The Complete Tolkien Companion

by J. E. A. Tyler

  Seven years later, when Tuor was in his thirty-seventh year, there came the attack upon Gondolin, delivered with awful force and aided by the treachery of Maeglin. Turgon and many of his captains were slain, and the city was utterly destroyed by Dragons. Few escaped; those who did were led by Tuor (who had avenged Turgon by slaying Maeglin), Idril and the youthful Eärendil. After many perils, they came to the havens of the south, and there rested for a while, in the company and fellowship of the last surviving Eldar and Edain in all Beleriand, now utterly defeated, one by one, kingdom by kingdom, and driven to this last refuge.

  Thereafter for many years Tuor made his dwelling. His son Eärendil grew to manhood, and wedded Elwing, the daughter of Dior Thingol’s Heir; and the royal Line of Descent of the Grey-elves of Middle-earth was thereby added to the Line of Gondolin and the descent of the Edain. But at about the time that his grandsons Elros and Elrond were born, Tuor determined to seek the West – he had by this time become a great mariner – and he and Idril built a vessel called Eärrámë, the Flower of Foam, and set sail. They were never again seen in Middle-earth, and their fate is not known for sure. But their line continued, and by their example they prepared their son Eärendil for the voyage he too would one day make. So at the very end of the First Age, the words of Huor came true, and a new star arose in the West to bring hope to Middle-earth.

  Turambar ‘Master of Doom’ (Q.; Sind. Turamarth) – The last of the many noms-de-guerre assumed by Túrin son of Húrin of Dor-lómin.

  Also (Third Age) the name of the ninth King of Gondor, who reigned from 541–667. When his father Rómendacil I was slain by invading Easterlings (in 541), Turambar led the army of Gondor which avenged his father and defeated the intruders. As a result Gondor’s eastern possessions were greatly increased.

  Turgon ‘Stone-master’ (Sind. from Q. Turukáno) – The younger of the two sons of Fingolfin of the Noldor. He was born in Tirion before the passing of the Two Trees, and afterwards forsook the Undying Lands, together with his wife, his father and all their kin, and joined the rebellion led by Fëanor, and went into Exile in Middle-earth. There he came to be accounted one of the wisest and most far-seeing of the Noldor, and he built the renowned and beautiful city of Gondolin, in memory of Tirion the Fair; and in the end became High King of all the exiled Noldor, while Gondolin was the longest to endure of all the cities and realms made by the Noldor in Middle-earth.

  Almost from the very first Turgon realised that the great enterprise of the Exiles was doomed to bitterness and failure (his own wife Elenwë perished even before setting foot in Middle-earth). Because of this, he held aloof from the remainder of his kin, sensing as he did that evil must follow them in all their deeds. Instead – for he was, nonetheless, committed to aid the enterprise as best he might – he determined to build a great city which would be at once a revered memory of Eldamar and a mighty redoubt against the power of Morgoth. (It was said that the Vala Ulmo put this thought in his mind, for Ulmo was a friend of both Turgon and Finrod son of Finarfin, and he knew that the heart of neither was fully set on recapturing the Silmarils. Both these High-elves indeed built great cities that were also great fortresses, and neither took a leading part in the Wars – until the end.) At this time – the first few decades of his exile – Turgon was dwelling by the Sea, in the most westerly part of Middle-earth: Nevrast. Underneath Mount Taras he had built a great hall, Vinyamar; but very soon he began actively to search for a hidden place where his greater, still unbuilt, city might arise.

  It is told elsewhere how he came to find the vale of Tumladen in the Encircling Mountains, and how he kept the secret for many years while he planned in secret and built with care. At the beginning of the second century of his exile he quitted Vinyamar, and together with all his people made his way to Gondolin, and entered in; and the gates in the mountains were shut, and thereafter for many centuries not even Finrod his friend knew where Turgon dwelt.

  For most of this time Turgon carefully husbanded his strength, and took little part in the Wars, not even in the great battle of the Dagor Bragollach. And all this time Gondolin grew still more fair; and within its bounds the High-elven tongue was still freely spoken in Middle-earth, and in the court of the King stood Two Trees. Few ever came there. Fewer still departed. The first of these was Turgon’s own sister Aredhel Ar-Feiniel – and this was much against the liking of Turgon. That story (see MAEGLIN) forms a great part of the tale of Gondolin’s eventual fall, for by Ar-Feiniel’s impulsive actions evil was allowed to enter Gondolin, though none realised it until the end. But others who came to the Hidden City while it stood were two princes of the Edain; and their story, and what came of it, is also woven into the tale of Turgon and Gondolin, with happier results. But for the most part Turgon defended his land, and wrapped it in secrecy, and of all those beyond its mountain-walls, Elves and Men, only Huor and Húrin ever knew its secret; they and the Eagles of the Crissaegrim.

  Turgon, however, never forgot his ancient belief that the real hope of the Noldor lay in the West; and always he looked to the Sea. After the Dagor Bragollach he sent messengers west, in search of Valinor, but one only returned, and that was years afterwards. And in the meantime the tide of war flowed to and fro across the north-lands. At last Turgon could no longer hold aloof from the conflict, and he emerged from Gondolin for the first time in four and a half centuries, and brought his army to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad; and – despite great heroism – was defeated there. He and his host were saved from destruction, and enabled to make an uncontested retreat, only by the valour of the Men of Dor-lómin, led by Húrin and Huor. And though the days grew dark thereafter, Turgon never forgot this.

  The last years of Turgon in Middle-earth were years of war and ravage in western Middle-earth, but a time of unreal bliss in Gondolin. Nothing had changed in Tumladen since the building of the city – and still no Elf departed from it, for Turgon now enforced his most ancient law with absolute determination. And after a time there came a Man from the Sea bearing tokens, and Turgon knew him for a messenger from Ulmo (see TUOR). Yet on this crucial occasion his old wisdom deserted him – overmastered by his pride in the city he had built – and he ignored the counsel thus vouchsafed him; and in so doing brought about the fall of Gondolin. For evil was awake in the city. But Turgon would not relinquish the creation of his heart, and remained in Gondolin, and was betrayed, and perished in the sack. Yet this grace was granted, on account of his long piety, and as a reward for his repentance: that his Line should continue in the world after the ending of the Age, and that the memory of Gondolin should be preserved among Elves and Men until the latest days, unstained and fair.

  Also (Third Age) the name of the twenty-fourth Ruling Steward of Gondor, who reigned from 2914–53. Two years before his death Sauron the Great openly declared himself again and re-occupied Mordor.

  Tûr Haretha – See HAUDH-EN-ARWEN.

  Túrin Turambar – The most tragic of all the heroes of the Edain of the First Age, whose life and deeds are the chief subject of The Tale of the Children of Húrin, longest surviving Mannish poem of the Elder Days. Túrin was perhaps the mightiest warrior of all the Edain (save only his father Húrin), and the last but one of the valiant House of Hador of Dor-lómin; but although he fought bravely all his life, and did deeds of prowess that won him the love and respect both of Elves and Men, he was of the Children of Húrin, and therefore accursed by Morgoth; and he brought only grief and disaster upon those whom he in turn loved, and in the end slew himself in despair.

  Túrin was the son of Húrin of the Third House of the Edain and Morwen Eledhwen of the First House, born in Dor-lómin. When he was nearly eight years old his father and uncle and all the warriordom of their nation marched away to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and never returned. But Húrin had been taken prisoner, and had defied Morgoth; so Morgoth cursed Húrin and all his kin; and as the chief instrument of his will in this matter he chose the Fire-drake Glaurung. But first he sought Túrin – and at first he did not fin
d him, for soon after the Nirnaeth the boy had been sent to Doriath, to be fostered in the care of Thingol; and Túrin came to early manhood in that secret, fenced land. And then he went to war, as the Heir of Dor-lómin, wearer of the Dragon-helm, and won renown on the north marches.

  Slowly his ordained fate began to close in. A quarrel ended in tragedy (see SAEROS) and Túrin fled from Doriath, to eke out a miserable rogue’s existence in the wilds beyond. But Thingol sent one of his greatest warriors, Beleg Cúthalion, to find the boy and, if necessary, protect him – if he could not first persuade him to return to Doriath. Beleg was unable to persuade Túrin to return, but he uplifted his life, and set the young man’s mind towards nobler occupations than mere banditry. Together they waged war upon Morgoth in the lands about Teiglin in West Beleriand.

  But this campaign was to be short-lived. Túrin and Beleg and their band of guerrillas were betrayed, and Túrin was captured by Orcs, but afterwards freed by Beleg, whom he accidentally slew in the act. Crazed by grief for his dead friend, Túrin might then have fallen prey to the perils of the wild, but was befriended by Gwindor, an Elf, formerly of Nargothrond, who had escaped from Angband and was returning to his city. He brought Túrin to Nargothrond.

  Túrin’s first comrades in the wild, the outlaw band of Amon Rûdh, and his oldest friend, Beleg Strongbow, were all dead. Now it had become the turn of Gwindor and the Elves of Nargothrond; for by succouring him and giving him their love – and later their respect and obedience – they too fell, as was afterwards seen, under the curse laid on Húrin’s kin. For though a Mortal Man, Túrin was a hardier and more skilful warrior than any Elf of Nargothrond; and by his valour and unbroken determination to wreak harm upon Morgoth was soon acknowledged – even by King Orodreth – as war-leader of Nargothrond. They called him Mormegil because of the Black Sword (once Beleg’s) that he wielded with deadly effect. But Túrin scorned secret ambush, for long the practice of the Elves of Nargothrond. An understandable pride in being the only Man ever to command an Elven-host in the field perhaps affected his judgement. Disregarding an ancient tactical precept of Finrod’s, he bridged the Narog – to permit, as he explained, the swift sortie of armies – but ignoring the fact that he also thereby laid bare the doors of Nargothrond. And later, when a great host came from the North, an army which included the Dragon Glaurung, Túrin would not await their onset but went boldly out to meet them in battle. But the host he led to Tumhalad was destroyed; Gwindor was mortally wounded and Orodreth the King was slain, and most of the warriors of Nargothrond besides. But Túrin, as was his doom, survived – only to reap the full horror when he learned that Nargothrond, left undefended, had been sacked by the Dragon – and this had only come about because of the bridge he, Túrin, had made; and that the King’s daughter Finduilas (who loved Túrin) had been taken prisoner by Orcs.

  At the gates of Nargothrond, Túrin for the first time encountered the Dragon Glaurung, who bewitched him. He fled north, crazed and anguished, seeking both Finduilas and his own mother and sister, for the words of Glaurung had put him in fear for their safety. Now the curse hastened to its fulfilment. For in the meantime Morwen and her daughter Nienor, who were also accursed of Morgoth, had left Dor-lómin and had gone, like Túrin years before, to Doriath, hoping to find him there. But he, having now learned of the death of Finduilas, was at the same time seeking them in Dor-lómin. And so their paths crossed, Morwen never again setting sight on her only son. She and her daughter came to Thingol’s kingdom, and learning of Túrin’s long departure determined separately to seek him in the wild; for they had also learned of the fall of Nargothrond, and of the Mormegil. So while Túrin dwelt in Brethil and made lonely war on the enemies of his kin, Morwen and Nienor were seeking him near Nargothrond. At this time Nienor also encountered Glaurung the Dragon, and was bewitched, and lost her memory. She was found, wandering witlessly in the wild, by Túrin – who did not recognise her, for she had been but an infant when he had left Dor-lómin. He comforted her, and took her with him to Brethil – where he was now dwelling, with the Haladin – and after three years he wedded her. And she conceived his child.

  Now the doom was complete; but Túrin who now called himself Turambar (‘Master of Doom’), still did not know of the evil he had unwittingly committed. And he gained no small revenge for his sufferings, by slaying the Dragon. But Glaurung spoke before he died, and lifted the bewitchment from Nienor and then she knew what was done, and slew herself. And when Túrin at last also learned the full truth, and realised the nature of the doom which had mastered him, he too now slew himself in despair, and was buried at Cabed Naeramarth, the place of his greatest victory and his greatest anguish.7

  Note: during his life Túrin assumed many noms-de-guerre. He was, after all, always aware of his mighty inheritance, and also that Morgoth was seeking for him, the last heir of Dor-lómin; and so he cloaked his identity under a series of titles. These, in chronological order, were: Neithian (‘the Wronged’); Gorthol (‘the Dreaded Helm’); Agarwaen Úmarth (‘the Bloodstained, Ill-fortune’s child’); Adanedhel (‘Elf-man’); Mormegil (‘the Black Sword’), and finally Turambar (‘Master-of-Doom’). The only name awarded to him by others was ‘Wildman of the Woods’. The circumstances surrounding these titles are more fully detailed under the corresponding entries.

  Túrin I – From 2244–78 Third Age, the sixth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

  Túrin II – From 2882–2914 Third Age, the twenty-third Ruling Steward of Gondor, and a farsighted strategian of his day. Early in his rule he received warning that the Haradrim, traditional foes of the Dúnedain, were again planning an invasion of South Ithilien; accordingly Túrin invoked the alliance between his people and the Riders of Rohan, sending the Red Arrow, most urgent token of war, to King Folcwine in Edoras. The aid sent by Folcwine enabled Túrin to defeat the invaders at the BATTLE OF THE CROSSINGS OF POROS.

  Some years afterwards Túrin perceived that Ithilien was becoming untenable, due to the growing strength of Mordor; he therefore ordered built the secret refuges of that province (see HENNETH ANNUN). At the same time he fortified the west bank of the Anduin, including the isle of Cair Andros which guarded the province of Anórien. These farsighted fortifications were of great value to the Dúnedain a century later during the War of the Ring.

  Twofoot – A family of rustic Hobbits of Bywater and district.

  Two Trees – The Two Trees of Valinor, made at the Beginning of Days by Yavanna Kementári of the Valar. They grew on the mound of Ezellohar, near the western gate of the city of the Valar, and brought the first Light into the world since the extinguishing of the still more ancient Light of the Lamps Illuin and Ormal.

  The Trees were named Telperion (the elder) and Laurelin; and the one bore flowers which gave a silver Light, while the other had leaves of gold. They were the most beautiful trees that have ever been in the World, and they grew and flourished for Ages in the holiest place of Arda; but in the end Evil touched them, and they were poisoned, and died, and their Light was taken from the world – but not for ever, for some of it lingered in the three Silmarils which Fëanor of the Noldor had made.

  Moreover, a scion of Telperion still grew in Tirion, a gift from the Valar to the Noldor; and a descendant of this Tree of the High-elves (Galathilion, as it was called), grew in Eressëa. This was Celeborn. In time a sapling of Celeborn’s line (Nimloth) found its way to Númenor, and a fruit of this Tree of Westernesse was taken to Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons, and in later days grew in Gondor. A last descendant of this exceedingly ancient Line still lived at the beginning of the Fourth Age.

  But Laurelin had no linear descendants in Middle-earth; and thereafter the Golden Light was to be perceived only in the mingled Light of the Evening Star. Yet it is said by the Eldar that the Sun is itself the last leaf of the Tree of Gold, borne eternally aloft on fixed paths; and that the Moon is the last Flower of Silver, similarly piloted through the heavens by untiring agency.

  Tyelle ‘Grade’ (Q.) –
The name given by the High-elves to each of the six subdivisions of the Fëanorian Alphabet, all of which measured a certain mode of articulation and were further modified by the four temar (‘series’) which indicated the point of articulation. This cross-division was the basis on which the Tengwar were originally devised to function as a wholly phonetic writing-system.

  Tyelpetéma ‘Ty-series’ (Q.) – The name given by the High-elves to the téma (‘series’) in the Tengwar (the Fëanorian Alphabet) which indicated a palatal point of articulation in the Quenya tongue. This series was not normally part of the Fëanorian regulating-system, and was written, where necessary, by using Series IV together with a Fëanorian diacritic mark (tehta) for ‘following y’ (actually a pair of full points placed under the consonant in question).

  Tyrn Gorthad ‘Dreaded Mounds’ (Sind.) – The BARROW-DOWNS.

  Udûn ‘The Pit’ or ‘the Underworld’ (Sind., from Q. Utumno) – The name given in the language of the Grey-elves to the first Realm of Morgoth, in the Far North of Middle-earth, destroyed in the Battle of the Powers when the world was young.

  Also (Third Age) the name in Gondor for the deep vale which lay in north-western Mordor, between the Isenmouthe and the Morannon, the Black Gate.

  Ufthak – As recorded in the Red Book (by Master Samwise), this was the name of a miserable Orc, a member of the garrison of the Tower of Cirith Ungol, who was captured and afterwards devoured by the giant spider Shelob the Great. Through Sam we learn that this unhappy Goblin was, in fact, discovered by his fellow-orcs while still bound and uneaten; but in an act of almost unbelievable callousness, his ‘comrades’ declined to rescue him, not wishing to provoke the wrath of the monster.