The Complete Tolkien Companion (46 page)

Guthwinë
‘Battle-friend' – The sword of Éomer, Third Marshal (later King) of the Mark.

Gwaeron
‘Windy' (Sind.) – The name, used only by the Dúnedain, for the third month of Kings' Reckoning (and the twelfth of the New Reckoning). In its Quenya form, this month was known as
Súlimë.

Gwaihir the Windlord
– Lord of the Great Eagles of the Misty Mountains, a descendant of Thorondir. He became a friend of Gandalf the Grey when the Wizard healed him of a poisoned wound (probably caused by an orc-arrow). Several times in the closing years of the Third Age, Gwaihir repaid this debt: during the War of the Ring the Eagles, led by Gwaihir and his brother Landroval, assisted Gandalf and the Free Peoples many times.

Gwaith-i-Mirdain
‘People of the Jewel-smiths' (Sind.) – The folk of Celebrimbor, Noldorin craftsmen who peopled the realm of
EREGION
in the Second Age. After the ending of the First Age these were the most skilful Elven-craftsmen anywhere in mortal lands; Celebrimbor their lord was the grandson of Fëanor. The summit of their craft was the making of the Rings of Power.

Gwathîr
–
See
following entry.

Gwathló
‘Shadow-fen-river' (Sind., from earlier
Gwathir
‘Shadowflood') – The river Greyflood in Eriador, so called because when first explored by Númenorean mariners the mighty woods of Enedhwaith and Minhiriath came right down to the river's edge. Following the tree-shaded river upstream they came after many days to a region of fenland (where later Tharbad was built) and, thinking that this was the source of the river, named it accordingly (
Agathurush,
Adûn.). In fact it was fed by many other tributary rivers before it reached this far south.

Gwindor of Nargothrond
– A prince of the Noldor, and a prominent war-leader of the city of Nargothrond; the brother of
GELMIR
and the elder son of Guilin. He was captured during the Nirnaeth Arnoediad – his brother Gelmir, captured twenty years before, had been cruelly executed before his eyes, as a (successful) provocation – and for fourteen years was enslaved in Angband. So broken was he by this treatment that he became physically withered, like an aged Man. Nevertheless his spirit remained unquenchable: he contrived to escape from Angband, and after lonely wandering came into Dorthonion where he fell in with Beleg Cúthalion – and indeed helped Beleg effect the rescue of Túrin Turambar, who had recently been captured by Orcs.

Afterwards Gwindor took Túrin with him to Nargothrond, where his companion was soon to win great honour and renown as war-leader: a position Gwindor himself had once held. To increase Gwindor's bitterness, his former beloved, the Elf-maiden Finduilas daughter of Orodreth, now gave her heart to Túrin the Man; yet Gwindor, though he feared the worst, did not openly oppose the match. In the event, Nargothrond was destined to fall before aught else could occur; and Gwindor fought his last battle on the field of Tumladen. There he perished, in the arms of Túrin. Finduilas died shortly afterwards, a captive of Orcs. But Túrin escaped, for he was the bearer of the Curse upon the Children of Húrin, a curse which fell, not on him, but on all those he loved.

Gwirith
– The Sindarin name, used only by the Dúnedain, for the fourth month of the Kings' Reckoning (and the first of the New Reckoning). The Quenya or High-elven name for this month was
Viressë.

Habergeon
– A hauberk or sleeveless mail-coat.

Hadhodrond
– This Grey-elven word, an Elvish name for the great Dwarf-city of
MORIA
, is a rare example of an Elvish attempt to reproduce a Dwarvish (Khuzdul) word phonetically. The Dwarves' name for Moria was of course Khazâd-dûm, of which
Hadhodrond
(‘Halls of the
Hadhod
[Khazâd, i.e. Dwarves]') was the phonetic equivalent.

Hador
– From 2278–2395 Third Age, the seventh Ruling Steward of Gondor. He made the final correction to the (slightly imperfect) Stewards' Reckoning system of calendar computation, adding one day to the year 2360 to repair a minor accumulated deficit.

Hador Lórindol
– One of the great Chieftains of the Edain of the First Age; the son of Hathol and great-grandson of Marach; and the father of Galdor the Tall, Gundor and Gloredhel. He was the first Lord of Dor-lómin. Hador was born in the Year of the Sun 389, and, while still a young man, entered the service of Fingolfin High King of the Noldor. As a reward for his services, and because of the love that Fingolfin bore him, he and his people were granted Dor-lómin in vassalage. There he gathered most of the Edain of the Third House, and within a generation had made this northern land the most powerful and renowned of the realms of the Edain.

From the Elves' point of view, the enlistment of the most numerous and warlike of the Houses of the Edain made a great deal of sense. The land of Hithlum, Fingolfin's realm, was too vast for the Elves alone to defend; and by ceding its south-western part – Dor-lómin – to the Edain, while simultaneously retaining Hithlum itself and adjacent Mithrim, Fingolfin freed the Noldor from having to garrison overmuch territory. Better still, the strong arms of Hador's people were now in the ‘front line' of the Siege. The most easterly and northerly of the outposts of Hithlum, the Tower of Eithel Sirion on the borders of Ard-galen, was also garrisoned by Hador's men.

For another forty years Hador ruled the Edain of Dor-lómin; but when he was sixty-six Morgoth, after long preparation, unleashed sudden war: the Battle of Sudden Flame as it was called, for the plains of Ard-galen were kindled and the running flames claimed many lives before the fighting had even begun. The Eldar and their allies were driven back to the ramparts of Hithlum, and withdrew, after loss, into their fortresses. But this retreat was only made possible by the courage and sacrifice of Hador: for at the cost of his own life, and of that of his second son Gundor, he defended the Elves' rearguard and so aided their escape. Twenty years later his grandsons Húrin and Huor were to perform a similar service, and at similar cost. Hador was succeeded as Lord of Dor-lómin by Galdor.

Note:
the Edain of the Third House were for the most part golden-haired; Hador's Elven surname
Lórindol
means ‘the Golden-headed'. For this reason the Rohirrim of a later Age held themselves descended – albeit remotely – from this heroic people.

Haerast
‘Further Shore' (Sind.) –
See
NEVRAST
.

Haladin
– The People of Haleth, the Second House of the Edain. They were the least warlike – though not the least doughty – of all the Adûnaic peoples, and also the least numerous; but whereas the Men of the First and Third Houses could understand each others' speech, and therefore must once have shared a common ancestor (or at least a common pasture), the Haladin were in many ways different to them, though still accounted Edain. For in addition to speaking a tongue markedly unlike that of the Peoples of Bëor and Marach, the Men of the Second House were physically different: shorter and darker, though not as Easterlings are; and, moreover, they had no great love for open lands and the pasturing of flocks, but sought rather for woods and forests wherein to dwell and build their homes. But impelled by the same urges and compulsions, they too set their faces west at an early time, and together with the other two Peoples of Men came over the Blue Mountains into Beleriand at the beginning of the fourth century after the first rising of the Sun.

They might have lingered in Ossiriand, for that was a green, secret country much to their liking, but the Green-elves of that land did not desire it; and so the Haladin turned north, about the skirts of Dolmed, and passed into Thargelion. Here they dwelt for some years.

At this early date the Haladin were not yet a ‘people' in the true sense of the word. They had only rudimentary social organisation. Life was centred almost exclusively on the family group or clan, and concepts of nationhood or even tribality did not exist. They had not acquired the custom of centralised rule. They were, as a consequence, slow to unite. But when, in the twentieth year of their sojourn in Thargelion, their encampment was suddenly attacked by Orcs, the old, slow ways were instantly abandoned. One of their number, a head-of-family called Haldad, took the initiative and the command, gathering his people into the only defensive position that could readily be contrived. And there, for weeks, the Haladin endured a siege without hope of succour. Haldad was killed together with his son Haldar, and the leadership of the newly united Haladin passed to his daughter Haleth, a forceful woman who did not disdain to wield sword and bow in the general defence of the stockade. But still the siege pressed closer until, at the eleventh hour, the defenders were saved from annihilation by the arrival of the Elves of Thargelion, led by their lord Caranthir. Hitherto this Elven-lord, the haughtiest of the sons of Fëanor, had altogether ignored the Haladin (as being of little worth); but now, seeing the heaps of slain and the grim faces of the besieged, he changed his mind (besides, he must by now have heard of other Elven-lords taking these Edain into their service, as allies and vassals). Caranthir then offered Haleth and her people honourable status as vassals within his own kingdom, but Haleth refused; for these lands had grown hateful to the Haladin. So they parted, and the survivors crossed over Gelion at the nearby ford (Sarn Athrad), and passed west, deep into Beleriand, following the footsteps of their kin. But their immediate sufferings were not yet over. Their route, had they known it, led through Estolad and Dor Dînen into the perilous land between the northern fences of Doriath and the Mountains of Terror; Nan Dungortheb, the Valley of Dreadful Death, the haunt of evil creatures of monstrous proportion and ferocious appetite. Many of the old and sick and wounded of the Haladin perished on this journey, and their will faltered, but Haleth led them forward – until Dimbar lay behind them.

Before them, between Teiglin and Sirion, lay wide, unoccupied lands. Beyond the Teiglin was a vast plain or moor, claimed by Nargothrond as part of its realm but thinly peopled for all that. Many of the Haladin, weary of narrow roads and looming heights, now passed out on to the plain and became a wandering people. But most remained with Haleth, and went into the nearby Forest of Brethil, where they made a woodland realm – after first coming to an understanding with Thingol of Doriath, the suzerain of all Beleriand and especially of the lands bordering his kingdom of Doriath. Here the Haladin dwelt, until the ending of the Age; and their rustic domain was to outlast all other kingdoms and realms of that time.

From this time forward the Haladin never abandoned the idea of unity, so painfully learned. They continued to recognise chieftains, of whom, according to their own lore, Haleth was the first. Their dwellings lay deep within the Forest, on the slopes of the hill Amon Obel, and these were fortified in later days, after the woodland manner, with stockade and earthen wall. But so far as they could they eschewed the war. Nevertheless, the defeat of the Dagor Bragollach radically altered the strategic situation, and in the years following that faraway battle the people of Haleth found themselves for the first time in the forefront of the conflict. And now, for the first time, they made common cause with the Elves of neighbouring Doriath (on one notable occasion this alliance brought about the annihilation of an entire legion of Orcs marching through Dimbar). This was in the days of Halmir, whose own son and daughter were wedded to the daughter and elder son of the Lord of Dor-lómin (the Third House). In this way the urgencies and exigencies of war brought the Haladin closer to others of the Edain, rather than the other way about. The lesson of unity had been well learned.

But now a time was approaching when all realms of the Eldar and Edain would fall into the greatest peril, if not kept secret and hidden. The Nirnaeth Arnoediad – to which a contingent from Brethil, led by Haldir, had gone, none of whom afterwards returned – ended for ever the days of open warfare and panoplied hosts. The North became ravaged by a new kind of fighting, deadly and merciless, demanding secret bases, high mobility, a knowledge of the country, and the determination to resort to ‘ignoble' tactics – of the hit-and-run sort – if it meant damaging the enemy.

It was at around this time that
BRANDIR THE LAME
, grandson of Haldir who had been slain at the Nirnaeth, built the Ephel Brandir, on Amon Obel. But no mere stockade of wood could have withstood the enemy who now approached – Glaurung the Dragon, new-come from the sack of Nargothrond. The Haladin were preparing to flee when a certain warrior of the Edain (though not of their House), who was then dwelling with them in the Ephel, took the wrath of the Dragon upon his own head and went out to fight to save Brethil from the destroying flames. This of course was
TÚRIN TURAMBAR
; and meshed in his Doom were, among others, the People of Haleth. In the end the Dragon never came to Brethil.