The Complete Tolkien Companion (87 page)

Sea of Nurn
–
See
NURNEN
.

Sea of Rhûn
– In the Third Age, the largest landlocked body of water remaining in western Middle-earth, and as a consequence sometimes known as the Inland Sea. It lay far in the East, beyond Mirkwood and Rhovanion, over a hundred leagues south-east of the Iron Hills; and it was of vast dimensions, being over fifty leagues across at its widest point.

Seat of Seeing
– The name given in Gondor for the carven stone chair on top of the Hill of the Eye (Amon Hen), above the Falls of Rauros upon Anduin.

Seaward Tower
–
See
TIRITH AEAR
.

Second Age
– There were 3,441 years between the Breaking of Thangorodrim and the first overthrow of Sauron the Great. In the lore of the Elves and the Dúnedain this period was known as the Second Age of Middle-earth, and all later epochs were named and calculated accordingly. The Second Age began immediately after the fall of Morgoth with the founding of the Elf-kingdoms of Lindon. Much of north-western Middle-earth had been inundated or damaged in the terrible wars of the previous Age, and the Elves were much reduced in number, while their old realms lay under the Sea. Yet those Elves that chose to remain in mortal lands prospered for a while, wandering the Westlands and having commerce with other races. The Dwarves, too, flourished during this period, possessing the one invulnerable citadel (the realm of Moria) to be found in Middle-earth – save only the Dark Tower of Sauron. For this former servant of Morgoth also awoke once more during the Second Age, and began again to make himself a power in the world. It was a measure of his success that the latter part of the Age was afterwards called the Accursed Years.

But for the Men of Númenor across the Western Seas the Second Age was the epoch of great glory and splendour. The land of Westernesse was founded in the 32nd year of the Age by the Edain, who were led at that time by Elros, called afterwards Tar-Minyatur; and he became their first King. While dispute and conflict raged to and fro in Middle-earth, the island-realm of Númenor grew ever more powerful until, by the last third of the Age, even the coastlands of Middle-earth itself were under its sway. In the end came the inevitable clash between Sauron and the Dúnedain of Númenor, a clash in which Sauron was temporarily defeated; yet ultimately he prevailed over them by treachery, and his evil counsels led most of the Dúnedain to destruction, when Númenor was cast under the Sea. The Second Age ended with the events brought about by Sauron's discovery that his victory over Númenor was not yet complete. He suddenly attacked the Dúnedain Realms-in-Exile, but failed to conquer them with one blow as he had hoped, and the Last Alliance which his foes made against him overthrew his might, cast down the Barad-dûr and laid his realm in ruins.

Secondborn
–
MEN
.

Second Line (of Rohan)
– The name given in the lore of Rohan to all the Kings of the Mark between Fréaláf Hildeson (tenth King) and Théoden Ednew (seventeenth King).

Second Music (of the Ainur)
– In the lore of the Eldar, this term refers to the Ending of the World (
Ambar-metta
) and of the Universe; when a Great Music shall again be sung, but with different themes, and with the participation of all the Children of Ilúvatar.

Second People
– A translation of the Quenya word
Atani;
the race of
MEN
.

Second Prophecy of Mandos
–
See
DAGOR DAGORATH
.

Second Spring of Arda
– In the lore of the Eldar, the Years of the Sun, when light once again was brought to mortal lands. The (first) Spring of Arda had been long before, when the Valar dwelt in Almaren and the Lamps Illuin and Ormal had shone over the face of the world, stimulating growth and change. This archaic period, however, had been marred by Melkor, who destroyed Almaren and broke the Lamps, causing Darkness to fall over Middle-earth – a Night which was to endure for Ages upon Ages, until the raising of Anar (and Isil).

Secret Fire
– The Flame of Anor, also called the Flame Imperishable; the divine Life-force of the World and of Eä, the Universe.

Seeing-stones
– The
PALANTÍRI
.

Self-cursed
– An Elvish epithet for the race of
MEN
.

Serech
–
See
FEN OF SERECH
.

Seregon
‘Stone-blood' (Sind.) – A variety of stonecrop with crimson flowers which grew on the stony height of Amon Rûdh.

Serindë
‘The Seamstress' (Q.) –
See
MÍRIEL SERINDË
.

Serni
‘Stony' (Sind.) – The major tributary of the river Gilrain in Gondor. Its source was in Lebennin south of the White Mountains. The Serni flowed south-west through the province to join the larger river some little distance above the town of Linhir.

Seven Fathers
– According to the lore of Dwarves, their race was descended in antiquity from Seven Houses, each of which had its own Founding Father. The eldest and most royal of these Seven Fathers was Durin I, widely called ‘the Deathless'..

Seven Rings
– The Seven
RINGS OF POWER
made for the (seven) Dwarf-kings during the Second Age by the Elves of Eregion working under the tutelage of Sauron of Mordor. Sauron's secret purpose was, of course, the making of Great Rings which would bring the Dwarves under his domination; but the Dwarves were a race that easily resisted all such spells, and the Seven proved useless as a means to this end. Accordingly, in the years that followed, Sauron bent all his will towards recovering the Rings: three he regained, while four were consumed (together with their owners) by Dragons. The last Ring to be recovered by Sauron was that originally given to Durin III of Moria by the Elven-smiths; it was taken from Thráin II, Durin's Heir, during his torment in Dol Guldur.

Seven Rivers
– A translation of the Sindarin element
Ossir;
the Seven Rivers of Ossiriand were Gelion, Ascar, Thalos, Legolin, Brilthor, Duilwen and Adurant. In the Second and Third Ages, this term was also applied to the (original) land of Gondor, which also had seven rivers: Lefnui, Morthond, Ringló, Gilrain (or Gilraen), Sirith, Erui, and Anduin.
7

Seven Stars
– Heraldic emblem, used both by the Dwarves of Durin's House and by the Dúnedain of Gondor, followers of Elendil. The Dwarf-emblems represented the constellation known as the Sickle (the Plough or Big Dipper), while the Númenorean Seven originally stood for the (single) stars on the banners of the ships which bore the seven
palantíri
back from drowned Númenor to Middle-earth at the end of the Second Age. These Seven Stars were later incorporated into the heraldry of Gondor, where, together with the White Tree and the Silver Crown, they represented the Line of Elendil.

Seven Stones
– The
PALANTÍRI
.

‘Shadow-Bride'
– A short, disquieting Shire-poem, one of the lesser verses scribbled in the margins of the Red Book and subsequently published (No. 13) in
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

Shadowfax
– The name given in Rohan to the chief of the Mearas, Princes of Horses; the last descendant of Felaróf of Éothéod in the Third Age. Until approached by Gandalf the Grey, the horse was completely untamed, although he subsequently became a great comrade of the Wizard, bearing him into battle throughout the War of the Ring. At the end of the Age Shadowfax passed over Sea together with his master.

Shadowmere
– A lake or tarn beneath the Hill of Ilmarin (Oiolossë) in Eldamar. Beside it, say the Elves, stands the ‘Great-watch-tower' of Tirion.

Shadowy Mountains
– A translation of
Ered Wethrin;
also a term (Third Age) for the Ephel Dúath, the west-wall of Mordor.

Shagrat
– An Orc of Mordor, captain or sergeant of the Guard of the Tower of Cirith Ungol at the time of the War of the Ring. He was afterwards described (by Samwise, who encountered him) as ‘a large orc with long arms that, as he ran crouching, reached to the ground'.
8
Being the fiercest Orc in the Tower, he survived when his company and another Orc-troop fought for possession of certain items of booty. Shagrat subsequently escaped the carnage and fled the tower – to carry the vital items to Barad-dûr, with potentially disastrous consequences.

Sharbhund
– The name among the Petty-dwarves for
AMON RÛDH
.

Sharkey
– A nickname in the Shire for Saruman the Wizard. It was in origin the Orkish word
sharkû
(‘old-man'), given to Saruman by his servants in Isengard and taken to the Shire by his other agents.

Sharkey's End
– A dry term, used only in Bywater, for the Hobbiton lane known as New Row. The Wizard Saruman (known in the Shire as ‘Sharkey') was slain at the end of the road on the last day of the War of the Ring (November 3rd, 1419 Shire Reckoning).

Shathûr
–
See
BUNDUSHATHÛR
.

Shelob the Great
– The last of the Great Spiders of Middle-earth. These creatures infested the passes of the Mountains of Terror in Beleriand during the First Age, drinking the blood of all who came near, for they served no master but their own monstrous hunger. The ancestor of them all was Ungoliant – who poisoned the Two Trees of Valinor – and the last of her brood to survive was Shelob the Great.

Most of the evil creatures of Beleriand were destroyed when that land was drowned under the Sea at the end of the First Age, but by some chance Shelob escaped, and slowly made her way south, until she came at last to the Mountains of Shadow. There she built a lair in a high pass, afterwards called Spider Glen, and dwelt for many years, she ‘who was there before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr; and she served none but herself … for all living things were her food and her vomit darkness.'
9
She spun her webs of horror high in the Pass named after her for two full Ages, and Sauron tolerated her; for although his Orcs were eaten by her, she guarded his land better than he himself could have done.

Shelob's Lair
– The den of the Great Spider Shelob. It was a cavern of great size, linked with other caves by many passages and tunnels, and it lay just below the summit of the Pass of Cirith Ungol on the western side. The road across the Pass had been tunnelled through solid rock at this point, and travellers were accordingly forced to use the outer passages of the Spider's Lair (Torech Ungol) on their way to and fro. For this reason the builders of the Tower of Cirith Ungol (which lay on the further side of the Pass) devised a back-door passage which partly avoided the hazard.

Shepherds of the Trees
– The
ENTS
.

Ship-kings
– The period of Gondor's greatest maritime expansion took place under her ‘Ship-kings', who ruled between the ninth and twelfth centuries of the Third Age. Their Númenorean ancestors had, of course, always been great mariners, whose argosies journeyed back to Middle-earth many centuries before the founding of the Realms-in-Exile; and the harbours at Umbar and Pelargir had been founded a full thousand years before Minas Anor or Osgiliath. This heritage was not forgotten in the South-kingdom, and when Gondor began to prosper, the Dúnedain turned once more to sea power to realise their imperial ambitions south and west of their own coasts.

The ‘Ship-kings' were the four rulers of Gondor most closely associated with this policy. The first was Tarannon, twelfth King, who constructed the first fleets and conquered the coastal areas south and west of the Mouths of Anduin; in token of his victories he took the name
Falastur
(‘Lord-of-the-coasts'). He was succeeded by his nephew, Eärnil I, in 913 Third Age. Eärnil improved on Falastur's work, restoring the ancient Númenorean haven of Pelargir upon Anduin, and capturing the rival Haven of Umbar two years after his succession to the Throne. But in 936 he was lost at sea, and his own son Ciryandil, the third ‘Ship-king', fared no better, falling in battle at Umbar defending the Haven from an attack of Haradrim (in 1015).

Ciryandil's son Ciryaher was the fourth and last of the ‘Ship-kings', and he later became the most powerful ruler in Gondor's history. He set in hand a programme of fleet-building, all the while awaiting the most propitious moment for avenging his father; and when the time was ripe he crossed the Poros and descended upon the forces of Harad, which were still besieging Umbar, having failed to capture it despite their slaying of Ciryandil. At the same time the fleets of Gondor landed armies on the coasts to take the Haradrim in flank. Then the Southron besiegers were so severely defeated that not for several centuries were they able to recover their strength. To commemorate his great victory, Ciryaher took the royal name
Hyarmendacil
(‘South-victor'). He was the mightiest of all the Kings of Gondor and reigned for 134 years. But with him died the line of the ‘Ship-kings': his own son Atanatar (II) Alcarin proved little better than a vain spendthrift, and the great gains of the ‘Ship-kings' were allowed to slip away.

Shire
– A translation (into Early English, for contextual purposes) of the Hobbit-word
Sûza,
the name among western Hobbits for the region of authority of their Thain, approximately speaking between the river Baranduin (Brandywine) and the Emyn Beraid (Tower Hills). These lands had previously been part of Arnor, and later Arthedain, but by 1600 Third Age had long been deserted, and although still rich and fertile were growing wild with disuse. At that time many Harfoots and Fallohides were dwelling in somewhat crowded conditions in and near the village of Bree in Eriador, and there was a strong desire to occupy the unused agricultural land west of the Baranduin. Permission was accordingly sought from King Argeleb II of Arthedain by the Hobbit-leaders Marcho and Blanco (both, incidentally, Fallohides), and when this was forthcoming a great multitude of Hobbits crossed the Bridge of Stonebows and took possession of the lands beyond.