Golfimbul
Chieftain of the Orcs of Mount Gram
Mount Gramb. Unknown; Third Age · d. T.A. 2747
Golfimbul was the goblin chieftain of Mount Gram whose raid into the Shire in T.A. 2747 was defeated at the Battle of Greenfields, where Bandobras Bullroarer Took struck off his head with a club. His is the only Orc invasion of the Shire recorded before the War of the Ring.
Biography
The raid on the Shire
Golfimbul led a band of Orcs from Mount Gram, a stronghold in the hills of the north of Eriador, and in T.A. 2747 he brought them south into the Northfarthing of the Shire. It was the only time the Orcs of the mountains ever attacked the hobbits' land in force, a stray consequence of the wars between the Dwarves and the Orcs that were then beginning to trouble the whole length of the Misty Mountains.
The Battle of Greenfields
The hobbits met him near Greenfields under the Thain's kinsman Bandobras Took, called the Bullroarer, a hobbit so large that he could ride a horse. Bandobras charged the goblin line and knocked Golfimbul's head clean off with a club. It is said in the Shire that the head flew a hundred yards and came down a rabbit-hole, that the battle was won in that moment, and that the game of golf was invented at the same time. The last claim is the Shire's own joke, and hobbit-historians repeat it with a straight face.
Legacy
With Golfimbul dead his band scattered and was hunted out of the Northfarthing, and no Orc came into the Shire again until Saruman's ruffians two and a half centuries later. The battle was remembered as one of the two occasions on which hobbits had ever fought a pitched battle, and the Bullroarer as the hero of it.
Notable deeds
- Led the Orcs of Mount Gram into the Northfarthing, T.A. 2747
- Beheaded by Bullroarer Took at the Battle of Greenfields
Fate
Killed at the Battle of Greenfields in T.A. 2747 when Bandobras Took knocked his head off with a club.
Relations
Places
Timeline
- T.A. 2747
Battle of Greenfields
Bandobras Took beheads Golfimbul with a club and the goblins are routed.
- T.A. 2747
Invasion of the Northfarthing
Golfimbul leads the Orcs of Mount Gram into the Shire.
Sources
- The HobbitAn Unexpected Party, the tale of the Bullroarer
- The Fellowship of the RingPrologue, Concerning Hobbits, on the Battle of Greenfields
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix B, T.A. 2747
See also
Reader notesFrom members
Notes are written by readers and sit beside the entry. They are not part of the article.
No notes on this entry yet. The first one could be yours.
Sign in to add a note, or create an account. Reading needs no account.
DiscussionFrom members
No discussions on this entry yet.
Sign in to start a discussion, or create an account. Reading needs no account.