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Wooden Whale

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:00:35 +0000

A translation of Turuphanto, the nickname given to Aldarion’s mighty ship the Hirilondë in the shipyards of Rómenna where she was built.

Aldarion sailed the Great Sea from Númenor to Middle-earth in the Wooden Whale at least twice. After the first voyage, the ship’s prow was adorned with a jewelled eagle, a gift to Aldarion from his friend Círdan.

White Ship

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:59:42 +0000

“In the twilight of autumn it sailed out of Mithlond, until
the seas of the Bent World fell away beneath it?”
The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

The ship that sailed from the Grey Havens into the Uttermost West, carrying the Ring-bearers to Aman. Its departure marked the end of the Third Age. On the White Ship sailed Elrond, and Galadriel, and Gandalf the White, who had been the Keepers of the Three Rings. With them went the two Hobbits who had kept Sauron’s Great Ring, Bilbo the Ring-finder and Frodo the Ring-bearer. They were accompanied to the Grey Havens by Gildor Inglorion and many other Elves besides, but whether any of these others went aboard the ship with them is not told. It does seem, though, that Gandalf’s horse Shadowfax did make the journey: we see him waiting at the quayside in The Lord of the Rings, and in his Letters, Tolkien makes it clear that he sailed away with Gandalf.

For most of the travellers, the voyage to the Undying Lands was a journey into the unknown, but not for all. Gandalf had originally come to Middle-earth from Aman, some two thousand years before, and so the White Ship was carrying him home to the place where he was known as Olórin, the wise Maia. For Galadriel, too, it was a homecoming, but of a quite different sort. She had been born in Aman long ago, and in the courts of Tirion she had listened to the words of Fëanor, following him willingly into exile in Middle-earth in defiance of the Valar. For her, the granting of a return from exile was a pardon for her past misdeeds, and a reward for her aid in the War against Sauron.

Vilya

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:58:23 +0000

Vilya, the Ring of Sapphire,the Blue Ring,or the Ring of Air, was one of the Rings of Power made by the Elves of Eregion. Along with Nenya and Narya, Vilya was often referred to as one of the Three Rings of the Elves, the mightiest of the Rings of Power. Celebrimbor, lord of Eregion forged all three independent of Annatar, a guise of the Dark Lord Sauron. As a result of this, none of the Three were stained by his evil. However, like all the Rings of the Elves, Vilya was still under Sauron’s influence when he wielded The One Ring, which held dominion over all the others. When Sauron laid waste to Eregion, Vilya and Narya was sent to the Elven-King Gil-galad far away in Lindon on the advice of Galadriel (the third Ring, Nenya, was concealed by Galadriel herself), where it was later given to Elrond, who bore it through the later years of the Second Age and all of the Third.

Like the other Rings of Power, Vilya was jeweled: it contained a great blue stone set in a gold band, which contributed to its titles of the Ring of Sapphire and the Blue Ring. A lesser-used title of Vilya was the Ring of Air, signifying its preeminence even over the other Rings of the Elves; it was generally considered that Vilya was the mightiest of these three bands. The exact power of Vilya is not mentioned; however it is reasonable to speculate that it also possesses the power to heal and to preserve (it is mentioned in The Silmarillion that Celebrimbor had forged the Three in order to heal and to preserve, rather than to enhance the strengths of each individual bearers as the Seven, Nine, and the lesser rings did). There is some speculation that the ring controlled minor elements, considering the event where Elrond had summoned a torrent of water as the Nazgûl attempted to invade Rivendell.

After Sauron’s fall, he used the Ring to hold back time, and it was said that the ancient stars still shone over his valley. In the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, Sauron’s Ruling Ring was destroyed, and with it each of the Three Rings lost their power. Soon afterwards Elrond set out across the Great Sea into the West, carrying his Ring with him, and so Vilya – as well as the other two Rings of the Elves – left Middle-earth forever.

Thrór’s Map

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:55:25 +0000

A map made by Thrór the King under the Mountain, after he had been exiled from his kingdom by the Dragon Smaug. As was traditional among the Dwarves, it was drawn with East at the top of the map, rather than North, and showed the Lonely Mountain of Erebor, the Running River that flowed from it, and the lands about. It also contained mention of a secret entrance to the Mountain, and (written in secret Moon-letters) instructions as to how it might be opened.

In his old age, Thrór set out to wander the lands of Middle-earth, but before departing he gave the heirlooms of his house to his son Thráin, including his Map. Years later, Thráin too set out into Middle-earth, seeking to recover Erebor himself, and taking with him the Map to guide his way. He was captured in the Wild by the servants of Sauron, but Sauron captured Thráin for the Ring of Power he bore, and so overlooked the Map he carried too. This proved to be a serious oversight, because Gandalf secretly entered Sauron’s lair at Dol Guldur while Thráin was a prisoner there, and managed to escape with the Map and the key that opened the secret door.

Using Thrór’s Map, his grandson Thorin was able to lead a small group of Dwarves (and one Hobbit, a certain Bilbo Baggins) on his own quest to refound the ancient Dwarf-realm. Through many adventures, they were able to recover Erebor and bring about the destruction of Smaug, dealing Sauron a serious reverse.

Three Rings

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:55:19 +0000

Nenya, Narya and Vilya; the only three of the Rings of Power to be made wholly outside the influence of Sauron. Their power maintained the realms of the Elves in Middle-earth until the destruction of the Ruling Ring.

Narya The Red Ring, The Ring of Fire Both Narya and Vilya were sent north by Celebrimbor to protect them from the imminent coming of Sauron. They were received by Gil-galad, who passed the Red Ring – so called because it was set with a ruby – to Círdan of Mithlond. Círdan kept Narya until the arrival of the Wizards in Middle-earth in about the year III 1000, when he chose to surrender it to Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf bore the Ring in secret throughout the rest of the Third Age, and when the Three Rings lost their power at the end of that Age, he carried it back across the Great Sea aboard the White Ship. Nenya The White Ring, The Ring of Water The gem set in the Ring Nenya was a diamond, and so, besides its other names, it is sometimes referred to as the Ring of Adamant. Unlike Narya and Vilya, Nenya was not sent north to Gil-galad, but instead given to Galadriel for safekeeping.

After the loss of the One Ring at the beginning of the Third Age, Galadriel was able to tap the White Ring’s power, and at least during the later part of that Age, she used that power to preserve the land of Lórien from the passing of time. Like the other Rings, Nenya lost its power at the end of the Third Age, and Galadriel took it with her when she returned into the West. Vilya The Blue Ring, The Ring of Air Known as the Blue Ring because it was set with a sapphire, Vilya was sent north to Gil-galad with the Red Ring Narya. When it was decided that Elrond should found a refuge and outpost in eastern Eriador, Gil-galad passed the Ring to him, and so it was borne by Elrond at the building of Rivendell. There it was kept throughout the remainder of the Second Age and the entirety of the Third. After the destruction of the One Ring, Elrond took Vilya aboard the White Ship, and thus all three of the Rings of the Elves were taken into the West.

Sword of Elendil

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:53:05 +0000

Narsil, the sword manufactured in ancient times by Telchar of Nogrod, and borne in the late Second Age by Elendil. He fought with it in the War of the Last Alliance, where it was broken in his fall, but its Shards were preserved in the North-kingdom.

Sting

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:52:19 +0000

A knife manufactured in Gondolin in the First Age, carried away as spoil by the creatures of Morgoth who destroyed that city. It was rediscovered millennia later in a troll-hoard by Bilbo Baggins, who named it Sting after using it to rescue the companions of Thorin Oakenshield from the giant spiders of Mirkwood.

Silmarils

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:51:05 +0000

The three great jewels made by Fëanor in Valinor, in which he locked the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, before their destruction. Melkor stole the jewels from Fëanor’s stronghold at Formenos, slaying his father Finwë, and fled with them back to his fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth.

Fëanor swore an oath to recover the Silmarils, and many of the Noldor followed him into exile in pursuit of the jewels. So began their hopeless war against the forces of Morgoth, of which the Quenta Silmarillion (the ‘Tale of the Silmarils’) tells the story. During the First Age, one Silmaril alone was recovered from Morgoth’s Iron Crown by Beren and Lúthien, and was borne by Eärendil when he sailed into the West to seek the aid of the Valar.

By virtue of the Silmaril, it is said, Eärendil reached Aman and was heard by the Valar, who sent a mighty force into Middle-earth. Morgoth was utterly defeated, and the Silmarils recovered. Maedhros and Maglor, the only two of Fëanor’s seven sons to survive until that War of Wrath, stole the jewels from the camp of the Valar. Their evil deeds in pursuance of the jewels, however, drove them to madness; Maedhros cast himself into a fiery chasm with one of the Silmarils, and Maglor threw the other into the depths of the sea. So only one Silmaril remains visible in the World, bound to Eärendil’s brow as he sails the heavens; the Morning and Evening Star.

Seven Rings

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:50:16 +0000

Those of the Rings of Power that Sauron gave to the Dwarves to seduce them to his service. The Dwarves proved too hardy to be lured in this way, though, and the Rings did little more than increase their native lust for gold. By the end of the Third Age, Sauron had recovered three of the Seven Rings to himself, and the other four had been consumed by dragons.

Seeing-stones

Kjell Arne Brudvik — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:50:07 +0000

The powerful orbs known as the palantíri made in ancient days by the Elves in Aman, and indeed said to have been the work of Fëanor himself. In appearance they were dark, perfectly smooth globes of various capabilities and sizes; some were small and portable, others so huge that they could not be lifted by a Man.

The Elves gave certain of these stones to the Númenóreans, and seven of these Númenórean stones were rescued from the Downfall of that island by Elendil and his sons. So these seven were brought to Middle-earth, and the Dúnedain set them up at distant points in their lands: at Amon Sûl, Elostirion and Annúminas in the north, and at Osgiliath, Orthanc, Minas Anor and Minas Ithil in the south. The chief stone of the north was that of Amon Sûl, lost with Arvedui in the cold northern seas. The greatest of the southern stones stood beneath the Dome of Stars in Osgiliath, and was lost during the Kin-strife.

During the Third Age, three of the stones were known to have been lost (Arvedui also had the Stone of Annúminas with him when he was lost at sea). The Ithil-stone was captured by Sauron and almost certainly destroyed in the Downfall of Barad-dûr, and the palantír of Elostirion in the Tower Hills was taken back into the West on the Ring-bearers’White Ship. At the beginning of the Fourth Age, then, there were just two Seeing-stones left in Middle-earth, the Anor-stone and the Orthanc-stone.

The Seeing-stones of Middle-earth were not the only palantíri to exist. Many remained with the Elves in Aman, including the so-called Masterstone held in the Tower of Avallónë on Tol Eressëa. Indeed, it was said that, before the stone was removed from the Tower Hills, it could be used to look along the Straight Road to the Undying Lands themselves.