The Complete Tolkien Companion (93 page)

The Teleri therefore ‘straddle' the Eldarin race-classification system. (Indeed, they created most of the differences which necessitated the devising of the system in the first place.) The people of Olwë, the Falmari of Eldamar, are accounted both
Calaquendi
and
Amanyar;
but the Sindar and Nandor are named
Úmanyar,
while the Nandor, alone of all the Eldar, are classed, together with the Avari, as
Moriquendi.
For the greater part of this people never came to Aman, and dwindled with the passing years to become ‘a rustic folk of dell and cave'.
2

Telperiën (Tar-Telperiën)
– From 1556–1731 Second Age, the second Ruling Queen (and tenth ruler) of Númenor. She never wedded or had issue, and on her death (for she did not resign the Sceptre as was the custom) the kingship passed to a nephew (Tar-Minastir).

Telperion
– The Eldest of Trees, one of the
TWO TREES
raised, by the Vala Queen Yavanna, on the Mound of Ezellohar at the Beginning of Days, to illuminate the land of the Valar.

Telumehtar
‘Warrior-of-the-sky' (Q.) – The older of the two High-elven names for that constellation of stars known to Men of later times as Orion. Its later Quenya name was
Menelmacar
‘Swordsman-of-the-Heavens' (from which the Grey-elven word
Menelvagor,
which carried the same meaning, was derived).

Also the name of the twenty-eighth King of Gondor, who reigned from 1798–1850 Third Age. He was the son of Tarondor (the longest to reign of all the kings) but he inherited a realm which, if internally somewhat stronger than in his father's day, was militarily weaker, due to the lingering effects of the Great Plague of 1636. By the time Telumehtar came to the Throne, enemies of the Dúnedain were already stirring once more, and the Corsairs of Umbar, led by descendants of Castamir the Usurper, were again attacking and pillaging the long and vulnerable coastlines of Anfalas and Belfalas. Indeed, these pirates had long gone unpunished for the death of King Minardil, which had taken place nearly two centuries earlier. Accordingly Telumehtar assembled a great fleet and took Umbar by storm in 1810, and in that savage encounter the last descendants of Castamir were slain. Telumehtar afterwards took the royal title
Umbardacil
(‘Victor-of-Umbar'), but Gondor was not to retain the Haven for long: before many years had passed it had fallen into the hands of the Men of Harad, who afterwards wielded all the sea-power of the Corsairs.

Telumendil
– The name of one of the constellations created by Varda (Elbereth).

Téma
– The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘series'; also the name used in the Fëanorian Alphabet (the
Tengwar
) for each of the four subdivisions into which all of the primary letters (nos. 1–24) were arranged. The Alphabet of Fëanor being fully phonetic, these groupings indicated the point of articulation, and each had six separate (but related) consonant symbols arranged according to ‘grade'. Each of these carried a
lúva
(‘bow') denoting the
téma
to which it belonged; for example, those in Series I (
tincotéma
) bore ‘open' bows on the right of the letter-stem, while in Series IV (
quessetéma
) the bows, whether single or doubled, were all to the left of the stem and were closed by a horizontal stroke. The names of the four témar were as follows: I (
tincotéma
), the dental series; II (
parmatéma
), the labial series; III (
calmatéma
), the k-series, and IV (
quessetéma
), the labialised series. The High-elves also possessed a palatal series of sounds (
tyelpetéma
) which was not found in the Fëanorian Alphabet, so to indicate consonants of this sort they used the
quessetéma
(Series IV) reinforced with a
tehta
meaning ‘following y'. Series III (the
calmatéma
) was then used for the labialised consonants (
kw-, gw-, hw
- etc.).

Tengwar
– The Quenya or High-elven word for ‘letters'; more properly the name used for the cursive phonetic alphabet devised during the Elder Days by the Elf Rúmil and later revised and almost completely reconstructed by Fëanor of the Noldor.

It is primarily essential to remember that the Tengwar were designed to form a fully phonetic system of writing when incorporated into a single alphabet, unlike our modern alphabets which are based for the most part on linguistic principles which are only partly phonetic. Using the Tengwar one may devise a system of lettering to fit almost any language which produces sounds by means of breath impacting upon vocal cords, and which articulates and controls those sounds by means of palate, teeth, lips and tongue.

Because of this very singular versatility, the Tengwar of Fëanor, which were brought to Middle-earth by High-elves exiled from the Undying Lands in the First Age, were adopted by other races, the-first being the Grey-elves, who made changes of their own (
see
MODE OF BELERIAND
). Men also learned the system, afterwards taking it to Númenor, where it was prized as an alphabet of high lore and ceremony. From Númenor the Tengwar were brought back once more to Middle-earth, and were used in houses of learning in both Gondor and Arnor during the Third Age. For the Elvish letters could always be adapted to the Mannish tongues of the westlands, and could be used even for Dwarvish speech. (Four individual
tengwar
indeed later came to symbolise the points of the compass, even on maps drawn by folk unfamiliar with the rest of the alphabet.)

The Tengwar of Fëanor were 24 in number, with a further 12 ‘extra' letters of flexible purpose. The 24 were arranged in four ‘series' (
témar
) of letters, cross-divided into six ‘grades' (
tyeller
). The series represented degrees of ‘voice' and the grades stood for modes and points of articulation. Each
tengwa
could therefore be located by means of phonetic principles, and furthermore bore a proper name or title, which often contained an example of the consonant in question. Vowels were indicated by means of
tehtar,
‘signs', written diacritically in association with the consonant to be modified.

Naturally enough, many peoples who learned the Tengwar of Fëanor afterwards developed characteristic combinations of letters to suit their own speech (e.g. in the disposition of the
tehtar
in the Mode of Beleriand), while others reallocated some of the tengwar according to their own purposes. The system explained above was the most usual in Middle-earth during the late Third Age.

Thain
– The title given to the titular chief of the Shire by the Hobbits who dwelt there. The role of the Thain was that of a Chief Executive appointed to hold the King's authority; at times of emergency he also commanded the Shire-muster and the Shire-moot. In short, his authority began where that of the Mayor ended.

The first Thain of the Shire was Bucca of the Marish, appointed in 379 Shire Reckoning – five years after the fall of the North-kingdom – to represent the King's person. Bucca's descendants, the Oldbuck clan, inherited the title which afterwards became completely hereditary; but in 740 Shire Reckoning the Oldbucks migrated eastward across the Baranduin to found the Buckland, and the Thainship passed to the equally eminent Took family. The first Took to become Thain was Isengrim I; he was the thirteenth holder of the office since Bucca, and the first of a long and illustrious line of Took-thains.

At the time of the War of the Ring the serving Thain of the Shire was Paladin II, father of Peregrin Took, the thirty-first to hold the Office since Bucca. He played a valiant part in resisting the occupation of the Shire by Saruman's agents, although such power as he possessed could effect little more than a stubborn defence of the Tookland. The return of his son Peregrin, together with his Companions, enabled Paladin to take the offensive in the Southfarthing against the stray gangs of Men who were to be found there, and these he dispatched to the borders with little difficulty. Paladin was succeeded in 1434 Shire Reckoning (Year 13 Fourth Age) by Peregrin, who then became the thirty-second Thain of the Shire as well as The Took. Fifty years later, when Peregrin finally departed the Shire, he passed the thainship to his son Faramir.

Thain's Book
– A copy of the original Red Book of Westmarch, made in Great Smials by Took-scribes of Thain Peregrin I at the request of King Elessar (Aragorn II). It was afterwards taken to Gondor by Peregrin when he retired there in Year 63 Fourth Age, and after his death received much annotation (and correction) by loremasters of Gondor. This revised copy was again copied, some fifty years after the Passing of the King, and the new volume was presented to the descendants of Peregrin, probably by King Eldarion, the son of Aragorn and Arwen. But the original Thain's Book was kept ever after in Gondor.

Thalion
‘Steadfast' (Sind.) –
See
HÚRIN THALION
.

Thalos
– One of the six tributaries of the river Gelion.

Thangail
‘Shield-wall' (Sind., from Q.
sandastan
‘shield-barrier') – A defensive military evolution practised by the Númenoreans; the creation on command of a linked barrier of shields to prevent the ingress of an attacking enemy.

Thangorodrim
‘Mountains of Tyranny' (Sind.) – The name of the chain of grim peaks raised above the Gates of Angband by Morgoth, after the theft of the Silmarils and his return to Middle-earth. There were three such mountains, and they were constructed of the ash and slag brought to the surface by the delvers of Angband. Dark smoke hung about them; and they could be seen even from afar, an ever-present reminder (to the Noldor) of the menace which brooded in the North. Thangorodrim was destroyed in the tumults of the Great Battle.

Tharbad
‘Cross-way' (Literally
thara-pata,
Sind.) – A town on the borders of Enedhwaith and southern Eriador, founded by Númenorean mariners during the later Second Age. It was the centre of the extensive logging operation mounted by the Dúnedain at this period, the wood being required for shipbuilding. This wholesale despoliation of the great woods of Minhiriath angered the woodmen who dwelt there, descendants of the Haladin of the First Age; for this reason Tharbad was fortified. It stood upon either side of the river Greyflood (Gwathló), and where once the road had forded the stream there was now a great bridge.

The town did not survive the wars of the early Third Age. Arnor fell, and Gondor withdrew from north of the White Mountains, and the lands between Fornost and Isengard grew wild and desolate. Nonetheless, Tharbad was probably not altogether abandoned until after the Great Plague of 1636, the effects of which were especially severe in Enedhwaith and Minhiriath. But by the time of the War of the Ring the town was totally deserted and ruinous, and its bridge broken down; and only folk who desired to ford the Greyflood – a dangerous exercise – ever went near the place. So far as is known, Tharbad was not rebuilt in the Fourth Age.

Thargelion
‘Land-beyond-Gelion' (Sind.) – The name given by the Noldorin Exiles to the region which lay between the river Gelion, the border of East Beleriand, and the Blue Mountains, bordered in the north by Mount Rerir and in the south by the river Ascar. (Previously it had been known, to the Grey-elves of Beleriand, as
Talath Rhúnen,
the ‘East Vale' of Thingol's domain.) Forty leagues separated the mountain in the north from the river in the south, and thirty leagues of open country, partially wooded, lay between the Gelion and the Ered Luin.

Following the return of the Noldor, and the initial victories against Morgoth, this region was taken by Caranthir (one of the sons of Fëanor) as his realm, and accordingly became known as Dor Caranthir, ‘Caranthir's Land'. It was at this time that the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains again began trading across the mountains into Beleriand, and it was through Thargelion that their caravans and trading-parties travelled. Caranthir was thus the first of all the Noldor to encounter the Khazâd; and though he did not love them, he was too avaricious to relinquish the chance of acquiring wealth in this way. Tolls exacted on the Dwarves enriched Caranthir greatly. But after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad all the Elven-realms of the North were swept away, and Thargelion became infested by servants of Morgoth. At the ending of the Age only a remnant of this land survived, renamed
Forlindon
(‘North Lindon') by the Eldar.

Tharkûn
‘Staff-bearer' (Khuz.) – The name by which the wizard Gandalf the Grey was known to eastern Dwarves. Those of Durin's Line called him
Gandalf
for the most part, for that was the old Wizard's name among Northern Men, whose languages the Dwarves of Erebor habitually used.