LOTR Discussion: Appendix A, Part 1

[Valandil]

Appendix A (Parts i, ii, iii, iv, v)

Introduction:

Sam’s return home to Bag End in “The Grey Havens� is followed by two rather curious words… “The End�. Don’t believe them… it’s a LIE!

Now, if you have never gone on to read the appendices, you won’t quite understand that claim. After all, an appendix sounds like something just crammed full of “ibids� and “op cids� and names of obscure authors and books and the dates when those books were published.

Well – the Appendices in “The Lord of the Rings� are not like that at all. They’re full of stories, more stories and thousands of hints at further stories yet untold. And isn’t that part of the magic of Tolkien’s work? It is so detailed, and many-layered. It’s the mystery of the ‘barely hinted-at’ that makes it all seem so real. Now – you might think that by digging into these layers, Middle Earth may lose its sense of ‘mystery’. But fear not – if you dig deeper, you won’t get to the bottom of everything. You’ll only find more and more layers of story, buried deeper and deeper still.

At least that’s what I found in these works. Of course, I didn’t find them my first time reading through the books. It was actually about my third time – maybe my fourth – and it was over fifteen years after my first reading. I read the books first when I was 14 or 15, then at least once more in college. But it was another reading – from the late autumn of 1993 to the early winter of 1994, in my early 30’s, when I finally continued on into Appendix A after reading LOTR.

I was blown away.

All that is just to get you to consider reading this material, if you haven’t yet. Now we’ll get on to the content.

But first, a quick mention of the sources. That “Red Book of Westmarch� must have been quite an exhaustive work. Tolkien tells us at the beginning of Appendix A that, “The legends, histories, and lore to be found in the sources are very extensive. Only selections from them, in most places much abridged, are here presented…� Wow – so what Tolkien gives us in the actual Appendices is only a small part from the sources he had – and even that must have left many gaps. There’s so much more “undiscovered story� lying around out there someplace!

Alright – on to the histories themselves:

- - - - - - -

Contents:
Appendix A consists mainly of narrative histories. First are brief accounts of ancient days (called the First Age and the Second Age). Next are historical overviews of 3,000 years of Third Age history of the Dunedain in the North (Arnor) and South (Gondor). Following this is the story of Aragorn and Arwen – how they met and fell in love. This is the extent of the material covered by this Discussion Project assignment. The next assignment will wrap up Appendix A with accounts of Rohan and of the Dwarves. In all these stories, we see hints of what was to come in LOTR, and gain a deeper understanding of their importance.

(i) – Numenor:

Tolkien takes us way back to give us the setting. He tells of Feanor - the greatest, but most willful of the Elves in the earliest days. Feanor made three great jewels, the “Silmarilli�, filled with the radiance of the Two Trees which gave light to the land of the Valar. These jewels were stolen by Morgoth the Enemy. Then followed the Wars in ancient Beleriand as the Elves who followed Feanor fought against Morgoth to attempt to reclaim these jewels. The Edain were Men of old who allied themselves with the Elves, aiding them in these early battles. When the Valar intervened at last, they rewarded the remnant of the Edain with an island home for themselves, called Elenna – on which the Edain established the Kingdom of Numenor. Their first king was Elros, brother of Elrond, for Elros chose to be numbered among Men.

The Men of Numenor were very tall, and lived much longer than other Men. In time, they became great seamen, and began to sail to Middle Earth. They grew in wealth and in wisdom and in all things were unsurpassed by other Men. They aided the Elves in battle with Sauron. Eventually, a great King arose named Ar-Pharazon. He sought to make war on Sauron, and Sauron’s armies fled before him – so that Sauron even surrendered to him. Ar-Pharazon took Sauron back to Numenor with him, but Sauron gained his way into Ar-Pharazon’s counsel, and deceived him and the rest of Numenor (all but a small remnant), into rebelling against the Valar, for the Numenoreans had long ago begun to envy the immortality of the Elves.

When this rebellion ultimately bore fruit, a great upheaval struck Numenor and the island of Elenna sank into the sea. Only the remnant of the Faithful were saved – followers of Elendil (a great noble of the land, related to the Kings of Numenor in their distant past), on nine ships, which were caught up by the cataclysmic storm and carried away to the coasts of Middle Earth.

On Middle Earth they established two kingdoms – Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south. Elendil was High King and ruled in the north, at the city of Annuminas, on the south shores of Lake Evendim, the source of the River Baranduin (Brandywine River). His sons Isildur and Anarion ruled Gondor from the great city of Osgiliath, on the River Anduin.

Sauron had escaped the wreck of Numenor, unbeknownst at first to Elendil and his sons. He returned to his former land of Mordor and began to rebuild his forces, once he learned that his enemy Elendil controlled lands about him. But he sprang his attack too soon, and the combined forces of the Men under Elendil and the Elves under Gil-galad in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, was too powerful. His forces were defeated, he himself was thrown down and the One Ring taken from his hand. Thus ended the Second Age.

(ii) – The Realms in Exile:

This section consists of genealogical lists of the rulers of Arnor and of Gondor. We see that “The Northern Line – Heirs of Isildur� is divided into the sections; Arnor, Arthedain and Chieftains. “The Southern Line – Heirs of Anarion� is divided into; Kings of Gondor, Stewards of Gondor and Ruling Stewards. If we look closely, we also see that many of these men ruled for a very long time, by our standards (some for over 100 years) – and also that some, here or there, died an untimely death. We see brief descriptive vignettes about some – primarily in Gondor; a reference to “four Ship Kings�, which kings were childless, names held by some before taking the throne, and anecdotes about unusual successions.

(iii) – Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur:

OK – I have to admit that this is my personal favorite – although it is so brief. I think I like it so because I always admired Aragorn, and this is the account of his ancestors.

This section begins by laying out the geographical boundaries of the land of Eriador. Then we’re told of Arnor, the ancient kingdom established in Eriador by Elendil. The story (LOTR itself) only gives us a few hints of its long history. We know that Isildur was ambushed by Orcs on his way there, for he intended to leave Gondor to his brother’s heirs and take up the throne of the High King in Arnor. His three older sons died with him – and we know that Aragorn is descended from a younger son, Valandil (my namesake). We also know that these people eventually dwindled, until they lived in secret, and were called “Rangers� by those who had forgotten their descent.

This account fills in some of the gaps. We learn that there were eight more High Kings after Isildur, and that after the eighth, who died in 861, the Kingdom was divided into three ‘daughter kingdoms’; Arthedain (where Amlaith, the eldest brother, was king) in the north and west, Cardolan to the south and Rhudaur in the east. The latter two quarreled over the palantir at Amon Sul (Weathertop), for it was the only one in the north not securely in the hands of Arthedain. Before many generations, warfare had decimated them, and the line of Isildur died out in both lands. Orcs began to trouble the land once more.

At about this time, another kingdom arose in the northeast. It was the land of Angmar, and it’s king was the Witch-King – one of the Nine Men who had become a RingWraith of Sauron – the Chief of the Nine, in fact. Soon, Angmar began to take out these Dunedain realms, one by one. The first to fall was Rhudaur, and then Cardolan. Some say the barrow in which the Hobbits were held was the final resting place of Cardolan’s last prince – who fell in a great invasion in 1409, which was eventually beaten back with the help of Arthedain’s Elven allies – Lindon and Rivendell.

This history being written by Hobbits, we’re also told that their ancestors had begun to come into from the banks of the Anduin, over the Misty Mountains and into Eriador by this time. When times grew more troublesome, some returned back over the mountains (ancestors of Gollum?), while others migrated further west, some settling at Bree, and eventually the Shire.

A Great Plague came through about 200 years after the invasion of 1409 (1636, to be precise). At this time, the King of Angmar sent evil spirits to the Barrow Downs – and none could live there after this time.

In 1974, Angmar had grown strong once more, and that winter launched a decisive attack on Fornost, the capitol city of Arthedain (it seems clear that Annuminas had been abandoned - perhaps right after the Division, but we are not told explicitly when). King Arvedui escaped with the palantiri, but he had to flee north. Cirdan of Lindon sent an Elven-ship for him, but Arvedui drowned when it was broken by the ice and sank.

King Arvedui’s sons had also escaped, but there was no kingdom left for them to rule. The remnants of the Northern Dunedain became a wandering people.

The Shire-folk survived those times, though war swept over them. They had been subject to Arthedain (for their land was within its bounds), but now took up self-rule. Their first Thain was chosen in 1979.

Meanwhile, the descendents of Arthedain’s line of kings took the title “Chieftain of the Northern Dunedain�. They remained in very close contact with Rivendell, for their heirs were fostered there, and there also an aged Chieftain would live out his last days in peace. They continued to fight against the creatures of the dark powers; Orcs, Wargs, Trolls – whatever would otherwise have beset the peoples of their former realm (though Angmar was no more, for the allies of Arthedain had crushed it after Arthedain fell – there’s more on this in the section on Gondor).

The chronicler then gives an account (post-LOTR story) of Aragorn, who appears to still have been King of both Gondor and Arnor at the time this is first written. He comes north at times, has restored a home in Annuminas, and Elanor, daughter of Samwise, is one of the maids of Queen Evenstar. Though the chieftains before him had still lived to twice the age of other Men, Aragorn himself lived to the ago of 210.