1 : The Elendilmir is named in a footnote to Appendix A (I, iii) to The Lord of the Rings; the Kings of Arnor wore no crown, `but bore a single white gem, the Elendilmir, Star of Elendil, bound on their brows with a silver
fillet'. This note gives references to other mentions of the Star of Elendil in the course of the narrative. There were in fact not one but two gems of this name.[<-]
2 : As is related in the Tale of Cirion and Eorl, drawing on older histories now mostly lost, for its account of the events that led to the Oath of Eorl and the alliance of Gondor and the Rohirrim. [Author's note][<-]<
/a>
3 : Isildur's youngest son was Valandil, third King of Arnor: see Of the Rings of Power in The Silmarillion. In Appendix A (I, ii) to The Lord of the Rings it is stated that he was born in Imladris.[<-]
4 : This pass is named only here by an Elvish name. At Rivendell long after Gimli the Dwarf referred to it as the High Pass: `If it were not for the Beornings, the passage from Dale to Rivendell would long ago become impossible. The
y are valiant men and keep open the High Pass and the Ford of Carrock.' (The Fellowship of the Ring II 1.) It was in this pass that Thorin Oakenshield and his company were captured by Orcs (The Hobbit Chapter 4). Andrath no doub
t means `long climb'.[<-]
5 : Cf. Of the Rings of Power in The Silmarillion: `[Isildur] marched north from Gondor by the way that Elendil had come.'[<-]
6 : Three hundred leagues and more [i.e., by the route which Isildur intended to take], and for the most part without made roads; in those days the only Númenórean roads were the great road linking Gondor and Arnor, th
rough Calenardhon, then north over the Gwathló at Tharbad, and so at last to Fornost; and the East-West Road from the Grey Havens to Imladris. These roads crossed at a point [Bree] west of Amon Sûl (Weathertop), by Númenórean ro
ad-measurements three hundred and ninety-two leagues from Osgiliath, and then east to Imladris one hundred and sixteen; five hundred and eight leagues in all. [Author's note.] - See the Appendix on Númenórean Linear Measures.[<
-]
7 : The Númenóreans in their land possessed horses, which they esteemed [see the `Description of Númenor'.] But they did not use them in war; for all th
eir wars were overseas. Also they were of great stature and strength, and their fully-equipped soldiers were accustomed to bear heavy armour and weapons. In their settlements on the shore of Middle-earth they acquired and bred horses, but used them little
for riding, except in sport and pleasure. In war they were used only by couriers, and by bodies of light armed archers (often not of Númenórean race). In the War of the Alliance such horses as they used had suffered great losses, and few we
re available in Osgiliath. [Author's note.][<-]
8 : They needed some baggage and provisions in houseless country; for they did not expect to find any dwellings of Elves or Men, until they reached Thranduil's realm, almost at their journey's end. On the march each man carried with
him two days' provisions (other than the `need-wallet' mentioned in the text; the rest, and other baggage, was carried by small sturdy horses, of a kind, it was said, that had first been found, wild and free, in the wide plains south and east of the Gree
nwood. They had been tamed; but though they would carry heavy burdens (at walking pace), they would not allow any man to ride them. Of these they had only ten. [Author's note].[<-]
9 : Yavannië 5, according to the Númenórean `King's Reckoning', still kept with little change in the Shire Calendar. Yavannië (Ivanneth) thus corresponded to Halimath, our
September; and Narbeleth to our October. Forty days (till Narbeleth 15) was sufficient, if all went well. The journey was probably at least three hundred and eight leagues as marched; but the soldiers of the Dúnedain, tall men of
great strength and endurance, were accustomed to move fully armed at eight leagues a day `with ease': when they went in eight spells of a league, with short breaks at the end of each league (lár, Sindarin daur, originally meaning
a stop or a pause), and one hour near midday. This made a `march' of about ten and a half hours, in which they were walking eight hours. This pace they could maintain for long periods with adequate provision. In haste they could move much faster, at twelv
e leagues a day (or in great need more), but for shorter periods. At the date of the disaster, in the latitude of Imladris (which they were approaching), there were at least eleven hours of daylight in open country; but at midwinter less than eight. Long
journeys were not, however, undertaken in the North between the beginning of Hithui( Hísimë, November) and the end of Nínui(Nénimë, February) in time of peace. [Author's note.] - A detaile
d account of the Calendars in use in Middle-earth is given in Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings. [<-]
10 : Meneldil was the nephew of Isildur, son of Isildur's younger brother Anárion, slain in the siege of Barad-dûr. Isildur had established Meneldil as King of Gondor. He was a man of courtesy, but far-seeing, and he
did not reveal his thoughts. He was in fact well-pleased by the departure of Isildur and his sons, and hoped that affairs in the North would keep them long occupied. [Author's note]. - It is stated in unpublished annals concerning the Heirs of Elendil th
at Meneldil was the fourth child of Anárion, that he was born in the year 3318 of the Second Age, and that he was the last man to be born in Númenor. The note just cited is the only reference to his character.[<-]
11 : All three fought in the War of the Alliance, but Aratan and Ciryon had not been in the invasion of Mordor and the siege of Barad-dûr, for Isildur had sent them to man his fortress of Minas Ithil, lest Sauron should escap
e Gil-galad and Elendil and seek to force a way through Cirith Dúath (later called Cirith Ungol) and take vengeance on the Dúnedain before he was overcome. Elendur, Isildur's heir and dear to him, had accompanied his father throughout the w
ar (save the last challenge upon Orodruin) and he was in Isildur's full confidence. [Author's note.] - It is stated in the annals mentioned in the last note that Isildur's eldest son was born in Númenor in the year 3299 of the Second Age (Isildur h
imself was born in 3209).[<-]
12 : Amon Lanc, `Naked Hill,' was the highest point in the highland at the south-west corner of the Greenwood, and was so called because no trees grew on its summit. In later days it was Dol Guldur, the first stronghold of
Sauron after his awakening. [Author's note.][<-]
13 : The Gladden Fields (Loeg Ningloron). In the Elder Days, when the Silvan Elves first settled there, there were a lake formed in a deep depression into which the Anduin poured from the North down the swiftest part of it
s course, a long descent of some seventy miles, and there mingled with the torrent of the Gladden River (Sîr Ninglor) hastening from the Mountains. The lake had been wider west of Anduin, for the eastern side of the valley was steeper; but
on the east it probably reached as far as the feet of the long slopes down from the Forest (then still wooded), its reedy borders being marked by the gentler slope, just below the path that Isildur was following. The lake had become a great marsh, through
which the river wandered in a wilderness of islets, and wide beds of reed and rush, and armies or yellow iris that grew taller than a man and gave their name to all the region and to the river from the Mountains above whose lower course they grew most th
ickly. But the marsh had receded to the east and from the foot of the lower slopes there were now wide flats, grown with grass and small rushes, on which men could walk. [Author's note.].[<-]
14 : Long before the War of the Alliance, Oropher, King of the Silvan Elves east of Anduin, being disturbed by rumours of the rising power of Sauron, had left their ancient dwellings about Amon Lanc, across the river from their kin
in Lórien. Three times he had moved northwards, and at the end of the Second Age he dwelt in the western glens of the Emyn Duir, and his numerous people lived and roamed in the woods and vales westward as far as Anduin, north of the ancient Dwarf-
Road (Men-i-Naugrim). He had joined the Alliance, but was slain in the assault upon the Gates of Mordor. Thranduil his son had returned with the remnant of the army of the Silvan Elves in the year before Isildur's march.
The Emyn Duir (Dark Mountains) were a group of high hills in the north-east of the Forest, so called because dense fir-woods grew upon their slopes; but they were not yet of evil name. In later days when the shadow of Sauron spread through Greenwood t
he Great, and changed it from Eryn Galen to Taur-nu-Fuin (translated Mirkwood), the Emyn Duir became a haunt of many of his most evil creatures, and were called Emyn-nu-Fuin, the Mountains of Mirkwood. [Author's note.] - On Oropher see Appendix B to `The
History of Galadriel and Celeborn'; in one of the passages there cited Oropher's retreat northwards within the Greenwood is ascribed to his desire to move out of range of the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm and of Celeborn and Galadriel in Lórien.
The Elvish name of the Mountains of Mirkwood are not found elsewhere. In Appendix F (II) to The Lord of the Rings the Elvish name of Mirkwood is Taur-e-Ndaedelos `forest of the great fear'; the name given here, Taur-nu-Fuin `forest under nigh
t', was the later name of Dorthonion, the forested highland on the northern borders of Beleriand in the Elder Days. The application of the same name, Taur-nu-Fuin, to both Mirkwood and Dorthonion is notable, in the light of my father's pictures of them: s
ee Pictures by J.R.R.Tolkien, 1979, note to no.37. - After the end of the War of the Ring Thranduil and Celeborn renamed Mirkwood once more, calling it Eryn Lasgalen, the Woods of Greenleaves (Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings).
Men-i -Naugrim, the Dwarf-Road, is the Old Forest Road described in The Hobbit, Chapter 7. In the earlier draft of this section of the present narrative there is a note referring to `the ancient Forest Road that led down from the Pas
s of Imladris and crossed Anduin by a bridge that had been enlarged and strengthened for the passage of the armies of the Alliance), and so over the easter valley into the Greenwood. The Anduin could not be bridged at any lower point; for a few miles belo
w the Forest Road the land fell steeply and the river became very swift, until it reached the great basin of the Gladden Fields. Beyond the Fields it quickened again, and was then a great flood fed by many streams. of which the names are forgotten save th
ose of the larger: the Gladden (Sîr Ninglor), Silverlode (Celebrant), and Limlight (Limlaith).' In The Hobbit the Forest Road traversed the great river by the Old Ford, and there is no mention of there having once been a bridge at the cross
ing. [<-]
15 : A different tradition of the event is represented in the brief account given in Of the Rigs of Power (The Silmarillion): `Isildur was overwhelmed by a host of Orcs that lay in wait in the Misty Mountains; and
they descended upon him at unawares in his camp between the Greenwood and the Great River, nigh to Loeg Ningloron, the Gladden Fields for he was heedless and set no guard, deeming that all his foes were overthrown.'[<-]
16 : Thangail `shield-fence' was the name of this formation in Sindarin,the normal spoken language of Elendil's people; its `official' name in Quenya was sandastan `shield-barrier', derived from primitive than
dã `shield' and stama- `bar, exclude'. The Sindarin word used a different second element: cail, a fence or palisade of spikes and sharp stakes. This, in primitive form kegle, was derived from a stem keg- `sn
ag, barb', seen also in the primitive word kegyã `hedge', whence Sindarin cai (cf. the Morgai in Mordor).
The dírnaith, Quenya nernehta `man-spearhead', was a wedge-formation, launched over a short distance against an enemy massing but not yet arrayed, or against a defensive formation on open ground. Quenya nehte, Sindari
n naith was applied to any formation or projection tapering to a point: a spearhead, gore wedge, narrow promontory (root nek, narrow); cf. the Naith of Lórien, the land at the angle of the Celebrant and Anduin, which at the actual
junction of the rivers was narrower and more pointed than can be shown on a small-scale map. [Author's note.][<-]
17 : Ohtar is the only name used in the legends; but it is probably only the title of address that Isildur used at this tragic moment, hiding his feeling under formality. Ohtar `warrior, soldier' was the title of
all who, though fully trained and experienced, had not yet been admitted to the rank or roquem, `knight'. But Ohtar was dear to Isildur and of his own kin. [Author's note.][<-]
18 : In the earlier draft Isildur directed Ohtar to take two companions with him. in Of the Rings of Power (The Silmarillion) and in The Fellowship of the Ring II 2 it is told that `three men only came ev
er back over the mountains'. In the text given here the implication is that the third was Estelmo, Elendur's esquire, who survived the battle.[<-]
19 : They had passed the deep depression of the Gladden Fields, beyond which the ground on the east side of Anduin (which flowed in a deep channel) was firmer and drier, for the lie of the land had changed. It began to climb northw
ards until as it neared the Forest Road and Thranduil's country it was almost level with the eaves of the Greenwood. This Isildur knew well. [Author's note.][<-]
20 : There can be no doubt that Sauron, well-informed of the Alliance, had sent out such Orc-troops of the Red Eye as he could spare, to do what they could to harry any forces that attempted to shorten their road by crossing the Mo
untains. In the event the main might of Gil-galad, together with Isildur and part of the Men of Arnor, had come over the Passes of Imladris and Caradhras, and the Orcs were dismayed and hid themselves. But they remained alert and watchful, determined to a
ttack any companies of Elves or Men that they outnumbered. Thranduil they had let pass, for even his diminished army was far too strong for them; but they bided their time, for the most part hidden in the Forest, while others lurked along the riverbanks.
It is unlikely that any news of Sauron's fall had reached them, for he had been straitly besieged in Mordor and all his forces had been destroyed. If any few had escaped, they had fled far to the East with the Ringwraiths. This small detachment in the Nor
th, of no account, was forgotten. Probably they sought that Sauron had been victorious, and the war-scarred army of Thranduil was retreating to hide in fastnesses of the Forest. Thus they would be emboldened and eager to win their master's praise, though
they had not been in the main battles. But it was not his praise they would have won, if any had lived long enough to see his revival. No tortures would have satisfied his anger with the bungling fools who had let slip the greatest prize in Middle-earth;
even though they could know nothing of the One Ring, which save to Sauron himself was known only to the Nine Ringwraiths, its slaves. Yet many have thought that the ferocity and determination on their assault on Isildur was in part due to the Ring. It was
little more than two years since it had left his hand, and though it was swiftly cooling it was still heavy with his evil will, and seeking all means to return to its lord (as it did again when he recovered and was re-housed). So, it is thought, although
they did not understand it the Orc-chiefs were filled with a fierce desire to destroy the Dúnedain and capture their leader. Nonetheless it proved in the event that the War of the Ring was lost at the Disaster of the Gladden Fields. [Author's note
.][<-]
21 : No more than twenty, it is said; for no such need had been expected. [Author's note.][<-]
23 : Compare the words of the scroll which Isildur wrote concerning the Ring before he departed from Gondor on his last journey, and which Gandalf reported to the Council of Elrond in Rivendell: `It was hot when I first took it, ho
t as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. Yet even as I write it is cooled and seemeth to shrink...'(The Fellowship of the Ring II 2).[<-]
24 : The pride that led him to keep the Ring against the counsel of Elrond and Círdan that it should be destroyed in the fires of Orodruin (The Fellowship of the Ring II 2, and Of the Rings of Power, in The Silmarillion).[<-]
25 : The meaning, sufficiently remarkable, of this passage appears to be that the light of the Elendilmir was proof against the invisibility conferred by the One Ring when worn, if its light would be visible were the Ring not worn;
but when Isildur covered his head with a hood its light was extinguished.[<-]
26 : it is said that in later days those (such as Elrond) whose memories recalled him were struck by the great likeness to him, in body and mind, of King Elessar, the victor in the War of the Ring, in which both the Ring and Sauron
were ended for ever. Elessar was according to the records of the Dúnedain the descendant in the thirty-eighth degree of Elendur's brother Valandil. So long was it before he was avenged. [Author's note.][<-]
27 : Seven leagues or more from the place of battle. Night had fallen when he fled; he reached Anduin at midnight or near it. [Author's note.][<-]
28 : This was of a kind called eket: a short stabbing sword with a broad blade, pointed and two-edged, from a foot to one and a half feet long. [Author's note.][<-]
29 : The place of the last stand had been a mile or more beyond their northern border, but maybe in the dark the fall of the land had bent his course somewhat to the south. [Author's note.][<-]