The Complete Tolkien Companion (57 page)

But at the end of the First Age most of Beleriand was drowned or broken in the upheavals of the earth brought about by the destruction of Angband in the North; and the Sea flooded in, even between Thargelion and Ossiriand, inundating the valley of the river Ascar and the middlemost peaks of the Mountains of Lindon. Lindon then became the name given by all Elves to all the lands remaining west of the Blue Mountains. What had formerly been Thargelion became Forlindon, ‘North Lindon', while that fragment of Ossiriand which had also escaped inundation was henceforth called Harlindon, ‘South Lindon'.

In the Second and Third Ages the Elven peoples of Lindon were a composite race made up of Noldor, Sindar, Green-elves and Falathrim, though most of the Noldor at first settled in Forlindon, under the rule of their last High King Gil-galad; while Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol of Doriath and mightiest of the surviving Sindar, ruled the Grey-elves and the other Teleri in South Lindon. But in after years, many of the Sindar migrated eastwards; and still later (
c.
750 Second Age) a great number of the Noldor of Forlindon, led by Celebrimbor, also passed across the Blue Mountains to settle in Eregion near the Dwarves' city of Moria. Gil-galad, however, remained in Lindon as High King and ruled all elves of whatever kindred who likewise did not desire to relinquish the seacoasts.

For the first thousand years of the Second Age Lindon had peace and the Eldar prospered under the rule of Gil-galad. But by the middle years of the Age, Sauron, servant of Morgoth during the Elder Days, had arisen and was plotting the overthrow of the Elves of Middle-earth. To this end he seduced the High-elves of Eregion and, by means of the Rings of Power, betrayed them. So began the War of the Elves and Sauron, in which only Lindon held out against the reborn Dark Power. In the year 1695, the hosts of Sauron rolled into Eriador; within four years they had crushed Eregion and driven Gil-galad back to the Lune – and only aid from Númenor prevented the assault which would have swept the Elves of Lindon into the Sea. Although there followed a long period of peace for the West-lands of Middle-earth, Sauron had not been destroyed; and when, at the end of the Age, he made war against the survivors of fallen Númenor, they entreated the help of Lindon. Thus Gil-galad led the Elven-folk of his land to join the Dúnedain of Arnor and Gondor in the Last Alliance against Sauron.

Ruled by Círdan the Shipwright, Lindon continued to endure throughout the Third Age which followed, though for many years her eastern border was threatened by Angmar. The arising of this evil ‘Witch-realm' was the greatest peril faced by the peoples of Eriador during the Age, and the now-diminished Elven-hosts of Lindon gave frequent aid to the Dúnedain of Arnor in their long-fought war against the Witch-king. In the end, he was overthrown by a great feat of arms (the
BATTLE OF FORNOST
, 1975 Third Age), in which Elves of Lindon played a notable part. After this last great endeavour, the people of Lindon withdrew altogether from the affairs of Men and lived quietly in their green land between the Mountains and the Sea. They took little part in the War of the Ring, and maintained their realm into the Fourth Age. Lindon was thus the longest to endure of all Eldarin realms in Middle-earth.

Lindórië
‘Singer' (Q.) – A Númenorean princess of the Line of Andúnië, sister of Eärendur and mother of Inzilbêth (wife of Ar-Gimilzôr, twenty-second King of Númenor).

Lindórinand
‘Land of the Singers' (Q.) – An early name for the Golden Wood.

Line of Anárion
–
See
HEIRS OF ANARION; LINES OF DESCENT
.

Line of Isildur
–
See
HEIRS OF ISILDUR; LINES OF DESCENT
.

Lines of Descent
– The Genealogical Tables originally provided with this entry have here been revised for the second time. The first (1978) revision was made in order to incorporate the very extensive material made available with the publication of
The Silmarillion;
the second (2002) to include those additions – some of them tenuous or at least unconfirmed – which have been brought to light in later sources (listed in the Foreword). In order to avoid mere duplication of the tables already available in those works, I have compressed the Lines of Descent into two charts, representing, in the first case, the ancestry of Aragorn and Arwen as it was derived from the Eldar; and in the second chart, the same Line of Descent traced from the Three Houses of the Edain.
5
In addition I have shown those Lines of Descent from the Eldar and the Edain which, by Aragorn's day, had long been extinct.

These complicated family trees contain several notable features. Firstly, the ancestry of the
Peredhil
(Half-elven) brothers Elros and Elrond united the bloodlines of the (Noldorin) House of Fingolfin, the (Sindarin) House of Thingol, and all Three Houses of the Edain of Beleriand. Elros Tar-Minyatur passed on this lineage, through the Dúnedain of Númenor, Arnor and Gondor, to Aragorn. But Elrond his brother wedded Celebrían daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn; their children – Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen Undómiel – were thus descended also from Finarfin of the Noldor. And the union of Aragorn and Arwen drew together all these ancient Lines of Descent.

Individuals and connections marked in grey on the first table indicate a likely ancestry for Celeborn (who afterwards wedded Galadriel of the House of Finarfin) derived from a late source.
6
Of particular note is the hitherto unknown existence of a third brother to Elwë and Olwë of the Teleri, a certain Elmo, whose son, named as Galadhon, had two sons, one of whom was Celeborn; the other, named as Galathil, fathered Nimloth who wedded Dior Eluchíl son of Lúthien. Celeborn was therefore related to Elrond – and also to Aragorn – both through his great-niece Elwing the White and his daughter Celebrían; at the time of the War of the Ring he must have been venerable indeed.

The only Eldarin House which does not play a part in the composition of this royal lineage (which also, for good measure, includes a Maiarin strain) is, of course, that of Fëanor. For reasons too well known to require restatement here, this Line of Descent became accursed of the Valar, and dispossessed of the High-kingship. Six of Fëanor's seven sons perished without issue. Only Curufin passed on his clouded ancestry, to his son Celebrimbor. But though Celebrimbor lived until the middle of the Second Age, and laboured throughout that time to repair his ancestor's fault, he could escape neither the last fruits of Fëanor's Oath, nor the Curse of the Valar laid upon his House long before. And all he had himself wrought in Middle-earth was brought, in the end, to nothing – and worse.

On the second Table – that of the Edain of Middle-earth and Númenor – I have marked in grey those general lines of descent of western Men about whom little is known but much may be conjectured. The tribes of Men who dwelt in Minhiriath and Enedhwaith in the Second Age – and who were driven out by the vast logging operations of the returning ‘Kings-of-Men', later to make their homes in the White Mountains and in Dunland – were thought by many loremasters to be descendants of the Haladin of the First Age. There is clearer evidence that the Rohirrim, known to be descended from the Men of Éothéod in the far north, were therefore also derived from the people of Rhovanion, who formed a friendly bulwark for Gondor in the East throughout much of the earlier part of the Third Age, but in the end were driven out by Easterlings and the power of Dol Guldur. These in turn were believed descended from the House of Hador (Third House) in the First Age, being of those few clans and tribes of this kindred who had not departed to Númenor.

Also of note: in each of the four ‘mixed' unions which occur in the Tables (three of the Eldar with the Edain, and one of the Maiar with the Eldar), it is the female partner who has wedded beneath her station, so to speak. Whether or not males of species were thought to be genetically incapable of crossing the bounds of kindred in this (descending) fashion is a question that must remain unanswered.

Linhir
– The second most important town and port of Lebennin, a province of Gondor. It lay on the river Gilrain just below its confluence with the Serni.

Linnod
‘Rhyme' (Sind.) – A form of Elvish word-play, which conformed to acknowledged metrical patterns.
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Lisgardh
– A land of reeds at the mouths of Sirion.

Lithe
–
See
FORELITHE
and following entry.

Lithedays
– The
Three Days of Lithe
in the Shire referred to the three-day high-summer festival between the months of Forelithe and Afterlithe. The three days were known as – 1
Lithe, Mid-year's Day
and 2
Lithe.
There were four Lithedays in a Leap Year, the extra one being called Overlithe, which followed Mid-year's Day. Along with the Yuledays, the Lithedays provided the chief festivities of the year.

Lithlad
‘Plain-of-Ash' (Sind.) – The arid region east of the Dark Tower, between the Barad-dûr and the northern rampart of Mordor, the
Ered Lithui
(‘Ashy Mountains'). Lithlad and Gorgoroth comprised the whole north-west of Mordor; the drab fields of Nurn lay to the south-east.

Little Delving
– A village of the Shire, located in the Northfarthing.

Little Gelion
– The more westerly of the two tributaries of the river Gelion. It rose in the Hills of Himring.

Little Kingdom
– Arda.

Little People
– The
Periannath
(Hobbits).

Loa
‘Growth' (Q.) – The term used by the Elves when referring to their (seasonal) ‘year' of 365 days. In contrast, their ritual ‘year', the
yén
(pl.
yéni
) was equal to no less than 144
loa.

The
loa
observed six primary divisions, based upon the cycles of growth perceived in natural vegetation – above all, in trees. In Quenya, these six ‘seasons' were:
tuilë, lairë, yávië, quellë
(also called
lasse-lanta
),
hríuë
and
coirë.
Their equivalents in the Sindarin or Grey-elven tongue were:
ethuil, laer, iavas, firith
(or
narbeleth
),
rhîw
and
echuir.
These may be translated: spring, summer, autumn, ‘fading', winter and ‘stirring'. These ‘seasons' were of a fixed length, with
lairë
and
hríuë
containing 72 days each, while the other four each contained 54. An additional 5 days (which did not belong to any season) brought the total to 365. The primary deficiency resulting from this system of computation was corrected by adding three extra days every twelfth year.

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
– If the available records of the period can be relied upon in this particular instance, then the long-standing feud between the Bagginses and the Sackville-Bagginses of the Shire was a truly regrettable affair in which most Hobbits sided with Bilbo and his heir, Frodo – presumably less for the justice of their cause than as a reaction against the unpleasant and shrewish nature of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

Lobelia had been born a Bracegirdle of Hardbottle, but had later married Otho, son of Longo Baggins and Camellia Sackville. Otho was an undistinguished Hobbit and Lobelia concentrated her affections upon their only son, Lotho (whose pimply countenance was reportedly a source of much unkind mirth among younger Hobbits). As Bilbo's nearest relatives (Otho was actually his cousin), the Sackville-Bagginses longed inexpressibly to dwell in his magnificent residence at Bag End. And when, in 2942 Third Age (1342 Shire Reckoning), the then heirless Bilbo disappeared while on an adventure in the East, Lobelia and her husband initiated proceedings to have him declared legally dead so that they might inherit his luxurious hole. Bilbo himself relates (in
There and Back Again
) how he most inconveniently returned just as his belongings were being auctioned off – riding up the Hill of Hobbiton with a pony laden with gold, and looking remarkably fit and unquestionably alive. The Sackville-Bagginses contested his identity for a while and the feud continued until Bilbo's disappearance in the year 3001 (1401 Shire Reckoning), when the disposal of his entire estate (which included the Desirable Residence) significantly omitted the Sackville-Bagginses – save for a ‘gift' of spoons. The prestigious
smial
was left to Frodo, whose relations with Lobelia remained strained until his eventual decision to leave the Shire, and sell the place to her. Lobelia was thus obliged to wait for almost eighty years from the time she had first believed Bag End to be hers.