The Complete Tolkien Companion

by J. E. A. Tyler

  She herself, together with her daughter Nienor, remained in Dor-lómin for a further twenty years. Then, taking advantage of a momentary easing of the power of Morgoth in that region, she fled, with Nienor, to Doriath, hoping to find Túrin still there. But he was gone. And soon afterwards came news of the sack of Nargothrond; and with it news of Túrin. Then Morwen quitted Doriath, in search of Túrin; and in an attack made upon her party by the Dragon Glaurung, chief instrument of Morgoth in the matter of the Children of Húrin, she was lost; and was never again seen by Elves or Men – save by her husband Húrin, whom she met again on the day of her death, years afterwards. She was buried with her son, at Cabed Naeramarth.

  Morwen of Lossarnach – A lady of southern Gondor who wedded Thengel, son of King Fengel of Rohan (in 2943 Third Age). This was the first recorded union between any of the Dúnedain and the Rohirrim, who were by then traditional allies of Gondor.

  Thengel was old by the time he married, and he had dwelt for most of his life in Gondor, being at feud with his father Fengel (by all accounts a King of unpleasant personal habits and quarrelsome nature). While living in the South-kingdom, Morwen bore Thengel three children, including his only son Théoden. In 2980 Fengel died, and Thengel returned to Rohan to become its sixteenth King. There, Morwen – whom the Rohirrim called ‘Steelsheen’ – bore him two more children, the last child being Théodwyn, beloved sister of young Théoden.

  Théodwyn’s own daughter Éowyn (who was later adopted by Théoden after he became King) was said to have ‘a grace and pride that came to her out of the South from Morwen of Lossarnach.’14

  Mounds of Mundburg – The name given in Rohan to the burial-mounds of those who fell in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (March, 3019 Third Age). The mounds themselves were not far from Minas Tirith (‘Mundburg’), on the site of the great battle, near the river Anduin. Inside these long green barrows were laid all the warriors slain during the battle, both Dúnedain and Rohirrim – save only King Théoden himself. The story of the individual heroism of the fallen was celebrated in a lay, made in Rohan, which sings of the Mounds of Mundburg.15

  Mountains of Aman – The Pelóri.

  Mountains of Defence – The Pelóri.

  Mountains of Lune – The Hobbits’ name for the Ered Luin, the ‘Blue Mountains’ which lay to the west of the Shire.

  Mountains of Mirkwood – A small range of broken hills that rose some distance north of the Old Forest Road which ran through the gloomy wood. In the Fourth Age they formed the southern boundary of King Thranduil’s Elven-realm; the enchanted river which also guarded the Wood-elves’ kingdom had its source in these mountains.

  Mountains of Mithrim – See MITHRIM.

  Mountains of Moria – The three great peaks which rose above the underground Dwarf-kingdom of Khazâd-dûm: Caradhras (Barazinbar), Celebdil (Zirak-zigil) and Fanuidhol (Bundushathûr). In the Westron or Common Speech they were known as Redhorn, Silver-tine and Cloudyhead.

  Mountains of Shadow – A translation of the Grey-elven name Ered Wethrin (also ‘Shadowy Mountains’); in the Third Age, a name given by Men of Gondor to the western wall of Mordor, closest to their realm (properly Ephel Dúath ‘Dark [shadowy]-outer-fence’).

  Mountains of Terror – A translation of the Sindarin name Ered Gorgoroth, given by the Elves of Beleriand to the southernmost heights and precipices of Dorthonion: a region of horror and dread. The reason for the name, and for the fear in which this region of Beleriand was held, lay in the infestation of this range of mountains by evil creatures: spiders of monstrous size, descendants of Ungoliant. There was no more dangerous place in Middle-earth, save Angband itself.

  These creatures first appeared after the return of Ungoliant and Morgoth to Middle-earth; so rapidly did they breed that before long not only the Mountains of Terror but also the valley whose northern wall they were (Nan Dungortheb), had become their preserve; and as a result was avoided by all save the foolhardy, the ignorant, and the desperate. Moreover, at least one of these creatures somehow survived the ruin of Beleriand, and later came to Mordor, there to fatten once more upon the blood of Elves and Men. This was SHELOB THE GREAT.

  It is recorded that the Ered Gorgoroth were successfully crossed once only: by Beren of the Edain.

  Mountains of the East-The Orocarni (‘Red Mountains’), a range of mountains of unknown dimension which lay along the western shore of the Inland Sea of Helcar, a remnant of ILLUIN.

  Mountains of Valinor – The Pelóri.

  Mount Dolmed – See DOLMED.

  Mount Doom – A translation of the Sindarin Amon Amarth, the name given in Gondor to the volcano Orodruin, when it burst into flame to herald Sauron’s first assault upon the survivors of Númenor (in 3429 Second Age).

  Mount Everwhite – A translation of the Quenya name Oiolossë (also Taniquetil), highest of the Mountains of Valinor (the Pelóri).

  Mount Fang – A rendering of the Sindarin word Orthanc into the Common Speech or Westron. Orthanc was, of course, the great tower of Angrenost (Isengard), built by Gondor late in the Second Age.

  Mount Gram – A northerly peak of the Misty Mountains whose precise location has not been recorded. It was reportedly the dwelling place of the Goblins who, led by Golfimbul, attacked the Shire in 2747 Third Age (1147 Shire Reckoning) and were decisively defeated by Bandobras ‘the Bullroarer’ Took at the Battle of Greenfields that same year.

  Mount Gundabad – See GUNDABAD.

  Mount Rerir – See RERIR.

  Mount Taras – See TARAS.

  Mouth of Sauron – This was the self-awarded title of the Lieutenant of the Dark Tower, who conducted all his dark Master’s embassies. In origin he was said to have been one of those renegades who settled the coastlands of Middle-earth during the Second Age. Whether or not he actually was of such great age cannot be told, for ‘his name is remembered in no tale…’16

  Mouths of Anduin – The Great River reached the Sea at Belfalas via a large and complex delta known as the Ethir Anduin, the ‘Mouths of Anduin’.

  Mouths of Entwash – After passing through the flat, low-lying country south of the Emyn Muil, the river Entwash meandered into a wide marshy delta, actually greater in size than the Mouths of Anduin. It was a sad country with tall reeds and many birds, but no inhabitants. There were seven Mouths of Entwash, as much as thirty leagues apart, and all flowed into the Great River between the Emyn Muil and Cair Andros.

  Mouths of Sirion – The Sirion delta, in the Bay of Balar. (Possibly a translation of Ethir Sirion.)

  Mugwort – A family of Bree-hobbits.

  Mûmak – The origin of this word is not known although it may be in the language of the Men of Harad. The mûmakil were pachyderms, giant war-beasts known to the Hobbits (in tales only) as ‘Oliphaunts’.

  Mundburg ‘Guardian-fortress’ – The name used in Rohan for Minas Tirith, the great fortified city of Gondor.

  Mungo Baggins – The eldest son of Balbo Baggins of Hobbiton, the father of Bungo and the grandfather of Bilbo the Renowned.

  Muzgash – An Orc-soldier of the Tower of Cirith Ungol, a member of Shagrat’s company. Like his comrade Lagduf, Muzgash was shot by one of his own race, one of the Orcs of Minas Morgul, who were in hot dispute with the Ungol-orcs over the possession of certain items of booty.17

  Nahald – In the original (as opposed to translated) Mannish tongues of Northern Wilderland, the personal name Nahald meant ‘secret’. In translations from the Red Book this name is rendered Déagol.

  Nahar – The (onomatopoeically derived) name given in Eldarin tradition to the Horse of the Huntsman of the Valar Oromë.

  Náin I – From 1980–81 Third Age, the last King of Khazâd-dûm (Moria), the great Dwarf-city under the Misty Mountains. His father was Durin VI. In this time the Dwarves were again delving deep in their northern mines, seeking the mother-lode of the mithril-vein which had been the foundation of their wealth. Thus they released (or awakened) an evil spirit of the First Age, still slumbering far beneath th
e earth. This was the Balrog, who slew Durin, and drove many of the Dwarves far away from Moria.

  Nonetheless, under Náin I, their new King, the Dwarves held on to the upper levels of their ancient mansions – but only a year later Náin himself was slain by the Terror that emerged from the Deeps. Following his death the Dwarves abandoned Moria and fled into the North.

  Náin II – From 2488–2585 Third Age, King of the Dwarf-realm which had been established in the Grey Mountains (Ered Mithrin) shortly after the founding of Erebor. Náin was the last King of this once-thriving colony to die peacefully.

  Náin (of the Iron Hills) – The son of Grór, first Lord of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills. In the year 2799 Third Age Náin led an army of his father’s people to aid their kinfolk at the Battle of Azanulbizar, the final battle in the six-year War of the Dwarves and Orcs. The host of the Iron Hills did not arrive at the field of conflict until comparatively late in the day, when the Dwarves had already begun to give way in the face of great odds. But the grim warriors of the Iron Hills turned the tide, and soon reached the very gates of Moria, where Náin challenged Azog, the orc-leader, to single combat. Azog, who had avoided all battle up to this point, was much the fresher and stronger and killed the Dwarf, although he was himself slain by Dáin Ironfoot, son of Náin.

  Naith – That part of Lothlórien lying between the rivers Silverlode (Celebrant) and Anduin. The Elves of that land saw the Naith in the shape of a broad spearhead (or gore) whose tip was at Egladil, where they themselves dwelt, near the confluence of the rivers.

  Náli – A Dwarf from the Lonely Mountain and a member of the gallant but ill-fated expedition to Moria led by Balin son of Fundin in 2989 Third Age. The colony failed five years later when overwhelmed by Orcs attacking from the east; together with his comrades Frár and Lóni, Náli fell while holding Durin’s Bridge and the Second Hall.

  Namárië ‘Farewell’ (Q.) – A word of parting used among the High-elves; more specifically, a name for the Lament of Galadriel in Lórien (called Altariello nainië Lóriendesse in the Quenya tongue). The verse (or hymn) was recorded and set down in the Red Book of Westmarch by Frodo Baggins, to whom it was originally sung, as a valedictory and parting benison. It is in fact the longest single passage of High-elven speech to be recorded in surviving Annals of the Third Age.

  Galadriel, exiled from her ancient home in Eldamar long Ages before the War of the Ring, addresses her song to Frodo the Ring-bearer, bidding him a fair journey and peace at the end of it. Simultaneously, she includes a plea to Elbereth – who hears all words spoken in Middle-earth – asking her blessing on Frodo’s Quest and the acceptance of Frodo himself in the Undying Lands after its completion. For Galadriel was the wisest of Elven women then living in Mortal Lands, and her foresight told her that if the Quest succeeded it would be at great personal cost to the Ring-bearer. The verse also speaks indirectly of Galadriel’s sorrow at her own long exile from the Undying Lands.

  In the event, Galadriel’s prayer (for such it was) was heard and answered, and the Ring-bearer was granted the grace she sought for him; and for her own great acts of wisdom and unselfishness – and not least for her rejection of the Ring when it came within her power – Galadriel was herself finally forgiven by the Valar and permitted to return to the West.

  Nameless Land – An epithet used in Gondor for Mordor. During the latter years of the Third Age, after Sauron once again declared himself openly in Mordor, Men of Gondor and the Westlands frequently spoke of ‘the Unnamed’ and ‘the Nameless Land’, in order to avoid giving substance to what was a very real horror and ever-present threat on the borders of their lives.

  Nameless Pass – Because of the heavy omens associated with it, the Pass of CIRITH UNGOL, which lay above Minas Morgul, was spoken of with dread in Gondor – and therefore circumlocution was often employed to avoid naming it (see previous entry). ‘If Cirith Ungol is named, old men and masters of lore will blanch and fall silent,’ reported Faramir when warning the Ring-bearer to avoid the place.1

  The inhibiting horror attached to this Pass was based on old tales dating from the days when Gondor kept a foothold in Mordor, when the Tower of Cirith Ungol, which guarded the Pass, was garrisoned by the Dúnedain. Their stories spoke of a living ghastliness which had long made its den in the highest peak of the Pass.

  Námo ‘The Judge’ (Q.) – See MANDOS.

  Nan Curunír ‘Valley of the Man of Skill’ (Sind.) – Situated between the south-westerly and south-easterly spurs of Methedras, the ‘Last peak’ of the Misty Mountains, the ‘Wizard’s Vale’ was a large, well-guarded valley, in the centre of which rose the mighty Ring of Isengard, originally called Angrenost when the natural fortifications there were smoothed and strengthened by Men of Gondor late in the Second Age.

  The Vale of Angrenost (as it was known before Saruman came to dwell there, late in the Third Age) overlooked the plain of Isen and the Gap of Rohan, thus commanding an important strategic position.

  Nandor ‘Those-who-turn-back’ (Q.) – The name given in the lore of the Eldar to those of the Telerin kindred, hindmost on the Great Journey, who quitted the march while still east of the Misty Mountains, being overawed by the size of the range and moreover enamoured of the woods and falling waters of Wilderland. They were led by Lenwë. This was the first sundering of the Eldar. Lenwë led his people southward, out of the knowledge of the other Teleri, and little is known of what befell the Nandor afterwards. For they did not remain a united people, but scattered this way and that, wandering freely where the mood took them; and though they were of nobler origin than the wild and rustic Avari, in after years their lives were passed in similar fashion. Many remained in Greenwood; some passed south, to the Golden Wood, and so became the ancestors of the Galadhrim. More still followed the Great River into the southlands, and came to its delta. And after many centuries and millennia, an adventurous vanguard circumvented the Misty Mountains, by way of the Ered Nimrais and Fangorn, and so came into the vast woods of Eriador. (In all probability these were those archaic Elves spoken of by Treebeard, for the Nandor were the first of the Eldar to encounter the Onodrim; at all events they seem to have left a lasting – and favourable – impression on the old Ent.)

  This vanguard of the Nandor was led, not by Lenwë (whose fate is not recorded), but by his son Denethor; and it chanced that their arrival in Eriador coincided with the release of Melkor from prison – and of the quickening of evil once more in northern Middle-earth. Eriador was fast becoming perilous. Therefore Denethor, hearing tales of Beleriand (possibly from Dwarves) and of its mighty King and Queen, decided to renounce the choice of his father Lenwë, and so, gathering his people together, he crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand, last of all the Eldar to do so, and was reunited with a Telerin people – the Sindar – after more than two ages of separation.

  They were welcomed by Thingol, who gave them the Land of the Seven Rivers (Ossiriand) to dwell in. They still called themselves (and were called by the Sindar) Nandor, but the returning Noldor called them ‘Green-elves’ (Laiquendi). Denethor was afterwards slain in the First Battle of Beleriand; and the green-clad Nandor came never again across Gelion, nor took any part in the affairs of the time, save when compelled to do so. Of the separate fates of the Nandor who remained in the east nothing more can be said.

  Note: in the nomenclature of the Eldar, the Nandor are accounted Moriquendi and Úmanyar, together with the ‘Western Nandor’ (the Green-elves of Ossiriand) and the Avari.

  Nanduhirion ‘Vale-of-dim-streams’ (Sind.) – A name for that ancient place in the Misty Mountains known to Dwarves as AZAN-ULBIZAR and to Northern Men as the Dimrill Dale.

  Nan Dungortheb ‘Valley of Dreadful Death’ (Sind.) – The sinister vale which lay between Doriath and Dorthonion, bordered in the east by the river Esgalduin and in the west by the Mindeb.

  Nan Elmoth – A wood of East Beleriand, an outlier of the greater forest of Region, though separated from it by the valley of the Celon. It was sha
ped like the sickle moon, being three leagues broad and seven long. Its trees were the loftiest in East Beleriand. Here the Maia Melian came and sang alone under the stars; and was found by Elwë Thingol, Lord of the Telerin Elves. Here they plighted their troth. They afterwards made a realm in nearby Doriath; but Nan Elmoth was then taken as a dwelling-place by the great smith of the Grey-elves, Eöl. In this wood he met Aredhel Ar-feiniel of the Noldor (in a strange echo of the earlier and less ill-starred meeting).

  Nan-tasarion ‘Vale of Willows’ (Q.) – The more formal of the two High-elven names for the valley which lay about the confluence of the Narog with the Sirion, in East Beleriand (the other was Tasarinan). The name most in use was the Sindarin Nan-tathren, which carries the same meaning.

  Nan-tathren – See preceding entry.

  Nár – An aged but faithful companion of the Dwarf-king Thrór, who faithfully accompanied the exiled King on his last wanderings – which ended at Azanulbizar in 2790 Third Age. Against Nár’s entreaties, Thrór proudly entered Moria alone; several days later, while waiting for him near the Great Gates, Nár heard a horn-blast and the beheaded corpse of the King was cast out on to the steps. Nár was mockingly called near by the Orcs inside Moria, who threw him a bag of worthless coins as weregild for Thrór’s death and told him to take the tidings to his kin. He did so, and the news precipitated the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.

  Narbeleth ‘Sun-waning’ (Sind.) – Both an alternative name for the fourth of the six Elvish ‘seasons’ (see QUELLË), and the word used by the Dúnedain for the month more widely known as Narquelië.

  Narchost ‘Fire-fort’ (Sind.) – One of the two Towers of the Teeth, which flanked the Black Gate into Mordor. Both towers (the other was Carchost, ‘Fang-fort’) were originally built by Men of Gondor at the end of the Second Age, in order to watch over the borders of the Black Land and prevent the re-entry of evil there after Sauron the Great was first overthrown.