100-743: Túrin Turambar (pronounced [ˈtuːrɪn tuˈrambar] ) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium . Turambar and the Foalókë , begun in 1917, is the first appearance of Túrin in the legendarium. Túrin is a Man of the First Age of Middle-earth , whose family had been cursed by the Dark Lord Morgoth . While trying vainly to defy the curse, Túrin brings ruin across much of Beleriand , and upon himself and his sister Niënor. His title, "Turambar", means master of fate. Tolkien consciously based
200-603: A frame story that changed over the years , first with an Ælfwine-type character who translates the "Golden Book" of the sages Rumil or Pengoloð; later, having the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins collect the stories into the Red Book of Westmarch , translating mythological Elvish documents in Rivendell . The scholar Gergely Nagy observes that Tolkien "thought of his works as texts within the fictional world " (his emphasis), and that
300-580: A band of outlaws in Gaurwaith and becomes its leader by accidentally killing their captain. Beleg finds the band in the wild, but Túrin rejects Beleg's advice to return to Doriath. Túrin's band captures Mîm the Petty-dwarf . To save his life, Mîm shares his dwellings on the hill of Amon Rûdh with the band. Beleg returns to Túrin, bringing the Dragon-helm. The "Two Captains" free much of West Beleriand from evil, but
400-770: A bow is the main weapon of Legolas, the Elf-member of the Fellowship of the Ring . When the Fellowship meet Galadriel , she gives Legolas a new bow. He later uses it to shoot all the way across the great river Anduin and bring down an airborne Nazgûl. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy assigns a bow to Aragorn and crossbows to the Uruk-hai. However, in Tolkien's writings Aragorn is armed only with
500-642: A character from the Finnish folklore poems known as Kalevala . Kullervo similarly committed unwitting incest with his sister, brought ruin upon his family, and slew himself. In Norse mythology , Sigmund , the father of Sigurd in the Völsunga saga , resembles Túrin in the incestuous relationship he has with his sister. In Richard Wagner 's opera Die Walküre (drawn in part from the Völsung myths), Siegmund and Sieglinde are parallels of Túrin and Niënor. Further, Túrin
600-467: A girl, Niënor. Túrin reaches Doriath, which is protected by an enchantment, the Girdle of Melian . The marchwarden Beleg leads them to the city of Menegroth , where King Thingol adopts Túrin, in memory of Húrin's heroism. The Elven-lady Nellas watches over Túrin at Melian's bidding, teaching him Elven-lore. Túrin becomes esteemed for his prowess, and Beleg teaches him warfare. When after some years Dor-lómin
700-615: A letter to the publisher Milton Waldman: There is the Children of Húrin , the tragic tale of Túrin Turambar and his sister Níniel – of which Túrin is the hero: a figure that might be said (by people who like that sort of thing, though it is not very useful) to be derived from elements in Sigurd the Volsung, Oedipus , and the Finnish Kullervo. Túrin, as Tolkien stated, is mainly based on Kullervo ,
800-559: A long white horse-tail panache that trailed in the wind. The Crown of Gondor was a jewelled battle-helmet; Aragorn received it at his coronation. Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee use Orc-helmets as part of their disguise in Mordor. In the First Age, Dwarves made dragon-helms, which were said to protect against Dragons . The most famous of these was the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin . The Second Age
900-531: A non-combatant loses the struggle with Turambar for both the respect of his people and the love of Níniel. The scholar even sees an echo of Tolkien's sentiments about not being able to be active in World War II due to age in "Niennor's desperate wish either to keep the man she loves from danger or to die with him". Tolkien%27s legendarium Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien 's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms
1000-539: A pale light. This was the sword with which Fingolfin wounded Morgoth seven times, causing the first dark lord to limp forever afterward. In Tolkien's early writings, Ringil was the name of one of the two pillars supporting the Two Lamps of primeval Middle-earth. Sting is a large Elvish dagger in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . It functioned well as a sword for the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Bilbo named
1100-557: A publisher would take it, and notes that Tolkien was a perfectionist, and further that he was perhaps afraid of finishing as he wished to go on with his sub-creation , his invention of myth in Middle-earth. Tolkien first began working on the stories that would become The Silmarillion in 1914. His reading, in 1914, of the Old English manuscript Christ I led to Earendel and the first element of his legendarium, "The Voyage of Earendel,
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#17330847015291200-563: A scholarly area of study soon after his death. A legendarium is a literary collection of legends . This medieval Latin noun originally referred mainly to texts detailing legends of the lives of saints . A surviving example is the Anjou Legendarium , dating from the 14th century. Quotations in the Oxford English Dictionary for the synonymous noun legendary date from 1513. The Middle English South English Legendary
1300-414: A semi-chronological and semi-complete narrative of the mythical world and its origins. The sales were sufficient to enable him to work on and publish many volumes of his father's legendarium stories and drafts; some were presented as completed tales, while others illustrated his father's complex creative process. Tolkien research , a continuing examination of Tolkien's works and supporting mythology, became
1400-478: A sequel to The Hobbit . Tolkien began to revise the Silmarillion, but soon turned to the sequel, which became The Lord of the Rings . Writing The Lord of the Rings during the 1940s, Tolkien was attempting to address the dilemma of creating a narrative consistent with a "sequel" of the published The Hobbit and a desire to present a more comprehensive view of its large unpublished background. He renewed work on
1500-691: A troll-hoard, Thorin Oakenshield carries the sword through the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood before being taken prisoner by the Elves ; it was laid on his tomb after his death in the Battle of Five Armies. It is the mate of Glamdring. Ringil (Sindarin: Cold-Star / Cold-Spark ) is a sword wielded by Fingolfin in The Silmarillion and The Lays of Beleriand . It bit with chilling cold, and glittered like ice with
1600-659: Is 23 inches (580 mm) long (24 while in scabbard ) and 3 inches (76 mm) wide at the hilt. Its scabbard is made of brown leather and reinforced with metal. Belthronding (Sindarin/Ilkorin: Intractable Bow ) is the bow wielded by Beleg Cúthalion (Strongbow) in The Silmarillion and The Lays of Beleriand . The black arrow was used in Esgaroth by Bard the Bowman; he mentions that it has been used many times, always successfully, and always recovered. An heirloom from many generations of Bard's family, that he believed had been made in
1700-407: Is an example of this form of the noun. Tolkien described his works as a "legendarium" in four letters from 1951 to 1955, a period in which he was attempting to have his unfinished Silmarillion published alongside the more complete The Lord of the Rings . On the Silmarillion, he wrote in 1951, "This legendarium ends with a vision of the end of the world, its breaking and remaking, and the recovery of
1800-629: Is based on my view: that Men are essentially mortal and must not try to become 'immortal' in the flesh", and in 1955, "But the beginning of the legendarium, of which the Trilogy is part (the conclusion), was an attempt to reorganise some of the Kalevala ". "Tolkien's legendarium" is defined narrowly in John D. Rateliff 's The History of The Hobbit as the body of Tolkien's work consisting of: These, with The Lays of Beleriand , written from 1918 onwards, comprise
1900-773: Is cut off and news from Morwen and Niënor ceases to arrive, Túrin decides to pit his strength against Morgoth's forces, hoping to avenge the sorrows of his kin. Thingol appoints him a "knight of the sword". Túrin departs to fight the Orcs in the north of Doriath, where he is joined by Beleg. His chief weapon is the sword, and he wears the Dragon-helm of Hador, so that the Orcs fear him. At the age of 20, Túrin accidentally kills Saeros, one of Thingol's counsellors, who had insulted him. Ignoring advice, he flees from Doriath, fearing imprisonment. Thingol pardons Túrin, and Beleg obtains leave to seek out his friend. Túrin, unaware of this, flees westward, joining
2000-402: Is her brother. Horrified, Niënor drowns herself in the river Teiglin. Brandir tauntingly tells Turambar what has happened. Turambar kills the defenceless Brandir and runs in madness to Finduilas's grave. There an Elf of Doriath, Mablung, confirms the words of Brandir. Turambar flees and kills himself with Gurthang. He is buried in a high mound, together with the shards of the sword. A great stone
2100-507: Is like Sigurd, as both achieve great renown for the slaying of a dragon of immense power: in Sigurd's case Fafnir; in Túrin's, Glaurung. The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger further likens the tale of Túrin to Arthurian Legend , with its complex manuscript history and "overlapping story variants in both poetry and prose", supplemented by Tolkien's pretence that he was translating a lost Narn poem from its original Elvish language. Tolkien mentions
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#17330847015292200-717: Is made even more prominent. Túrin would take part in the Last Battle before the End of the World, when Morgoth would return and make the final assault upon the Valar and the Children of Ilúvatar . In the "Earliest Silmarillion", "the spirit of Túrin" comes back and fights, and "it shall be Túrin who with his black sword will slay Morgoth", elaborated in the 1930 revision of the Quenta Noldorinwa . Tolkien noted some of Túrin's mythological parallels in
2300-607: Is set upon the grave, upon which the Elves write in Cirth runes: TÚRIN TURAMBAR DAGNIR GLAURUNGA NIËNOR NÍNIEL (Túrin, Conqueror of Fate, Slayer of Glaurung Niënor Níniel) However, Niënor's body is not there. Two years later Morwen and Húrin meet there for the last time; Morwen is later buried there. The mound survives the War of Wrath and the Drowning of Beleriand; Tol Morwen becomes an island off
2400-577: Is the sword forged by Eöl the Dark Elf, similar to Anglachel which was given to Thingol of Doriath in The Silmarillion . It was the mate of Anglachel, was made of the same meteoritic iron, and had the same physical properties and capabilities as Anglachel, but there is no evidence of sentience in Anguirel. Anguirel was kept by Eöl until it was stolen by his son, Maeglin. Aranrúth (Sindarin: King's Ire )
2500-593: Is the sword that belonged to Théoden . Narsil ( Quenya : roughly, Red and White Flame ) is a sword in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion , influenced by the legendary Arthurian sword Excalibur and by Sigurd 's sword Gram, as described in the Old Norse Völsunga saga . The sword was forged during the First Age by the Dwarf Telchar of Nogrod, a famous weaponsmith and artificer who also made
2600-578: Is the sword wielded by King Thingol of Doriath in The Silmarillion . Later the sword of the Kings of Númenor. Glamdring (Sindarin: Foe-hammer ) is a sword in The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales forged in the First Age by the High Elves of the hidden city of Gondolin. It belonged first to Turgon , the King of Gondolin. Thousands of years later, in T.A. 2941, Gandalf discovered it among
2700-671: The Elder Edda and Gram in the Völsunga saga . The items illustrate the passage of time and the transfer of power or fate to their future bearers. Anglachel ( Sindarin : Iron of the Flaming Star ) was a sword forged of meteoritic iron by Eöl the Dark Elf , given to Thingol King of Doriath as a fee for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth. It could cleave all earth-delved iron. Later wielded by Beleg Strongbow and ultimately Túrin ; Anglachel
2800-643: The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the Red Arrow is omitted and its role is conflated with the Beacons of Gondor . Hobbits "shot well with the bow". The Shire sent archers to the battles of the Fall of Arnor. Body armour in Tolkien's fiction is mainly in the form of mail or scale shirts, in keeping with Ancient and Early Medieval periods of history. In contrast, the Lord of
2900-554: The Blacksword of Nargothrond . Gwindor meets his beloved, Finduilas daughter of King Orodreth, but she unwillingly falls in love with Túrin; Túrin does not perceive this and holds her in awe. Túrin becomes a chief counsellor to the King. He encourages the Elves to abandon their secrecy, and they build a great bridge before the Doors of Nargothrond and clear the land between the River Sirion and
3000-696: The Elves of Gondolin use the mail armour , swords , shields , spears , axes and bows of Northern European warfare. In Tolkien's writings, such Medieval weapons and armour are used by his fictional races , including Elves , Dwarves , Men , Hobbits , and Orcs . As in his sources, Tolkien's characters often gave names to their weapons , sometimes with runic inscriptions to show they are magical and have their own history and power. Tolkien devised several constructed languages with terms for types of weapons. Swords symbolized physical prowess in battle for Tolkien, following Northern European culture. Tolkien writes that Elves and Dwarves produced
3100-755: The First Age . Other notable axe-bearers were Tuor (the wielder of the axe Dramborleg), the Men of the White Mountains who marched to the defence of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings movie (replacing the axe-wielding men of Lossarnach from the book), and a contingent of Easterlings among the besiegers of Minas Tirith. Bows of different sizes and construction are featured in Tolkien's works. Elves of Lothlórien , Men, and Uruk-hai used longbows , while Elves of Mirkwood and Orcs of Mordor used smaller ones. These bows are said to be made of wood, horn and even steel. The most famous bowman in Tolkien's stories of
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3200-486: The Riddermark in The Lord of the Rings . The name is found in the Old English poem Beowulf , where the hero uses the word as an epithet for the sword Hrunting, lent to him by Hrothgar 's thane Unferth for the fight with Grendel's mother . Hadhafang is the sword invented for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, where it was wielded by Arwen , although she is never actually seen using it in combat, as
3300-499: The Silmarilli and the 'light before the Sun'"; and in 1954, "Actually in the imagination of this story we are now living on a physically round Earth. But the whole 'legendarium' contains a transition from a flat world ... to a globe ". On both texts, he explained in 1954 that "... my legendarium , especially the 'Downfall of Númenor ' which lies immediately behind The Lord of the Rings ,
3400-463: The "bath of flame", where the Sun replenished its light, "and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones." A new detail is introduced, that "Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwë in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil". In Tolkien's later writings, Niënor's fate is not mentioned, but Túrin's destiny
3500-511: The Dragon-helm reveals Túrin's identity to Morgoth, who attacks Amon Rûdh. The Orcs find Mîm, and he buys his life by leading them up the hill. Túrin is captured and all his men killed; Beleg escapes. Beleg follows the Orcs through the forest of Taur-nu-Fuin, and meets Gwindor, an escaped slave from Angband. Together they rescue Túrin in Anfauglith. Unfortunately, while Beleg is cutting the sleeping Túrin free from his bonds, he pricks Túrin's foot with
3600-511: The Evening Star", is from 1914; he revised and rewrote the legendarium stories for most of his adult life. The Hobbit (1937), Tolkien's first published novel, was not originally part of the larger mythology but became linked to it. Both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (1954 and 1955) are set in the Third Age of Middle-earth , while virtually all of his earlier writing had been set in
3700-509: The Evening Star". He intended his stories to become a mythology that would explain the origins of English history and culture, and to provide the necessary "historical" background for his invented Elvish languages . Much of this early work was written while Tolkien, then a British officer returned from France during World War I, was in hospital and on sick leave. He completed " The Fall of Gondolin " in late 1916. He called his collection of nascent stories The Book of Lost Tales . This became
3800-517: The Finnish epic, the Kalevala ; or of St Jerome , Snorri Sturlusson , Jacob Grimm , or Nikolai Gruntvig, all of whom Tolkien saw as exemplars of a professional and creative philology. This was, Nagy believes, what Tolkien thought essential if he was to present a mythology for England , since such a thing had to have been written by many hands. Further, writes Nagy, Christopher Tolkien "inserted himself in
3900-564: The First Age of Middle-earth is the Elf Beleg ; his bow was named Belthronding , and his arrow Dailir . Infamously Curufin, a lord of the Noldor , attempts to shoot the Elf-princess Lúthien with the bow of his brother Celegorm . His first arrow is intercepted by Huan ; Beren attempts to intercept the second shot, and is wounded. In The Lord of the Rings , set in the late Third Age ,
4000-658: The Jewels , and in alliterative long-line verse in The Lays of Beleriand . The complete story was published as The Children of Húrin in 2007. Tolkien wrote multiple versions of the tale of Túrin. These were published after his death, edited by his son Christopher Tolkien , as follows: Túrin is the son of Húrin , Lord of the Folk of Hador, and Morwen of the House of Bëor. The Siege of Angband has been broken, but Túrin's homeland of Dor-lómin in
4100-447: The Lame, who hopes to preserve his people by secrecy. Turambar quickly gains power, gathering companies to fight Orcs. He stops wielding Gurthang and fights using a spear and a bow. When Morwen and Niënor hear the news of Nargothrond's destruction, they rashly go to look for Túrin. Glaurung, now living in the ruins of Nargothrond, descends into the river to create a fog. Morwen loses her way in
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4200-598: The Rings and The Silmarillion . Tolkien modelled his fictional warfare on the Ancient and Early Medieval periods of history. His depiction of weapons and armour particularly reflect Northern European culture as seen in Beowulf and the Norse sagas . Tolkien established this relationship in The Fall of Gondolin , the first story in his legendarium to be written. In this story,
4300-460: The Rings and The Hobbit film adaptations, Sting is depicted as leaf-shaped, with gentle curving edges. Engraved on the blade and cross-guard are letters in Sindarin that read phonetically, Maegnas aen estar nin dagnir in yngyl im . Translated into English, they read, " Maegnas is my name, I am the spider's bane." According to the Appendix of The Silmarillion , the element maeg in Sindarin means "sharp" or "piercing". The film version of Sting
4400-446: The Rings film trilogy features later medieval plate armour suits. These kinds of plate armour are not found in Tolkien's writings, but plate does appear in the form of individual pieces such as vambraces (forearm guards) or greaves (leg and shin guards). As with other items of war, Elves and Dwarves produced the best armour. The mail shirt forged by Dwarves from the fictional metal mithril appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of
4500-411: The Rings film trilogy, Legolas possessed twin fighting knives carried in sheaths near his quiver. There are some special types of knife in Tolkien's fiction which do not have formal names, but nevertheless play important roles in the plot. The Witch-king of Angmar , leader of the Nazgûl , used a magical dagger called a " Morgul -blade" to wound Frodo Baggins at Weathertop . The dark magic of
4600-401: The Rings , did he realise the significance of hobbits in his mythology. In 1937, encouraged by the success of The Hobbit , Tolkien submitted to his publisher George Allen & Unwin an incomplete but more fully developed version of The Silmarillion called Quenta Silmarillion . The reader rejected the work as being obscure and "too Celtic ". The publisher instead asked Tolkien to write
4700-454: The Rings , worn in turn by the protagonists Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. In Letter 211 of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien , the author compared the war-gear of the Rohirrim to the Bayeux Tapestry , made during the Norman Conquest of Anglo-Saxon England. Battle helmets are commonly used by virtually all races in Tolkien's writings. The Rohirrim were partly modelled on the Anglo-Saxons , who wore elaborate helmets ; Éomer 's helmet had
4800-405: The Silmarillion after completing The Lord of the Rings , and he greatly desired to publish the two works together. When it became clear that would not be possible, Tolkien turned his full attention to preparing The Lord of the Rings for publication. John D. Rateliff has analysed the complex relationship between The Hobbit and The Silmarillion , providing evidence that they were related from
4900-407: The Sword of Elendil, Aiglos and Narsil, none could withstand." The Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, also called the Helm of Hador , is the fabulous helmet of the lords of the House of Hador, including Húrin and Túrin. The helm was made of heavy steel, decorated with gold and runes ; a gold likeness of Glaurung the Dragon was set upon its crest. It was made for the Dwarf-king Azaghâl by Telchar ,
5000-441: The Sword that was Broken , remained an heirloom of Isildur's heirs throughout the Third Age, and were thus inherited by Aragorn. Elvish smiths re-forged the sword for Aragorn before the Fellowship of the Ring began their quest; Aragorn renamed it Andúril (Quenya: Flame of the West ). The reforged Andúril is described as very bright, shining red and white with the light of the sun and moon. The Silmarillion further states that
5100-420: The Witch-king. Battle axes are especially favoured by Dwarves in Tolkien's writings; Gimli uses the battle cry : Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you! ( Khuzdul : Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu! ). For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gimli the Dwarf was assigned various axes of different makes during the course of the films. The Sindarin Elves of Doriath favoured axes as weapons during
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#17330847015295200-477: The author's original intent, "all glimmer of hope has been extinguished". The scholar of literature Victoria Holtz-Wodzak calls Niënor a "study of the lives of women during wartime. She is, for all practical purposes, a war orphan". Holtz-Wodzak sees the war-time fate of the women in Tolkien's life as well as his own experiences as inspiration for the character and its sympathetic treatment by the author. Holtz-Wodzak also compares his situation to that of Brandír, who as
5300-463: The background to his The Lord of the Rings , and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of The Silmarillion and documented in his 12-volume series The History of Middle-earth . The legendarium's origins reach back to 1914, when Tolkien began writing poems and story sketches, drawing maps , and inventing languages and names as a private project to create a mythology for England . The earliest story, "The Voyage of Earendel,
5400-461: The best swords (and other war gear) and that Elvish swords glowed blue in the presence of Orcs . Elves generally used straight swords while Orcs generally used curved swords. Both races have exceptions: Egalmoth of Gondolin used a curved sword and the Uruk-hai of Isengard used short, broad blades. Tolkien often mentions the use of shields together with one-handed swords. Knives are mentioned in Tolkien's works, sometimes as backup weapons—such as
5500-453: The black sword Anglachel . Túrin, mistaking him in the darkness for an Orc, takes the sword and kills Beleg. Gwindor leads the grief-stricken Túrin to the Pools of Ivrin, where he returns to his senses. They journey to the hidden fortress of Nargothrond , where Gwindor had been a lord. He gives Beleg's sword Anglachel to Túrin, who has it reforged and renamed Gurthang , "Iron of Death". Túrin hides his own name, becoming known as Mormegil or
5600-407: The blade's design was for main use on horseback, and footage of Arwen at Helm's Deep was ultimately cut. The name is derived from Tolkien's etymological word list written in the 1930s; here Tolkien provides the word hadhathang (dissimilated: havathang, hadhafang ), which he translates as "throng-cleaver", though he never used this name in his writings. Herugrim (Old English: Fierce Sword )
5700-457: The coast of Middle-earth. Tolkien wrote several versions of a prophecy about Túrin's fate after death. The fragmentary earliest outline mentions "purification of Turambar and Vainóni who fare shining about the world and go with the hosts of Tulkas against Melko." In the finished manuscript of The Tale of Turambar and the Foalókë , this becomes a story that Túrin and Niënor were only admitted to Mandos after their parents' prayers; they entered
5800-433: The coastal Falas from enemies. Túrin becomes arrogant, ignoring even a warning from the godlike Vala Ulmo to destroy the bridge and return to secrecy. After five years, Morgoth sends a great host of Orcs led by the dragon Glaurung. Túrin persuades Orodreth to fight them in the open. In the ensuing Battle of Tumhalad, Nargothrond's forces are destroyed and Orodreth is killed; the bridge helps Morgoth's forces to locate
5900-401: The core episodes and themes of The Silmarillion which were not abandoned in his father's constant redrafting of the work. The scholars Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter edited a scholarly collection " Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth ". Flieger writes that "...the greatest [event] is the creation of the Silmarils, the Gems of light that give their names to
6000-400: The death of Beleg at the hand of his friend Túrin by Anglachel itself. Túrin asked the sword whether it would slay him swiftly if he cast himself on its point, and it responded at length (the only instance of Gurthang speaking with voice). The depiction of the sword was influenced by that of the sword of the Finnish character Kullervo in the Kalevala . Angrist (Sindarin: Iron-cleaver )
6100-405: The death of the Witch-king . The daggers had varying fates. The Witch-king broke Frodo's blade at the Ford of Bruinen. Sam Gamgee left his beside Frodo in Cirith Ungol ; it was returned to Gandalf , along with Frodo's mithril mail-shirt, by the Mouth of Sauron . Pippin Took used his dagger in the Battle of the Black Gate to slay a Troll . Merry's blade is destroyed during his attack on
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#17330847015296200-418: The different "phases" of Tolkien's Elven legendary writings, posthumously edited and published in The Silmarillion and in their original forms in Christopher Tolkien's series The History of Middle-earth . Other Tolkien scholars have used the term legendarium in a variety of contexts. Christopher Tolkien's introduction to The History of Middle-earth series talks about the "primary 'legendarium'", for
6300-626: The editor, Christopher Tolkien." Dickerson and Evans use the phrase "legendarium" to encompass the entirety of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings "for convenience". This would encompass texts such as the incomplete drafts of stories published before The History of Middle-earth in the 1980 Unfinished Tales . Shaun Gunner of The Tolkien Society has called the 2021 collection of Tolkien's previously unpublished legendarium writings The Nature of Middle-earth , edited by Carl F. Hostetter, "an unofficial 13th volume of The History of Middle-earth series". Unlike " fictional universes " constructed for
6400-561: The fall of Nargothrond. In his rage he kills the people around him. Túrin next tries to find Finduilas, travelling to the forest of Brethil, but is too late: the woodmen inform him that she had been killed by the Orcs when the Men of Brethil tried to rescue her. Túrin collapses in grief upon her grave, and is brought to a village in the forest, Ephel Brandir. There he takes up his life again, now calling himself Turambar ("Master of Doom") and renouncing his descent, hoping to overcome his curse. The Folk of Haleth dwelling there are ruled by Brandir
6500-542: The first two ages of the world. The Lord of the Rings occasionally alludes to figures and events from the legendarium to create an impression of depth , but such ancient tales are depicted as being remembered by few until the story makes them relevant. After The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien returned to his older stories to bring them to publishable form, but never completed the task. Tolkien's son Christopher chose portions of his late father's vast collection of unpublished material and shaped them into The Silmarillion (1977),
6600-548: The fog, but Niënor meets the dragon and is enspelled by him, forgetting her past. She flees to Brethil. Turambar finds her at Finduilas's grave, naked, unable to speak and remembering nothing. He names her Níniel , "Maid of Tears", and takes her to Ephel Brandir. There she is healed by Brandir, who falls in love with her; but Níniel and Turambar come to love each other. Turambar asks her to marry him; Brandir dissuades her, foreboding evil, but they are married. Turambar goes back to war when Glaurung sends Orcs to attack Brethil: taking up
6700-402: The forges of the King under the Mountain ; Bard recites its history, urges it to "go now and speed well", and shoots Smaug. It was lost with the Dragon's corpse in the Long Lake . Dailir is the arrow favoured by Beleg, the great bowman of the First Age of Middle-earth. Beleg was always able to retrieve this arrow for reuse. The Red Arrow is a black-feathered arrow barbed with steel; its tip
6800-608: The fortress and cross the river Narog. Túrin fights Glaurung off, but leaves the battle to carry away the mortally wounded Gwindor. Before Gwindor dies, he instructs Túrin to save Finduilas, prophesying that she alone can avert Túrin's doom. Hastening to save the captives, Túrin is caught by Glaurung's powerful gaze. He stands by enspelled as Finduilas is dragged away, calling to him. The dragon deceives him into believing that Morwen and Niënor are suffering in Dor-lómin; Túrin abandons Finduilas to seek out his kin. When he reaches Dor-lómin, he finds that Morwen had already left for Doriath before
6900-446: The functional place of Bilbo" as editor and collator, in his view "reinforcing the mythopoeic effect" that his father had wanted to achieve, making the published book do what Bilbo's book was meant to do, and so unintentionally realising his father's intention. Anglachel The weapons and armour of Middle-earth are all those mentioned J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth fantasy writings, such as The Hobbit , The Lord of
7000-427: The great Dwarf-craftsman of Nogrod. Azaghâl ruled the neighbouring city of Belegost; he gave it to Maedhros , who gave it to Fingon. Fingon then gave it to Hador, along with the lordship of Dor-lómin. The Axe of Tuor, called Dramborleg (Gnomish: Thudder-Sharp ) in The Book of Lost Tales , is the great axe belonging to Tuor, son of Huor in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth that left wounds like "both
7100-436: The hoard of the three trolls in The Hobbit , and he carried it throughout his journeys with Bilbo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring. It was the mate of Orcrist , and like Orcrist would glow blue whenever orcs were nearby. Glamdring was nicknamed " Beater " by the goblins of the Misty Mountains . See Anglachel Gúthwinë ( Old English : gúð-wine Battle Friend ) is the sword wielded by Éomer, third marshal of
7200-445: The idea of multiple 'voices' who collected the stories over the millennia. When Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 (which was itself not originally intended for publication, but as a story told privately to his children), the narrative of the published text was loosely influenced by the legendarium as a context, but was not designed to be part of it. Carpenter comments that not until Tolkien began to write its sequel, The Lord of
7300-614: The knife Angrist (which cut a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth) and the Helm of Hador (later used by Túrin Turambar ). By the end of the Second Age Narsil was borne by Elendil ; during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men it was broken in two pieces in the war against Sauron . Isildur used the hilt-shard to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand. The two shards, acquiring the additional name
7400-453: The knife gravely affects Frodo's well-being, threatening to turn him into a wraith, especially because its detachable point migrated in Frodo's body for more than two weeks before it could be extracted, thus causing great damage. Recurring ill effects from the wound contribute to Frodo's eventual departure to Valinor . According to the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , the weapon may owe something to
7500-626: The name for the first two volumes of The History of Middle-earth , which include these early texts. Tolkien never completed The Book of Lost Tales ; he left it to compose the poems " The Lay of Leithian " (in 1925) and " The Lay of the Children of Húrin " (possibly as early as 1918). The first complete version of The Silmarillion was the "Sketch of the Mythology" written in 1926 (later published in Volume IV of The History of Middle-earth ). The "Sketch"
7600-559: The narrative framing device of an Anglo-Saxon mariner named Ælfwine or Eriol or Ottor Wǽfre who finds the island of Tol Eressëa , where the Elves live, and the Elves tell him their history. He collects, translates from Old English , and writes the mythology that appears in The History of Middle-earth . Ælfwine means "Elf-friend" in Old English; men whose names have the same meaning, such as Alboin, Alwin, and Elendil , were to appear in
7700-453: The nature of evil in Arda , the origin of Orcs , the customs of the Elves , the nature and means of Elvish rebirth, the "flat" world, and the story of the Sun and Moon. In any event, with one or two exceptions, he made little change to the narratives during the remaining years of his life. The scholar Verlyn Flieger writes that Tolkien thought of his legendarium as a presented collection, with
7800-562: The northwest of Beleriand is still contested by Húrin against the Dark Lord Morgoth 's forces. When Túrin is eight, Húrin leads his Men to war; all are killed in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears . Húrin is captured and cursed by Morgoth, who sends an army of Easterlings to Dor-lómin. Túrin remains with Morwen, who hides him and sends him secretly to the hidden Elven -realm of Doriath ; Morwen remains in Dor-lómin, and shortly afterwards gives birth to
7900-479: The original Narsil already shone in such a manner, but its light was extinguished when it was broken. The reforged blade had "a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes". Orcrist (Sindarin: Goblin-cleaver ), a sword in The Hobbit . was originally forged in Gondolin and was nicknamed " Biter " by the goblins of the Misty Mountains. After finding it in
8000-405: The others are Lúthien and Beren ; Eärendil and Elwing ; and Aragorn and Arwen . West described the story of Niënor's family as tragic. Elizabeth A. Whittingham wrote in A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien that the story had grown darker with time, commenting that "no tale of Middle-earth is as dark as that", and stating that in its rendition in The Silmarillion with the end omitted, contrary to
8100-506: The overlapping of different and sometimes contradictory accounts was central to his desired effect. Nagy notes that Tolkien went so far as to create facsimile pages from the Dwarves' Book of Mazarbul that is found by the Fellowship in Moria . Further, Tolkien was a philologist ; Nagy comments that Tolkien may have been intentionally imitating the philological style of Elias Lönnrot , compiler of
8200-445: The purpose of writing and publishing popular fiction, Tolkien's legendarium for a long period was a private project, concerned with questions of philology , cosmology , theology and mythology. His biographer Humphrey Carpenter writes that although by 1923 Tolkien had almost completed The Book of Lost Tales , "it was almost as if he did not want to finish it", beginning instead to rewrite it; he suggests that Tolkien may have doubted if
8300-447: The resemblance to the unfortunate Oedipus, prince of Thebes, who unwittingly fulfils a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. The Tolkien scholar Richard C. West , in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , writes that the tale "is one of almost unrelieved gloom", though a prophecy in Tolkien's mythology holds that Túrin will help in the final defeat of Morgoth, after the end of
8400-473: The start of The Hobbit ' s composition. With the success of The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien in the late 1950s returned to the Silmarillion, planning to revise the material of his legendarium into a form "fit for publication", a task which kept him occupied until his death in 1973, without attaining a completed state. The legendarium has indeed been called "a jumble of overlapping and often competing stories, annals, and lexicons." Much of his later writing
8500-516: The story on the tale of Kullervo in the 19th-century Finnish mythological poem Kalevala . Scholars have noted parallels with other myths including that of Sigmund and Sigurd in the Völsunga saga of Norse mythology ; with the Greek myth of Oedipus ; and in terms of structure and style, with Arthurian legend . Excerpts have been published in prose in The Silmarillion , Unfinished Tales , The Book of Lost Tales Part II, and The War of
8600-539: The sword Andúril, and crossbows are only mentioned in connection to hunting by Númenoreans in their lost homeland of Númenor. Sometimes individual arrows are given special mention in Tolkien's works. In The Hobbit , the Black Arrow was a royal heirloom used by Bard the Bowman to kill the dragon Smaug . In The Lord of the Rings , the Red Arrow was a token used by Gondor to summon its allies in time of need. In
8700-552: The sword again, Turambar drives them away. Next year Níniel conceives, and Glaurung attacks Brethil in person. Turambar decides to ambush the Dragon and to try stabbing him from beneath. Of his two companions, Dorlas deserts, and Hunthor is killed by a stone. Turambar mortally wounds Glaurung with Gurthang, but is poisoned by the Dragon's blood and falls in a swoon. When Níniel comes to search for him, Glaurung with his last words undoes his spell, and she remembers who she is, and that Turambar
8800-615: The tradition of the " elf-shot " found in Old English medical texts and charms, where it denotes illnesses of presumed supernatural origin. Tom Bombadil recovers four magical daggers, forged by the Men of Westernesse to fight the powers of Angmar , from a tomb guarded by the Barrow-wight . After opening the barrow and freeing the hobbits, Tom Bombadil gives them the weapons, saying "Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people". One of these "Barrow-blades" – that given to Merry Brandybuck – proves instrumental in bringing about
8900-496: The two unfinished time travel novels, The Lost Road in 1936 and The Notion Club Papers in 1945, as the protagonists reappeared in each of several different times. There is no such framework in the published version of The Silmarillion , but the Narn i Hîn Húrin is introduced with the note "Here begins that tale which Ǽlfwine made from the Húrinien ." Tolkien never fully dropped
9000-448: The unnamed long knife of Legolas the archer. However, some individual knives are given more significance through naming (e.g. Sting , see below). In " The Scouring of the Shire ", Saruman attempts to stab Frodo with a knife, but is foiled by the mithril shirt worn under his jacket. Shortly afterwards Saruman's throat was fatally cut with a knife borne by Wormtongue . For The Lord of
9100-544: The weapon after using it to fend off the giant spiders in Mirkwood forest, then later passed it on to Frodo to use in his quest to destroy the One Ring. Sting glows blue when orcs are nearby, as in Moria . In Europe, bilbo blades were exceptionally fine swords, named after the city of Bilbao which made them. It is possible that Tolkien connected Bilbo's name with his acquisition of this weapon. In Peter Jackson 's The Lord of
9200-538: The whole legendarium", equating the legendarium with the Silmarillion (which with italics denotes the 1977 book published under that name, and without italics means the larger body of un-edited drafts used to create that work). In the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , David Bratman writes that " The History of Middle-earth is a longitudinal study of the development and elaboration of Tolkien's legendarium through his transcribed manuscripts, with textual commentary by
9300-502: The world, and that he and his sister will be cleansed of their sin. West writes that as in many other stories of Middle-earth, there is a "delicate balance" between fate, whereby each character inevitably takes certain actions and suffers the consequences, and free will, whereby he makes his own bold or rash choices that determine the outcomes for him. According to the biographer Charles Moseley , Niënor and Turin are one of only four "couples whose love gets much space" in Tolkien's works;
9400-545: Was a 28-page synopsis written to explain the background of the story of Túrin to R. W. Reynolds, a friend to whom Tolkien had sent several of the stories. From the "Sketch" Tolkien developed a fuller narrative version of The Silmarillion called Quenta Noldorinwa (also included in Volume IV). The Quenta Noldorinwa was the last version of The Silmarillion that Tolkien completed. The stories in The Book of Lost Tales employ
9500-522: Was a knife made by the great weaponsmith Telchar of Nogrod, and borne by Curufin. Beren, who had taken it from Curufin, used it to cut a magical Silmaril jewel out of Morgoth 's Iron Crown; as Beren attempted to remove another, the knife snapped. In the earliest version of Beren's story in The Book of Lost Tales , he uses an ordinary household knife; the element of Curufin's involvement in Beren's affairs came later. Anguirel (Sindarin: Iron of Eternity )
9600-777: Was dominated by Númenor. The Númenórean helmet, the karma , reached particularly elaborate forms. Those of the Uinendili , a guild of mariners, were "made of overlapping plates of metal, the 'fish-crest' of leather embossed and coloured". Tolkien's coloured drawing of the karma of a Uinendili captain features on the cover of Unfinished Tales . Tolkien emulated his Northern European mythological and literary sources in having his characters give names to their weapons , marking these out as important aspects of character and sometimes as ancient heirlooms. Named weapons in Medieval literature include Hrunting and Nægling in Beowulf , Tyrfing in
9700-615: Was forthcoming from Rohan. The Red Arrow has a historical antecedent in the Old English poem Elene in which Constantine the Great summoned an army of mounted Visigoths to his aid against the Huns by sending an arrow as a "token of war". Aeglos (Sindarin: Snow Point , i.e. icicle; also spelt Aiglos ) is the spear wielded by the Elf-King Gil-galad . It was said that "the Spear of Gil-galad and
9800-442: Was however concerned more with the theological and philosophical underpinnings of the work, rather than with the narratives themselves. By this time, he had doubts about fundamental aspects of the work that went back to the earliest versions of the stories, and it seems that he felt the need to resolve these problems before he could produce the "final" version of The Silmarillion . During this time he wrote extensively on such topics as
9900-480: Was painted red. It was a token used by Gondor to summon Rohan in time of dire need. In The Return of the King , the Red Arrow was presented to Théoden by Hirgon with the message: "...the Lord Denethor asks for all your strength and all your speed, lest Gondor should fall at last." Théoden pledged his assistance, but Hirgon was killed during the ride back to Minas Tirith, leading Denethor to believe that no help
10000-555: Was reforged and renamed Gurthang (Sindarin: Iron of Death ). Túrin used Gurthang to kill Glaurung, the Father of Dragons , and later used the sword to take his own life in recompense for the accidental slaying of Beleg and the unjust slaying of Brandir. The stories endow the sword with a personality; Melian the Maia perceived malice in it as it was given to Beleg Cúthalion, and the elf Gwindor observed that Anglachel (so named then) seemed to mourn
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