The Complete Tolkien Companion (64 page)

Mettarë
(Q.) – The last day of the year in both the Elvish calendar and in
KING'S RECKONING
: the system begun by the Númenoreans and later adopted, in one form or another, by most of the Westron-speaking peoples of Middle-earth. In the (Elvish) Calendar of Imladris this day immediately preceded the opening of spring, while in the Dúnedain system it fell in mid-winter; however, in both,
mettarë
was an ‘extra' day belonging to no fixed season or month.

‘The Mewlips'
– An odd and decidedly disturbing poem found (as No. 9) in the Shire-collection published under the title
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
It is in the form of an eerie tale told for the unwary traveller, who is cautioned to avoid the path which leads

Beyond the Merlock Mountains,

    
a long and lonely road,

through the spider-shadows and the

    
Marsh of Tode

to the noisome pools where the strange, cannibalistic Mewlips dwell. The verse might be said to encapsulate all the alien horrors ever heard of in the Shire.

Michel Delving
– The chief township of the Shire, located on the White Downs in the Westfarthing.

Mickleburg
– A rendering into Common Speech of the name given by the Edain of the First Age to the great Dwarvish city of
BELEGOST
.

Middle-earth
– A translation of both
Endórë
(Q.) and
Ennor, Ennorath
(Sind.). In all records of the Third Age, this expression means ‘Mortal Lands', i.e. all the land East of the Sundering Seas and subject to natural laws.

Middle Peoples
– An expression in Dúnedain lore developed during the Third Age. According to the Dúnedain, the ‘Middle Peoples' were those races of Men descended from the clans of the Edain who did not pass West to Númenor at the beginning of the Second Age. Of this type were the tall, blond, relatively uncultured but brave and noble Northern Men, such as the Rohirrim. The Dúnedain (the ‘High People') accounted them as distant kin, and both loved and respected these ‘Men of Twilight'.
See also
MEN
.

Midgewater Marshes
– An expanse of stagnant and treacherous bog which lay between Bree and the Weather Hills, to the north of the Great East Road. As their name implies, these marshes were infested with pestilent flying insects and other unpleasant creatures; consequently, they were usually avoided by travellers.

Midyear's Day
–
See
LITHEDAYS
.

Milo Burrows
– The son of Rufus Burrows and Asphodel Brandy-buck. Unlike most Hobbits, Milo was indifferent to the delights of personal correspondence and, as a result, was given a gold writing set by Bilbo Baggins when the elderly Hobbit departed the Shire for the last time in 3001 Third Age (1401 Shire Reckoning).

Mîm
– A Dwarf of the First Age, one of the so-called Petty-or Lesser-dwarves, the
Noegyth Nibin,
who wandered into Beleriand long before others of the Khazâd. It was this race who first delved the Caves of Narog, where in after years Finrod Felagund had his realm and city of Nargothrond. Another such ancient dwelling of the Noegyth Nibin was on the solitary hill of Amon Rûdh in West Beleriand. Mîm was the heir of those who had originally excavated Amon Rûdh, and together with his sons dwelt there for much of the First Age. But he was fated to become enmeshed by the Doom of the Children of Húrin, and so was destroyed. For Túrin Turam-bar, then the leader of an outlaw band, encountered Mîm and his sons not far from the western march of Brethil, and afterwards dwelt on the hilltop, together with Mîm, and his small family (
see
BAR-EN-DANWEDH
). But Mîm was captured by Orcs, and though he stipulated that Túrin not be slain, revealed the whereabouts of the outlaws' lair. The hill was attacked by Orcs. Túrin was captured, and all the outlaws save one were slain. Thus Mîm came once more into his own. But not many years afterwards, Túrin's father Húrin, released at last from Angband, came to Amon Rûdh, and there encountered Mîm, and slew him.

Note:
in the preface to the selection of Hobbit-verse published as
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil,
an oblique reference is made to the ‘Númenorean legend of Túrin and Mîm the Dwarf' in connection with the origins of poem No. 14, ‘The Hoard'. The poem concerns, among other things, the fate of an ancient, solitary Dwarf of the First Age who inherited an Elvish treasure and lost it again (to a dispossessing Dragon).

Minalcar
–
See
RÓMENDACIL II
.

Minardil
– From 1621–34 Third Age, the twenty-fifth King of Gondor. He was slain in battle with the Corsairs of Umbar (led by Angamaitë and Sangahyando, the great-grandsons of Castamir the Usurper), at Pelargir, during a raid upon Gondor's principal remaining naval base. His son Telemnar died during the Great Plague which followed two years later.

Note:
in Appendix A I (iv), it is erroneously stated that Minardil was the son of Eldacar II, the twenty-first King, who was deposed by Castamir. In fact, he was the son of Hyarmendacil II (Vinyarion), and was thus the great-grandson of Eldacar.

Minas Anor
‘Tower of the [Setting] Sun' (Sind.) – Originally a beautiful fortified city built shortly after the founding of Gondor at the end of the Second Age, Minas Anor was for years accounted one of the two principal fortresses of the realm; however, by the time of the War of the Ring, at the end of the Third Age, it had been renamed Minas Tirith, and had become the chief city and the only surviving stronghold of the diminished South-kingdom.

Minas Anor was founded in 3320 Second Age as the capital of the province of Anórien and the High Seat of Anárion, younger son of Elendil the Tall and conjoint King of Gondor. It was the twin of Minas Ithil, the ‘Tower of the [Rising] Moon', High Seat of Anárion's brother Isildur and the capital of Isildur's province of Ithilien, which lay on the eastern shores of the Great River. Yet neither was accounted the centre of the South-kingdom, for Osgiliath, the Citadel of the Stars, lay in between the two, upon both sides of the Anduin; and it was no fortress but a large and populous city, created as the capital of the entire realm.

However, though never planned to be either the chief city or main fortress of the South-kingdom, from the beginning Minas Anor possessed a number of natural advantages which ultimately enabled it to endure. Chief of these was its position – upon the very knees of Mindolluin, easternmost of the White Mountains which were the backbone of the ancient realm. From its founding, Minas Anor was cunningly fashioned to make use of its unique position; and eventually it grew into a strong towering city, delved into the side of the mountain so that its rearmost walls were themselves the living rock of Mindolluin. Seven concentric walls it had and many towers, and the topmost circle of the City was built upon a great crag seven hundred feet high. At the summit of this mighty keep stood the Citadel of Anárion and the Court of the Fountain.

Originally both Minas Anor and Minas Ithil were of equal royalty but, as is told elsewhere, the Tower of the Moon was taken by Sauron of Mordor during the War of the Last Alliance, and although it was recaptured when Sauron was first overthrown at the very end of the Second Age, Minas Ithil afterwards became accounted an eastern outpost rather than a seat of Kings. In contrast, in the year 420 Third Age, Minas Anor was rebuilt by Ostoher, seventh King of the Line of Anárion, and it then became the summer residence of Gondor's royalty. Osgiliath survived as capital of the realm for a further thousand years – but in 1636, the Great Plague decimated the city and it remained partially deserted. Accordingly, in 1640, Tarondor, twenty-seventh King, removed the royal seat permanently to Minas Anor.

So by the middle of the Third Age Gondor's former westernmost fortress had become its new capital; and although both Osgiliath and Minas Ithil still endured, neither was ever again able to rival the Tower of the Sun. In 1900 Calimehtar, son of Narmacil II, built the White Tower at the highest point of the Citadel Rock. At the feet of this tower, the White Tree grew in the Court of the Fountain, while above it the banner of the Kings floated free in the wind, one thousand feet above the neighbouring plain.

Yet the days of the Kings were even then drawing to an end. During the reign of Eärnil II (who followed Ondoher, son of Calimehtar), the power of Mordor arose once more and Minas Ithil was taken by the Nazgûl. The Tower of the Moon thus became a place of dread: men of Gondor called it Minas Morgul, the ‘Tower of Sorcery', and Minas Anor was then renamed
Minas Tirith,
the ‘Tower of Guard' (the name by which it was known while the Third Age lasted). Shortly after this the last descendant of the royal Line of Anárion rode away to Minas Morgul and never came back, so the Banner of the Ruling Stewards replaced that of the Kings. And when, in 2475 Third Age, Osgiliath was finally ruined, Minas Tirith became the last surviving city of the realm as it had been originally ordered. Nonetheless, although Gondor continued her slow decline, hope endured and, in 2698, Ecthelion I, seventeenth Ruling Steward, rebuilt the White Tower of Calimehtar (ever after known as the Tower of Ecthelion). But few further additions were made to the City's strength, for the chief hopes of its inhabitants afterwards rested in its impregnable outer walls.

In the event, however, it was not these walls of stone which enabled Gondor to survive the War of the Ring; rather, it was the will of her people and the foresight of her rulers. For in the latter years of the Age the Stewards, being for the most part wise and far-seeing men, had assumed that sooner or later Gondor would be invaded in strength – and that no walls could long stand against the power of Mordor if other means of defence could not somehow be contrived.

Therefore, they made alliance with Men of other races, and they strengthened the outer defences of the Realm. And so, when Sauron at last launched his attack, during the War of the Ring, Minas Tirith survived, even though the Great Gates were broken and the lower circles of the City were burned.

But all such damage was healed in the Fourth Age which followed the successful conclusion of the War. New and stronger gates were made for the City by the Dwarves of Erebor, and with the lifting of the threat from the East, many folk came from the seaward vales of Lebennin and Belfalas to dwell there. Best of all, the Kings of the Line of Elendil returned to Gondor and the Standard of the White Tree flew once more from the topmost tower of Minas Anor, last memory of vanished Númenor and the fairest City in the west of Middle-earth.

Minas Ithil
‘Tower of the [Rising] Moon' (Sind.) – From its founding in 3320 Second Age until its final fall in 2002 Third Age, one of the two principal fortresses of Gondor, having been originally created as the twin of Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun, and as the High Seat of Isildur, conjoint King of the Realm. After its capture by the Nazgûl, this once-fair city became known in Gondor as Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery; it was cast down after the War of the Ring and never rebuilt.

Yet at its first raising, Isildur's city was fully as beautiful as Minas Anor, his brother Anárion's High Seat. It was also the repository of the White Tree, brought by the Men of Númenor from their drowned homeland, and one of the seven
palantíri
rescued by them was kept there as well. It was the capital of the fair province of Ithilien and stood in an upland vale in the Mountains of Shadow, on the very borders of Sauron's ancient realm of Mordor. For the builders of Minas Ithil believed that the Lord of Mordor had been destroyed in the drowning of Númenor.

But Sauron had escaped, and after a period of hiding in Mordor he unleashed war upon the Dúnedain: in 3429 Second Age his armies came over the Mountains of Shadow and took the Tower of the Moon in a savage surprise attack. Isildur managed to escape with the
palantír
but his city was taken and its White Tree burned. So began the War of the Last Alliance, in which the armies of Elves and Men at last had the victory, and the first overthrow of Sauron brought an end to the Age.

Minas Ithil was then restored to the Dúnedain, but no King of Gondor ever resided there again. Isildur himself dwelt in Minas Anor for the two short years he lingered in Gondor, and his former capital became no more than an outpost of the Dúnedain. As such it endured the turmoils of the succeeding two thousand years.

By the end of the second millennium of the Third Age, Gondor had dwindled sadly from its frontier days of glory. Osgiliath, originally the chief city and capital of the whole realm, was partly desolate, and the South-kingdom was now ruled from Minas Anor. In the year 2000 the Nazgûl issued over the high pass of Cirith Ungol and laid siege to the Tower of the Moon; and although for two years their forces were unable to enter the fortified city, even so the siege was too powerful to be broken by Gondor, and no reinforcements were able to get through. In 2002 Minas Ithil fell at last and the Nazgûl themselves then inhabited it, together with many Orcs. Men of Gondor then began to call it Minas Morgul, the ‘Tower of Sorcery', and Minas Anor was consequently renamed Minas Tirith, the ‘Tower of Guard'.

Sauron was content with this gain, for by it he had dealt a heavy blow to the Dúnedain, who still revered Isildur's memory; moreover, he had acquired for his most faithful servants a foothold on the western side of the Mountains of Shadow; and he could afford to wait. The Nazgûl remained quiescent for some years (although in 2050 Eärnur, the last King of the Line of Anárion, was lured to this evil fortress and never returned). Not until the years immediately before the War of the Ring did the Lord of Minas Morgul finally come forth with his hosts to give battle to the Dúnedain. And even these skirmishes – in which Osgiliath was finally ruined and its last bridge broken – were no more than trials of Gondor's strength, undertaken to keep the Dúnedain off balance until the Dark Lord should unleash the great and final war long prepared.