✦ A reference compendium ✦
Every race, creature, notable individual and place in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, cross-linked and plotted on schematic maps of the Ages.
The Ainur are the angelic spirits created by Eru Ilúvatar before the World existed, who sang the Music from which Arda was shaped. Those who entered the World became its guardians and its shapers, and they are divided into the greater Valar and the lesser but far more numerous Maiar.
The Children of Ilúvatar are the two speaking peoples whom Eru conceived by himself and set within the world: the Elves, the Firstborn, and Men, the Followers. Neither the Valar nor Melkor had any part in their making, and their coming was the purpose for which Arda was shaped.
The Dwarves are the secretive, long-lived, stone-loving people made by the Vala Aulë and granted true life by Ilúvatar. Master smiths and builders, proud and stubborn, they dwelt in great mansions beneath the mountains of Middle-earth, and their long feud with the Orcs and uneasy friendship with the Elves shaped the histories of every age.
The Ents are the Shepherds of the Trees, tall walking tree-like beings who were sent into the world at Yavanna's plea to protect the forests from the axes of the Children of Ilúvatar. Ancient, slow and immensely strong, they destroyed Isengard in the War of the Ring but are dying out, having lost the Entwives long ago.
The animals of Tolkien's world, from the ordinary ponies and crows of the Shire to the noble kindreds that came out of the West: the Great Eagles of Manwë, the Hounds and horses of Oromë, and the long-lived ravens and thrushes of the Lonely Mountain. This category gathers every beast and bird that is not a monster of the Shadow.
The monsters and servants of the Shadow are the creatures made, bred or bent to evil by Melkor and later Sauron: Orcs, Trolls, dragons, great spiders, wargs, werewolves, vampires and the winged mounts of the Nazgûl. They were the armies and terrors of the Dark Lords in every age, and their power broke with the destruction of the One Ring.
The undead and shades of Middle-earth are those who should have died and did not: the Ringwraiths held in the unseen world by the Nine Rings, the evil spirits that possessed the barrows of the Downs, and the oath-breaking Men of the Mountains cursed to linger under Dunharrow until they had kept their word.
A category for the beings in Tolkien's world whose nature is never explained: Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, who are older than the Elves and beyond the power of the Ring, and the nameless things that gnaw at the roots of the mountains, which even Sauron does not know. Tolkien left them enigmas on purpose.
Twenty-fifth and last King of Númenor
Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, the last and mightiest King of Númenor, usurped the sceptre from his cousin Míriel, humbled Sauron and carried him to Númenor as a captive, and was corrupted by him into the worship of Melkor. In S.A. 3319 he sailed with the Great Armament to seize immortality from the Valar, set foot on Aman, and brought about the drowning of Númenor and the changing of the world.
Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North
Aragorn II, son of Arathorn, was the last Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North and the first King of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor. Fostered in Rivendell as Estel, he spent sixty years as a Ranger and a captain in foreign lands before the War of the Ring, in which he guided the Fellowship, walked the Paths of the Dead, won the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate, and took the crown as King Elessar. He reigned for a hundred and twenty years with Arwen as his queen.
Queen of Gondor and Arnor
Arwen Undómiel, daughter of Elrond and Celebrían, was called the Evenstar of her people because in her the beauty of Lúthien was said to have returned to the world. She loved Aragorn, chose a mortal life to share his, and became Queen of the Reunited Kingdom; after his death she went alone to Lórien and died on Cerin Amroth, where their troth had been plighted.
Lord of the House of Bëor
Beren son of Barahir, last of the outlaws of Dorthonion, won the love of Lúthien Tinúviel and with her took a Silmaril from the iron crown of Morgoth. The first Man to marry an Elf, he died twice and returned once, and from his line came Elrond, Elros and the kings of Númenor.
Ring-bearer
Bilbo Baggins of Bag End was the respectable Hobbit whom Gandalf sent as burglar with Thorin Oakenshield's company to the Lonely Mountain, and who came home with a golden ring from beneath the Misty Mountains. His finding of the One Ring, his mercy to Gollum and his book set the whole War of the Ring in motion.
Captain of the White Tower
Boromir, elder son of Denethor II and Captain-General of Gondor, was the man of the Fellowship of the Ring. Proud, valiant and devoted to his city, he tried to take the Ring from Frodo at Amon Hen and then died defending Merry and Pippin against Saruman's Orcs, redeeming his fall with his last breath.
Ruling Steward of Gondor
Denethor II was the last Ruling Steward of Gondor, a proud, far-seeing and formidable lord who governed Minas Tirith through the years of Sauron's return and the siege of the War of the Ring. Worn down by his secret use of the palantír and by the death of Boromir, he despaired at the height of the siege and burned himself alive in the tombs of his fathers.
Father of the Longbeards
Durin the Deathless was the eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves, the first to awaken, and the founder of Khazad-dûm. He lived so long that his people believed he would return among them, and his name was borne by six later kings of his line.
Lord of Arvernien
Eärendil, son of Tuor and Idril of Gondolin and husband of Elwing, was the mariner who, bearing a Silmaril on his brow, crossed the Shadowy Seas that no ship had passed, stood before the Valar in Valinor, and won the aid of the West against Morgoth. He never came back to mortal shores: his ship Vingilot was raised into the sky, and the light of the jewel he carries is the Evening Star.
High King of Arnor and Gondor
Elendil the Tall, son of Amandil of Andúnië, led the Faithful out of the Downfall of Númenor in nine ships and founded the realms of Arnor and Gondor in Middle-earth. With Gil-galad he formed the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, and in S.A. 3441 the two of them overthrew Sauron on the slopes of Mount Doom and died in doing it. His sword Narsil, broken beneath him, became the heirloom of his heirs down to Aragorn.
Lord of Rivendell
Elrond Half-elven, son of Eärendil and Elwing, chose the fate of the Elves and lived through three Ages of the world: fostered by Maglor, herald to Gil-galad at the Last Alliance, founder and master of Rivendell, keeper of the Ring Vilya, foster-father of Aragorn and father of Arwen. His house was the great refuge and library of the North, and at its Council the fate of the One Ring was decided.
Third Marshal of the Riddermark
Éomer son of Éomund, nephew and foster-son of Théoden, was Third Marshal of the Mark when he met Aragorn on the plains of Rohan and lent him horses against the king's orders. He fought at the Hornburg and the Pelennor, took the kingship when Théoden fell, and reigned for sixty-five years as the eighteenth King of Rohan, the friend of King Elessar and the renewer of the Oath of Eorl.
Before time
The making of the Ainur by Eru Ilúvatar, the Great Music in which the history of the world was foreshadowed, and the entry of the Valar into Eä to shape Arda.
Uncounted years
Arda lit by the two great Lamps, Illuin and Ormal. The Valar dwelt at Almaren until Melkor threw down the Lamps and the shape of the world was marred.
Y.T. 1 to 1500 (Valian years)
The Valar withdraw to Aman and Yavanna raises the Two Trees. The Elves awaken at Cuiviénen, the Great Journey is made, and the age ends with the darkening of Valinor and the flight of the Noldor.
c. 590 years of the Sun
The rising of the Sun and Moon, the awakening of Men, and the long wars of Beleriand against Morgoth, ending in the War of Wrath and the drowning of Beleriand.
3441 years
The rise and fall of Númenor, the forging of the Rings of Power, the founding of Arnor and Gondor, and the Last Alliance that overthrew Sauron.
3021 years
The waning of the Elves and the Dúnedain, the return of Sauron, the quest of Erebor and the War of the Ring, ending with the departure of the Ring-bearers over the Sea.
The Age of Men
The Reunited Kingdom under King Elessar and the Dominion of Men; the last Elves fade or sail West.
Third Age
The north-west of Middle-earth from the Grey Havens to Mordor and from Forochel to Umbar, as it stood at the time of the War of the Ring.
First Age
The lands west of the Blue Mountains that were drowned at the end of the First Age: Hithlum, Doriath, Nargothrond, Gondolin and the fortress of Angband.
Second Age
The star-shaped island of Westernesse, gift of the Valar to the Edain, and its six regions.
Years of the Trees
The Undying Lands in the uttermost West: Valinor behind the Pelóri, Eldamar, and the lonely isle of Tol Eressëa.