A Dictionary of Tolkien Read online
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Brambles of Mordor
In the Black Land of Mordor was Gorgoroth, where the furnace and forge of the Ring Lord Sauron were housed. It was boasted that nothing grew upon that poisoned land, but as the “Red Book of Westmarch” tells, some life did in fact dare to come forth from the harsh ground. In sheltered places twisted tree-forms and stunted grey grasses haltingly grew and though the leaves were shrivelled with sulphur vapour and maggot hatchings, nowhere on Middle-earth did brambles grow so large and fierce. The Brambles of Mordor were hideous with foot-long thorns, as barbed and sharp as the daggers of Orcs, and they sprawled over the land like coils of steel wire. They were truly the flowers of the land of Mordor.
Brandywine River
In the Third Age of the Sun, the Brandywine was one of the three great rivers of Eriador. It flowed from the hills and lake of Evendim that was once the heart of the lost kingdom of Arnor, southwestward past the Shire and the Old Forest through to the sea at the southern end of the Blue Mountains. It appears to have had only two crossings along its length: the Sarn Ford to the south of the Shire and the Bridge of Stonebows to the east of the Shire, just north of the Old Forest and on the Great East Road. In Elvish, the river is called Baranduin which means “gold-brown river”, in reference to its colour. The name Brandywine is a translation of the original Hobbitish name Branda-nîn, meaning “border-water”, as it marked the eastern border of the Shire. In time this name was corrupted to Bralda-hîm meaning “heady ale”, and thus the translated form, Brandywine.
Bree
Reputedly founded during the Second Age of the Sun by Men from Dunland, Bree was the main village of Breeland (the others being Combe, Archet and Staddle). It was to be found at the crossing of the Great East Road and the North Road, which was to the east of the Shire and in the heartland of what was once the kingdom of Arnor, and was home to around one hundred Hobbits and Men. By the time of the War of the Ring, Bree was much diminished in size and importance from the great days of Arnor. However, considering the scale of destruction of Arnor at the hands of the Witch-king of Angmar, it is surprising that Bree survived at all. This survival was no doubt due in part to the protection of the Rangers of the North, and in part to its naturally strategic position at the crossing of the two main trading route roads. To many who travelled these roads, Bree was most famous for the Prancing Pony Inn, the region’s most ancient inn and the most likely place to catch up on all the news and gossip from places both near and far.
Brethil
In the lost land of Beleriand, there were once wide forests of birch trees. In the Sindarin language of the Grey-elves, the trees of these lands were called “Brethil” and their beauty was much admired by those Elves.
Cc
Cair Andros
Fortified by Túrin II, the twenty-third ruling steward of Gondor, during the thirtieth century of the Third Age, Cair Andros was an island on the Anduin River just north of the White Tower that guarded entry into the lands of Gondor and Rohan. It was a spectacular island and fortress, shaped like a huge ship with a high prow heading upstream. The flow of the river breaking fiercely against this “prow” explains the name, which means “ship-long-foam”. During the War of the Ring, Cair Andros was fiercely defended by the Men of Gondor, but finally fell to the forces of Mordor. However, after the decisive Battle of Pelennor Fields and the retreat of Sauron’s army, Cair Andros was retaken by Gondor.
Calacirya
Literally meaning “light cleft” in the High Elven tongue, Calacirya was also called the Pass of Light for it was the only pass through the great Pelóri Mountains in the Undying Lands, and in the Ages of the Trees of Valar the blessed light of these trees flowed through this gap. The hill of Túna was set in the midst of this pass, upon which was built Tirion, the chief city of the High Elves of Eldamar.
Calaquendi
The “Quenta Silmarillion” tells how those Elves who arose in Middle-earth came to the Undying Lands in the time of the Trees of the Valar. These pilgrim people were called the Calaquendi or Light Elves. For many Ages they lived in the Eternal Light of the Two Trees, and they were ennobled by that Light, strengthened in body, and filled with great knowledge by the teaching of the Valar and of the Maiar.
To compare the Calaquendi with the lesser Elves of Middle-earth was to compare diamonds with coal. The spirits of the Calaquendi were bright as the blades of their swords, and their souls strong and fierce as the naked flames that seemed to shine from their eyes. Before them, all but the mightiest of Melkor’s servants stood in awe.
Caras Galadon
Chief city of the hidden Elven kingdom of Lothlórien was Caras Galadon, “city of trees”. It was literally a city of elaborate tree-houses, or “telain”, built in a huge walled grove of giant silver-limbed mallorn trees in the heart of Lothlórien, and the highest ranking Elves remaining on Middle-earth during the Third Age. After the War of the Ring, when Galadriel left Middle-earth and Celeborn moved to East Lórien, Caras Galadon was deserted by the Elves and the spell that magically protected it and all Lothlórien was no more.
Carcharoth
Wolf of Angband. Carcharoth, meaning “the Red Maw”, was the greatest Wolf of all time. Guardian of the gates of Angband who never slept, he was reared on living flesh by Morgoth during the First Age of the Sun. During the Quest of the Silmaril, Carcharoth bit off Beren’s hand and swallowed both the hand and the Silmaril in it. The Elf-gem filled the beast with such a terrible fire that he ran amok, slaying everyone in his path. Horrifically, the burning jewel made his powers even greater than before. But finally, he met his equal: Huan, the Wolfhound of the Valar. In the battle that followed, Carcharoth mortally wounded both Huan and Beren with his venomous fangs, but in the end he was himself slain, and the Silmaril cut out of his belly.
Celeborn
Elven king of Lothlórien. Celeborn was a Sindar prince of Doriath and kinsman of King Thingol. During the First Age of the Sun he wed the Noldor princess, Galadriel, who gave birth to their only child, Celebrian. When Beleriand was destroyed, Celeborn and Galadriel fled to Lindon until the eighth century of the Second Age, when they settled in the kingdom of the Elven-smiths of Eregion. Later, Celeborn and Galadriel founded Lothlórien in the Golden Wood on the Silverlode River. During the War of the Ring, Celeborn defended Lothlórien from three attempted invasions, then led his Elven army into Mirkwood and destroyed Sauron’s stronghold of Dol Guldur. At the end of the Third Age, Galadriel sailed to the Undying Lands, but Celeborn remained behind. With Galadriel gone, Celeborn and his Silvan Elves left Lothlórien and founded East Lórien in the south of what was Mirkwood. Celeborn ruled East Lórien for some time but finally retired to Rivendell. Some time after, he is believed to have sailed to the Undying Lands.
Celebrant
Called the Silverlode in the Mannish tongue, and Kibil-nâla by the Dwarves, the Celebrant is the Elvish name, meaning “silver course”, for the river which flowed from the White Mountains through the pass of Azanulbizar, through the golden wood of Lothlórien and on into the Great River Anduin. During the Third Age of the Sun, the Fellowship of the Ring followed its course from the gates of Moria to the golden wood of Lothlórien.
Celebrían
Elven princess of Lothlórien. Celebrían was the only daughter of King Celeborn and Queen Galadriel. At the end of the first century of the Third Age of the Sun, Celebrían married Elrond Half-Elven of Rivendell. They had three children: Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen. In the year 2509 of the Third Age, while Celebrían was travelling from Rivendell to Lothlórien, her entourage was attacked by an evil band of Orcs. Although Celebrían was rescued by her brave sons, she sustained a poison wound which would not heal. She suffered her painful affliction for a year, but finally sailed to the Undying Lands where the Valar would cure her.
Celebrimbor
Elven king of Eregion. Born during the Ages of Starlight, Celebrimbor was a Noldor prince, the son of Curufin, and the grandson of Fëanor, who created the Silmarils. He fought in t
he War of the Jewels and the War of Wrath. In 750 of the Second Age, he founded the realm of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, “the Elven-smiths”. From the Dwarves he obtained mithril, and many other precious metals, and forged the finest weapons and jewellery of the age. But, like Fëanor, Celebrimbor always sought to create something better and greater than any before him. It was his Elven-smiths who forged the Ring of Power. This was his downfall, for he did not know that the fair stranger, called Annatar, who aided in the forging of the Rings, was none other than Sauron, the Dark Lord. When Sauron forged the One Ring, Celebrimbor immediately realized his tragic mistake. The disastrous War of the Elves and Sauron followed, from 1693 to 1701, in which Eregion was destroyed, and Celebrimbor slain.
Cerin Amroth
In the Elven kingdom of Lothlórien there was a hill where the Elf King Amroth built his house during the Second Age of the Sun. Songs of the Elves tell how in sorrow for his lost love, the Elf maiden Nimrodel, Amroth threw himself from an Elven ship and drowned in the sea. By the end of the Third Age his house on the hill had long vanished, but it was considered an enchanted place full of the beauty and sorrow of star-crossed love. Covered with Elanor and Niphredil flowers, it was here that Aragorn and Arwen were betrothed, and here that, after the death of her husband, Arwen herself came to die.
Círdan
Elven lord of Grey Havens. In the Ages of Starlight, Círdan became Lord of the Falathrim. Círdan means “ship-maker”, and his people were the first on Middle-earth to build ships. The harbours of Círdan survived through the Wars of Beleriand until 474, when Morgoth’s Orc legions overran the Falas. However, Círdan withdrew to the Isle of Balar with his people. After the sinking of Beleriand, Círdan became the Lord of the Grey Havens. Considered one of the wisest of the Elves, he was given Narya, the Elf “ring of fire” by Celebrimbor. At the end of the Second Age, Círdan joined the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, which resulted in the downfall of Sauron. Around the year of 1000, he gave his ring to Gandalf the Wizard. In 1975 Círdan led a force of Elves and Men into the Battle of Fornost, and defeated the Witch-king of Angmar. At the end of the Third Age the Keepers of the Rings left Círdan’s havens. Círdan himself remained there long into the Fourth Age, until the last Elves departed.
Cirith Gorgor
The Black Gate and the Towers of the Teeth were the mighty barriers built across the “haunted pass” called Cirith Gorgor, which was the main entrance into Sauron’s evil realm of Mordor. This was the largest pass into Mordor and the one most powerfully defended by Sauron during the Second and Third Ages. In both ages these massive defences were eventually thrown down and the pass opened.
Cirith Ungol
In the Mountains of Shadow that form the western wall and border of Mordor there was one little-used and narrow pass called Cirith Ungol, the “pass of the spider”. This secret pass was used by the Witch-king of the Nazgûl in the year 2000 of the Third Age when his forces poured out of Mordor and besieged Minas Ithil. In 2002, Minas Ithil fell and was renamed Minas Morgul, the “tower of the wraiths”. For the next thousand years the pass was closed, for this was where the giant evil Spider called Shelob made her lair. Any who attempted to travel here were devoured by this monster. It was thought by Sauron that none might now enter his realm through this pass, but in the year 3019 the Hobbits Frodo Baggins and Sanwise Gamgee, accompanied by Sméagol Gollum, overcame Shelob. They then defeated the powers of the triple-headed, evil-spirited guardian statues called the Watchers, and survived the ordeals of the Orc Tower at the crest of the pass. This was the last obstacle of Cirith Ungol, and the Hobbits at last made their way into the infernal land of Mordor.
Cold-Drakes
Of the Dragons that Morgoth brought forth from Angband during the First Age of the Sun, there were many breeds. Some were breathers of fire, others had mighty wings, but the most common were the Cold-drakes, who had no power of fire or flight but had great strength of tooth and claw and a mighty armour of iron scales. The Cold-drakes were a terror to all races who opposed them in that First Age, and they wrought untold destruction on the lands of Middle-earth. At the end of the Age nearly all the Dragon race and most of Morgoth’s servants perished during the Great Battle in the War of Wrath.
In the Third Age of the Sun, the histories of the Westlands tell how many Cold-drakes arose once again in the wastelands of the North and went to the Grey Mountains. Dwarves had come to these mountains for they were rich in gold, and in the twentieth century of this Age the Cold-drakes followed, seeking the Dwarf-hoards and prepared for war, and though the Dwarves battled bravely, they were outmatched and the Cold-drakes wantonly stalked and slaughtered their foes. A prince of the Men of Éothéod – one named Fram, son of Frumgar – came and slew Scatha the Worm, the greatest Dragon of that land, and the Grey Mountains were cleared of Dragons for five centuries. Yet the Cold-drakes came again to the mountains in the year 2570. One by one the Dwarf-lords fell to them: the last was the Dwarf-king named Dáin I of Durin’s Line, and he and his son Frór were slain by a great Cold-drake within their very halls. So the last of the Dwarves fled from the Grey Mountains, leaving reluctantly all their gold as the Dragon’s prize.
Corsairs
In the Third Age of the Sun the dreaded Corsairs of Umbar tyrannized the coastlands of Middle-earth for many centuries. The sight of their black-sailed dromonds always filled the peoples of Middle-earth with fear, for they held many warriors and were driven by the power of slaves pulling many oars.
The Númenóreans were the founders of Umbar in the Second Age of the Sun, but in time they succumbed to evil and, after the Downfall of their land into the Western Sea, some remained in Umbar and were named the Black Númenóreans. They were an evil sea power. Yet in time the kings of Gondor came against them, and in 1050 of the Third Age, the power of the Black Númenóreans was broken for ever and Umbar became a fortress in Gondor’s realm.
But there was always strife with the Haradrim, who often attacked Umbar, and also there was rebellion within Gondor itself, until finally the rebels of Gondor, the Haradrim and those few of the scattered Black Númenóreans who remained, conquered Umbar with many great ships and restored its power. So it was, from the fifteenth century until the War of the Ring, that these people were named the Corsairs of Umbar and were always counted among the chief enemies of the Dúnedain of Gondor and Arnor.
The “Red Book of Westmarch” tells how in the last century of the Third Age, the Dúnedain chieftain “Aragorn”, son of Arathorn, proved to be the chief architect of the downfall of the Corsairs. For this fierce warrior led the Dúnedain of Gondor into the havens of Umbar. There he slew their captain and set a torch to their fleet. In the year of the War of the Ring itself, Aragorn brought a phantom army out of Dunharrow to the Corsairs’ black ships at Pelargir. And with these Dead Men of Dunharrow, Aragorn once again routed the Corsairs in what was their final defeat, for the chieftain took all their ships from them.
With this action he both broke the power of the Corsairs and turned the tide of the War of the Ring. Aragorn used the black ships of the Corsairs to bring the allies of the Dúnedain victoriously into the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
Crébain
Tales tell of a breed of large black Crows that lived in Dunland and the Forest of Fanghorn in the Third Age of the Sun. These birds were named Crébain in the language of the Grey-elves, and they were servants and spies of evil powers. During the War of the Ring they searched far and wide over the lands of Middle-earth for the bearer of the Ruling Ring.
Crows
Crows were always the chief carrion birds of Middle-earth and they carried a reputation of being allied with Dark Powers. Men called them birds of ill-omen, for it was thought they spied over the land and brought tales to evil beings, who plotted deeds of ambush and slaughter. So it was that these carrion birds profited by bearing tales, for on the bloody work of these evil armies of Orcs the Crows often feasted.
As was common among birds of Middle-earth, the Crows spoke a
dialect of bird-tongue, although it was the opinion of Dwarves, who knew the language, that their discourse was as ill-disposed as that of the evil race of Orcs.
Culumalda
In the wooded province of North Ithilien, in the realm of Gondor, was the Isle of Cair Andros, which, like an anchored ship, rested in the River Anduin. On this island grew the fairest of the trees of Ithilien. They were called Culumalda, which was “golden red”, for such was the hue of their foliage. To Elven people their beauty was as a faint memory of Laurelin, that great Tree of the Valar in the Undying Lands, which was brilliant beyond imagining and which also bore the name Culúrien meaning both “gold” and “red”.
Dd
Dagorlad
During the Second and Third Ages of the Sun, just to the north of the Black Gate through the Mountains of Mordor and south of the evil swampland of the Dead Marshes, there was a wide, treeless plain called the Dagorlad, which in Elvish means “battle-plain”. In the year 3434 of the Second Age, this was the site of a mighty battle (called the Battle of Dagorlad) in which the Last Alliance of Elves and Men overthrew Sauron’s army before going on to destroy the Black Gate and the Dark Tower of Mordor itself. During the Third Age the Dagorlad was the scene of many battles between the armies of Gondor and invading Easterlings. Especially notable were the battles with the Easterlings called the Wainriders in 1899 and 1944. During the War of the Ring, Sauron chose not to do battle there, allowing the Captains of the West to approach the gates of Mordor before turning his vast army loose in the vain hope of driving them back onto the Dagorlad and slaughtering them there.