{"id":97545,"date":"2015-03-23T16:53:51","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T21:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=97545"},"modified":"2015-03-23T21:35:12","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T02:35:12","slug":"middle-earth-march-madness-round-2-the-other-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2015\/03\/23\/97545-middle-earth-march-madness-round-2-the-other-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle-earth March Madness Round 2 – The “Other” Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Round two of Middle-earth March Madness is upon us! Having summarized who the Silmarillion characters were in Round 1, we wanted to follow up with a few details on the characters in the “Other” category. As with the Silmarillion article, this one contains spoilers for those of you who haven’t picked up some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings outside of The Hobbit<\/em> and The Lord of the Rings<\/em>. Although there are some spoilers, there’s much more to most of the stories below. So, hopefully, learning a little more about them will inspire you to go to the library or bookstore and look into the characters more!<\/p>\n

The Blue Wizards vs. Eorl<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Blue Wizards – Ted Nasmith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Blue Wizards<\/span>\u00a0(The Istari, Unfinished Tales<\/em>) \u2013 The chapter \u201cThe Istari\u201d in Unfinished Tales tells of how the Valar, not wanting to interfere directly with efforts to defeat Sauron in Middle-earth, decided to send emissaries instead. The Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, were two of the five Maiar sent to Middle-earth by the Valar to help defeat Sauron, who was also one of the Maiar. Manwe first asked for volunteers and only Curumo (Saruman) and Alatar stepped forward. Olorin (Gandalf) declined to go, saying he was too weak to take on Sauron directly. However, Manwe, saying that his humility was exactly why he was perfect for the job, ordered him to go. Curumo then took Aiwendil (Radagast) at the insistence of Yavanna, and Alatar took Pallando as a friend.<\/p>\n

After arriving in Middle-earth, the two Blue Wizards eventually hooked up with Saruman and went with him \u2018into the East,\u2019 never to be heard of again. According to Christopher Tolkien, his father only mentioned them one more time in one of his letters:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South\u2026 missionaries to enemy-occupied lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders\u2026 of secret cults and \u201cMagic\u201d traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.\u201d<\/em> – Letter 211, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien<\/em><\/p>\n

So, as with many of Tolkien\u2019s \u2018unfinished tales,\u2019 we\u2019re left to speculate on what eventually happened to Allatar and Pallando. As Maiar, essentially the same \u2018order\u2019 of being as Sauron, all of the Istari, including the Blue Wizards, were powerful beings in their own right, \u2018having many powers of mind and hand.\u2019 Being immortal, perhaps one of them eventually took the name Merlin and helped a young king, or perhaps one or both of them became founders of houses of wizards that later came to fame at a certain university for young wizards and witches. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The oath of Eorl and Cirion – Firiel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eorl the Young<\/span>\u00a0(Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan, Unfinished Tales<\/em>) \u2013 Eorl, also known as Eorl the Young, was the leader of the Eothed, a people who lived near the sources of the Anduin. He was so named because he succeeded his father when he was only 21. When an errand rider from Gondor brought a request from Cirion, the Steward of Gondor, for aid in fighting the men of Rhun, Eorl agreed to go, knowing that if Gondor fell, his own people would soon be in danger. The combined forces of Eorl and Cirion defeated Gondor\u2019s enemies in the Battle of the Field of Celebrant in the year 2510 of the Third Age. As a token of gratitude, Cirion presented Eorl with the lands later called Rohan. Eorl accepted the gift and became the first king of Rohan, swearing an oath that the people of Rohan would ever come to the aid of Gondor in times of great need; an oath a later king of Rohan, Theoden, would honor over 500 years later in The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Hurin vs. Chrsophylax<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Hurin<\/a>
Hurin and Morgoth – Ted Nasmith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hurin<\/span> (Unfinished Tales\/The Silmarillion<\/em>) \u2013 Known as the mightiest of warriors of mortal men, Hurin, Lord of Dor-Lomin, was the husband of Morwen and father to daughter Nienor and son Turin. In the First Age battle of Nirnnaeth Arnoediad, all the warriors of Dor-lomin were slain except Hurin who was buried under a pile of dead orcs. Gothmog, lord of the Balrogs found him there and took him to Morgoth. When Hurin refused to tell Morgoth where to find the lost city of Gondolin, Morgoth chained him to a seat on top of the peaks of his fortress of Thangorodrim. As if that wasn\u2019t bad enough, Morgoth cursed Hurin so he could see, through Morgoth\u2019s own eyes, all the tragedies that befell his children (many of which were brought on by Morgoth himself).<\/p>\n

Hurin endured the seat and the visions for twenty eight years before Morgoth finally let him go.\u00a0 Old, but still hale, Hurin eventually found Morwen, but only moments before she died. Then, heartbroken and angry at being turned away after trying to return to Gondolin, his loud rantings outside the gate accidentally revealed the location of Gondolin to Morgoth. Eventually, Hurin realized that all his deeds had aided Morgoth, and he cast himself into the sea. No happy endings for Hurin and his kin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Chrysophylax<\/a>
Chrysophylax – Pauline Baynes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chrysophylax<\/span> the dragon (Farmer Giles of Ham<\/em>) \u2013 After Farmer Giles shot a deaf, near-sighted giant who had stumbled onto his land, the giant (whos hides are a thick as Trolls\u2019) thought he\u2019d been stung by an insect. Back at home, he reported that there were no knights guarding the farmlands any more, just stinging insects. In time, word of this came to Chrysophylax the dragon, who decided it was about time to plunder the farmlands (now that the danger of coming to bodily harm was little to none). You see, Chysophylax was \u201ccunning, inquisitive, greedy, well-armoured but not overly bold, \u201d and he was mortally hungry.<\/p>\n

After burning down several neighboring villages and dining on the inhabitants, everyone turned to Farmer Giles to stop the destruction. Farmer Giles had become quite the local hero after driving off the giant, and had been awarded what conveniently turned out to be the magic, dragon-fighting sword Caudimorax by the King. Chrysophylax was soon cowering before them, but being very cunning (as dragons are), he cried great dragon tears and promised the villagers he would bring them all of his wealth if they spared his life. Already counting their non-existent riches, the villagers agreed. Chrysophlax promptly left and did not return on the promised day.<\/p>\n

The King, also counting his non-existent wealth, sent all his knights, led by Farmer Giles, to make the dragon honor his promise. Being pretty cunning himself, Farmer Giles made the dragon return and, to add insult to injury, made Chrysophylax carry all the treasure on his back! Knowing the King would be powerless to wrest the treasure away with a dragon at bay, Farmer Giles kept the treasure and used the threat of Caudimorax to keep\u00a0 Chrysophylax on hand to help guard it. Once the now fabulously wealthy Farmer Giles became a king in his own right, he released Chrysophylax (who was expensive to feed and kept growing and growing as dragons will), who returned to his home to begin rebuilding his hoard and have a few words with a certain giant!<\/p>\n

Trotter the Hobbit vs. Roverandom<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Hobbit<\/a>
Hobbit – LordMishkin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trotter the Hobbit<\/span> (Trotter and the Journey to Weathertop, The History of Middle-earth \u2013 The Return of the Shadow<\/em>) \u2013 Believe it or not, in earlier drafts of the stories that eventually became The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, Frodo\u2019s name was Bingo, Sam\u2019s name was Frodo and Strider wasn\u2019t a man at all, but a sturdy Hobbit named Trotter! Trotter and the Journey to Weathertop is the ninth chapter in The Return of the Shadow<\/em>, one of a series of excerpts of Tolkien\u2019s writings edited by Christopher Tolkien.\u00a0 Other than the names, the chapter bears a striking resemblance to the chapter, At the Sign of the Prancing Pony in The Lord of the Rings<\/em>. So, if you\u2019re considering voting for Trotter, think \u2018Aragron, but shorter!\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Roverandom<\/a>
Roverandom – Alan Lee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roverandom<\/span> (Roverandom<\/em>) \u2013 J.R.R. Tolkien wrote Roverandom in 1925 to console his son Michael who had lost his toy dog at the beach. Rover starts out as a young puppy, white with black ears. One day, he was playing in the garden with his yellow ball when the wizard, Artaxerxes, came along and picked it up. When the wizard refused to give the ball back Rover bit his trousers and, in retaliation, the wizard turned Rover into a small toy dog. Rover was soon turned into a real dog again by the sand-sorcerer, Psamathos, but a dog of very small size. The remainder of the story follows Rover\u2019s adventures in his effort to find the wizards to turn him back into a normal dog. Rover\u2019s adventures include being flown to the Moon by a seagull and meeting the Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moon renames Rover \u201cRoverandom\u201d and gives him wings so he can play with his pet Moon-dog (also named Rover). Eventually, Roverandom goes to the bottom of the sea in search of Artaxerxes and (after many more adventures, of course), he gets his wish and is turned back into a normal dog.<\/p>\n

Aldarion vs. Legolas of Gondolin<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Tar-Aldarion<\/a>
Tar-Aldarion – esdla.wikia.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Aldarion<\/span> (Aldarion and Erendis; The Mariner\u2019s Wife, Unfinished Tales<\/em>) \u2013 Aldarion was the sixth King of N\u00famenor whose major accomplishments were his expansion of N\u00famenor’s maritime traditions and his Middle-earth explorations. He was married to Erendis, but his first love was the sea. He left for many months at time which eventually caused a rift between the two. A great mariner in his own right, Aldarion was interested in exploring Middle-earth and discovering the riches that could be found there. During his first journeys to Middle-earth he made the friendship of Gil-galad and C\u00edrdan, from whom he learned much about both the making and management of ships. As king, Aldarion gave aid to Gil-galad, established new havens and bases on the coasts of Middle-earth, and laid the groundwork in N\u00famenor for the creation of a great naval power.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Flight<\/a>
Flight of the Doomed – Ted Nasmith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Legolas of Gondolin<\/span> (The History of Middle-earth \u2013 The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2<\/em>) \u2013 No, this is not the Legloas you\u2019re probably thinking of. The first time the name of Legolas appeared in Tolkien\u2019s writings was long before he wrote The Lord of the Rings<\/em>. In The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2: The Fall of Gondolin, Tolkien tells of Galdor, the Lord of the House of Trees, for whom Legolas of Gondolin was a scout.\u00a0 Just as with the more famous Legolas in The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, the name Legolas in The Book of Lost Tales<\/em> meant \u2018greenleaf\u2019 and \u2019keen sight\u2019. Many of Tolkien\u2019s most famous characters of the First Age were in the city of Gondolin when Morgoth\u2019s armies of orcs, dragons and balrogs attacked, including Ectheleon, Glorfindel, Tuor, his wife Idril, and her young son, Earendil, who would later become Elrond\u2019s father. Many of them fought bravely, but when it became apparent that all was lost, they chose Legolas to lead them to safety:<\/p>\n

\u201c[Legolas] led the exiles over Tumladin\u00a0 [the plain of Gondolin] in the dark, being night-sighted \u2026whose eyes were like cats’ for the dark, yet could they see further.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Legolas led them over Tumladin (the plain of Gondolin) and over the treacherous Cristhorn (think Caradras). But for his keen sight, bravery and intimate knowledge of the area, they might all have been lost. After the fall of Gondolin, Legolas dwelt in Tol Eressea where he took the name Laiqulasse.<\/p>\n

For those of you interested, descriptions of the “Other” characters that were eliminated in Round 1 are below:<\/p>\n

Eriol<\/span> (The History of Middle Earth \u2013 The Book of Lost Tales<\/em>) \u2013 If it wasn\u2019t for Eriol, we might not have The Silmarillion<\/em> today.\u00a0 In The Book of Lost Tales<\/em>, Eriol, a man, arrives as a cast away in Eressea where he meets and befriends the Elves who inhabit it. The Elves recount the history of their world to Eriol including the creation of the world, the origins of Elves, Dwarves and Men and their wars against the Enemy. These stories, of course, became the basis for many of the stories in The Book of Lost Tales<\/em> and, later, The Silmarillion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In later writings, Tolkien changed Eriol\u2019s name to the more familiar Aelfwine (Elf-friend); the first man to find the straight road and visit Tol Eressea.\u00a0 Aelfwine was an Anglo-Saxon whos father sailed with Earendil and never returned. After Aelfwine\u2019s journeys and return from Tol Eressea, he translates the stories of the Elves into what is known as The Silmarillion<\/em>. Thus, Eriol (later Aelfwine) was Tolkien\u2019s link between the tales of the Elves and the history of Great Britain.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Petty Dwarves – Alan Lee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mim the Petty Dwarf<\/span> (Narn I Hin Hurin: The Tale of the Children of Hurin, Unfinished Tales)<\/em>
\nIn the saga of Turin Turambar, there came a time when he took up with a band of outlaws. Turin and the outlaws came across Mim, the Dwarf, and his two sons trying to evade the outlaws. In exchange for his life, Mim was forced to take them to his secret dwelling on the hill of Amon Rudh, which became the outlaws\u2019 hide-out. However, one of Mim\u2019s sons was killed, having been shot by an arrow as they tried to evade the outlaws. That, plus the fact that the outlaws bound Mim (which Dwarves never forget), plus Mim\u2019s hatred of Turin\u2019s Elf-friend Beleg, eventually caused Mim to betray Turin\u2019s location to Morgoth, despite the fact that he had grown to hold a grudging respect for Turin. All of the outlaws except Turin and his friend Beleg were slain by orcs and Turin\u2019s tragic tale continued elsewhere. Mim escaped and made his way to Nargothrond where he laid claim to the treasure there, but Turin\u2019s father Hurin eventually found him there and killed him.<\/p>\n

Smith of Wooten Major<\/span> (Smith of Wooten Major<\/span>) \u2013 In the town of Wooten Major, the Feast of the Good Children is celebrated every twenty-four years. At one such feast, the Master Cook hid trinkets in a grand cake and as one of the trinkets, his apprentice, Alf, included a little star. The star was swallowed by the blacksmith\u2019s son who didn\u2019t notice it at the time. However, on his tenth birthday the star fixed itself on his forehead. The boy grew up to be a blacksmith, but the star allowed him to enter the Land of Faery and protected him while he was there. In his free time he had many adventures in the Land of Faery and the folk there called him “Starbrow”. When the next Feast of the Good Children came along Smith, realizing the star was a gift from the King of Faery meant to be passed on, gave the star back to Alf who had become the Master Cook, and Smith went back to a normal life.<\/p>\n

Niggle<\/span> (Leaf by Niggle<\/em>) \u2013 Niggle is a plain, unremarkable man who lives in a society that does not much value art. Nevertheless, Niggle is an artist and spends every spare moment painting a canvas of a great tree with a forest in the distance. He pays loving attention to each and every leaf, making each one uniquely beautiful. In the meantime, Niggle is distracted by real life, including a mysterious trip he must pack for and by taking time out to help his neighbor, Parish.<\/p>\n

Niggle becomes ill after he catches a chill doing errands for Parish in the rain. He ends up in a type of institution where he is given the most mundane tasks.\u00a0 One night, Niggle hears the institution\u2019s Voices discussing his case. Even though he neglected many of his duties in his former life in the pursuit of painting leaves, they give him credit for helping Parish and admit that \u201ca Leaf by Niggle has a charm of its own.\u2019 Niggle moves on from the institution and finds himself in a new country. He\u2019s shocked and pleased to find his Tree there, with all its beautiful leaves, including some he hadn\u2019t fully thought out.<\/p>\n

Niggle is reunited with his old neighbour, Parish, who now proves his worth as a gardener, and together they make the Tree and Forest even more beautiful. Finally, Niggle journeys farther and deeper into the Forest, and beyond into the great mountains that he only faintly glimpsed in his painting.<\/p>\n

Long after both Niggle and Parish have taken their journeys, the lovely field that they built together becomes a place for many travelers to visit before their final voyage into the Mountains, and it earns the name “Niggle’s Parish.” One perfect leaf from his original painting is framed and preserved in a museum.<\/p>\n

\"Father<\/a>
Father Christmas and North Polar Bear – J.R.R. Tolkien<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Father Christmas & North Polar Bear<\/span> (The Letters of Father Christmas<\/em>) – The Father Christmas Letters are a collection of letters written and illustrated by J. R. R. Tolkien between 1920 and 1942 for his children. The stories are told in a series of letters, written in the shaky handwriting of Father Christmas and \u2018sent\u2019 from the North Pole to Tolkien\u2019s children each Christmas. It turns out that Father Christmas had many adventures throughout the year between his duties every December 24th. His sidekick, North Polar Bear, had many misadventures which kept Father Christmas especially busy. One year, the accident-prone North Polar Bear climbed the North Pole to rescue Father Christmas\u2019 hood which blew off and was stuck there. Unfortunately, North Polar Bear fell through the roof of Father Christmas\u2019s house into the dining room breaking his leg. North Polar Bear redeemed himself, however, in another adventure where he took on 100 goblins at once when he found out they were living in the caves beneath Father Christmas\u2019 house.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Farmer Giles of Ham<\/span> (Farmer Giles of Ham<\/em>) – see Chrysophylax the dragon, above.<\/p>\n

Tevildo, Prince of Cats<\/span> (The Tale of Tinuviel, The History of Middle Earth \u2013 Book of Lost Tales Part Two<\/em>) – Tevildo was the “Lord of Cats” in The Tale of Tin\u00faviel. He appeared in the form of a great black cat with a collar of gold. During the Quest for the Silmaril, Beren was captured by Melko and sent as a servant to Tevildo. However the cat was defeated by Huan and L\u00fathien when they forced him to reveal the spell which held the stones of his castle together and which held cats under his evil sway. Later Tevildo’s place in the narrative was replaced by that of the Necromancer, Th\u00fb (later renamed Sauron).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Round two of Middle-earth March Madness is upon us! Having summarized who the Silmarillion characters were in Round…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-pnj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97545"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97566,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97545\/revisions\/97566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}