The Complete Tolkien Companion (10 page)

Aulendil
‘Lover-of-Aulë' (Q.) – A name adopted by Sauron in the early years of the Second Age when he would put on a fair form and walk among Elves and Men. It was not entirely untrue: in earliest times, before his seduction by Melkor, Sauron had once been one of the Maiar of Aulë.

Avallónë
– The Haven of the Eldar in
Tol Eressëa,
the ‘Lonely Isle' off the shores of Valinor, founded by the Teleri when they dwelt for a while in that island before completing the Great Journey to Aman the Blessed. It was built anew by those returning Exiles who came back from Middle-earth at the end of the First Age. Avallónë was said to be visible to ‘the farsighted' from the summit of the holy mountain Meneltarma in Númenor.

Note:
few will have overlooked the close resemblance between the names
Avallónë,
which is a Quenya (Elvish) word, and
Avalon,
a Celtic (Mannish) name meaning, it is said, ‘Isle of Apples'. Both are indeed traditionally applied to faraway islands in the West, unreachable save by those appointed to make the journey. In (Celtic) British mythology, King Arthur is said to have been borne away in a barge draped with black samite to the Isle of Avalon, there to recover from the (mortal) wound sustained by him at the Battle of Camlann.
See also
ATALANTË
.

Avari
‘the Unwilling' (Q.) – The name given in Elvish tradition to those of the ancient Quendi of Middle-earth who, when summoned by Oromë the Vala to make the Great Journey to Valinor, refused; and dwelt in Middle-earth ever after. They were sometimes known as the East-elves. The only one of them ever to be mentioned in records was
EÖL
the Smith.
See also
ELVES
.

Avathar
‘Shadows' (Q.) – Like
ARAMAN
, this was the name of a barren wilderness on the eastern shores of Aman, a narrow, bleak, cold region between the Mountains of Defence (the
Pelóri
) and the Sea. Araman lay to the north of Eldamar, Avathar to the south.

Azaghâl
– A Dwarf-king of the first Age, Lord of Belegost in the Blue Mountains. He marched in alliance with the Eldar and the Edain to the Battle of Numberless Tears. In one of the most heroic deeds of that dreadful fight, Azaghâl contained the first onslaught of the Dragon Glaurung by means of the valour (and armour) of his warriors, defeating the Worm (who might otherwise have slain many more of the Eldar and the Edain) at the cost of his own life.

Azanulbizar
– This vale, known to the Elves as Nanduhirion and to Men as the Dimrill Dale, lay below the East-gate of Moria between two outstretched arms of the Misty Mountains. It was a sacred place to the Dwarves of Durin's House for many reasons, not least for the grievous loss of life which the Dwarves suffered in the
BATTLE OF AZANULBIZAR
against the Orcs of Azog (2799 Third Age). The numbers of the slain were so great that the Dwarves were unable to lay their dead in stone as was their custom; instead, they were compelled to burn the bodies of their kin.

The valley contained many places greatly revered by Dwarves of Moria, whose Kingdom had, in the days of its power, included these lands beyond the Gate. Here were to be found
Kibil-nâla
(the source of the Silverlode river),
Kheled-zarâm
(the Mirrormere) and Durin's Stone, an ancient pillar which marked the place where Durin the Deathless himself first gazed into the lake to see a crown of stars reflected round his head. Durin founded the Kingdom of Moria in the caves overlooking the vale and its lake; it was later Dwarves who bored westward until they reached the far side of the Misty Mountains and the lands of southern Eriador.

Ázë
– A Quenya word for ‘sunlight,' but more properly, the title of the Fëanorean Tengwa number 31, in its earliest form. In later times the value of this Tengwa altered, from the
z
sound (for those languages which needed such a phonetic), to an
r
(
árë
), and later to
esse
(‘name'), when the letter's value became further modified to represent the
ss
sound. In this later form it was called
árë
and written in the same way.

Ázë nuquerna
– The reversed form of Tengwa number 31, allotted the number 32 in the Fëanorean system. Its use was identical to that of
ázë.
Reversed letters were employed to add visual felicitousness to written passages.

Azog
– A chieftain among the tribe of Orcs which occupied the deserted Dwarf-realm of Moria in the 28th century of the Third Age. Azog's murder and decapitation of the Dwarf Thrór, Heir of Durin, was the event which signalled the commencement of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, in which the Dwarves had the victory ‘through their strength, and their matchless weapons, and the fire of their anger, as they hunted for Azog in every [orc-] den under mountain.'
17
Azog was slain at the Battle of Azanulbizar (in 2799 Third Age) by Dáin Ironfoot. His orc-head was then set on a stake, with a purse of small money – which Azog himself had insolently offered as weregild for the death of Thrór – stuffed into his mouth.

Note:
Azog's son, the equally formidable Bolg of the North, led the Orcs at the Battle of Five Armies (2941).

Bag End
– The ancestral dwelling of the well-to-do Hobbit family of Baggins, originally built into the Hill of Hobbiton by Bungo Baggins, father of Bilbo. It was the ‘manor-hole' of the villages of Hobbiton and Bywater, and was rather more magnificent than common village
smials.
Its desirability caused great friction between Bilbo and his cousins, the Sackville-Bagginses: on one notable occasion he returned (in 2942 Third Age) from a long absence to find them actually in possession of the place, his death having been conveniently presumed. Rumours quickly spread around his neighbourhood that the tunnels of Bag End were stuffed with sacks of treasure. Needless to say, such stories were wild exaggerations of the (fairly) modest wealth Bilbo had earned as reward for his services to the Dwarves of Erebor. The luxurious hole was eventually sold to the persistent Sackville-Baggins by Frodo, Bilbo's heir, before his own flight from the Shire in the year 3011. However, after his return the following year, Bag End once more became Frodo's residence; and upon his final departure two years later, his entire estate, including his home, passed to Samwise Gamgee.

Baggins
– An ancient family of repute in the Shire. There was said to be a strong Fallohidish strain in the Baggins clan – but Hobbits said this of all families (such as Tooks and Brandybucks) who were noted for ‘adventurous' tendencies. The most illustrious members of this family were of course Bilbo and his heir Frodo.

Bagshot Row
– A residential lane on the Hill of Hobbiton which ran alongside the Party Field. Number Three was the residence of Hamfast Gamgee and his son Samwise, gardeners to the Baggins family. Destroyed by the agents of Saruman during the War of the Ring, it was later restored as New Row (and old Hamfast to Number Three).

Bain son of Bard
– From 2977–3007 Third Age, the second King of Dale, following the death of the Dragon Smaug and the rebuilding of that city at the feet of the Lonely Mountain. His father was Bard the Bowman, slayer of the Dragon.

Balan
–
See
BËOR
(
THE OLD
).

Balar
– The great Bay of Balar lay in the south of Beleriand, forty-five leagues from cape to cape at its widest point. In the mouth of the bay lay a tiny islet, the Isle of Balar, said to be a remnant of the greater island of Tol Eressëa (removed to the Far West).

Balbo Baggins
– An illustrious member of the Baggins family (of the Shire), wedded to Berylla Boffin. He was Bilbo's great grandfather.

Balchoth
‘Horrible-horde' (Sind.) – The name given in Gondor to a fierce clan of Easterlings who, in the latter part of the Third Age, forcibly occupied the wide realm of Rhovanion, south and east of Mirkwood. Princes of this land had traditionally been friendly with Gondor (Eldacar had been born there), but they were no match for the invading Balchoth, who were given to evil ways and wholly under the sway of the Dark Lord.

In 2510 they abandoned their petty pillaging of the lower vales of Anduin and crossed the River in strength to invade Calenardhon, the sparsely peopled northernmost province of Gondor. They were aided by Orcs and other fell creatures. During the ensuing battle, the northern army of Gondor was driven back in a desperate retreat and all seemed lost, when the horsemen of Éothéod suddenly charged from the North – in response to a belated plea for aid from Cirion, Ruling Steward of Gondor. The Riders routed the Easterlings and hunted them to the death across the fields of Calenardhon. In gratitude (and desire to have a strong ally to his north), Cirion ceded the province to the Men of Éothéod. In Gondor this new realm was then known as
Rohan.

See also
BATTLE OF THE FIELD OF CELEBRANT
.

Baldor
– The eldest son of Brego, second King of Rohan. Baldor's rashness brought about both his father's untimely end and his own lonely death. The Rohirrim, newly settled in the former province of Calenardhon, had chosen a green hill at the feet of the White Mountains on which to build the Kings' Seat; this ‘Golden Hall' was named
Meduseld,
and Brego held a great feast there to celebrate its completion. In front of the assembled company, Baldor then vowed to walk the
PATHS OF THE DEAD
. He duly passed the Dark Door in Dunharrow and was never seen again by any men of Rohan. His father died of grief the following year (2571 Third Age) and Baldor's brother Aldor became king in his stead.

Balin son of Fundin
– A noble Dwarf of the House of Durin and a lifelong follower of the Kings of Erebor. Gentle, though no less proud than others of his race, Balin nonetheless became a great warrior and adventurer of his day, fighting at the Battle of Azanulbizar (where his father Fundin fell). He was afterwards one of the companions of Thráin son of Thrór, and was journeying with him when Thráin was taken by the forces of Dol Guldûr (2845 Third Age) and afterwards slain. Balin then became a follower of Thráin's son Thorin Oakenshield, and was one of the Thirteen Dwarves (and one Hobbit) who re-took Erebor from the Dragon Smaug, re-establishing the Dwarf-kingship ‘under the Mountain'. Some years later, Balin became restless with peace and luxury and resolved to lead an expedition to Moria, most ancient of all Dwarf-realms in Middle-earth and long lost to Dwarf-kind. The colony was exterminated in 2994, five years after Balin had declared himself ‘King of Moria'. He was entombed in the Chamber of Mazarbul.

Balrog
‘Demon-of-Power' (Sind., from Q.
Valarauka
) – In their origins, as a part of the Thought of Ilúvatar, these were
MAIAR
of the following or service of Melkor, the mightiest of the Ainur. They had the form of spirits of fire. At the beginning of days they took service with Melkor, and were swiftly corrupted to his purposes, appearing everafter to Elves and Men as demonic beings of great size, fire-enshrouded, who bore, as their principal weapon, a whip of many thongs. Only the mightiest among the Eldar could hope to withstand them, for no ordinary weapons or warriors could harm or daunt these most dreadful of all Morgoth's servants.