At the end of the War of the Ring, one of Middle-earth’s strangest transfers of power took place beneath the black tower of Orthanc. Saruman was gone. The Ring of Isengard had been broken. Trees stood where furnaces, pits, roads, and workshops had scarred the earth. Yet Orthanc itself remained almost untouched: an ancient tower … Read more
Celeborn is one of the most familiar Elves in The Lord of the Rings and one of the most difficult to place securely in the deeper history of Middle-earth. When the Fellowship enters Lothlórien, there is little ambiguity about who he is in the Third Age: he is the Lord of the Galadhrim, the husband … Read more
How Morgoth Opens the Bragollach with Fire to Break the Land Before His Armies Advance The most frightening weapon Morgoth unleashes at the beginning of the Dagor Bragollach is not an Orc-host, a Balrog, or even Glaurung. It is the land itself being destroyed. For centuries, the Noldor had maintained the Siege of Angband. Between … Read more
The Kin-strife of Gondor began with a marriage. That sounds almost absurd beside what followed: rebellion, a starving king trapped in Osgiliath, the burning of the ancient capital, the loss of its palantír, the execution of a royal heir, and eventually a battle in which some of Gondor’s finest blood was spilled by Gondorians fighting … Read more
Before the Black Riders attack at Weathertop, Aragorn gives the hobbits a grim estimate. On his own feet, in fair weather and without misfortune, he could reach the Ford of Bruinen in about twelve days. With four hobbits, avoiding the Road because of the Nazgûl, he expects the journey to take at least a fortnight. … Read more
Why the Noldor Could Not Simply Reproduce the Ships of the Teleri When Fëanor led the rebellious Noldor toward Middle-earth, one practical problem stood between his people and their destination: the Sea. The answer seemed to be waiting at Alqualondë. The Teleri possessed their famous white ships, vessels shaped in the likeness of swans and … Read more
Sam Gamgee enters the Tower of Cirith Ungol as almost the least likely figure imaginable to terrify a fortress of Orcs. He is a gardener from the Shire, alone in Mordor, frightened, exhausted, and searching desperately for Frodo. Yet by the time he climbs the Tower, the surviving Orcs are convinced that something far more … Read more
Fëanor comes to Middle-earth for a war that he expects to shape the fate of the world. He has sworn the terrible Oath of Fëanor, led part of the Noldor into exile, crossed the sea in stolen ships, abandoned Fingolfin’s people behind him, and burned those ships at Losgar. Ahead lies Morgoth, and within Morgoth’s … Read more
When most readers picture Mordor, they picture ash, fire, barren rock, and the terrible plain beneath Mount Doom. Yet far to the south of Sauron’s fortress lay another Mordor: a country of cultivated fields surrounding the dark waters of the inland Sea of Núrnen. Those fields reveal something uncomfortable about the Dark Lord’s empire. Mordor … Read more
The Green Dragon feels like one of the most comfortably local places in Middle-earth. It stands in Bywater, close enough to Hobbiton that Sam Gamgee can spend an evening there arguing about strange news and still belong unmistakably to the small world of gardens, mills, farms, and familiar neighbors. Yet an inn cannot live on … Read more