The Complete Tolkien Companion (65 page)

This occurred in 3019 Third Age, when a mighty host came down from the mountains and captured West Osgiliath, pouring across the Great River in many boats. With all of the ruined city of Osgiliath in his hands, the Witch-king of Minas Morgul then advanced towards Minas Tirith, capturing the Rammas Echor and the Fields of Pelennor and besieging the last fortress of Gondor. Yet on March 15th, five days after leaving Minas Morgul, the Lord of the Nazgûl was himself destroyed – and the Morgul-host was also utterly overwhelmed – in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Minas Morgul fell once more into the hands of the Dúnedain, but it had been too long an evil place for any Man to dwell there, and by order of the King Elessar the once-beautiful Tower of the Moon was cast down and its foundations removed.

Minas Morgul
‘Tower of Sorcery' (Sind.) – The name given in Gondor to the city of
MINAS ITHIL
from the time it fell to the Nazgûl in 2002 Third Age until its destruction at the end of the Age.

Minastan
– The second son of King Minardil of Gondor and younger brother of King Telemnar, who perished with all his children in the Great Plague of 1636 Third Age. After Telemnar's death, Minastan's son Tarondor became Gondor's twenty-seventh King.

Minastir (Tar-Minastir)
– From 1731–1869 Second Age the eleventh King of Númenor, and one of the greatest warriors in her history. During his reign war broke out at last in Middle-earth between the Elves and Sauron, and news eventually reached Númenor that Sauron's armies were ravaging Eriador and threatening the borders of the Elven-land of Lindon, then ruled by Gil-galad. Accordingly, because he loved the Eldar even more than he envied their immortality, Minastir despatched a great navy to the aid of the Elven-king in 1700 Second Age. With this reinforcement, Sauron was defeated and Gil-galad was able to contain the invasion and later mount a successful offensive, securing peace in Eriador for many years. This was the first great renewal of the Alliances of the First Age against Morgoth, and far more successful.

Minas Tirith
‘Tower of Guard' (Sind.) – In the First Age, the name given by the Elf-king Finrod Felagund to the fortress built by him on the strategic island of Tol Sirion, where he himself dwelt until the founding of Nargothrond, being succeeded there by his brother Orodreth (who also succeeded Finrod as King of Nargothrond). It was captured during the Dagor Bragollach, by Sauron, and was renamed
Tol-in-Gaurhoth,
the ‘Island of Werewolves'.

The same name, Minas Tirith, was also given, in the Third Age, to the city of
MINAS ANOR
in Gondor, after its sister-fortress of Minas Ithil had been captured by the Ringwraiths (2002 Third Age).

Mindeb
– One of the smaller rivers of Beleriand, a tributary of the Sirion. The Mindeb rose in the Crissaegrim and flowed due south for twenty leagues before its confluence with the larger stream. It was accounted the eastern border of the land of Dimbar, and the western of Nan Dungortheb.

Mindolluin
‘Towering-Bluehead' (Sind.) – The easternmost of the White Mountains. Upon a spur of this great hill, Men of Gondor built the city of Minas Anor.

Mindon Eldaliéva
‘[Tall] Tower of the Eldar' (Q.) – The loftiest of the towers of the city of Tirion the Fair, in Eldamar. It was built by the Vanyar, and is sometimes called the
Tower of Ingwë.
At its feet lay a great square or public place; and in its topmost chamber there burned a silver lamp, the Flammifer or Beacon of Eldamar. Its height is not known. Also called The Mindon.

Minhiriath
‘Land-between-the-rivers' (Sind.) – The southernmost part of ancient Eriador, bounded upon the south by the river Gwathló (Greyflood), on the north by the Baranduin (Brandywine), on the east by the old South Road, and on the west by the Sea. Once thickly forested, in the Second Age Minhiriath was peopled by a woodland folk thought to be descended from the Haladin of the First Age. They later abandoned the region after the onset of the Númenorean logging operations in its forests, and fled to the White Mountains.

In the Third Age Minhiriath was incorporated into the realm of Arnor, and in the course of time formed the greater part of the lesser state of Cardolan. But Cardolan fell in the wars with Angmar, and the Great Plague of 1636 Third Age completed the devastation begun by the Witch-king. In the year 2912 this unhappy land was again overwhelmed, by great floods which followed the thaws of the Long Winter. It lay desolate throughout the remainder of the Age.

Minohtar
– A nephew of King Ondoher of Gondor, slain in battle with the Wainriders (1944 Third Age).

Min-Rimmon
‘Towering-Rimmon' (Sind. + Mannish.) – A beacon-hill which rose on the northern edge of the White Mountains, in the province of Anórien. It was part of a chain of seven such
BEACON-HILLS
which allowed Gondor to communicate speedily with her ally Rohan in time of need.

Note:
the name
Rimmon
is in a pre-Númenorean tongue.

Minuial
‘Star-fading' (Sind.) – The Grey-elves' name for the time of day known as
TIN DOMË
.

Minyatur
‘The Founder' (Q.) – The High-elven title taken by Elros brother of Elrond, when he ascended the throne of Númenor as its first King (Year 32 Second Age).
See
ELROS TAR-MINYATUR
.

Míriel Serindë
– A Queen of the Noldor in Eldamar; she was the first wife of the Noldorin High King, Finwë, and the mother of Curufinwë, whom Míriel named
Fëanáro
(Fëanor), by which name he was known ever after. Her own title
Serindë
(‘The Seamstress') reflects the admiration in which she was held by the Noldor for her matchless skill in needlecraft.

The bearing of such a prodigious child as Fëanor so exhausted her both physically and spiritually – and filled her with such foreboding for the future – that she went into a decline and died: the first of all the Eldar to pass away while dwelling in the Blessed Realm (her husband Finwë was to be the second – though he did not fade and die, but was slain). Finwë afterwards wed again, though not without opposition. His second spouse was a princess of the Vanyar and a kinswoman of Ingwë: Indis the Fair. By her Finwë had two more sons, Fingolfin and Finarfin. But perhaps because of the great love he had borne Míriel, his eldest son was always his favourite.

Míriel (Tar-Míriel)
– The daughter and only child of Tar-Palantír (formerly Ar-Inziladûn), twenty-fourth King of Númenor. According to the Númenorean laws of succession, she should have inherited the Sceptre on her father's death, but her cousin usurped the Throne in her stead, taking the Númenorean title
Ar-Pharazôn
(‘the Golden'). And at the same time, perhaps in an attempt to legitimise his reign, he forcibly wedded Míriel; she was then called, by the Númenoreans,
Ar-Zimraphêl.
She was the last to perish in the Inundation of Númenor – her husband was the first.

Mirkwood
– A rendering of the Grey-elven
Taur e-Ndaedelos
(literally, ‘Forest of Great Fear'); the name given during the Third Age to the mightiest surviving forest of western Middle-earth, formerly known as
GREENWOOD THE GREAT
. This renaming occurred at the end of the first millennium, after the raising of the evil tower of Dol Guldur, which then cast a shadow over the forest.

Mirröanwi
‘Incarnate beings' (Q.) – The Children of Ilúvatar.

Mirrormere
– A translation of the Khuzdul (Dwarvish) name
KHELED-ZÂRAM
.

Miruvor
(Sind., from the older Q.
miruvóre
) – This High-elven word, believed by the Eldar to be derived from the language of the Valar, meant ‘cordial', or perhaps ‘nectar' (in the original Olympian sense). According to a note on the subject,
3
the Elves believed that the Valinorean drink came from the honey of the (undying) flowers grown in the Gardens of Yavanna, in Valimar; it was thought that the Valar dispensed this drink at their festivals.

The ‘Cordial of Imladris', made by the Eldar of Rivendell, was doubtless prepared with similar skill, though the honeys from which it was distilled were less potent. Nonetheless, it was still an extremely warming and powerful restorative – which proved of great value to the Company of the Ring, trapped in a blizzard upon the heights of Caradhras.
4

Misty Mountains
– A rendering of the Grey-elven
Hithaeglir
(literally, ‘Mist Peaks'); during the Second and Third Ages, the greatest of all mountain-ranges in western Middle-earth, and a mighty barrier separating Eriador and Wilderland. Almost three hundred leagues these mountains ran, from Northern Waste to southernmost peak, in an unbroken chain, shrouded with the ever-present mist which gave them their ancient name. They were considered virtually unscalable, and the few routes across them could not be undertaken without great difficulty. For much of the Third Age (and doubtless the Second), the dangers of such a journey were increased by the presence of many Orcs of the Mountains who infested the High passes. Certainly an aura of evil clung to this great range of peaks: they were said (by the Eldar) to have been reared at the Beginning of Arda, by Melkor, as a barrier against potential foes (he raised the
Ered Engrin,
the ‘Iron Mountains' of Angband, in the same epoch, and for the same reason).

Mithe
– The point, in the south-eastern corner of the Shire, where the outflow of the river Shirebourn ran into the Baranduin (Brandy-wine). The landing-stage there was called the Mithe Steps.

Mitheithel
‘Grey-source' (Sind.) – The river
HOARWELL
.

Mithlond
‘Grey-havens' (Sind.) – The chief harbours in Middle-earth, during the Second and Third Ages, of the Eldar.
See
GREY HAVENS
.

Mithrandir
‘Grey-wanderer' (Sind.) – The name among Elves and Dúnedain for the Wizard known (to Northern Men) as
GANDALF THE GREY
.

Mithrellas
– An elven-lady of Lórien and (later) Belfalas.
See
GALADOR
.

Mithril
‘Grey-brilliance' (Sind.) – The most precious metal known in Middle-earth.

All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim. The Elves dearly loved it.'
5

The Eldar were not the only people to desire this valuable metal, which was to be found only in a single great lode beneath the peak of Caradhras, deep in the Mines of Moria (discovered in the early Second Age). The Dwarves themselves valued it beyond price, and it was the desire of the Dwarf-miners of Moria for further supplies of mithril which led to their destruction and disinheritance. In 1980 Third Age, while seeking the mother-lode, far beneath Barazinbar (Caradhras), they disturbed an evil spirit of the Underworld, the Balrog, with consequences appalling for their people. In this way mithril was both the foundation of the Moria-dwarves' fabulous wealth and the means of their eventual downfall.

Note: mithril
was also known as ‘silver-steel' (in Bilbo Baggins' narrative,
There and Back Again
), as well as ‘true-silver' and ‘Moria-silver'. The alloy
ithildin
was a derivative of
mithril.

Mithrim
‘[Home of] The Grey Ones' (Sind.) – The name given by the Grey-elves of Beleriand to those of their kindred who dwelled in that region of the north which was afterwards named after them, together with its great Lake and the mountains which bordered it on the west. Mithrim was the south-easternmost part of the (larger) land of Hithlum, bordered on south, east and west by mountain ranges (the Ered Wethrin and the Ered Mithrim), and protected from the north by the great lake. Here the returning Noldor led by Fëanor had their first encounter with the race they were afterwards to call ‘Grey-elves'; here they made their first encampment in Middle-earth (Mithrim was thus the most ancient of the High-elven realms in Exile, though not the longest to endure); and here was fought their first battle against Morgoth, the ‘Battle-under-Stars' in which Fëanor was slain. In the weeks and months following this battle Fingolfin, arriving at last in Middle-earth in despite of Fëanor, also camped beside the great Lake of Mithrim; and later took these lands as his realm. But after Fingolfin's death, Fingon his heir withdrew from the greater realm and concentrated his power into Mithrim, which then became the vanguard-state of the Eldarin cause. But Fingon and all his people were slain in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and Mithrim was afterwards occupied by Easterlings. It was never regained.

Mittalmar
‘Inlands' (Q.) – The central province of Númenor, containing the
Arandor
(‘Kings'-land') which itself was the most populous part of the realm.
6

Mode of Beleriand
– A
Tengwar
alphabet (based upon the Fëanorian system). It was developed by the Grey-elves of Beleriand during the First Age, but was maintained, curiously enough, by the High-elves of the Second. In this mode of writing, the older system of diacritic marks (used to denote vowels) was replaced by a less stylised method. Unallocated
Tengwar
were incorporated as vocalic symbols with the full status of ‘letters', and the
tehtar
(‘signs') were either abbreviated or discarded. The grey-elven inscription on the Doors of Durin was written in this mode.
See
ALPHABET OF FËANOR
.