldarin mores and modes of speech. The title had previously been applied only to the ‘Elder King’ of the Valar, Manwë.

  Lord of Waters – The Vala ULMO.

  Lords of Andúnië – The Princes of the Faithful of NUMENOR, descendants of King Elros Tar-Minyatur through Valandil, son of the Lady Silmariën, daughter and elder child of Tar-Elendil, fourth King
. They lived in Andúnië, westernmost province of Númenor, and held true to the traditions of friendship with the Eldar – when the later Kings (and most of the people) of Númenor departed from these ways, growing envious of the High-elves.

  The Faithful were increasingly persecuted for their loyalties, but many endured – and in the end were the only Númenoreans to survive the Downfall of their land (in 3319 Second Age). These survivors reached the shores of Middle-earth in nine of their ships, bearing the Silver Rod, the seven palantíri and other heirlooms of their House. They were led by Elendil, son of Amandil, last Lord of Andúnië.

  Note on the Númenorean Succession: the law allowing women to inherit the throne of Númenor was made after the sixth King, Tar-Aldarion, left only one child to succeed him; she became Tar-Ancalimë, the first ruling Queen. Before her time, the King had always been succeeded by his eldest son – and so the Lady Silmariën, although the elder child of Tar-Elendil (fourth King), became, not Queen of Númenor, but sister of the new King, Tar-Meneldur.

  Lórellin – The name given in Eldarin tradition to the lake of the gardens of Lórien, in Valinor. Here the Vala Estë, spouse of Lórien (Irmo), slept by day.

  Lorgan – An Easterling chieftain, a subject and ally of Morgoth. He and his folk were awarded the land of Dor-lómin, after Morgoth’s victory of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad had dispossessed the Edain who had previously dwelt there. Tuor, son of Rían and Huor, was enslaved by him, but escaped after three years’ servitude.

  Lórien – The name given in Eldarin tradition to the Gardens, in Valinor, of the Vala Irmo, one of the two Fëantúri (his brother was Mandos). Irmo was usually called after the name of the Garden, Lórien. In memory of this fair place in the Blessed Realm, the High-elves (probably Galadriel) altered the original (now unknown) Nandorin name of the Golden Wood of Wilderland to this form. The more formal Quenya name for the Golden Wood was LAURE-LINDÓRENAN. See also LOTHLÓRIEN.

  Lórinand – The Nandorin name for the Golden Wood of Wilder-land; LOTHLÓRIEN.

  Losgar – A place near the mouth of the Firth of Drengist, probably its southern shore. Here, in the Sunless Year, Fëanor of the Noldor burned the fleet of ships which had carried himself and his host back from Aman to Middle-earth.

  Lossarnach – A province of Gondor. It nestled under the south-facing vales of Mount Mindolluin, to the south-west of the city of Minas Tirith. The name Arnach (Lossarnach means ‘Snowy-Arnach’) is of pre-Númenorean form and in the language of the race of Men who made their homes in the high reaches of the White Mountains during the Dark Years of the Second Age.

  Lossoth ‘Snow-people’ (Sind.) – The Snowmen of Forochel, who dwelt on the shores of the great Ice Bay on the edge of the Northern Waste. According to a note in the Red Book they were ‘a strange, unfriendly people, remnant of the Forodwaith. [They] house in the snow, and it is said that they can run on the ice with bones on their feet, and have carts without wheels’.8

  Lost Isle – Another name for the ‘Lonely Isle’ of Tol Eressëa.

  Lótessë ‘Flower-month’ (Q.) – The name of the fifth month of the year in Kings’ Reckoning, as used in Númenor during the Second Age and by most Westron-speakers of Middle-earth in the latter part of the Third. Lótessë was unaffected by the changes made when Stewards’ Reckoning replaced Kings’ Reckoning in the last third of the Age; however, with the advent of New Reckoning, in the Fourth Age, it became the second rather than the fifth month of the new Calendar (adapted to begin the year in spring instead of winter). In all these systems, Lótessë had thirty days and was roughly equivalent to our May. The Sindarin form of the name, Lothron, was used by the Dúnedain; the Hobbits’ name for this month was Thrimidge (used in both the Shire and Bree).

  Lothíriel – The daughter of Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, and wife of Éomer, eighteenth King of Rohan. They wedded in the last year of the Third Age; their son, Elfwine the Fair, eventually succeeded Éomer.

  Lothlann ‘Wide-and-empty’ (Sind.) – The name given by the Eldar of Beleriand to the great steppe which lay east of Ard-galen and north of Maglor’s Gap. It was conquered by Morgoth during the Battle of Sudden Flame.

  Lothlórien ‘Dream-flower’ (Sind.+Q.) – The composite word which was the most widely used name in the Third Age for the Golden Wood of Wilderland, called also Lórien and Laurelindórenan, and, by the Nandor who originally peopled it, Lórinand. This ancient forest stood upon both sides of the river Celebrant, to the west of Anduin.

  While Lothlórien was not the most ancient forest in Middle-earth, it was unquestionably the most singular: for only there were to be found the great mellyrn, the mallorn-trees which gave the Golden Wood its name.9 Golden-leaved with silver-grey boughs, they grew to a height beyond the measure of all other living things. The people of Lothlórien were as singular as their trees, for they did not dwell on the ground, but in the woven branches of the mighty mellyrn, on high platforms (or telain). For this reason the Elves of the Golden Wood were called Galadhrim, ‘Tree-people’.

  The Second Age brought many changes for the Elves who remained in Middle-earth, particularly for the Grey-elves, whose ancient homelands had been for the most part inundated at the Breaking of Thangorodrim. Some of the Sindar emigrated eastwards, and were received by the wood-elves of those lands with reverence. (It is also said, in a late source, that at the time of the War of the Elves and Sauron Lórien accepted an influx of Noldorin Elves from Eregion, fleeing by way of Moria.)10

  One of the Sindar, Amdir, became King of Lórien, and ruled until the end of the age when he led a small contingent of silvan archers to the Battle of Dagorlad, and was slain there. His son AMROTH then became King of Lórien.

  Compared to his father, Amroth, though a noble and beautiful Elf, was somewhat fainéant. Early in his reign he conceived a great love for the silvan maiden NIMRODEL, who dwelt in those days beside the falls that afterwards bore her name. She discouraged his suit for many years and in the meantime the lovelorn prince seems to have neglected his duties. Lórien was not fortified or put in a proper state of defence against the menace of Sauron until the middle years of the age, and only after Amroth’s departure. The Balrog had awakened in Moria and the Dwarves had been driven out; the Necromancer was in occupation of Dol Guldur; but Amroth chose this time to escape from Middle-earth with Nimrodel (who had vowed not to wed him until he brought her to a land of peace). But they were both lost.

  At this time Celeborn of the Sindar together with his wife Galadriel of the Noldor came to dwell in Lórien. Celeborn was a kinsman of Thingol Greycloak of Beleriand; and Galadriel was of even nobler race. Her High-elven name was Altariel, and she was the sister of Finrod Felagund, fallen king of Nargothrond. Galadriel was thus the most royal of all the surviving High-elven Exiles, and therefore of all Elves then living in Middle-earth. Moreover, she brought with her to Lórien one of the Three Elven-rings: Nenya, the Ring of Adamant.

  By now the forest of Lórien had become a source of strange rumour; its borders were shunned by folk of other race, and even the Wood-elves of Greenwood were sundered from their southern kinfolk. For although Galadriel and Celeborn took part in the high Councils held by the Wizards and the Chief Eldar, the Wise kept secret the true nature of the place which came to be known as Lothlórien (‘[land of the] Blossoms-of-Dreaming’). The Lord and Lady and their court dwelt deep in the heart of the forest, in a great arboreal city: Calas Galadhon, ‘the City of the Trees’, where grew the tallest and most beautiful mellyrn of the land. And the power of Galadriel, focused through the Ring of Adamant, laid a change on the Golden Wood, so that it was set apart from the stream of time, ageing far more slowly than other lands.

  Lórien endured throughout the Third Age, even though the peril from Dol Guldur grew greater as the years passed, and there was often deadly strife with Orcs and other fell creatures under the fair boughs of the mellyrn. It is recounted in the Red Book how members of the Fellowship of the Ring, fleeing from Moria, were sheltered in Caras Galadhon, and
were greatly assisted by the Lord and Lady of Lórien. Shortly after their departure, the Golden Wood suffered the heaviest assaults it had yet experienced from Dol Guldur: in March 3019 Orc-hosts crossed the Great River and assailed the Galadhrim in three separate waves – but all were beaten back and in the end, the Elves of Lórien themselves took the offensive, crossing the Anduin eastwards and destroying Dol Guldur.

  Nonetheless, with the victory of the War of the Ring, the great days of Lórien came at last to an end. For Galadriel’s long exile in Middle-earth was rescinded by the Valar as a reward for her labours against Sauron (and for her rejection of the Ruling Ring). At the end of the Third Age she took ship into the West, together with the Bearers of the other Rings of Power; and some time after her passing, Celeborn also deserted the Golden Wood. In the Fourth Age only a few of the Galadhrim still lingered sadly … and there was no longer light or song’ in Lothlórien.11

  Lotho Sackville-Baggins – The weedy and ineffectual only son of Otho and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. Due to an unfortunate facial complaint, his nickname (among younger Hobbits) was ‘Pimple’. Nonetheless, after the death of his father in 3012 Third Age (1412 Shire Reckoning), Lotho became the nominal head of the clan, and was afterwards singled out for manipulation from afar by Saruman – who was already beginning to take an interest in the Shire.

  The family had always been well-to-do, and had owned much property in the Southfarthing, including farms and leaf-plantations. The foolish Lotho was easily inveigled into purchasing more of the same, far more than he could possibly afford, and as much of the money for these purchases came from Isengard, he was quickly caught on one of the oldest of all hooks. By the time of the War of the Ring the Hobbit was so indebted to Saruman that he was helpless to prevent the Wizard’s agents from entering the Shire and following their master’s will, while ostensibly working for ‘Pimple’.