The Complete Tolkien Companion (79 page)

The remainder of Peregrin's long life was happy and prosperous, and he became one of the greatest Thains in Shire-history. Like Meriadoc, he maintained the friendships he had made during the War, and rode often to Gondor, becoming something of an authority on the history of the Dúnedain (though it is not recorded that he ever actually undertook any historical writing on his own account). In Year 63 Fourth Age he handed over his Office to his only son Faramir (born Year 9 Fourth Age) and, together with his lifelong comrade Meriadoc, rode away out of the Shire, to pass his last days in Gondor amongst old friends. He was laid to rest in the House of the Kings in Rath Dínen.

Perian, Periain
‘Halfling' (Sind.) – The several alternative spellings of this word and its plurals which appear in the Red Book doubtless indicate a word in the actual process of mutation from an antique form into a more colloquial, ‘everyday' expression. For, when the events of the War of the Ring brought several ‘Halflings' to the attention of the people of Gondor, they revived the old Sindarin name for them. The Grey-elven word for ‘Halfling' was, of course, adopted by the Dúnedain of Gondor; the form given above was doubtless one of the newer versions. One Hobbit would be called
Perian
while a finite plural (e.g. two Hobbits) would earn the word
Periain.
However, Hobbits as a race were called
i Periannath
(the Halfling Folk'). The older form of the word may be found in use during a ‘ceremonial' occasion involving the antique
Ph
prefix:
Pheriain, Pheriannath.
3

‘Perry-the-winkle'
– One (No. 8) of the humorous verses in
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

Petty Dwarves
– A translation of
NOEGYTH NIBIN
.

Pharazôn (Ar-Pharazôn) ‘the Golden'
– From 3255–3319 Second Age the twenty-fourth and last King of Númenor. He was the son of Gimilkhâd, who was the younger of the two sons of Ar-Gimilzôr, an iron ruler hostile to the Eldar. Of the two princes Gimilkhâd took most after their father, while his elder brother Inziladûn (Palantír) most resembled their mother Inzilbêth (of Andúnië) in that he repented of the heretical ways of the later kings and desired the knowledge and conversation of the Eldar. And as he was the elder son, so he, and not Gimilkhad, came in time to the kingship.

But the years waned, and Gimilkhâd's son Pharazôn grew to manhood, and Palantír waned. Then Gimilkhâd died, and now it was Pharazôn who led the party opposed to the reforms of Palantír. This faction grew in strength throughout Palantír's reign, and on his death seized power, from Míriel, the king's daughter and the Heir of the Sceptre. Pharazôn proclaimed himself King of Númenor and, to make the bond final, forcibly wedded Míriel, even changing her (Eldarin) name to one of Adûnaic form, Ar-Zimraphêl. He was now firmly in the seat of power, and was never to be challenged again during his reign. Pharazôn had ruled for only six years when he made his first decisive move, setting sail with a great fleet to Middle-earth, where Sauron the Great reigned unchallenged. He landed at Umbar, determined to give battle for the mastery of all Middle-earth; but Sauron was unable to contest the power of Númenor, and instead abased himself, begging mercy from the King (and playing on his pride). So Pharazôn took Sauron ‘prisoner' and proudly carried him back to Númenor, thus sowing the seeds of his own downfall and that of his people.

For, characteristically, Sauron was soon at work on the natural weaknesses of his foes, and it cannot have taken him long to discover the Númenoreans' obsession with the one prohibition ever laid upon them: the
BAN OF THE VALAR
, which forbade them from sailing to the Undying Lands, where the Valar, Guardians of the World, made their own home. Sauron, who almost from the first had ceased to be considered a ‘prisoner', then seized on Ar-Pharazôn's constant pride and growing fear of Death, suggesting that the immortality which the Númenoreans sought was within their grasp.

In 3310 this false and evil counsel finally prevailed, for Ar-Pharazôn was then an old man and near death. He gave orders for the construction of the mightiest fleet the world had ever seen: the Great Armament, so huge and powerful that it took nine years to build and assemble. In 3319 the Host of Ar-Pharazôn embarked and went with war into the Western Seas, to contest the rule of the world – and the immortality which accompanied it – with the Valar.

It will never be known exactly what happened when the last King of Númenor set foot on the shores of Valinor, for none survived of that Host to tell the tale, and the High-elves did not come to Middle-earth in later Ages. Certainly no less than a change in the physical and metaphysical structure of the World was the result of Pharazôn's appalling sacrilege. The Sea rose in huge waves from the West and raged unchecked over Númenor, burying everything under a wall of black water which utterly destroyed the civilization of three thousand years (apart from a few who left in the nick of time, escaping to Middle-earth in Exile). And the Undying Lands were removed for ever from mortal seas, and so from further temptation.

Phurunargian
‘Dwarf-delving' (West.) – The name given in the Common Speech to the ancient Dwarf-city of Moria beneath the Misty Mountains. It has been translated from the Red Book as
Dwarrowdelf.

Pickthorn
– A family of Big Folk (Men) of the Bree-land.

Pillars of the Kings
– A translation of the Sindarin word
ARGONATH
.

Pincup
– A small village of the Green Hill Country in the Southfarthing of the Shire.

Pinnath Gelin
‘Green Ridges' (Sind.) – A broad range of fertile green hills in the Anfalas coastal strip of Gondor.

Note:
the suffix
-ath
indicates a collective plural;
gelin
is the plural of the Sindarin word
galen
‘green' (e.g.
Parth Galen
‘Green Lawn).

Pipe-weed
– Hobbits were, of course, aware that their ‘Art' of smoking – of inhaling, without apparent discomfort, the smouldering leaves of the herb
nicotiana –
caused great amazement to other folk; and for this reason they included throughout their various histories any accounts of the weed's singular properties, first discovery, and so on. Nonetheless, even in the Shire there were some who were more knowledgeable than others in the love of this Art, and of these the chief was Meriadoc Brandybuck (Master of Buckland from 1432–84 Shire Reckoning).

He incorporated all of his knowledge on this fascinating subject in his famous
Herblore of the Shire
(a work on the subject of comparative botany). Meriadoc discussed the history of the weed, its probable route north from Gondor, where it grew wild, to Bree, and then to the sheltered gardens of the Southfarthing, and – most important – the horticultural coup on the part of one Tobold Hornblower which led to the herb's fulfilment of its natural role (as the Hobbits saw it).

He traced Old Toby's singular achievement (the first recorded growing of the true Pipe-weed) to the year 1070 Shire Reckoning. The weed had, of course, been smoked prior to that date but only in Bree. The importance of Tobold's raising of the herb was the vast improvement in quality brought about by the warmer climate of the Southfarthing (even Bree-dwellers confessed as much); Southfarthing pipe-weed was acknowledged by all to be immeasurably superior in aroma, strength, taste and overall quality. More importantly, it grew abundantly there and was as a consequence plentiful in the Shire (unlike the Bree-strain, which was often adversely affected by the climate of central Eriador).

A more significant aspect in the history of the weed was the role its unofficial export (in 1418–19 Shire Reckoning) played during the War of the Ring. To find large consignments of the best weed in Saruman's fortress of Isengard may have been a revelation to the Hobbits Meriadoc and Peregrin, but it was no tribute to the Shire-dwellers' business acumen; nor did it bode well for the internal security of the Shire. It had been through the leaf trade that Saruman had initially acquired a controlling interest in the affairs of Lotho (‘Pimple') Sackville-Baggins, and through Lotho that Saruman had come to dominate the Shire itself.

Pippin Gamgee
– The third son (and fifth child) of Samwise Gamgee, born in Bag End in Shire-year 1429 (Year 8 Fourth Age).

Pippin Took
–
See
PEREGRIN TOOK
.

Pool of Bywater
– ‘The Water' was the nearest thing to a major river which passed through the Shire. From the northern part of the Westfarthing it flowed gently through the little land, eventually reaching the Brandywine (Baranduin) a little way north of the Bridge of Stonebows. In this journey (of about thirty leagues) it formed a middling-sized lake (also known, rather confusingly, as ‘The Water') near Frogmorton, and a rather smaller pool not far from the Threefarthing Stone, close to the villages of Overhill, Hobbiton and, of course, Bywater. This smaller lake was known locally as Bywater Pool.

Pools of Ivrin
–
See
IVRIN
.

Poros
– A great river of southern Middle-earth; the largest of the Anduin's eastern tributaries. It arose high in the stony vales of the southern Ephel Dúath (Mountains of Shadow) and descended through a wide valley to join the Great River some forty miles above its Delta. Thus it formed a natural barrier between South Ithilien and the Harad Lands, and was as a consequence often – especially during the late Third Age – a frontier of war. Luckily for the Dúnedain, the river could only be forded with safety at one point, the Crossings of Poros, and it was here that most invasions from Haradwaith were met.

Powers
– A translation of the Quenya word
VALAR
.

The Prancing Pony
– The chief inn of the Bree-land – which is to say it was the only tavern of any consequence (the ‘Forsaken Inn' lay a day's journey to the East and was little frequented as the lands grew wilder). The Pony occupied a prominent and convenient location within the village of Bree itself and was ideally situated to cater for the needs of travellers. It was an imposing building, built of timber on three storeys after the Mannish fashion, with two wings running back from the road into the hill behind, enclosing a courtyard equipped with stables. The ‘Little Folk' (Hobbits, of whom there were many in Bree) were provided for by specially fitted chambers, close to the ground with round windows in the approved Hobbit manner. The Innkeepers of
The Prancing Pony
were the family of Butterbur, and the ale served by this prestigious Bree-family was highly regarded in the district. Nonetheless the inn's main attraction (for the locals) lay in the entertaining standard of conversation to be found in the public rooms whenever travellers stayed the night (as they frequently did).
News from Bree
was a Shire synonym for ‘up-to-date' – and most news had its origins in the rapt, smoke-filled common room of
The Prancing Pony.

Primula Baggins
– The mother of Frodo Baggins and wife of Drogo. She was tragically drowned, together with her husband, in a boating accident when their son was only twelve. The orphaned Frodo afterwards went to live with his older cousin Bilbo Baggins.

‘Princess Mee'
– One of the verses (No. 4) in the
Adventures of Tom Bombadil
collection. It was reportedly scribbled by an anonymous hand in a margin of the Red Book and cannot as a consequence be accounted one of the more important poems in the collection.

Proudfoot
– A family of Shire-hobbits, related to the Bagginses by marriage.

Prophecy of the North
– Another name for the
CURSE OF MANDOS
.

Puddifoot
– A family of Shire-hobbits, closely associated with the village of Stock in the Eastfarthing, and therefore probably of Stoorish descent.

Púkel-men
– The name given by the Rohirrim to the ancient graven statues which were to be found at each turn of the winding, precipitous road which climbed from Harrowdale to the Hold of Dunharrow many hundreds of feet above. These images had been carved by the mysterious builders of the Hold, which had been constructed at least an Age before the Riders came to Rohan. Who they had been none could state with certainty, although the forlorn, large-waisted, mournful, man-like creatures depicted in the statuary were not unlike the ‘Wild Men' of Druadan Forest, which lay beyond the borders of Rohan. What their relationship had been with the stonemasons of the White Mountains during the Accursed Years was never discovered.
See also
WOSES
.