The Complete Tolkien Companion (51 page)

There is no need to dwell on the horror of that place, nor the steadfastness with which Húrin faced his chief Enemy. So high was his courage that Morgoth forbore to have him tortured, for he knew that this warrior of Men would defy him to the last. Instead, therefore, he cursed Húrin, and his children, and set him in a high place, chained to a chair of stone, to watch the world wheel by; while in the world beyond, Morgoth's forces went whither they would, reaping the last fruits of the Nirnaeth.

For twenty-eight years Húrin ‘the Steadfast' (
Thalion,
a surname bestowed upon him by the Eldar, carries this meaning) endured his slow torment. Then he was released, to go where he might. This was not charity, for Morgoth hated him as much as ever; yet he knew that Húrin might yet betray a secret or two – or worse – if left to wander.

And so it proved. Húrin came to Gondolin – for whom he had fought to the last, beyond all hope for himself – and inadvertently revealed its whereabouts to Morgoth's spies. Then he went to Nargothrond and found it a ruin; and then to Brethil, where he learned of the fates which had overtaken his son and daughter – and found again his wife Morwen, whom he had not seen for nearly thirty years; and he held her in his arms before she died, of grief and long weariness. Then Húrin's bitterness was complete. Finally he journeyed to Doriath to reproach Thingol for the fate of his kin, but repented of his anger and departed, never again to be seen by any Elf or Man. Soon afterwards he slew himself, the last victim of the curse upon his line. Here indeed was a man who deserved a better fate.
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Húrin of Emyn Arnen
– The founder of the House of the Stewards of Gondor (and the Steward to Minardil, twenty-fifth King).
See
RULING STEWARDS
.

Húrin I
– From 2204–44 Third Age, the fifth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Húrin II
– From 2605–28, the fourteenth Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Húrin the Tall
– The Warden of the Keys of Minas Tirith and the chief official of that City (after the Steward). During the War of the Ring, he commanded the City while the Army of Gondor advanced to the Black Gate of Mordor.

Hwesta
– The Quenya (or High-elven) name for ‘breeze', but more properly, the title of Tengwa number 12, which represented the voiceless
w
sound (as in
white
). In Sindarin (or Grey-elven) usage, this letter was employed to indicate the (harder) sound
chw.

Hwesta Sindarinwa
– The title of Tengwa number 34, one of the additional (i.e. later) letters of the Fëanorian alphabet. Like letter 12 (
see
previous entry), it represented the sound of voiceless
w,
being an alternative for this letter used only by the Grey-elves – as the Sindar employed the older letter 12 to signify the typically Grey-elven sound
chw.

Hyarmen
– The Quenya name for ‘south'; also the title of Tengwa number 33, which represented the sound
hy
in those languages which required it. It also stood for (directional) South, even to those peoples who did not speak Quenya and had not learned the Tengwar.

Hyarmendacil I
(born Ciryaher) – From 1015–1149 Third Age, the fifteenth King of Gondor, the last of her four ‘Ship-kings', and the mightiest war-leader in Gondor's history. Ciryaher's father, Ciryandil, was slain by the Haradrim, in 1015, at the beginning of the long siege of Umbar, which had been repossessed by Gondor some eighty years before. However, since Umbar could not be captured while Gondor commanded the seas, the new king awaited a propitious moment before attempting to raise the siege by counter-attack. By the year 1050 Gondor's strength was rebuilt, and Ciryaher crossed the Harnen with a great army; while at the same time, his fleets disembarked another host on the coasts of the Harad. The Haradrim were so severely defeated in the ensuing battle that for several centuries afterwards they posed no further threat to the South-kingdom. To celebrate this victory, one of the greatest in Gondor's history, Ciryaher adopted the royal name Hyarmendacil, ‘Victor-of-the-South'.

Hyarmendacil II
(born Vinyarion) – From 1540–1621 Third Age, the twenty-fourth King of Gondor. Like his most illustrious forbear, he won a great victory over the Men of Harad (in the year 1551); and in token of this, Vinyarion took the royal name Hyarmendacil II.

Hyarmentir
‘Guardian-of-the-South' (Q.) – The name given in Eldamar to the second highest of all the Pelóri, the great mountain which stood far to the south, opposite the land of Avathar.

Hyarnustar
‘Southwestlands' (Q.) – The south-westerly cape-province of Númenor.
9

Hyarrostar
‘Southeastlands' (Q.) – The south-easterly cape-province of Númenor.
10

Iant Iaur
‘Old Bridge' (Sind.) – The Bridge of Esgalduin; where the traveller crossed from the dreadful valley of Nan Dungortheb into the more peaceful land of Dor Dínen. A league to the south lay the northern eaves of Neldoreth, protected from all evil by the unseen Girdle of Melian. The Elven-river Esgalduin, the river of Doriath, also possessed virtues which hindered the crossing of evil.

Iarwain Ben-adar
‘Old Fatherless' (Sind.) – The oldest of all names given to that being known to Buckland Hobbits as ‘Tom Bombadil'.

lavas
–
See
YAVIË
.

Ibun
– One of the ‘Lesser-Dwarves' (
Noegyth Nibin
) of Beleriand; he was a son of
MÎM
.

Ice Bay of Forochel
– An enormous bay which cut deep into the shores of northern Middle-earth. An almost permanently frozen waste, it lay over the evil realm of Angband, drowned under the Sea in the cataclysms of the War of Wrath (between the Valar and Morgoth) at the end of the First Age.
See also
LOSSOTH
.

Note:
on early maps of Middle-earth, the name of the Ice Bay is placed in a misleading location, indicating only its southernmost inlet.

Idril Celebrindal
– The daughter of King Turgon of Gondolin; she became the wife of
TUOR
, one of the royal Edain – in one of the only three unions ever to take place between Elves and Men – and bore him a son: Eärendil. Together with her husband and her infant son, she escaped from Gondolin during its last hours, and came, after much wandering, to the small Elf-colony which was secretly being maintained in the south of Beleriand, near the Sirion delta. Here, in Arvernien, she dwelt thereafter with Tuor and Eärendil, until Tuor became old; and then, with him, Idril went aboard the ship Eärrámë and sailed into the West, to be lost to the tales of the Elves. But the Line of Gondolin was passed by her to her son Eärendil, and he passed it to his sons Elros and Elrond, and they to all who came after.

Note:
her surname
Celebrindal
means ‘Silver-foot' in the Grey-elven tongue.

Illuin
– The name given by Eldarin tradition to the more northerly of the two Lamps of the Valar, made at the Beginning of Arda to light the world. The other Lamp was
Ormal,
in the southern reach of Arda; Illuin stood in the north; its form was that of a huge mountain, from the summit of which blazed the Lamp itself. This, like Ormal, had been wrought by the Smith of the Valar, Aulë. Both Lamps, together with their pillars, were destroyed by Morgoth (Melkor as he was then known), in a war against the Valar which broke out long before even the first Elves had walked in Middle-earth. The resulting destruction was immense. Where hitherto the Mountain of Illuin had stood, there afterwards stretched a great lake or inland sea. Its name was Helcar. Illuin and Ormal were never rebuilt, and the Valar, whose first dwelling in Middle-earth (Almaren) had also been destroyed, now removed to Aman in the West, where they founded Valinor. The ‘Blessed Realm' was lit, not by Lamps, but by the Two Trees; but Middle-earth was illuminated during all this time by nothing more than ancient starlight. Only after the destruction of the Two Trees did the Valar again devise some method of bringing light to Middle-earth.

Ilmarë
– One of the Maiar. She was the Handmaid of Varda (Elbereth).

Ilmarin
‘Mansion of the High Airs' (Q.) – The name given by the Eldar to the high palace of the Valar King and Queen, Manwë and Varda; it stood atop Mount Oiolossë, highest of the Mountains of Valinor (the Pelóri).

Ilmen
– The heavens.

Ilúvatar
‘Father-of-All' (Q.) – The Creator. Called also Eru, ‘The One' (Sind.).

Imlach
– One of the early Edain, of the Third House. He was a younger son of Marach, and the father of
AMLACH
.

Imlad Morgul
‘Vale of Sorcery' (Sind.) – One of the western valleys of the Mountains of Shadow, lying only twenty miles north-east of the bridges of Osgiliath. It was guarded by the evil tower of Minas Morgul and watered by the Morgulduin, once the Ithilduin, flowing gently down through Ithilien to the Anduin. The valley, the tower and the river were all renamed in Gondor after the fall of Minas Ithil to the Nazgûl (in 2002 Third Age).

The waters of the Morgulduin were poisonous, and the loathsome white flowers in the meadows of the valley produced noxious vapours; rottenness and decay filled Imlad Morgul. At the end of the Third Age the vegetation there was burned to the rock and the evil tower was thrown down for ever.

Imladris
‘Deep-cloven-valley' (Sind.) – The original Elvish name for the valley of
RIVENDELL
.

Imloth Melui
– A vale in the province of Lossarnach in Gondor; its woods and wild roses were locally renowned.

Imrahil
– The Prince of
DOL AMROTH
; at the time of the War of the Ring the chief nobleman of Gondor after the House of Húrin (the Line of the Ruling Stewards). He was the son of Adrahil and brother of the Lady Finduilas, wife of Steward Denethor II.