The Complete Tolkien Companion (4 page)

Alphabet of Fëanor
– The alphabet of ‘letters', or
TENGWAR
, devised by the Noldor (High-Elves) in the Undying Lands and brought back with them to Middle-earth in their exile. The Tengwar of Fëanor were so-called because their creation was ascribed to him, although it was acknowledged by the Noldor that the Fëanorean letters owed much to the older Alphabet of Rúmil (which was unknown in Middle-earth).

From the High-elves in Middle-earth, knowledge of the Fëanorean letters then spread among the Grey-elves, whose
ALPHABET OF DAERON
was greatly influenced by the more cursive Tengwar – a system based upon brushes and pens rather than carving and inscription.

Eventually the Sindar wholly adopted the Fëanorean Tengwar according to their own ‘open' mode. The West-door of Moria was inscribed in this fashion, with certain Tengwar being accorded proper vowel functions, replacing the older system in which the vowels were represented only by diacritic marks (generally placed above the preceding consonant).

As can be seen, the Sindarin substitution of vocalic letters for the diacritic tehtar, or ‘signs', expands the originally consonantal group of Tengwar into a full alphabet. This system was known as the Mode of Beleriand. The same inscription, in the older, High-elven usage, would have been written thus:

Both forms of Tengwar were fully phonetic: letter values were assigned according to mode and point of articulation. Thus the Tengwar could theoretically be used by all races, though the Dwarves never adopted them, preferring the ‘Long Rune-rows' of Moria. By the end of the Third Age the letters of Fëanor (in the older mode) were known to all men of learning in the West.

The Alphabet of Fëanor was divided into four series of six separate grades of Tengwar, with twelve ‘additional' letters. There were a number of ‘signs' (
tehtar
) to modify groups of consonants with vowel-values. Each of these letters had its own ‘title', or name, in the Quenya tongue (the initial sound of which was invariably the same as the letter concerned).

Alphabet of Rúmil
– The
Tengwar
(‘letters') of Rúmil: the oldest form of Eldarin cursive writing, known only to the Eldar of the West; the invention of this writing-system is credited to the Noldorin Elf Rúmil of Tirion. Never to be seen in its original form in Mortal Lands, this system nevertheless deeply influenced the later
ALPHABET OF FËANOR
, which was to become widespread in Númenor during the Second Age and in Middle-earth during the Third.

Alqualondë
‘Swans'-haven' (Q.) – High-elven city of Eldamar, built during the Elder Days by Olwë King of the Telerin Elves, after the belated arrival on the shores of Valinor of that remnant of his people which he led. The Haven was so named because the Teleri reached Aman with the aid of great swans; these towed their enchanted ships the last stage of the Great Journey, from Eressëa to Eldamar. Alqualondë lay to the north of Tirion.

See also
KINSLAYING AT ALQUALONDË
.

Altariel
–
See
GALADRIEL
.

Aman the Blessed
– The ancient name given by the Valar (in their own tongue) to the
UNDYING LANDS
.

Amandil (Tar-Amandil)
– From 443–590 Second Age, third King of Númenor; he was the grandson of Elros Tar-Minyatur and son of Vardamir who ruled (notionally) for only one year before resigning the Sceptre. Tar-Amandil died thirteen years after surrendering the Sceptre to his own son Tar-Elendil. By now the practice of the King's resigning the rule of Númenor to his Heir some years before his death was becoming established.

Amandil of Andúnië
– The father of
ELENDIL THE TALL
and last Lord of Andúnië, westernmost city of Númenor. He was also the last leader of that remnant of the Númenoreans who remained loyal to the traditions of the Eldar, and as a result called themselves ‘the Faithful'. Andúnië, a haven on the western shore of the land, was their chief city until the days of Ar-Gimilzôr; and Amandil was its lord when Ar-Pharazôn was King of Númenor.

Although Amandil's chosen calling was that of the sea – his son Elendil and his grandsons Isildur and Anárion were also great mariners – in his latter days he counselled the king on matters of policy. This was a privilege afforded him because of his lineage; scarcely less royal than Pharazôn's, for Amandil was descended in direct line from the Lady Silmariën and therefore from Elros Tar-Minyatur, the founder of Númenor. But when Pharazôn sent his great armada to Middle-earth in 3261 Second Age, from which he returned bringing Sauron the Great as a ‘prisoner', Amandil's stock at court declined even as Sauron's waxed, and soon afterwards he withdrew from the king's presence and went to Rómenna in the east of Númenor, there to guide his exiled people through the long period of persecution which followed. After many years word reached Amandil of the building of the Great Armament. By now he was an old man. Counselling his sons to be alert for some great disaster, he resolved to attempt to emulate the feat of his forefather Eärendil, and sail into the West to plead for the cause of the Dúnedain. He never returned.

Note:
the
Palantíri,
the marvellous ‘seeing-stones' which had been made during the Elder Days by Fëanor, were given by the Eldar of the Undying Lands to Amandil during the years of persecution. These were carried back to Middle-earth by Elendil and his sons and helped for centuries to unite the realms of Arnor and Gondor. Similarly, Amandil's Silver Rod (of the Lordship of Andúnië) was carried back to Middle-earth to become Elendil's Sceptre of Kingship. Númenor's own royal sceptre, borne by Ar-Pharazôn, had perished in the Inundation.

Amarië (of the Vanyar)
– An Elf-maiden beloved by Finrod son of Finarfin, afterwards called Felagund. They were unhappily parted when Finrod, together with his kindred, left the Undying Lands in exile and never came back to Aman, where Amarië waited, while his life in Middle-earth endured.

Ambarona
– A Quenya embellishment, Entish in style, applied by Treebeard to Fangorn Forest.

Amdir
– A King of woodland Elves of Lórien in the Second Age; he was of Grey-elven origin. His son was
AMROTH
. Amdir led a force to the Last Alliance and was slain at the Battle of Dagorlad.

Amlach of Estolad
– The grandson of Marach of the Third House of the Edain. His name is recorded because he was one of those who opposed the leaguing of this House of Men with the Elves. At council, his arguments were virulent and scornful, and caused dissent among the Edain. Then came an eerie occurrence: Amlach returned to the council – or appeared for the first time, as he indignantly claimed – and denied that he had spoken in this way, or indeed at all. It became apparent that spies and deceivers were among them; which caused Amlach at last to change his mind. He went north and entered the service of Maedhros son of Fëanor. His fate is not recorded.

Amlaith of Fornost
– From 861–946 Third Age, the first King of Arthedain, and eldest of the three sons of Eärendur who quarrelled over the kingship of Arnor, thus dividing the realm into three: Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. Fornost Erain (‘Northern fortress of the Kings') became Amlaith's chief city, while Elendil's ancient capital of Annúminas was deserted and fell into ruin.

Amon Amarth
‘Mount Doom' (Sind.) – An epithet for
ORODRUIN
, first used in Ithilien during the later part of the Second Age, when the volcano erupted to signal Sauron's initial assault upon the survivors of Númenor.

Amon Anwar
‘Hill of Awe' (Sind.) – The
HALIFIRIEN
.

Amon Darthir
– A hill in the east of Dor-lómin, near the house of Húrin. A secret pathway led over its shoulder into Serech, and so Beleriand.

Amon Dîn
‘The Hill of Silence' (Sind.) – A hill which lay on a north-eastern shoulder of the White Mountains overlooking Druadan Forest. It was the first of what later became a chain of such
BEACON-HILLS
between Gondor and Rohan.

Amon Ereb
‘Lonely Hill' (Sind.) – A mountain in East Beleriand, an outlier of Andram, the ‘Long Wall'. On its slopes, during the very first clashes between the Elves and the forces of Morgoth, died a lord of the Green-elves, Denethor son of Lenwë, whose people had come late into Beleriand and who had been dwelling across the Gelion, in Ossiriand. Years later, after the great defeats in the north, Amon Ereb was maintained for a while as a bastion in defence of Ossiriand and the south.

Amon Ethir
‘Hill of Spies' (Sind.) – An artificial mound, hill-high, built by the Elves of Nargothrond at the direction of their king, Finrod Felagund, one league from the gates of their city; from its summit Elves kept watch in days of war.

Amon Gwareth
– A rocky, precipitous knoll which rose from the exact centre of the Hidden Vale of Tumladen in West Beleriand. On the summit and sides of this hill Turgon built his city of
GONDOLIN
.

Amon Hen
‘The Hill of the Eye' (Sind.) – One of a group of three tall hills straddling the Anduin and the Falls of Rauros, maintained by the Men of Gondor as outposts of the realms in exile. The other two hills were
Amon Lhâw,
‘The Hill of the Ear', on the eastern bank, and
Tol Brandir,
the Tindrock, on which no man or beast had ever set foot, in the centre of the stream. The summits of Lhâw and Hen had High Seats.

Amon Lanc
‘Naked Hill' (Sind.) – The highest point of the south-western highlands of Greenwood the Great, so-called because, unusually, no trees grew on or near its summit. In the forest near this hill were the first dwellings of the East-elves of the Anduin vale, later the Elves of Northern Mirkwood. In later days Amon Lanc became the site of the evil fortress of
DOL GULDUR
.

Amon Lhâw
‘The Hill of the Ear' (Sind.) –
See
AMON HEN
.

Amon Obel
– A tall hill rising from the middle of the Forest of Brethil on the borders of Doriath in Beleriand; the site of a fortified settlement called Ephel Brandir, founded by the Haladin, the folk of the Second House of the Edain, which commanded the ways of the forest for many years.

Amon Rûdh
‘Bald Hill' (Sind.) – A solitary, towering hill, which rose abruptly from the moors to the west of Doriath, dominating the lands that lay round about. It rose sheer in places, a rocky crown above green slopes. In antiquity its caves had been the abode of the Dwarf
MÎM
, though they had been delved at a still earlier date by his people, the
Noegyth Nibin
(‘Lesser-Dwarves' in the Grey-elven view). This race of Dwarves had been the first to enter Beleriand but had suffered at that time from the enmity of the Grey-elves, who allowed no strangers in their lands. Afterwards this persecution ceased, and the ‘Lesser-Dwarves' were let alone. Amon Rûdh was one of the oldest of their early settlements, called in their own tongue
Sharbhund.

Amon Sûl
‘The Hill of Winds' (Sind.) – The name of the tower built by Elendil on the summit of Weathertop, southernmost and tallest of the Weather Hills in Eriador. After the division of Arnor into three separate states (in 861 Third Age), Weathertop commanded the Great East Road from Cardolan into Rhudaur; since it lay on the frontiers of both kingdoms, possession of the tower became an early source of dispute. Its importance was increased by the fact that here was kept the only remaining
palantír
of the North-kingdom (the other two were in the possession of Arthedain). After the rise of the realm of Angmar in the north, and its devouring of Rhudaur, the Weather Hills became the eastern bastion of Cardolan and Arthedain in alliance against the Witch-king. In 1409 a great army advanced out of Rhudaur to surround and capture Weathertop and raze the tower of Amon Sûl. The
palantír
was carried in retreat to Fornost (but later lost with Arvedui). With the ending of the North-kingdom (1974), the strategic significance of the Weather Hills vanished and the fortifications fell into ruin. The lands round about became desolate.