The Complete Tolkien Companion (44 page)

But the Line of Gondolin lived on, in Idril and Eärendil, and so in Elrond and Elros and all who came after. And even by its fall Turgon's city played a part in the final overthrow of Morgoth. For if Eärendil had not been carried in flight to the sea-lands, he might never have grown up beside the sea, never have become a mariner. He might never have made his historic voyage out of Middle-earth. Yet the idea of sending messengers into the West, to beg the forgiveness and aid of the Valar, was not in origin Eärendil's; for Turgon his grandfather had long held the belief that the only hope of the Noldor lay in the West, and this hope was fostered in his descendants also. Turgon was a pious ruler; and Gondolin had been intended to be a mirror in Middle-earth of Tirion the Fair (there were even Images of the Two Trees standing, or seeming to stand, in Turgon's halls). Perhaps for these reasons Gondolin was allowed to outlast all other Elven-cities of Middle-earth in the Elder Days. But it fell at last, and its fall was all the more terrible for being postponed.

Gondolindrim
– The Elves of the city of Gondolin; Noldor of the House of Fingolfin, subjects of Turgon Fingolfin's son.

Gondor
‘Stone-land' (Sind.) – The South-kingdom of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth; one of the two Realms in Exile founded by Elendil the Tall after the Downfall of Númenor; and for many centuries the most powerful Kingdom anywhere in western Middle-earth. Unlike its northern sister-realm of
ARNOR
, the South kingdom survived the turmoils of the Third Age and held out against increasing odds until, with victory of the War of the Ring, Gondor was finally reunited with the North-kingdom, and the High-kingship of both Realms was established once more.

At the founding of the realm, in 3320 Second Age, Gondor included most of the lands about the feet of the White Mountains, save only for the far western dales beyond the river Lefnui. Her chief provinces were the royal fiefs of Ithilien and Anórien, and her rule extended as far as the coastal regions of Anfalas and Belfalas. Her greatest cities were Minas Anor, Tower of the Sun, on the eastern shoulders of the White Mountains; Minas Ithil, Tower of the Moon, in the western vales of the Ephel Dúath; and Osgiliath, Citadel of the Stars, which lay in between, upon either side of the Great River. Elendil himself was the High-king of both Arnor and Gondor, but the South-rule he committed to his sons Isildur and Anárion; they dwelled in Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, and the Realm was administered from Osgiliath, where also was kept the chief
palantír
of Gondor.

In those days Sauron the Great was believed to have perished in the ruin of Númenor, and so the survivors of that same disaster did not hesitate to build their South-kingdom upon the very borders of his ancient Realm. But he, too, had survived. He returned in secret to Mordor, and, after little more than a hundred years, declared himself once more, and made war upon the Dúnedain: for he feared and hated the Númenoreans and their works. But Sauron struck too late (or too soon), and with too little strength for his purpose; he underestimated his foes and so was defeated in battle when the Last Alliance forged against him proved too strong for his power to withstand; he was driven back to the Barad-dûr and later overthrown altogether.

For many years the South-kingdom grew steadily more powerful and splendid, until, by the eleventh century of the Third Age, its sway extended as far as the Greyflood and the Sea of Rhûn, and lesser states paid tribute. But this early period of intense activity was followed by an epoch of ostentation and luxury, in which most of the gains made by the ‘Ship-kings' were allowed to slip away. Nevertheless, Gondor was slow in decline, and it was not until the middle years of the Age that assaults upon her frontiers began again in earnest. These came mainly from the East and South, and were often only driven back at great cost in toil and lives. More ominously, the Line of Anárion (the hereditary ruling dynasty of Gondor) now began to wither, and at last one of the Kings took to wife a woman of a lesser (but sturdier) race. This act later precipitated the civil war of Gondor, the Kin-strife, which destroyed much that was fair in the South Kingdom, and further sapped the dwindling strength of the Dúnedain. And although Gondor managed to resist her foes for many years, the Line of Anárion had altogether failed by the beginning of the third millennium.

The Dúnedain of the South were then ruled by their Stewards, a family of high Númenorean race who remained true to their trust and never claimed the Crown for themselves throughout the thousand years they ruled in place of the Kings. And led by the Ruling Stewards, the Dúnedain regained some of their power, though they were never again able to prevent war from gathering on their borders. A protective system of alliances and defensible frontiers was established piecemeal, and in the end proved flexible enough to withstand the return to power of Sauron the Great – and his last attempt to drive the Dúnedain into the Sea.

During the War of the Ring, though all seemed lost for a while, the events of the time ultimately produced the means by which Gondor was not only delivered from peril but reunited at last with her ancient sister-realm of Arnor, long sundered from her. In that same war the Dark Lord was cast down for ever and a great threat removed from the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. The Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor lived on in the Fourth Age, last memory in Middle-earth of vanished Númenor; and the banner of Elendil flew again from the Tower of the Sun at the feet of the White Mountains.

Gonnhirrim
‘Stone-masters' (Sind.) – A name bestowed upon the race of Dwarves by the Elves of Beleriand. The more usual terms were
Noegyth, Naugrim
and
Nogothrim,
‘Stunted People' (doubtless the Dwarves themselves preferred
Gonnhirrim
).

Goodchild
– A family of Shire-hobbits related to the Gamgees. The mother of Samwise (and wife of Hamfast) was Bell Goodchild.

Gorbadoc ‘Broadbelt' Brandybuck
– From 2910–63 Third Age (1310–63 Shire Reckoning), the Master of Buckland. He was the grandfather of Frodo Baggins (and great-grandfather of Meriadoc Brandybuck).

Gorbag
– An Orc-sergeant in the garrison of Minas Morgul.

Gorgoroth
‘Dreadful Horror' (Sind.) – A word in the Grey-elven tongue, used for two different locations, distinct in time and space. The first and earlier usage is
Ered Gorgoroth,
the ‘Mountains of Terror' which were the southernmost edge of the Dorthonion plateau, where the Great Spider Ungoliant came after the poisoning of the Trees and ever after made a place of abhorrence and fear.

The second instance is in the name of the ‘Haunted Plain' of Mordor; the great plateau which occupied the north-western area of that country, a desolate, arid land, pocked with craters and fuming pits and riven with many deep crevasses. In the centre of the plain rose the smouldering cone of the volcano Orodruin.

Gorgûn
‘Orcs' – One of the few words recorded in the aboriginal speech of the Wild Men of Druadan Forest (
see
WOSES
).

Gorhendad Oldbuck
– The founder of the Buckland. The Oldbuck family had long been prominent in the Shire when, in about 2340 Third Age (740 Shire Reckoning), they re-crossed the Brandywine eastwards and settled the strip of land between the river and the Old Forest. Gorhendad began the excavation of the Hill of Buckland, when he named Brandy Hall; at the same time he changed the family name to
Brandybuck.
He was later accounted the first Master of Buckland.

Gorlim the Unhappy
– One of the twelve brave companions of
BARAHIR
of the Edain in the last defence of Dorthonion. Gorlim was unhappy – fatally so – because of the loss of his wife Eilinel, whom he believed a prisoner. He was captured by means of a cunning trick, and becoming the victim of one of the cruellest of all betrayals, was himself forced to betray Barahir and his companions. Then Gorlim was put to death. And in the ensuing attack upon their encampment, eleven of the twelve men were killed. Eilinel had been dead for nearly four years.

Gorthaur ‘
The Cruel' (Sind.) – The Grey-elves' name (in the First Age) for
SAURON THE GREAT
.

Gorthol
‘Dread Helm' (Sind.) – One of the many
noms-de-guerre
assumed during his life by the warrior
TÚRIN TURAMBAR
. It refers to the
DRAGON-HELM
(
OF DOR-LÓMIN
), which Túrin wore in battle early in his career.

Gothmog
–
See
BALROG
.

Gram
– From 2718–41 Third Age, the eighth King of Rohan. He was the father of Helm Hammerhand.

Great Armament
– The name given to that assemblage of arms commanded by Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, last King of Númenor, for his assault upon Valinor and the Undying Lands. It was so great that it took nine years to assemble, from 3310–19 Second Age.

Great Battle
– The second Battle of the Powers; the attack upon Morgoth made at the end of the First Age by the Host of the Valar. Like Utumno of an earlier age, Angband was annihilated and Morgoth was cast out – this time for ever.

Great Bridge
– The Shire-hobbits' name for the Bridge of Stonebows, more commonly known as the Brandywine Bridge. (It had, in fact, been built by the Dúnedain of the North-kingdom long before the founding of the Shire.)

Great Darkness
– The term used by the Elves to mean the immense period of time between the overthrowing (by Melkor) of the Lamps of the Valar, Illuin and Ormal, and the Rising of the Moon and Sun towards the end of the First Age. Throughout this period darkness, broken only by starlight, reigned over Middle-earth, and Melkor's rule – the spiritual Great Darkness – was uncontested by the Valar.

Great East Road
– One of the major highways of Eriador. It linked Lindon and the Grey Havens with Rivendell and the Misty Mountains, passing through the middle of the Shire and Bree. In the late Third Age the East Road was used mainly by Dwarves, who had mines in the Blue Mountains which were still in use.

Great Echo
– A translation of the Sindarin name
Lammoth.

Great Enemy
– Morgoth.

Greater Gelion
– The more easterly of the two source-streams of the river Gelion in East Beleriand. The Greater Gelion itself had two sources, on Mount Rerir and from Lake Helevorn.

Great Goblin
– An Orc-chieftain who led the tribe which infested the high pass chosen by Thorin Oakenshield's expedition when they crossed from Eriador into Wilderland (in 2941 Third Age). His followers imprisoned the Dwarves and the Hobbit Bilbo, but their leader was slain by Gandalf the Grey.

Great Gulf
– The name given in Eldarin tradition to the huge expanse of water created in the south of Middle-earth during the Eldest Days by powerful seismic forces, which the Elves attributed to the agency of the Valar. In fact the Gulf was created by the earth-movements brought about by the Battle of the Powers in the North.

Great Jewels
– The
silmarilli
created by Fëanor of Eldamar in the First Age. Their theft, by Morgoth, brought about the Exile of the Noldor and the long wars which ravaged Middle-earth.

Great Journey
– The original Westward migration of the
ELDAR
. Far back in the Elder Days the Three Kindreds were summoned by the Valar (Guardians of the World) to journey from their homeland in the East across the western lands of Middle-earth to the shores of the Sea. From there, two of the Kindreds set out on the further journey across the Sea to the Undying Lands.

Great Lake
– The lake in the centre of the World, as Arda was first shaped by the Valar. In the centre of the Lake stood the Isle of Almaren, their first home in Arda. Both Island and Lake – and much more besides – were destroyed by the renegade Vala Melkor, in the course of his second attack upon the Powers.

Great Lands
– Middle-earth.

Great Music
– The name given in the traditions and beliefs of the Eldar to that which took place before the Creation: the weaving of all possible sub-themes of Existence around a pre-ordained yet infinitely flexible Theme already chosen by Ilúvatar (God). This development of existential possibilities, analagous (in the legend) to musicians or choristers freely improvising within a fixed compositional mode – while all the time serving only the direct will of the Composer – was performed, or achieved, say the Elves, by the Ainur, the Holy Ones of God. When the Great Song (as it is also called) was complete for that time, two separate major Themes having been introduced and traced to their endings, God spoke; and the vision was made manifest. And then, according to the tradition, the Ainur who had taken part left the dwelling of Ilúvatar and went down into the newly created world (Arda), each to labour in making manifest his or her individual contribution to the Music. Among them was Melkor, who from the first had attempted to dominate all other contributions; now he, too, went down into the world and laboured towards the fulfilment of his disharmonious counterpoint.

Great Ones
– The
AINUR
.

Great Place of the Tooks
– The chief household of Great Smials.

Great Plague
– In 1636 Third Age, a foul plague came out of the East and South and ravaged the Westlands of Middle-earth. Osgiliath in Gondor was particularly hard-hit. King Telemnar and all his children were struck down, and even the White Tree of Minas Anor perished (although a fortuitously preserved seedling continued the Line of Nimloth).