Mat Heathertoes – One of the ‘Big People’ of the village of Bree. During the War of the Ring he was killed in a skirmish between the Bree-people and outlaws.
Mathom – A Hobbit-term for an object of any value for which a use could not be found, but which the owner was not prepared to discard completely.
Mathom-house – The chief museum of the Shire, where old unwanted treasures or mathoms were kept. It was located in the township of Michel Delving.
Matta – In original (as opposed to translated) Hobbit-nomenclature, the name Matta (often shortened, Hobbit-fashion, to ‘Mat’) was normally given to male Hobbits.
Mauhúr – One of the Orcs of Isengard; the leader of a patrol which, in February, 3019 Third Age, came to the aid of the Orc-band of Uglúk, encircled by the Rohirrim near Fangorn Forest when returning to Isengard with two prisoners. Unfortunately for the trapped Orcs, this attack was insufficient to allow Uglúk’s band to escape; and Mauhúr’s Orcs were all driven off or slain like the others.
May Gamgee – The fourth child of Hamfast Gamgee and the elder sister of Samwise. She was named after Hamfast’s only sister.
Mayor of Michel Delving – Although his power and importance did not compare with that of the Thain or the Master of Buckland – hereditary titles borne by the heads of the influential Took and Brandybuck families – the Mayor of Michel Delving was at least the only official of the Shire ever regularly and properly elected, and the office did carry a certain amount of prestige. The Mayor was democratically chosen at the Free Fair, held every seven years upon the White Downs. His chief duty was to preside at feasts, though his office was also nominally responsible for the Shirrifs and the Messenger Service. At the time of the War of the Ring, the office had been held by Will Whitfoot for some years; but he was unjustly imprisoned during the ‘troubles’ of 1419 Shire Reckoning (3019 Third Age), and his long stay in the unsavoury and cramped Lock-holes weakened the poor old Hobbit greatly. Therefore, after his release, Frodo Baggins undertook his duties for the eight months it took to restore ‘old Flourdumpling’ to his former corpulent splendour.
However, the most famous Mayor in the history of the Shire was the illustrious Samwise Gamgee, elected to the office no less than seven times (between 1427 and 1476 Shire Reckoning). In 1434 Shire Reckoning (Year 13 Fourth Age), King Elessar chose the Mayor, the Master of Buckland (Meriadoc ‘the Magnificent’) and the Thain (Peregrin I) to be Counsellors of the North-kingdom.
Mazarbul ‘Records’ (Khuz.) – See BOOK OF MAZARBUL.
Mearas – The name given by the Riders of Éothéod (and, later, Rohan) to their remarkable Line of Horse-princes, which they believed to be descended from an animal brought to Middle-earth by one of the Valar during the Elder Days. The Mearas would suffer none but the rightful King of the Mark or his sons to ride them, and did not take to bridle and bit. The first of the Mearas whose name is known, Felaróf, threw his captor, thus causing the man’s death – although the animal later attoned for this by surrendering his freedom to his captor’s son: Eorl the Young, first King of Rohan. Felaróf understood the speech of Men and was as long-lived as his Master. His descendants, who included SHADOWFAX, were equally long-lived and immeasurably fleet of foot.
Mede – See AFTERLITHE.
Meduseld – This large and splendid Hall of the Kings was the greatest work of craft ever created in Rohan. It was known as the ‘Golden Hall’ of Edoras, for the roof and pillars were leafed with pure gold, and its hangings and tapestries were rich.
The Golden Hall was built by Brego, son of Eorl the Young, and at the feast held to celebrate its completion (in 2569 Third Age), his eldest son Baldor rashly vowed to take the ‘Paths of the Dead’. Baldor never returned and his sorrowing father died the next year. In later years all Kings of Rohan had their high seats in Meduseld.
Only once was it ever captured by foes: in 2758 Third Age the rebel Wulf (son of Freca) took Edoras and slew King Helm’s son Haleth at the very door of the Golden Hall. However, Meduseld was recaptured – and Wulf slain – within a year.
Melian ‘Dear-gift’ (Sind., from Q. Melyanna) – A lady of the Maiar, who alone of all the Ainur wedded one of the Erusen: Elwë (Thingol) of the Telerin Elves. She came to Middle-earth far back in the Elder Days, at the time when the Eldar were setting out on their Great Journey from Cuiviénen into the West; and in Beleriand, in the secret woods of Nan Elmoth, the sound of her voice sweetly singing was heard by a Lord of Elves, Elwë; and from that moment onwards his fate was linked with hers. It is not known whether or not Melian defied any prohibition in wedding with one of lesser race, but wed they were, and Elwë, who had visited Aman by the Grace of the Valar – and who hitherto had sought only to return there – now lingered in Beleriand and, with the aid of Melian, made himself the greatest King of Elves in mortal lands.
After the departure of the remaining Eldar they dwelled together in the land of Doriath, and Melian fenced the land with a Girdle of enchantment; and after a time she bore Elwë a daughter: Lúthien the Fair, who inherited her Mother’s voice and beauty as well as her divine lineage. Melian dwelled with Thingol for the remainder of the Age; but the deeds of that time enmeshed her husband at the last, though against her design; and he was murdered. Then Melian withdrew from Middle-earth, and passed into the West, and never again left the Gardens of Lórien in Valinor.
Melkor ‘He Who Arises In Might’ (Q.; older form Melkórë) – The name given in the traditions of the Eldar to the firstborn of all the Ainur, the brother of Manwë and the mightiest of all their divine race. Melkor, alone of the Ainur, envied his Maker, desiring also to be worshipped and adored. He disrupted the Great Music with themes of his own imagining, but was rebuked by Ilúvatar; and afterwards, in jealous rage, set himself for ever in opposition to the Creator and to the other Ainur, thus bringing into existence the qualities of Evil and Disharmony – with which his name will be for ever associated.
In this way began his long rebellion, which has lasted for uncounted Ages of Eä and is not yet ended, though Melkor himself dwells now in the Void beyond Eä, shapeless and powerless. Of all the tragedies which have since afflicted the offspring of Ilúvatar, this was the first and immeasurably the greatest, since it was the wellspring of all other sorrows.
See MORGOTH.
Mellyrn – See MALLORN, MELLYRN.
Men – The younger Children of Ilúvatar; after the Elves, the noblest of all ‘speaking-peoples’; for whom the Gift of Mortality was expressly conceived as an alternative for life everlasting (the fate of the Elves); the race of Heroes, Mariners and ‘Masters of Horses’, who came comparatively late into the Middle-world, yet soon allied themselves with the other Free Peoples and became especial friends of the Firstborn, whom they were destined from their beginning to displace.
For long ages before their first appearance in the Middle-world the coming of the Atani, the ‘Second People’ had been prophesied among the Valar and the Eldar. But not even the Valar knew for certain what form of body they would take. Yet at last the Second People awoke, in the land of Hildórien in the wide East. For centuries they wandered gradually away from their birth-place, in all directions save north; and at last the westerly vanguard came first into Wilderland, and then into Eriador, and finally into Beleriand. These were the Edain (the Sindarin form of the more ancient Quenya name Atani). Originally the term had been applied to the race of Men as a whole, but everafter the Elves of Beleriand used it specifically for the Three Houses of the Elf-friends who fought alongside them in their wars against Morgoth, and who dwelt with them in allied kingdoms. Much is said of them elsewhere. What must be emphasised here is the way that their providential contact with the Elves at such a crucial stage in their development singled out this people from all other Mannish races for elevation. Consequently, their direct descendants, the Dúnedain, eventually came to deem themselves a ‘High People’ – in comparison with other Men, whom they divided into ‘Middle’ and ‘Wild’ Peoples.
The ‘
Middle Peoples’ shared the same origins and earliest histories as the ‘High People’, but their development was largely unaided by Elven-lore or fortuitous circumstance. For the ancestors of the Middle People were those of the Edain and their close kin who did not pass west to Númenor after the end of the First Age, remaining instead in Middle-earth where they elevated their culture at a far slower rate. However, they greatly increased in number and by the end of the Second Age, their descendants were far more numerous than those of the Dúnedain who had returned meanwhile to Middle-earth. Yet the kinship between the two peoples could still be discerned; and if their culture was ‘lower’ than that of the High Men, then their histories were also untroubled by regret.
In comparing the destinies of these first two groupings of Men, one may note close parallels with the ‘High’ and ‘Middle’ Elves, i.e., the Noldor and the Sindar, likewise separated at an early point in their history but later reunited under circumstances both grievous and uplifting. Both ‘High’ groups were early singled out for exaltation beyond the measure of the rest of their kindreds, yet a large proportion of them rebelled against higher authority, and were exiled to Middle-earth as a consequence. And in both cases the ‘Middle’ race, which had freely elected to remain in mortal lands, found its culture greatly enriched by contact with the returning Exiles, while the higher kindred was obliged to diminish its own culture to some extent in order to lessen the gulf between the peoples.
A further similarity in the divisions of Men and Elves lies in the third group, comprising those peoples who shared the same basic origins as the two ‘Higher’ groups but who were soon sundered from them – and, as a result, pursued paths of almost totally separate development. For by comparison with the ennobled members of their races, both the Silvan Elves and the ‘Wild Men’ were rustic and primitive. The various races of Men who were termed ‘Wild’ in the lore of the Dúnedain were not akin (except in the remotest possible sense) to the Edain of the First Age, and their subsequent histories display this basic difference. Included in this third grouping were: the Easterlings, the Haradrim, the Men of the White Mountains (and their descendants, men of Dunland), the Variags of Khand and, perhaps most alien of all, the ‘Púkel-men’.
Available evidence suggests that the first Men of non-Adûnaic stock – perhaps even an entirely different race – to wander into the westlands were the peaceful aboriginal hunters later known as the Woses or (in Rohan) ‘Púkel-men’. During the Elder Days, they appeared in Beleriand, and later settled the regions around the western vales of the White Mountains, especially those lands south of the river Isen (still called Druwaith Iaur or ‘Old Púkel-land’). However, early in the Second Age, another Mannish people, better organised and far less peaceful, followed the hunters into the mountain-valleys and drove them out of their ancient homes. The ‘Púkel-men’ sought refuge in the southern forests, particularly Druadan, while their dispossessors occupied the fertile uplands and vales of the Mountains. However, these newcomers eventually found their fortunes diminished by the first rise to power of Sauron of Mordor. For, while they continued to grow in craft, making many works of stone amid the high valleys, they soon fell into Sauron’s power, being ruled by him during most of the Accursed Years. These were the ‘Men of the Mountains’ who built the Dunharrow and the labyrinth under the Dwimorberg – the purpose of which was never recorded – and who later swore an oath of fealty to Gondor which they afterwards broke with terrible consequences. After Sauron’s first overthrow and the establishment of Gondor, their race was diminished; they abandoned the Mountains, and only the souls of the Dead remained to trouble the peace of the region.
Significantly, in their strange story and unhappy fate can be seen the seeds of the same destiny which overtook the very noblest of the High People: the Númenoreans. For despite the vast gulf between them, both peoples experienced the same hunger for power unmatched by spiritual growth, and in both cases this resulted in an overreaching of ambition and eventual destruction. So, while the cultural differences among the Mannish peoples were (and still are) immense, ultimately, they were (and are) cancelled out by the great factors in common, most notably Free Will, the gift of all Free Peoples, and the possession of immortal souls tempered by Mortality: the Gift of Men.
Their common Inheritance was realised by the wise even before the fall of Númenor had tied the destiny of Men irrevocably to Middle-earth. Indeed, the Third Age was as notable for the alliances forged among Mannish peoples as for the surviving enmities; and although Easterling and Southron peoples assailed the Western Kingdoms throughout the Age, the aftermath of the War of the Ring brought many signs of renewed hope that, one day, those ancient hostilities might be eradicated. King Elessar (Aragorn) himself set the first example by pardoning and freeing all those of alien Mannish race taken during the War, and though it was not recorded that he achieved the lasting peace he sought, by his example he indicated the direction to be pursued.
Menegroth ‘Thousand Caves’ (Sind.) – The name given by the Grey-elves of Doriath to the great underground fortress and Palace of their king Elwë Thingol, excavated and built (with the aid of the Dwarves of Belegost) early in the First Age. It lay underneath a stony hill in the centre of Doriath, and its doors were guarded by the river Esgalduin. Menegroth was said to be the strongest and the fairest of all kingly halls in Middle-earth, and long indeed it stood. But in the end, like all cities and palaces of the Eldar, it was sacked and defiled: on the first occasion by Dwarves (though not of the kindred which had assisted in its building); and on the second by Elves. Both groups of attackers were independently attempting to steal the Silmaril which was lodged there.
Meneldil ‘Lover-of-the-Heavens’ (Q.) – From Year 2 to 158 Third Age, the third King of Gondor; the son of Anárion and grandson of Elendil the Tall. Meneldil was born in Minas Anor before the ending of the Second Age and remained there throughout the War of the Last Alliance. Near the end of this War, in 3440 Second Age, Anárion was slain at the gates of the Barad-dûr; therefore after the Fall of Sauron in the following year, his brother Isildur was obliged to tarry in the South-kingdom, instructing his young nephew in the art of kingship. For two years Isildur acted as Regent before marching away to his own death at the Gladden Fields.
During Meneldil’s long reign the South-kingdom was healed of many of the hurts it had sustained in the War against Sauron. His son Cemendur succeeded him.
Meneldor – A swift young Eagle of the Misty Mountains and a close comrade of the mighty Gwaihir the Windlord. Together with his liege-lord, and Gwaihir’s brother Landroval, Meneldor rescued the Ring-bearers from certain death at the feet of the volcano Orodruin, when the completion of Frodo’s mission brought about the final venting of the titanic forces which were imprisoned there.
Meneldur (Tar-Meneldur) – From 740–883 Second Age, the fifth King of Númenor. Though the youngest of the three children of Tar-Elendil (fourth King), he, rather than his elder sister Silmariën, inherited the Sceptre (in his son Tar-Aldarion’s time the Númenorean laws of succession were profoundly changed so that the Sceptre descended to the eldest child, whether man or woman). The descendants of Silmariën later carried the Númenorean succession back to Middle-earth. Meneldur was a great astronomer and built a mighty tower for this purpose in the northernmost heights of the Forostar. For this he was called Elentirmo ‘Star-watcher’.
Menelmacar ‘Heavenly-swordsman’ (Q.) – The High-elven form of the Grey-elven name MENELVAGOR.
Meneltarma ‘Pillar-of-the-Heavens’ (Q.) – The highest mountain of Númenor, situated in the middle of that island, most westerly of all mortal lands. From its hallowed summit the farsighted could make out the White Tower which marked the Haven of the Eldar in Eressëa, part of the Undying Lands, which lay even further West, forever beyond the reach of the Númenoreans. Its lower slopes were gentle, but the sides of the peak grew ever steeper as one ascended it; only by means of a specially-cut approach-road were people able to achieve the summit. Here
– before the degeneration of the Númenoreans – was the holiest place in the land.2
Menelvagor ‘Heavenly-swordsman’ (Sind.) – The Grey-elven name for the constellation Orion, derived from Q. Menelmacar.
Menelya ‘Heavens’-day’ (Q.) – The fifth day of the enquië or ‘week’ in both the Elvish calendar and the ancient Númenorean system of Kings’ Reckoning, which was ultimately adopted by most of the folk of Middle-earth who used the Common Speech. It was named after the Firmament (which to the Elves meant the Heavens themselves rather than that which they contained). The Dúnedain used the Sindarin form of this name, Ormenel; the Hobbits’ translation was Hevensday, later Hensday.
Men-i-Naugrim ‘Way of the Dwarves’ (Sind.) – The OLD FOREST ROAD.
Men of Westernesse – See NÚMENOR.
Mere of Dead Faces – See DEAD MARSHES.
Meresdei – An archaic form of the Hobbits’ name for the sixth day of the week. The original name for this day was Eärenya, ‘Sea-day’ (Q.), given by Men of the (maritime) realm of Númenor, and established in their system of Kings’ Reckoning, which was ultimately adopted by the Hobbits. The Shire-folk had, of course, no knowledge that the original (Elvish) week included only six days, and that the ‘Sea-day’ had been added by the Númenoreans. In fact, most Hobbits loathed the very idea of the Sea, and few ever gave thought to the origins of the (translated) names found in their calendar. By the end of the Third Age, Meresdei had been shortened to Mersday.
Meres of Twilight – A translation of the Grey-elven name Aelin-uial.
Mereth Aderthad ‘Feast of Reunion’ (Sind.) – The name given by Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor, to the great feast and celebration which he decreed in the 21st Year of the Sun; it was held near the sources of the river Narog in West Beleriand, at the Pools of Ivrin in the southern vales of the Mountains of Shadow. The occasion was to celebrate the reuniting of the Noldor with the Sindar – and of the House of Fingolfin with the House of Fëanor.
The Complete Tolkien Companion Page 43