The Complete Tolkien Companion (89 page)

The Crown was the chief emblem of royalty in Gondor, but in Arnor (and in Númenor) the Kings wore only a simple diadem, and the chief mark of Kingship was a Sceptre.

Silverlode
– An (approximate) translation of the Sindarin name
Celebrant.

Silver Rod
–
See
SCEPTRE OF ANNÚMINAS
.

Silver-steel
– One of the names given to the metal
MITHRIL
.

Silvertine
– A translation of the Sindarin word
Celebdil;
the name of that mountain known to Dwarves as
Zirak-zigil.
It was one of the three Mountains of Moria.

Simbelmynë
‘Ever-mind' – A type of small white flower clustered thickly on the sides of the royal burial-mounds in the Barrowfield of Edoras. Also called
uilos
and
alfirin.

Sindar
‘Grey-elves' (Q.) – The name given in the High-elven tongue by the Noldor of Middle-earth to the Elves of Beleriand and Mithrim, in origin a subdivision of the
TELERI
. All these were the subjects of Thingol of Doriath, and many dwelled with their lord in Menegroth, his underground city beside the Esgalduin; but the classification also included the Falathrim or ‘Coast-elves' whose lord (under Thingol) was Círdan the Shipwright; and also the various wandering Telerin peoples who made their abode west of the Blue Mountains during the First Age, save only the Nandor of Ossiriand, whom the Noldor called
Laiquendi
(‘Green-elves').

The manner of the sundering of the Grey-elves from the main host of the Teleri is recounted elsewhere. Here, it is enough to recall that the love the Grey-elves felt for the lands of western Middle-earth exceeded that which they bore for their kindred, or for the Undying Lands which they had never seen; at all events, the ‘Sea-longing' did not at that time fully awaken in their hearts, and so they lingered on the shores of mortal lands while the remaining Eldar took ship into the Far West.

The country in which they chose to make their home was called Beleriand, a land of many forests and mountains and the most westerly in Middle-earth. There the Grey-elves were ruled by Thingol Greycloak, eldest and greatest of their Kings, who wedded the Lady Melian of the Valar and dwelt agelong in Doriath.

For years uncounted the Sindar dwelt in Beleriand in peace and happiness – a state which, if less exalted than that of their High-elven kin, far across the Sea, was a pleasurable mode of existence. And even when evil began, slowly and almost imperceptibly, to awaken in Middle-earth, the Sindar at first were not greatly troubled; for in those days they had the friendship of the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, and from them acquired arms and armour. And indeed evil did not at first come into Beleriand, for the Grey-elves were then a numerous people, hardy and valiant, noblest of all Elves remaining in mortal lands; and the Orcs did not dare the wrath of Thingol. But gradually Beleriand came under siege, and raids began to be made deep into Thingol's domain (
see
FIRST BATTLE OF BELERIAND
); and shortly afterwards there came from the West a mighty fugitive, one of the great Valar, who had turned renegade and had committed a terrible crime against the peoples of the Undying Lands. His name was Morgoth, and with his return to Middle-earth the long peace of the Sindar came to an end. In fear of the pursuit which followed, Morgoth built a mighty realm somewhat to the north of Beleriand. The name of this place was Angband. But before much time had passed a fleet of ships appeared on the horizon: a great fleet, of white swan-vessels, with gilded sails and many proud banners. These were the Noldor, High-elves of Eldamar, coming in pursuit of Morgoth and desiring to recover that which he had stolen from them. Thus were the sundered Second and Third Kindreds of the Eldar reunited after countless years, and so began the War of the Great Jewels which was to devastate western Middle-earth.

In those wars Morgoth was, at the last, utterly victorious. The High-elves were nigh on annihilated and their allies, the Edain, were grievously reduced in number; the Grey-elves also suffered, while their land of Beleriand was thrown down under the Sea by the cataclysm in which Morgoth was finally overthrown. Only a small coastal strip – Lindon – remained to them, and there most of the survivors dwelt in the Second Age which followed the defeat of Morgoth.

At that time the Grey-elves were ruled by Celeborn and Thranduil; for Thingol was no more. Celeborn ruled in South Lindon (Harlindon), but after some years he removed eastward to Eregion, and thence across the Misty Mountains to the inaccessible forests in the vale of Anduin (
see
LOTHLÓRIEN
). Those of the Grey-elves who would accompanied him, or went further north with Thranduil; while those that remained in Lindon were ruled by Gil-galad of the Noldor, one of the few High-elven princes to survive the War of the Great Jewels.

As the Second and Third Ages passed, the waning years lessened the numbers of the once-numerous Sindar, and in the hearts of many the ‘Sea-longing' awoke at last, and from the Grey Havens of Mithlond many grey ships put to sea, never to return. For with the passing of years the time drew nearer for the Eldarin kindreds to depart from mortal lands, and leave Middle-earth to the Dominion of Men, their inheritors; and in the Fourth Age Celeborn finally abandoned Lothlórien to the Wood-elves and, together with his small retinue, returned to Eriador to dwell in the House of Elrond, last of the Sindarin lords to linger in Middle-earth.

Note
:
Sindar
was the name given to this Eldarin race by the Noldor; their own term for themselves was
Edhil,
‘Elves'.

Sindarin
– The language of the Grey-elves. It was an ancient tongue of the Eldar, being descended, like the High-elven speech (Quenya), from the still more ancient root-language of all Elvenkind. But the long years of the Elder Days altered the Sindarin tongue, and although in basic structure it continued to resemble Quenya, many other mutations took place which affected the sound of this (phonetic) Eldarin speech. As these changes in spoken Sindarin largely took place before the Grey-elves devised methods of writing or inscription (
see
ALPHABET OF DAERON
), one may assume that the sections of Grey-elven speech which appear in translations from the Red Book are in the tongue that was spoken in Beleriand during the First Age.

Sindarin was therefore to some degree less noble and antique than Quenya, for the High-elven speech brought back to Middle-earth by the Noldor was little changed from the original archaic Eldarin root-tongue, and in both spoken and written forms differed greatly from the language of the Grey-elves of Beleriand. Nonetheless, the Noldor Exiles put aside their own Ancient Speech and adopted instead the tongue spoken by the (far more numerous) Grey-elves; this then became the language of the Eldar in Middle-earth, and was later learned by the Edain, who kept it alive in Middle-earth long after the Eldar themselves had departed.

All the place-names in Arnor and Gondor that were given by the Dúnedain were in the Grey-elven tongue. The personal names of the Dúnedain themselves were also often in Sindarin, the exception being the royal names of Númenor, which had been in the more ancient High-elven language. Names of all the Kings of Gondor, and of all the Kings of Arnor (but not of Arthedain) were also in this Quenya speech (e.g. Elendil, Ciryaher, Eärendur). But rulers of Arthedain and Chieftains of the North invariably carried Sindarin personal names (Aranarth, Arvedui, Aragorn). After the establishment of the Realms in Exile, the spoken Sindarin of the Dúnedain deeply influenced the (Mannish) Common Speech of the West-lands, which afterwards became the most widely spoken language in both Eriador and Gondor.
See also
SPOKEN TONGUES
.

Singollo
‘Grey-cloak' (Q.; older form
Sindacollo
) –
See
THINGOL GREYCLOAK
.

Sirannon
‘Gate-stream' (Sind.) – A river of Eregion. It originally flowed from an underground source near the West-door of Moria down into the flat lands of eastern Eriador, falling first over a gentle cataract (the Stair Falls) before wandering westward through the land of the Elven-smiths. But at an unknown date in the last millennium of the Third Age, the Gate-stream was dammed and formed a lake which sealed off the Doors of Durin from the surrounding lands.

Siril
– The chief river of Númenor; it rose in springs from the Meneltarma and flowed southwards to find the sea in a sandy delta which formed the border between the provinces of Hyarrostar and Hyarnustar.

Sirion
‘Mighty-flowing' (Sind.) – The greatest river of western Middle-earth during the First Age. It flowed south for 140 leagues before reaching the sea, and throughout its course was accounted the border between East and West Beleriand. It had seven tributaries, of which the Rivil, which had its source on Dorthonion, was the most northerly, and the Narog the most southerly. The Sirion reached the Sea in a great delta, the Mouths of Sirion – where this enormous stream was nearly a mile wide – and during its journey from Ard-galen to the Bay of Balar it underwent nearly every transformation a river can experience, flowing through marshland, over mighty falls – and even underground, for nearly ten miles.

Siriondil
– From 748–830 Third Age, the eleventh King of Gondor. Also the name of the father of King Eärnil 11 of Gondor. Though not himself King, he was of royal blood, being the grand-nephew of Narmacil II, twenty-ninth King. This kinship was the constitutional basis of Eärnil's claim to the Throne of Gondor.

Sirith
‘Flowing' (Sind.) – One of the Seven Rivers of Gondor. It flowed south from a source high in the mountain-vales of Lebennin and joined the Anduin some little distance downstream from the port of Pelargir. Its chief tributary was the Celos (or Kelos).

Skinbark
– A translation of the Sindarin name
Fladrif,
which was borne (as a ‘short name') by an aged Ent of Fangorn Forest.

‘Slinker'
–
See
SMÉAGOL-GOLLUM
.

Smallburrow
–
See
ROBIN SMALLBURROW
.

Smaug the Golden
– One of the greatest
Urulóki
(Fire-dragons) of Middle-earth during the Third Age, a beast of cunning and cruelty whose first recorded appearance in the Annals of the Age was in the year 2770, when he came flaming out of the North to capture, sack and occupy the Dwarf-kingdom of Erebor, east of Mirkwood. The attack was so successful that most of the Dwarves unfortunate enough to be caught inside the Lonely Mountain on that day were exterminated – and for good measure Smaug also destroyed the nearby Mannish town of Dale.

After completing these labours, the Dragon crawled inside the Mountain and there gathered all the wealth of both Erebor and Dale into one vast heap, upon which he lay in contented slumber for nearly two full centuries.

So fearsome was the known wrath of Smaug that none came to challenge his ownership of the hoard for many years, and he grew complacent and vain. Yet in the end he was slain, for several reasons, the chief of which was his own Dragon-conceit.

As is told in
The Hobbit,
Smaug's vanity accidentally led him to reveal the existence of a vulnerable unarmoured patch on his underside, and armed with this information the enemies of Smaug were able to pierce this spot with an arrow. Smaug was slain by the rightful heir of the Kings of Dale, Bard the Bowman of Esgaroth, in the year 2941 Third Age, and his bones ever after lay in the shallows near the ruined Laketown. His destruction accomplished, the Kingdom Under the Mountain and the town of Dale were both restored to their rightful owners and the region had peace for many years.

Sméagol-Gollum
– Undoubtedly the most tragic of all the personal tales associated with the history of the Great Ring was that of the creature known as Sméagol, or Gollum. Originally a lowly member of a family of proto-Hobbits, he became an early victim of the malevolent power of the Ring, which he bore for nearly five hundred years of his long and miserable life, unwilling – and unable – to relinquish it. Yet in the end the Ruling Ring itself discarded him – and the loss of his greatest, indeed his only treasure proved the stimulus which finally caused him to leave his long-secret refuge under the Misty Mountains; and in recovering his Precious at the last, he brought about its destruction as well as his own, and so was reunited with it for ever.

The tale of Gollum's long and terrible odyssey has been recounted at length in the Red Book – in both of the major sections of narrative, for both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins encountered him during their adventures. This entry will accordingly confine itself to recording those details of Gollum's ancestry which lie outside the main tale.

He was born in the twenty-fourth century of the Third Age and was in origin closely akin to Hobbit-kind, for his family were of Stoorish blood but had returned to the vales of Anduin after dwelling in Eriador, unlike most of their race. They dwelt at that time not far from the banks of the river Anduin, near the Gladden Fields.

This young Stoor was named
Sméagol
(orig.
Trahald
), which means ‘burrowing-in'; and, like most of the clan, he made his living by fishing in the Great River. And it was while on a fishing expedition that Sméagol chanced to discover the Great Ring – or rather, his friend Déagol found it on the river-bed where it had lain undisturbed for over two thousand years.

The Ring-spell had an instant effect on Sméagol, who promptly murdered his friend to gain possession of the golden thing. Taking it back to his little community, he soon discovered the Ring's more obvious properties, which he used in small, mean ways. He rapidly became unpopular among his kinfolk, not least for the habit he developed of making unpleasant glottal noises in his throat (from which he gained the name
Gollum
), and in the end his furtive ways and sneaking tricks brought about his expulsion from the family hole.