The Complete Tolkien Companion (98 page)

Tûk
– The original form of the Hobbit-surname translated from the Red Book as
Took.

Tulkas (the Strong)
– One of the Valar, the mightiest in battle and in deeds of strength. He is known also as
Astaldo,
‘the Valiant'. Tulkas was the last of the Ainur to enter the World, and he came at a time of war – the first conflict between Melkor and the Valar. The arrival of Tulkas turned the balance against Melkor, who withdrew from Arda for that time.

Afterwards, Tulkas elected to remain in Middle-earth, and he was ever after accounted one of the Valar (though not of the Aratar); and although he is not seen as one of the wisest of the Valar, his permanent mistrust of Melkor, and scepticism over his ‘repentance', proved more than justified. He wedded Nessa the sister of Oromë at the Feast of the Spring of Arda; and later fought in the Great Battle, as champion of the Hosts of the West.

Tumhalad
‘Shallow Valley' (Sind.) – The name of a vale between the rivers Ginglith and Narog, in West Beleriand. For long it was accounted part of the Realm of Nargothrond; but Nargothrond was overthrown, in the great battle fought on this very plain.

Tumladen
‘Broad Valley' (Sind.) – The name given (probably by Turgon of the Noldor) to the valley surrounded by the Encircling Mountains, in the middle of which stood the rocky hill of Amon Gwareth. Here the city of Gondolin was built. Also (Third Age) the name of a valley in Lossarnach, a south-eastern province of Gondor.

Tumunzahar
– The Dwarvish (Khuzdul) name for the city known to Elves as
NOGROD
.

Túna
–
See
TIRION
.

Tunnelly
– A family of Little Folk (Hobbits) of Bree.

Tuor
– One of the greatest chieftains of the Edain of the First Age, and one of the only three mortals ever to wed with the Elves. He was the husband of Idril Celebrindal, Turgon's daughter of Gondolin, and their child was Eärendil, afterwards called the Mariner, the saviour of Elves and Men. But it was afterwards said in the lore of the Eldar and the Edain that Tuor's path had been long appointed: through his own life and deeds to unite the kindreds of the Eldar and the Edain, and so prepare the way for the forgiveness of the Valar, and the casting-out of Morgoth. This Tuor did, and he survived the Wars of Beleriand, and at the end of his life he set sail into the Far West, and never came again to Middle-earth.

The story of Tuor, and of his high destiny, of course forms the substance of one of the major (closing) themes of
The Silmarillion,
and needs little beyond recapitulation in these pages.
6
He was the son of Huor of Dor-lómin (the younger brother of Húrin Thalion), and of the Lady Rían of the First House of the Edain (she was the daughter of Belegund of Ladros). He was conceived shortly before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears – at which his father Huor was slain in defence of the Pass of Sirion – and born shortly afterwards, in the winter of that same terrible year, in Mithrim, a land now occupied by Easterlings allied to Morgoth. But Rían and Tuor did not at this time fall into the power of the North, for they were sheltered by the Grey-elves of Mithrim. But when Tuor was in his seventeenth year he was taken by the Easterlings, and endured three years of servitude at their hands. Then he escaped, and returned to the secret place where he had lived all his life (now abandoned by the Grey-elves) and waged a lone war upon the occupiers and despoilers of his native land. But after three years he forsook this lonely and dangerous existence, and – moved by some impulse which he did not at that time fully understand – made his way, not south, but west, to the deserted land of Nevrast by the Sea. In time he came to the empty halls of Vinyamar under Mount Taras, and there he found the arms and armour which had been left there long before, by Turgon of the Noldor, at the bidding of Ulmo, the Sea-Vala. Ulmo himself was the only one of the Valar ever to maintain contact with the exiled Noldor, and it was his intercession in this matter which was to prove the salvation of the Exiles – and his instrument, as would later be seen, was Tuor of the Edain. Now he appeared to Tuor in a vision, and revealed something of his purposes; and he instructed Tuor to seek for Gondolin, and to make himself known to Turgon its lord, and there deliver a message.

Tuor then set out, guided by an Elf of Gondolin (whom Ulmo had set in his path for this very purpose). Together they reached the hidden gate in the Encircling Mountain, and entered in, and so came to Gondolin where Turgon had reigned for four hundred years, last of the Noldorin princes of Middle-earth, and now High-king of all the Exiles. There Tuor discharged his message from Ulmo – and beheld for the first time Idril Celebrindal, Turgon's daughter. And Turgon loved Tuor for although he indeed had a great debt to discharge to Tuor's kindred – which would in any case have caused him to treat the son of Huor as his own son – he recognised this tall Man as the very flower of the Edain, and though unwise enough to reject the counsel of Ulmo which Tuor had brought, he perceived that the Vala's will was at work in this meeting. So Tuor became a lord of the Gondolindrim, and Turgon made him his Heir; and seven years later his daughter Idril wedded Tuor, and one year later bore a son, Eärendil, thus fulfilling the prophecy made in the last hour of his life by Huor, that a new star should arise from the joined Houses of Dor-lómin and Elven Gondolin.

But more wills than Ulmo's were at work in Gondolin during those days. High in the counsels of the king was an Elf, Maeglin, Turgon's nephew; he had long desired to be named as Turgon's Heir, and to wed Idril. But she had not returned his favour, and the words of Huor, spoken at the Nirnaeth, had disturbed him; and now they were made manifest. Maeglin, plainly, would never inherit the lordship of the Noldor, and the bitterness in his heart darkened to jealousy – and if he now hated rather than loved Turgon, even more did he hate Tuor.

With hindsight it can clearly be seen that if Turgon had followed the counsel of Ulmo, and abandoned Gondolin, this rivalry might never have come to pass. But he did not do so, and so the evil worked its way deep into Maeglin's heart, and after a while he fell into the power of Morgoth, and agreed to betray all that which once he had loved. For like Tuor his rival, Maeglin was but an instrument of a greater will – that of Morgoth, who did not desire the salvation of the Noldor, nor that any stars should ever again arise, but only the uncontested lordship of Middle-earth, and the annihilation of all those who opposed him. And by refusing the advice of Ulmo Turgon had played – as he was bound to do – into Morgoth's hands. But in all this Tuor was blameless, and Idril also.

Seven years later, when Tuor was in his thirty-seventh year, there came the attack upon Gondolin, delivered with awful force and aided by the treachery of Maeglin. Turgon and many of his captains were slain, and the city was utterly destroyed by Dragons. Few escaped; those who did were led by Tuor (who had avenged Turgon by slaying Maeglin), Idril and the youthful Eärendil. After many perils, they came to the havens of the south, and there rested for a while, in the company and fellowship of the last surviving Eldar and Edain in all Beleriand, now utterly defeated, one by one, kingdom by kingdom, and driven to this last refuge.

Thereafter for many years Tuor made his dwelling. His son Eärendil grew to manhood, and wedded Elwing, the daughter of Dior Thingol's Heir; and the royal Line of Descent of the Grey-elves of Middle-earth was thereby added to the Line of Gondolin and the descent of the Edain. But at about the time that his grandsons Elros and Elrond were born, Tuor determined to seek the West – he had by this time become a great mariner – and he and Idril built a vessel called Eärrámë, the Flower of Foam, and set sail. They were never again seen in Middle-earth, and their fate is not known for sure. But their line continued, and by their example they prepared their son Eärendil for the voyage he too would one day make. So at the very end of the First Age, the words of Huor came true, and a new star arose in the West to bring hope to Middle-earth.

Turambar
‘Master of Doom' (Q.; Sind.
Turamarth
) – The last of the many
noms-de-guerre
assumed by Túrin son of Húrin of Dor-lómin.

Also (Third Age) the name of the ninth King of Gondor, who reigned from 541–667. When his father Rómendacil I was slain by invading Easterlings (in 541), Turambar led the army of Gondor which avenged his father and defeated the intruders. As a result Gondor's eastern possessions were greatly increased.

Turgon
‘Stone-master' (Sind. from Q.
Turukáno
) – The younger of the two sons of Fingolfin of the Noldor. He was born in Tirion before the passing of the Two Trees, and afterwards forsook the Undying Lands, together with his wife, his father and all their kin, and joined the rebellion led by Fëanor, and went into Exile in Middle-earth. There he came to be accounted one of the wisest and most far-seeing of the Noldor, and he built the renowned and beautiful city of Gondolin, in memory of Tirion the Fair; and in the end became High King of all the exiled Noldor, while Gondolin was the longest to endure of all the cities and realms made by the Noldor in Middle-earth.

Almost from the very first Turgon realised that the great enterprise of the Exiles was doomed to bitterness and failure (his own wife Elenwë perished even before setting foot in Middle-earth). Because of this, he held aloof from the remainder of his kin, sensing as he did that evil must follow them in all their deeds. Instead – for he was, nonetheless, committed to aid the enterprise as best he might – he determined to build a great city which would be at once a revered memory of Eldamar and a mighty redoubt against the power of Morgoth. (It was said that the Vala Ulmo put this thought in his mind, for Ulmo was a friend of both Turgon and Finrod son of Finarfin, and he knew that the heart of neither was fully set on recapturing the Silmarils. Both these High-elves indeed built great cities that were also great fortresses, and neither took a leading part in the Wars – until the end.) At this time – the first few decades of his exile – Turgon was dwelling by the Sea, in the most westerly part of Middle-earth: Nevrast. Underneath Mount Taras he had built a great hall, Vinyamar; but very soon he began actively to search for a hidden place where his greater, still unbuilt, city might arise.

It is told elsewhere how he came to find the vale of Tumladen in the Encircling Mountains, and how he kept the secret for many years while he planned in secret and built with care. At the beginning of the second century of his exile he quitted Vinyamar, and together with all his people made his way to Gondolin, and entered in; and the gates in the mountains were shut, and thereafter for many centuries not even Finrod his friend knew where Turgon dwelt.

For most of this time Turgon carefully husbanded his strength, and took little part in the Wars, not even in the great battle of the Dagor Bragollach. And all this time Gondolin grew still more fair; and within its bounds the High-elven tongue was still freely spoken in Middle-earth, and in the court of the King stood Two Trees. Few ever came there. Fewer still departed. The first of these was Turgon's own sister Aredhel Ar-Feiniel – and this was much against the liking of Turgon. That story (
see
MAEGLIN
) forms a great part of the tale of Gondolin's eventual fall, for by Ar-Feiniel's impulsive actions evil was allowed to enter Gondolin, though none realised it until the end. But others who came to the Hidden City while it stood were two princes of the Edain; and
their
story, and what came of it, is also woven into the tale of Turgon and Gondolin, with happier results. But for the most part Turgon defended his land, and wrapped it in secrecy, and of all those beyond its mountain-walls, Elves and Men, only Huor and Húrin ever knew its secret; they and the Eagles of the Crissaegrim.

Turgon, however, never forgot his ancient belief that the real hope of the Noldor lay in the West; and always he looked to the Sea. After the Dagor Bragollach he sent messengers west, in search of Valinor, but one only returned, and that was years afterwards. And in the meantime the tide of war flowed to and fro across the north-lands. At last Turgon could no longer hold aloof from the conflict, and he emerged from Gondolin for the first time in four and a half centuries, and brought his army to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad; and – despite great heroism – was defeated there. He and his host were saved from destruction, and enabled to make an uncontested retreat, only by the valour of the Men of Dor-lómin, led by Húrin and Huor. And though the days grew dark thereafter, Turgon never forgot this.

The last years of Turgon in Middle-earth were years of war and ravage in western Middle-earth, but a time of unreal bliss in Gondolin. Nothing had changed in Tumladen since the building of the city – and still no Elf departed from it, for Turgon now enforced his most ancient law with absolute determination. And after a time there came a Man from the Sea bearing tokens, and Turgon knew him for a messenger from Ulmo (
see
TUOR
). Yet on this crucial occasion his old wisdom deserted him – overmastered by his pride in the city he had built – and he ignored the counsel thus vouchsafed him; and in so doing brought about the fall of Gondolin. For evil was awake in the city. But Turgon would not relinquish the creation of his heart, and remained in Gondolin, and was betrayed, and perished in the sack. Yet this grace was granted, on account of his long piety, and as a reward for his repentance: that his Line should continue in the world after the ending of the Age, and that the memory of Gondolin should be preserved among Elves and Men until the latest days, unstained and fair.

Also (Third Age) the name of the twenty-fourth Ruling Steward of Gondor, who reigned from 2914–53. Two years before his death Sauron the Great openly declared himself again and re-occupied Mordor.