OF HERALDIC DEVICES FROM TOLKEIN

Tolkien went to great depths, in all of his works to improve the finer details of his world. To make his world “believable”, he created near perfect languages, inscriptions, runes.  He made maps of the realms, he had created. According to him, believability is one of the key features in all tales - fantasy or not, a key element which most writers miss.

Tolkien was a professor and a writer. But he could also sketch, a talent dwarfed by his writing-skills. He himself dismissed many illustrators who had come up with their own versions of his texts. He himself has left many sketches of his tales.

In his Middle-earth saga, he has written about hundreds of cities and realms in all of Arda. And for many realms he told about, he made special banners/flags, in other words heraldic devices, for them.

This is a descriptive (and exhaustive) list of the realms whose heraldic devices he has drawn:

House of Beren: Men under Beren. From “The Silmarillion”. A successor of the royal house of Bëor ( one of the first men on ME). One of the two main characters of Tolkien’s song “The lay of Lithien”( which is a central piece in many of his works) . He is most known for capturing one of the Silmarils from Melkor’s crown and escape with it

House of Finrod Felagund: Elves under the rule of Finrod. From “The Silmarillion”. Eldest son of Finarfin, of Alqualonde.  One of the high-kings of the Noldor. Ruler of the secret realm of Nargothrond. He gave his life for an oath to protect Beren.

Valinor: The realm of the Valar. Valar were the angelic beings sent by Eru (God) to look after Arda. Also known as the Undying lands, this is the place where all immortal beings (Elves) arrive after their “death” in Arda. Only exceptions being the mortals Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. The banner describes the two trees of Valinor, one of the most central concepts of The Sil and LotR.

House of Gil-galad: Elves under the rule of Gil-galad. From “The Silmarillion” and “The Lord of the Rings”. He was the last high-king of the Noldor Elves. He was of the house of Finwe. He played a crucial role in the Last alliance, the battle which led to the first defeat of Sauron.

Numenor: Also called Westernesse. It was a realm established on a huge island separated from Middle-earth. Known as the greatest realm of the Men ever established. A rebellion against the valar lead to the downfall of Numenor, which is accounted in “The Silamrillion” in “Akallabeth”. The faithful Numenoreans established the later realms in Middle-earth, such as Gondor and Anrnor.

House of Elwe: Elwe Singollo, later named Thingol was the King of Doriath, High-King of the Sindar and Lord of Beleriand. He gave rise to the Teleri, the “dark” Elves who did not see the land of Valinor. Elrond, a key figure in The Lord of the Rings, is his direct descendent  He is a prominent figure in The Silamrillion.

House of Galadriel: Queen of the woods of Lothlorien . Galadriel was one of the three chief forces of light in The Lord of the Rings, along with Gandalf and Aragorn. She is also the carrier of one of the three Rings, Nenya.

Dol Amroth: One of the Principal cities of Gondor along the coast, in the Third Age. Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth is a key figure in The Return of the King. The banner depicts a ship in the form of a great swan.

Mordor:  Lies in the eastern part of Middle-earth. Sauron, the Lord of Mordor, is the chief antagonist and the titular character of The Lord of the Rings. The flag depicts the Red eye of Sauron.

House of Cirdan:  Lord of the Falas ( east of the Grey Havens) during much of the First age.  Also the chief Shipwright. He was the bearer of one of the three Elven rings, but he gave it to Gandalf the Grey.

The Shire: Located in Eriador, west of Middle-earth. The hobbits live in The Shire. Both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit begin in The Shire, “the land of the little-people.”

Fangorn: Fangorn, also called Treebeard was the most ancient creature in Middle-earth. He was the chief of a race of tree-shepherds called Ents. The forest of Fangorn lay near the Entwash river, north of the Gap of Rohan.

House of Finwe: First High-King of Noldor to lead his people into Valinor. Also, the father of the three principal characters of The Sil: Feanor,  Fingolfin and Finarfin.

House of Feanor: One of the main characters of The Silmarillion. Son of Finwe, he was the most gifted in craftsmanship of all the Elves. He made the three jewels ,the Silmarils. And he bequeathed the terrible oath of Feanor upon his sons. Two elements around which the whole of Quenta Silmarillion revolves.

House of Elrond: A key figure in The Lord of the Rings, he is one of the three Elven ring-bearers. He also took part in the battle of the last alliance. The realm of Elrond was in the secret valley of Imladris, in common tongue; Rivendell.

Isengard: Saruman was the head of the Istari, angelic beings who took care of the proceedings in Middle-earth. He turned evil driven bu his lust for the One Ring. He is the secondary antagonist of The Lord of the Rings. He is the Lord of Isengard, and resides in the tower of Orthanc. The white hand of Saruman is the banner of the Uruk-Hai.

Minas Morgul:  Once a part of Gondor and named Minas Ithil (Meaning Tower of the moon; and hence the banner) , it was captured by Sauron and turned into the evil dwelling for the Witch-King of Angamr. Also known as the Dead city or the city of the Nazgul. It is one of the most evil dwellings described in the Lord of the Rings.

Gondor: One of the greatest kingdoms of men in Middle-earth during the second and third age. An important location in The Lord of the Rings. The white tree of Gondor, a symbol of the power of the King of Gondor, is described in the banner beneath 7 stars, describing the seven levels of Minas Tirith (the chief city of Gondor).

Rohan: North of Gondor. Another chief location from The Lord of the Rings. The men of Rohan were simple folk who loved the freedom of open plains. Hence, their cities were small and much of the land were green open prairies.

The horses bred in Rohan were the best and all of the soldiers were horse-riders. It is also known as the land of the horse-masters.  

Stewards of Gondor: In the third age, the line of Gondorian kings was broken when the King strode off to avenge one of his enemies. He gave his staff to his steward, to rule until he returns. But the King never returned. The stewards looked after the kingdom in the absence of the King, and hence the house of steward was established.

Haradrim:  One of the chief allies of Mordor, in The Lord of the Rings. The Haradrim were evil-men who were the sworn-enemies of the realm of Gondor. They rode giant Mumakils (or oliphaunts in the common speech) in wars. The Black Serpent is their symbol.

Angbad: Morgoth was the Lord of Angbad. The original Dark Lord, whose lieutenant was Sauron. He was the Enemy, the greatest threat to Middle-earth there ever was. He sat in his iron fortress of Thangorodrim, in Angbad in northern part of Middle-earth. His banner is black, because darkness is his symbol.

Easterlings: The land of the easterlings is to the east, above Mordor. They are allies of Sauron. Men, corrupted by him.

Durin’s Folk: The only banner Tolkien ever drew for the dwarves. Durin, also known as Durin the Deathless was one of the fathers of the Naugrim, elvish for the stone-folk, referring to the dwarves.

House of Fingolfin: One of the chief characters of the Silmarillion. Fingolfin was one of the mightiest Elves of the Noldor. He ruled the north-west part of Middle-earth; Hithlum

House of Luthien: Luthien was the daughter of Thingol, the King of the Sindar. She is described as the fairest of all beings ever to be born. The Lay of Lithien, a central saga of Tolkien’s legendarium, describes how she and Beren were able to capture one of the Silmarils from Morgoth’s crown.

House of Thranduil: Thranduil was the King of the wood-elves, that dwelt in Mirkwood. He is the father of Legolas Greenleaf, who has prominent role in The Lord of the Rings.

Such exhaustive heraldic devices conceived and played through various literary creations, leave the fans stunned by the sheer majesty of the work. 

THE SILMARILLION

THE SILMARILLION 

The Analysis. The Approach.

What is "The Silmarillion"?

The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works,

edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive, though incomplete, narrative that describes the universe of Eä  in which are found the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth within which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.

The significance of The Silmarillion

Often referred to as "the Sil" by Tolkien-fans, it is one of the many influential works

of high-fantasy literature by the Professor. Many hard-core JRRT fans consider it to

be his greatest work, better than his most popular "The Lord of the Rings" and "the Hobbit". Tolkien himself considered the Silmarillion to be his most important work, with The Lord of the Rings being acting as a conclusion to the whole Middle-earth saga.The Sil is basically a creation myth and serves as a base for all the events taking place in other works like LOTR and The Hobbit. The Silmarillion covers lore of over six thousands years of Elven, Dwarvish, Nuemenorian, and Middle-earth history. Reading The Silmarillion is a bit more like doing anthropological or historical research. Want to know what is Middle-earth? Curious who and from where the Wizards came? Why are elves immortal while the men or dwarves are not? What are Balrogs? Who is Sauron? How orc came into Middle-earth?

If you are curious about all such things, then The Sil is the book for you.

If not, you should walk away.

How is The Sil different from LotR or The Hobbit?

First of all, it should be noted, that The Silmarillion is NOT a novel. It's a history or mythology or perhaps a mix of both. It has no particular protagonist you can stick out with for the whole. If you read it you would get the feeling of reading very minutely detailed Celtic mythologies. And that's what makes Sil so special. It is a source of enjoyment for the interested Tolkien fans even without having a well-outlined plot.

Secondly, The Sil is a much denser read than LotR or (of course) the Hobbit. The language and style are very much related to archived histories of the 12-13th century. That is one of the main reasons why it has not reached the same level of popularity as the other two

For non-English speaking folks, it could definitely be boring, especially those who go for findinga sequel of LotR. The Sil is NOT a sequel of LotR. It is just the starting point of Tolkien's whole Middle-earth legendarium.

Thirdly, many events and descriptions could be seen as been highly exaggerated. But we have to keep in mind that all mythologies of all the cultures in the whole world are exaggerated results of legends.

While reading Sil, think of it like this way:

Try to imagine that you are in Middle-earth and you are one of the elves or men, or dwarves or hobbits.  Think that you are reading the history of the world you belong to. i.e. You are one of the free peoples of Middle-earth and you are reading it's history. That very much is the perspective from which The Sil has been written. And the pleasure of reading it increases several folds by this.

A Brief Synopsys of The Silmarillion

The Sil has been divided mainly into five sections:

Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akkalabeth and Third Age; in chronological order.

Ainulindalë: It tells of how Eru Illuvatar (God) created the land called Ea (earth) with the help of the songs of the Ainur (angels). One of the Ainur (Melkor) gets corrupted by his arrogance and becomes what can be called the antagonist of the Sil (for most part).

Valaquenta: The Ainur are sent by Eru to Ea to shape all things on earth. These Ainur are called Vala. Valaquenta introduces all the Valar, their spouses and the Maia (helpers of the Valar) alongwith their special characteristics

and abilities.

Quenta Silmarillion: Forms the main bulk of the book. It deals with the coming of various  races like elves, dwarves, men and orcs on Valinor (land of the Valar) and Middle-earth. The main account follows the creation of the Silamrils, the most precious jewels on Ea, crafted by the greatest craftsmen of the elves, Feanor and the struggle to take them back from Melkor (later named Morgoth, who stole them). It also contains the story of Beren and Luthien, which was produced concisely as a beautiful song in LotR. It culminates after the destruction of Melkor.

Akallabêth: It deals with the events surrounding the land of Numenor, where the great men had established a realm. It tells much of the Dunedain and the first rise and defeat of Sauron, as well as the waning of Nimenoreans.

Of the Rings of power and Third Age: This is a crucial part linking to The Lord of the Rings. It goes into much detail about the making of the great Rings and Sauron's passing into the shadow world, as well as the origins of the Nazguls. It is a great account of the history of the One Ring till  Isildur's death.

How to Approach The Sil?

A) Always remember that this work is a history, and NOT a novel. Names, places, events, etc. tend to appear quite often, and it's very easy to get as lost as Thorin and company in Mirkwood. Attempting to skim the book is a very bad idea. Instead, read at a relatively slow pace

(and NEVER when you are feeling sleepy).

B)Take notes as you read. This doesn't mean the kind of notes that you'd make for a test in collegel, but rather important names that you want to keep straight or remember. Perhaps you might make a chart or a list of the Valar, or your own "tree" to keep the various branches of Elves straight.

C) In one of the volumes of The History Of The Lord Of The Rings, Christopher Tolkien explains that his father worked on the manuscript of The Lord Of The Rings in "waves", constantly going back a few chapters and rewriting. This is a technique that  I've found works well, especially with remembering exactly which Elf is the son of  another Elf, or which Vala did what. This technique works I think, because like a history book each chapter builds material for the consequent chapter.

D) Having a comprehensive map of Ea never hurts, but it is not a necessity.

Influences

The Silmarillion is a complex work exhibiting the influence of many sources. A major influence was the Finnish epic Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo. Influence from Greek mythology is also apparent. The island of Númenor, for example, recalls Atlantis. Tolkien even borrows the name "Atlantis" and reworks it into the Elvish name "Atalantë" for Númenor, thus furthering the idea that his mythology simply extends the history and mythology of the real world.

Greek mythology also colours the Valar, who borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods. The Valar, like the Olympians, live in the world, but on a high mountain, separated from mortals;But the correspondences are only approximate; the Valar also contain elements of Norse mythology.

 Several of the Valar have characteristics resembling various Aesir, the gods of Asgard. Thor, for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the physically strongest of the Valar.[28] Manwë, the head of the Valar, exhibits some similarities to Odin, the "All-father". Tolkien also said that he saw the Maia  Olórin (Gandalf) as an "Odinic wanderer".

Influence of the Bible and traditional Christian narrative are seen in The Silmarillion in the conflict between Melkor and Eru Ilúvatar, a parallel of the polarity of Lucifer and God. Further, The Silmarillion tells of the creation and fall of the Elves, as Genesis tells of the creation and fall of Man. As with all of Tolkien's works, The Silmarillion allows room for later Christian history, and one version of Tolkien's drafts even has Finrod, a character in The Silmarillion, speculating on the necessity of Eru's (God's) eventual Incarnation to save  humankind. Medieval Christian cosmology shows its influence especially in the account of the creation of the universe as the manifestation of a sort of song sung by God with which the angels harmonize until the fallen angel introduces discord. St. Augustine's writings on music, as well as the extensive medieval tradition of the divine harmony—more familiar to us today in the notion of the "music of the spheres"—served as bases for this telling of creation.

Celtic mythology show its influence in the exile of the Noldorin Elves, for example,

 that borrow elements from the story of Irish legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Welsh influence is seen in the Elvish language Sindarin, that Tolkien gave "a

linguistic character very like (though not identical with) British-Welsh ... because

it seems to fit the rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers".