The Complete Tolkien Companion (69 page)

Nan-tasarion
‘Vale of Willows' (Q.) – The more formal of the two High-elven names for the valley which lay about the confluence of the Narog with the Sirion, in East Beleriand (the other was
Tasarinan
). The name most in use was the Sindarin
Nan-tathren,
which carries the same meaning.

Nan-tathren
–
See
preceding entry.

Nár
– An aged but faithful companion of the Dwarf-king Thrór, who faithfully accompanied the exiled King on his last wanderings – which ended at Azanulbizar in 2790 Third Age. Against Nár's entreaties, Thrór proudly entered Moria alone; several days later, while waiting for him near the Great Gates, Nár heard a horn-blast and the beheaded corpse of the King was cast out on to the steps. Nár was mockingly called near by the Orcs inside Moria, who threw him a bag of worthless coins as weregild for Thrór's death and told him to take the tidings to his kin. He did so, and the news precipitated the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.

Narbeleth
‘Sun-waning' (Sind.) – Both an alternative name for the fourth of the six Elvish ‘seasons' (
see
QUELLË
), and the word used by the Dúnedain for the month more widely known as
Narquelië.

Narchost
‘Fire-fort' (Sind.) – One of the two Towers of the Teeth, which flanked the Black Gate into Mordor. Both towers (the other was Carchost, ‘Fang-fort') were originally built by Men of Gondor at the end of the Second Age, in order to watch over the borders of the Black Land and prevent the re-entry of evil there after Sauron the Great was first overthrown.

Nardol
‘Fire-head' (Sind.) – One of the
BEACON-HILLS
of Gondor; the third in the chain of seven such hills which ran from Druadan Forest to the Firienwood, enabling urgent tidings to be sent between Gondor and Rohan.

Nargothrond
‘Fortress-halls-of-Narog', an abbreviation of
Narogost-rond
(Sind.) – The name given by the Noldorin king Finrod Felagund to the great city he founded in the Caves of Narog, during the first century of his exile in Middle-earth. These were a honeycomb of delvings shaped originally by Dwarves (of the race of Noegyth Nibin), and called, by them,
Nulukkizdin.
Finrod learned of their existence from his kinsman Thingol of Doriath and, desiring to found a kingdom which would also be a hidden redoubt for the Eldar, he chose this ancient place as the site of his new realm in Middle-earth (hitherto he had dwelled at Tol Sirion in the north). The burrowings of the Dwarves were extended by Elf-masons and miners, helped by more Dwarves, and although Nargothrond was never to be as fair as Gondolin or Menegroth, it was larger and more powerful than either of those cities, and the treasure which Finrod had brought out of Valinor and now stored in the vaults of his underground city made it the wealthiest by far. It had three great portals opening on the brink of the swift-flowing Narog, and above on both sides of the river reared the sheer precipices of Tauren-Faroth, which long ago the Narog had cloven in two with the force of its passage. Nargothrond as it was founded was therefore virtually impregnable, though its whereabouts were not long to be kept secret.

During the Long Peace its people extended the influence of their city in all directions, and Finrod was accounted ruler of all the Elves of West Beleriand, save the Falathrim of the Havens, who were of the Sindar and acknowledged only Círdan (and above him Thingol). But Finrod of Nargothrond they respected more than all the other Noldor, and the Havens became allied to Nargothrond, and profited: for in these days of his power Finrod did all in his power to assist all other Elves, and especially those who dwelt in the coast-lands and so guarded the sea-ways. Thus he and his city acted as a bridge between the Noldor and the Sindar.

But war again broke out in the North, with frightening suddenness, and events were thereby set in motion which were to lead inexorably to the doom of Finrod – and ultimately to the fall of his city. Finrod himself barely escaped with his life from the Dagor Bragollach; but afterwards there came to Nargothrond a single warrior of the Edain, Beren son of Barahir – to whom Finrod owed the debt of life – who bore with him the Ring of the House of Finarfin, and claimed the aid of Finarfin's son on the Quest he had undertaken. Finrod could not and did not refuse this aid, but his people were angry and confused at that time, and, stirred up by the sons of Fëanor, then dwelling as Finrod's guests, they deposed him. Finrod passed away into the North as Beren's companion and was never seen again in the Halls of Narog. But the lordship of the city was given to his younger brother Orodreth.

By this time war had at last penetrated into East Beleriand, and the Elves of Nargothrond now found themselves in constant contact with the forces of Morgoth. Perhaps for military reasons – and perhaps for reasons connected with their shame at the casting-out of Felagund – they now precipitately abandoned much of the greater realm of Nargothrond and began to wage war in secret ways: by ambush and swift escape. The bow became their chief weapon. It was at this time that the Fifth Battle of Beleriand was fought in the North, and the Eldarin cause ruined for ever. Even more did the people of Nargothrond now eschew open combat with Morgoth; the perimeter of their realm tightened further, and of the small host they had sent to the Nirnaeth, only one came back.

Now the doom of Nargothrond approached – in the person of the warrior Túrin Turambar of the Edain, who bore with him the Curse upon the Children of Húrin, a curse which never failed to ensnare and destroy those with whom Túrin shared his days. In the wild he had encountered the only survivor of those Elves of Nargothrond who had fought at the Nirnaeth: Gwindor son of Guilin escaped from the mines of Angband. And it was Gwindor who now brought Túrin to his former city. Túrin was a great warrior, more war-crafty than any Elf of Nargothrond (save Gwindor) and, moreover, apparently invincible in battle. He therefore assumed, by degrees, the military leadership of the hosts of the city; and by degrees his pride grew with this new station – and his new name
Mormegil
– so that he began to reject the methods of war his forces had hitherto been accustomed to use. Against the advice of Gwindor, Túrin caused a great bridge to be built across the Narog, thus gaining the limited tactical advantage of being able to make swift sorties, in exchange for obligingly neutralising the city's best single defence: for bridges may be crossed in two directions.

And so it proved. There came a day when an army came out of the North, whose object was the destruction of Nargothrond – and Túrin caused the host of the city to meet this force in open battle, fifteen leagues north of the city, on the field of Tumhalad. There the Elven army was annihilated, and Orodreth the king was slain; for the host of Angband was accompanied by the Dragon Glaurung. And even before the fighting had finished, Glaurung and a force of Orcs which accompanied him had hastened south to the gorge of the Narog, crossed Túrin's bridge (Glaurung was wingless and could not otherwise have entered) and laid waste the city of Finrod. Nargothrond was destroyed, and never arose again.

Narië
(Q.) – The equivalent of June, being the sixth month of the year in Kings' and Stewards' Reckoning and the third in New Reckoning. The Sindarin name for this month (used only by the Dúnedain) was
Norui.

Narmacil I
– From 1226–94 Third Age, the seventeenth King of Gondor. He was the son of Atanatar Alcarin ‘the Glorious', the
fainéant
heir of the great Hyarmendacil I; and although Gondor still seemed all-powerful by the time he came to the Throne, most of his family did little to preserve this power, being for the most part hedonists who surrounded themselves with luxury and ignored their first duty: to govern. Such a man was Narmacil, who died childless, and so was his younger brother, Calmacil, who succeeded him. However, in 1240, Narmacil appointed a Regent to take over his duties; and in this at least he showed good judgement. The man he chose was Calmacil's son Minalcar, who ruled on behalf of both his uncle and his father for over sixty years. After Calmacil's death, the patient, capable and honourable Minalcar was himself crowned King (as Rómendacil II), and then ruled for another sixty years.

Narmacil II
– From 1850–56 Third Age, the twenty-ninth King of Gondor. His was a brief and unfortunate reign, for in his time a new enemy appeared on the eastern frontiers of the realm, which then extended as far as the Inland Sea. This was a tribe of Easter-lings known as the Wainriders: a numerous, warlike people who travelled in huge wains or wagons while their khans or chiefs fought from chariots. Inflamed by emissaries of Sauron, these Easterlings made a sudden, massive attack on the eastern pasture-lands of Gondor in the year 1856. Narmacil led an army across the Great River to meet them in Rhovanion but suffered defeat and was slain. The Wainriders swept on as far as the Anduin, which became the new frontier in the east; and Rhovanion, traditionally friendly to Gondor, was enslaved. Narmacil's son Calimehtar took a delayed revenge in 1899, when he defeated the Wainriders, who were already in difficulty over a rebellion in Rhovanion.

‘Narn i Hin Húrin'
Tale of the Children of Húrin' (Sind.) – The title given by a poet of the Edain, Dirhavel, to the long ballad or poem composed by him in the late First Age; it deals with the sad subject of Húrin of the Third House, and his children: Túrin and Nienor, accursed by Morgoth. Dirhavel himself was slain in battle, shortly after the making of the Tale.

The sombre story of the curse laid by Morgoth on the family of Húrin Thálion of the Edain forms one of the longest and most sorrowful closing themes of the Elder Days. There are several versions, revealing not only the story of the sufferings and deeds of Nienor and Túrin, but of the sad fate of Morwen their mother, and of Húrin himself, afterwards released in malice by Morgoth – as a kind of cruel epilogue – to wander through the westlands in a destructive odyssey of recrimination and despair, bringing ruin in his wake.

Narog
– The longest river west of the Sirion; it had its source at Ivrin, in the southern vales of the Ered Wethrin, and flowed almost due south for ninety leagues, becoming swifter and fuller as it grew in size, until it reached the Sirion at Nan-tathren. It had one tributary: the Ginglith, which flowed into the Narog some twelve leagues north of the highland of Taur-en-Faroth. Where the larger river flowed through this upland, its passage had carved a deep gorge through the rock, and the action of the waters had also hollowed out caves on the western side. These caves were later extended by Dwarves, and still later by Elves of the House of Finarfin; and here was founded the great city of Nargothrond, whose moat and chief defence was the Narog.

Narquelië
(Q.) – The tenth month of the year in Kings' Reckoning, the system developed by the Dúnedain of Númenor in the early Second Age and introduced to the Westlands of Middle-earth by their descendants in the Third Age. This month was unaffected when the slightly modified system of Stewards' Reckoning superseded the old calendar in the last third of the age; however, when the New Reckoning was introduced at the very end of the Age, Narquelië became the third month of the new year (calculated to begin in spring). In all three systems this month had 30 days and was roughly equivalent to October. It was used by the Dúnedain in the (Grey-elven) form
Narbeleth.

Narrow Ice
– Poetically, the great icefields of the far North, the
HELCARAXË
, where bergs and floes and pack-ice grind everlastingly together. The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, who used this term in his poem ‘Eärendil Was A Mariner', obviously employed it to indicate the northernmost latitudes that were navigable by Eärendil.

Narrows
– The ‘waist' of the great forest of Greenwood (known in much of the Third Age as Mirkwood). After the conclusion of the War of the Ring, the Narrows came to mark the boundary between the domain of Thranduil in the north and Celeborn's realm of East Lorien, established in the south.

Narsil
‘Red-and-White-Flame' (Q.) – The Sword of Elendil, and one of the most renowned weapons in the history of Middle-earth. It was wrought by the Dwarf-smith Telchar of Nogrod during the First Age, and in due time passed to the Lords of Andúnië; at the Drowning of Númenor (3319 Second Age), Elendil the Tall, son of the last Lord of Andúnië, bore it back to Middle-earth.

In fashion Narsil was a long-sword, with a cutting edge that was extraordinarily keen. In the hands of Elendil it was an irresistible weapon. During the War of the Last Alliance it glittered on the field of battle alongside Aiglos, the Spear of Gil-galad (another famous and deadly weapon of the Age); and in the Battle of Dagor-lad (3434) it proved too much for Sauron's soldiers to withstand. Yet in the final hand-to-hand combat with Sauron upon the slopes of the volcano Orodruin, in the last year of the Age, Elendil fell in the act of slaying Sauron, and his sword broke beneath him. Elendil's son Isildur then took the hilt-shard of Narsil and used it to cut the Ruling Ring from the hand of the Dark Lord. The Sword-that-was-broken was taken by the Dúnedain of the North back to Annúminas, where it became one of the chief heirlooms of the North-kingdom.

By the end of the Third Age that followed the Bearer of the Sword-that-was-broken was the sixteenth Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North, the Heir of Isildur, Aragorn II. After the Council of Elrond (3018 Third Age), in which it was decided to attempt the destruction of the Ring, Aragorn had the Sword reforged by the smiths of Elrond's House; and gave it a new name:
Andúril,
‘Flame-of-the-West'. Aragorn bore the Sword Reforged throughout the War of the Ring and to final victory before the Black Gate.