Gorlim

Lineage and loss

Gorlim was a man of the House of Bëor, the son of Angrim, and before the ruin of Dorthonion he had a house and a wife named Eilinel. When the Dagor Bragollach broke over the highlands in F.A. 455, Gorlim came home from the fighting to find his house plundered and empty, with no sign of whether Eilinel was dead or had been carried off. He joined Barahir's band of outlaws beside Tarn Aeluin and was counted among the most valiant of the twelve, but he could not stop hoping that his wife lived.

The trap

Gorlim's habit of returning secretly to his ruined home was noticed by the servants of Sauron. One night he came to the house and saw a light within, and looking through the window he saw what seemed to be Eilinel, grieving and calling his name. It was a phantom, and as he stepped toward it the hunters closed the trap. He was taken to Sauron and tortured, and at last Sauron offered to release him and his wife if he would tell where Barahir was hidden. Worn down and desperate to believe that Eilinel was alive, Gorlim agreed. Sauron then told him the truth, that Eilinel had been dead all along, and had him put to death. The betrayal was complete, and it cost nothing to the betrayer's master.

The dream

Beren was away from the camp when the Orcs came. Asleep in the wilds, he dreamed of carrion birds in leafless trees beside a dark lake, and of a shape that came across the water and spoke to him. It was Gorlim's ghost, who confessed what he had done and told Beren to hurry. Beren woke and ran through the night, but he found only his father's cairn to build and his companions dead. He tracked the Orcs and recovered Barahir's hand and ring, and afterward it was remembered that Gorlim's spirit had at least brought that much redress.

Legacy

Gorlim's story is the first tale of Sauron's cruelty in the published legendarium, and it foreshadows the dungeons of Tol-in-Gaurhoth where Finrod would die. He was remembered as Gorlim the Unhappy, a name that judged his fate rather than his fault.

Put to death by Sauron after revealing Barahir's hiding place, F.A. 460; his ghost appeared to Beren in a dream.