The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien [275]
1 p. 295.
2 p. 7; p. 1329.
1 The great cape and land-locked firth of Umbar had been Númenórean land since days of old; but it was a stronghold of the King’s Men, who were afterwards called the Black Númenóreans, corrupted by Sauron, and who hated above all the followers of Elendil. After the fall of Sauron their race swiftly dwindled or became merged with the Men of Middle-earth, but they inherited without lessening their hatred of Gondor. Umbar, therefore, was only taken at great cost.
1 The River Running.
1 That law was made in Númenor (as we have learned from the King) when Tar-Aldarion, the sixth king, left only one child, a daughter. She became the first Ruling Queen, Tar-Ancalimë. But the law was otherwise before her time. Tar-Elendil, the fourth king, was succeeded by his son Tar-Meneldur, though his daughter Silmariën was the elder. It was, however, from Silmariën that Elendil was descended.
1 This name means ‘Ship of Long-foam’; for the isle was shaped like a great ship, with a high prow pointing north, against which the white foam of Anduin broke on sharp rocks.
1 ‘I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself.’
1 p. 435.
1 It flows into Isen from the west of Ered Nimrais.
1 The dates are given according to the reckoning of Gondor (Third Age). Those in the margin are of birth and death.
2 pp. 1030, 1043.
1 p. 1381.
1 For her shield-arm was broken by the mace of the Witch-king; but he was brought to nothing, and thus the words of Glorfindel long before to King Eärnur were fulfilled, that the Witch-king would not fall by the hand of man. For it is said in the songs of the Mark that in this deed Éowyn had the aid of Théoden’s esquire, and that he also was not a Man but a Halfling out of a far country, though Éomer gave him honour in the Mark and the name of Holdwine.
[This Holdwine was none other than Meriadoc the Magnificent who was Master of Buckland.]
1 The Hobbit, p. 50.
1 p. 413.
2 Or released from prison; it may well be that it had already been awakened by the malice of Sauron.
3 The Hobbit, pp. 207–8.
1 The Hobbit, p. 22.
2 Among whom were the children of Thráin II: Thorin (Oakenshield), Frerin, and Dís. Thorin was then a youngster in the reckoning of the Dwarves. It was afterwards learned that more of the Folk under the Mountain had escaped than was at first hoped; but most of these went to the Iron Hills.
1 Azog was the father of Bolg; see The Hobbit, p. 24.
1 It is said that Thorin’s shield was cloven and he cast it away and he hewed off with his axe a branch of an oak and held it in his left hand to ward off the strokes of his foes, or to wield as a club. In this way he got his name.
1 Such dealings with their dead seemed grievous to the Dwarves, for it was against their use; but to make such tombs as they were accustomed to build (since they will lay their dead only in stone not in earth) would have taken many years. To fire therefore they turned, rather than leave their kin to beast or bird or carrion-orc. But those who fell in Azanulbizar were honoured in memory, and to this day a Dwarf will say proudly of one of his sires: ‘he was a burned Dwarf’, and that is enough.
1 They had very few women-folk. Dís Thráin’s daughter was there. She was the mother of Fíli and Kíli, who were born in the Ered Luin. Thorin had no wife.
2 p. 349.
1 March 15, 2941.
1 p. 316.
2 p. 779, The Hobbit, p. 151.
3 p. 1272.
1 p. 413.
1 p. 876.
1 It afterwards became clear that Saruman had then begun to desire to possess the One Ring himself, and he hoped that it might reveal itself, seeking its master, if Sauron were let be for a time.
1 Months and days are given according to the Shire Calendar.
1 She became known as ‘the Fair’ because