LOTRRRpublicat

LOTR

J.R.R Tolkien

Characters, Landscapes &

Monuments Illustrated by

Mitch Weaver

CONTENTS

GandalfThe ShireArwen ElrondValinorGollumMinas Tirith The Black GateOrc

5 - 67 - 89 - 1011 - 1213 - 1415 - 1617 - 1819 - 2021 - 22

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ARNOR

ERIADOR

ROHAN

MORDORGONDOR

RHOVANION

RHUN

Hithaeglir

Ettenmoors

weather hills

Old ForestRHUDAUR

RivendellBree

ArthedainThe shire

Eredluin

Blue mountains

Harlindon

Minhiriath

Enedwaith

Dunland

ISENGARDFANGORN

EREGION

LORIEN

MIRKWOOD

DUR GULDUR

EAST BIGHT

HELMSDEEP

THE BROWN LANDS

SEA OF RHUN

ERED MITHRIN

IRON HILLS

FORODWAITHANGMAR

MOUNTGUNDBAND

FORLINDON

THE LOST REALM OF

ANFALAS

LEBENNIN

S JTHILIEN

NURN

N JTHILIEN

ERED LITHUI (ASH MOUNTAINS

ORODRAINBARAD DUR

PLATEAU OF GORGOROTH

EREBOR(THE LONELY MOUNTAIN)

ERARETH ON THE LONG LAKE

MIDDLE EARTHAT THE END OF THE THIRD AGE

THE WEST OF

4

ARNOR

ERIADOR

ROHAN

MORDORGONDOR

RHOVANION

RHUN

Hithaeglir

Ettenmoors

weather hills

Old ForestRHUDAUR

RivendellBree

ArthedainThe shire

Eredluin

Blue mountains

Harlindon

Minhiriath

Enedwaith

Dunland

ISENGARDFANGORN

EREGION

LORIEN

MIRKWOOD

DUR GULDUR

EAST BIGHT

HELMSDEEP

THE BROWN LANDS

SEA OF RHUN

ERED MITHRIN

IRON HILLS

FORODWAITHANGMAR

MOUNTGUNDBAND

FORLINDON

THE LOST REALM OF

ANFALAS

LEBENNIN

S JTHILIEN

NURN

N JTHILIEN

ERED LITHUI (ASH MOUNTAINS

ORODRAINBARAD DUR

PLATEAU OF GORGOROTH

EREBOR(THE LONELY MOUNTAIN)

ERARETH ON THE LONG LAKE

MIDDLE EARTHAT THE END OF THE THIRD AGE

THE WEST OF

GANDALF

5

The Grey

Gandalf was part of the White Council, which was formed to combat Sauron. Saru-

man was the head of the Council, though Galadriel would have chosen Gandalf.

Saruman insisted that the Ring had fallen into the Anduin river and now lay at the

bottom of the sea, but doubts assailed Gandalf as to the validity of this conclusion. He con-

stantly studied old scrolls, searching for any solid information as to the fate of the Ring. Gan-

dalf made two visits to Dol Guldur, where Sauron had hidden after his defeat at the end of the

Second Age. The first visit took place in TA 2063; the second 787 years later. On the second

visit, Gandalf discovered that the master of Dol Guldur was indeed Sauron (on the first visit,

Gandalf had been unable to discover who Dol Guldur’s lord was), and encountered the impris-

oned Thrain the Dwarf. Gandalf received the key of Erebor from Thrain, who died soon after.

6

Gandalf was one of the most powerful Maiar, or

lower angels. About one thousand years after

the Third Age began, the Istari (wizards), who

were all Maiar, appeared from across the sea. There were

five of them: Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, Alatar, and Pal-

lando. They came in the form of old men and were ranked

according to their power, with white being the highest

level.

Most inhabitants of Middle-earth believed Saruman to be

the most powerful, but when Cirdan the Ship-wright wel-

comed Gandalf at the Grey Havens, he saw that Gandalf

was indeed the most powerful and gave him Narya, the

Elven Ring of Fire.

Gandalf chose a wandering life, helping those in need of

aid, never living in one place for long. He was the only

wizard who took a peculiar interest in hobbits, whom the

others thought to be lazy and

unimportant creatures.

THE SHIRE

A ccording to Tolkien, the Shire measured 40 leagues (193

km, 120 miles) from the Far Downs in the west to the

Brandywine Bridge in the east, and 50 leagues (241 km,

150 miles) from the northern moors to the marshes in the south.[5]

This is confirmed in an essay by Tolkien on translating The Lord of

the Rings,[6] where he describes the Shire as having an area of 18,000

square miles (47,000 km2).The original territory of the Shire was

bounded on the east by the Baranduin River, on the north by uplands

rising to the old centre of Arnor, on the west by the White Downs,

and on the south by marshland south of the River Shirebourne. After

the original settlement, hobbits also expanded to the east into Buck-

land between the Baranduin and the Old Forest, and (much later) to

the west into the

Westmarch between the White Downs and the Tower Hills.

T he Shire was originally divided into four Farthings. The out-

lying lands of Buckland and the Westmarch were formally

added after the War of the Ring.Within the Farthings there

are some smaller unofficial clan homelands: the Tooks nearly all live

in or near Tuckborough in Tookland, for instance. A Hobbit surname

often indicates where the family came from: Samwise Gamgee’s last

name derives from Gamwich, where the family originated. Buckland

was named for the Oldbucks (later called the Brandybucks).The Shire

is described as a small but beautiful, idyllic and fruitful land, beloved

by its inhabitants. The Hobbits had an extensive agricultural system

in the Shire but were not industrialised. The landscape included small

pockets of forest (again similar to the English countryside). Various

supplies were produced in the Shire, including cereals, fruit, wood and

pipe-weed.

7

8

Arwen was said to resemble her fore-

mother, Luthien Tinuviel, who was

the most beautiful of the children

of Elves and Men and was the first high elf

to marry a human and become mortal. Ar-

wen lived in both Rivendell and Lothlorien in

peace for many years. Her mother, Celebrian,

was attacked and captured by orcs in TA 2510,

and though Celebrian was rescued by Elladan

and Elrohir and healed of her wounds by El-

rond, she tired of Middle-earth and passed

over the sea. Arwen stayed in Lothlorien for

many years, but returned to Rivendell c. TA

2951. There she met Aragorn while walking in

the woods at sunset. Aragorn immediately fell

in love with her, although he told nobody but

his mother, and Arwen seemed to give him no

further notice. Twenty-nine years later, Arwen

was living in Lothlorien when Aragorn came to

those woods. Queen Galadriel, Arwen’s grand-

mother, clothed Aragorn as an Elf-lord, and

when Arwen saw him after their long parting,

her choice was made. The Peredhil (half-elves),

who were the descendants of Luthien, could

choose to become mortal, but until that day,

Arwen had no cause to forsake her immortality.

She plighted her troth with Aragorn on the hill

of Cerin Amroth, and followed in the path of

Luthien, although it meant a bitter parting with

her father and the rest of her kin.

9

After the War of the Ring, Arwen married Aragorn on Mid-

year’s Day, TA 3019. She lived blissfully as Queen of Elves

and Men for 120 years, and it was not her lot to die until

all that she had gained was lost. But in FO 120, the days of glory came

to an end and Arwen felt the bitterness of her choice: Aragorn felt the

approach of old age at last, and knew that his days were numbered.

He had the gift of a lifespan thrice that of Men of Middle-earth, but

he also had the grace to return his gift. He died on March 1st of that

year. Arwen said farewell to her children and all those whom she had

loved, and passed into Lothlorien. All the Elves of Lorien were gone,

and the land was silent. When winter came, Arwen laid herself to rest

upon Cerin Amroth, and of the passing of Evenstar no more is said.

10

ARWENUndomiel

ELROND

11

Elrond was the grandson of Turgon, King of

Gondolin, and the great-grandson of Beren

and Luthien. Elwing, Elrond’s mother, lived in

Doriath with her parents, Dior and Nimloth, and broth-

ers, Elured and Elurin. When the sons of Fëanor attacked

Doriath to regain the Silmaril that Beren, Elwing’s grand-

father, had taken from Morgoth’s iron crown, Elwing’s

mother and father were killed; her brothers abandoned in

the wilderness. Elwing herself escaped to Arvernien, tak-

ing the Silmaril with her. In Avernien, she met and mar-

ried Eärendil: they had two sons, Elrond and Elros.

Fëanor’s sons attacked Arvernien, and although Eärendil

and Elwing escaped with the Silmaril to the Undying

Lands, Elrond and Elros were captured. They were be-

friended by Maglor, one of Fëanor’s sons, and became

less like captives and more like beloved guests as time

passed. At the end of the First Age, Elrond and his

brother were given the choice of the Half-elven: to be-

come an immortal elf, or a mortal human. Elrond chose

the former; Elros the latter.

Elrond dwelt with Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor,

until SA 1695, when he was sent to the land of Eregion.

When Eregion fell, Elrond fled and founded the refuge

of Imladris (Rivendell). The Last Alliance of Elves and

Men was formed in SA 3430. Elrond became Gil-galad’s

herald, and before the battle, Gil-galad gave him the

greatest of the Three Elven Rings, Vilya. After the High

King fell, Elrond counselled Isildur to destroy the One

Ring, but Isildur refused his advice.

In TA 100, Elrond married Celebrian, daughter of

Celeborn and Galadriel. More than two thousand

years later (TA 2509), Celebrian was attacked by

orcs while journeying over a mountain pass. She was

rescued by her twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and healed

of her wounds by Elrond, but she grew weary of Middle-

earth and departed over the sea.

When Arathorn II died, his son Aragorn II was only two

years old, and Elrond took the child in as his foster-son.

Aragorn met and fell in love with Elrond’s daughter,

Arwen, eighteen years later, but Elrond forbid Aragorn

to marry any woman until Aragorn was found worthy. In

TA 3018, Frodo and his companions arrived at Rivendell.

Elrond presided over the Council to decide what was to

be done with the Ring, and appointed the members of

the Fellowship. During the War of the Ring, Elrond pro-

vided much assistance, though he himself did not fight.

At the end of the war, he gave Arwen’s hand in marriage

to Aragorn, and at the end of the Third Age, Elrond

departed over the sea.

12

VALINOR

13

14

Valinor as explained was the home of the Valar,

the Powers of Middle-earth. The sea to the

west of the island was called Ekkaia, or the

Encircling Sea; it surrounded both Valinor and

Middle-earth.Each of the Valar had their own region of

the land where they resided and altered things to their

desire. Yavanna, the Vala of nature, growth, and harvest,

resided in the Pastures of Yavanna in the south of the is-

land. Orome, the Vala of the hunt, lived in the Woods of

Orome to the north-east of the pastures. The forest was

home to many creatures which Orome could track and

hunt. Nienna, the lonely Valier of sorrow and endurance

lived cut off in the far west of the island in the Halls of

Nienna where she spent her days crying, looking out to

sea. Just south of the Halls of Nienna and to the north

of the pastures there were the Halls of Mandos. Mandos,

the brother of Nienna, was the Vala of the afterlife. All

inhabitants of Middle-earth went to the Halls of Mandos

should they happen to die, mortals and immortals alike

(immortals could be killed although they did not die of

old age) although it was said that in death as in life, they

were separated. Also living in the Halls of Mandos was

his spouse Vairë the weaver, who wove the threads of

time.

After the destruction of Númenor, the Undy-

ing Lands were removed from Arda so that

Men could not reach them and only the Elves

could go there by the Straight Road and in ships capable

of passing out of the Spheres of the earth. By special

permission of the Valar, the Hobbits Frodo Baggins,

Bilbo Baggins, and Samwise Gamgee were also permitted

to go to Valinor, and Legolas the elf brought with him

Gimli the Dwarf.

GOLLUM

15

16

In TA 2941, Bilbo Baggins, who was lost in

the caves, chanced upon the Ring, which

Gollum had accidentally dropped a few

days ago. Bilbo and Gollum met, Bilbo foolishly

introduced himself, and the two played a riddle-

game: if Bilbo won, Gollum would show the

way out of the caves; if Gollum won, he would

eat Bilbo. Bilbo won the game with the ques-

tionable riddle “What have I got in my pocket?”

The answer was “a ring,” but Gollum of course

didn’t guess correctly--his three guesses were

“Handses,” “Knife”, and “String or nothing”

(the last being two guesses combined into one,

although both were incorrect). He paddled to the

island where he lived, thinking to put on the Ring

and sneak up on Bilbo unawares, but the Ring

was gone. Now Gollum began to suspect what

was really in Bilbo’s pocket, and ran after the ter-

rified hobbit. Bilbo put on the Ring accidentally,

and Gollum ran past the invisible “thief.”

Sméagol was one of the Stoors, a race of

hobbits that, unlike most of their kind,

lived near rivers and knew something of

boating, swimming, and fishing. One day, when

Sméagol and his cousin, Déagol, were fishing,

Déagol fell into the river, and found, buried in

the mud, the One Ring. Sméagol immediately

wanted the Ring, claiming that Déagol should

give it to him as a birthday present. Déagol

refused, and his treacherous cousin murdered

him. Sméagol used the Ring’s power of making

the wearer invisible to find out secrets and spy

on his kin. The Stoors grew to distrust him, and

called him “Gollum” because of the gurgling

noise he made in his throat. Sméagol grew to

hate all light, both sun and moon, and leaving

his kinsfolk, went off to live in the caves under

the mountains. He lived there for nearly 500

years, constantly talking to the Ring and calling

it his “precious.”

MINAS TIRITH

17

Minas Tirith was the capital of Gondor

in the Third Age and the Fourth Age

of Middle-earth. Originally known as

Minas Anor (the “Tower of the Sun”), it replaced the

city (later ruined city and stockade of Gondor) Osgili-

ath as the new capital of Gondor.

When the Enemy began to take shape again,

Minas Anor was renamed Minas Tirith, the “Tower of

Guard.” The city was also called The White City, as

the courtyard in the front of the city’s Citadel

contained the White Tree, and also known as the City

of Kings because of its connection with the kings and

stewards of Gondor (who ruled the

kingdom of Gondor from the Citadel of the city).

Many important events took place in and in front of

the city, such as the coronation of King Elessar, the

Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and the healing of Meri-

ado Brandybuck and Éowyn by Aragorn after they

had been poisoned after stabbing, and

subsequently killing, the Witch-king of Angmar.

Minas Tirith was surrounded by the

Rammas Echor, a large ringwall

encircling the city and the Pelennor

Fields. This wall was built after Minas Ithil fell and

was renamed Minas Morgul. It was repaired by

Ecthelion II during the time of the War of the Ring,

but it had not the strength to defend the city from the

Dark Lord Sauron’s legions of orcs from

Mordor led by the Witch-king of Angmar. The city

itself lay on a hill beneath Mount Mindolluin, which

rose above the city’s citadel, by a length of a

couple of thousand feet. Mount Mindolluin was

where Aragorn found the seedling of the White Tree,

aided by Gandalf.The city was divided into seven

one-hundred-foot high levels, each surrounded by

white walls, except the first walls which had the same

kind of black stone as Orthanc as a face.

18

THE BLACK GATE

19

The Black Gate was set in an impregnable

black stone and iron wall that stretched

from the Mountains of Ash in the north to

the Ephel Duath (Mountains of Shadow) in the west.

The wall has been estimated to be 60 feet high and

250 feet long with each half of the great gate being

90 feet wide and set on large stone wheels. Behind the

gate were gigantic circular stone ramparts, and when

the gate needed to be opened, two pairs of Mountain-

trolls who were tethered to gigantic beams pushed

their way around their rampart’s track, gradually lever-

ing open the gate and allowing for the incoming or

outgoing of Mordor’s armies.

Inset within the wall were myriads of archers, spear-

men, bowmen, ballistae, and hundreds of thousands

of Orc troops ready to defend Mordor. The Gates

themselves may have been made of the same indomi-

table stone that constitutes Orthanc, so hard that even

the Ents could not dent it.

It was originally a gate built by Sauron the Dark

Lord of Mordor in the Second Age, to protect

and guard the northern entrance into Mordor

and to prevent invasion at the gap between the Ered

Lithui (Ash Mountains) and the Ephel Duath (Moun-

tains of Shadow). It was probably built with the help

of the power of the One Ring, like the Barad-dûr.

After Sauron’s fall after the Battle of Dagorlad, it be-

came a garrison of the Men of Gondor. In Gondor’s

early days, when it was building towers and cities such

as Minas Ithil and Cirith Ungol close to Mordor’s bor-

der, it raised the two great Towers of the Teeth, Nar-

chost and Carchost, which were built on either side of

the wall and were tall enough to overlook it.

20

ORC

21

In the First Age, thousands of Orcs were

first bred in Angband as the core force of

Morgoth and were to participate in the

Battles of Beleriand which lasted a total of 587

years. They first appeared in the Battle of Lham-

moth, where they were defeated by the Noldor.

When the House of Fëanor returned to Middle-

earth, Morgoth sent a force of orcs against them

and although they outnumbered the exiles they

were no match for the power and wrath of the

Ñoldor, and were quickly and easily defeated.

However, Fëanor could not defeat the power of

Morgoth alone and he was killed leaving the orcs

to continue to breed under the Dark Lord. Years

later as the House of Fingolfin arrived in Middle-

earth, orcs were sent against them as well but

were utterly defeated in the Battle of the Lam-

moth.

Tolkien did not regard Orcs as evil

in their own right, but only as tools

of Morgoth and Sauron.Orcs were

dependent on the Dark Lord in various ways:

after their leader was defeated, the Orcs were

confused and dismayed, and easily scattered by

their enemies. In the millennia after Melkor’s

defeat and banishment from Arda, they were

without a leader, and degenerated to small,

quarrelsome tribes hiding in the Misty Moun-

tains. Only when led by a Maia like Sauron did

they begin to reclaim some of their old power

and become a real danger for Middle-earth.

Many Orcs (along with fallen Maiar and other

evil servants of Melkor), survived in the deep

caves, pits, chambers, and tunnels of Melkor’s

great underground fortresses of Utumno and

Angband. They multiplied and later spread

through northern Middle-earth. They were first

seen by the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

(Ered Luin) who reported them to King Thin-

gol, the High King of the Sindar causing them

to need weapons of war for the first time. For

over a millennium, the orcs were only a minor

problem but when Melkor (Morgoth) returned

with the Silmarils he took full charge of them.

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