Middle-earth seen by the barbarians: The complete collection including a previously unpublished essay (23 page)

1. His name is remembered in no tale
   

And how long does it take to forget your own name? Gollum still remembered his after 500 years. Some commentators, including Tyler and Foster in their respective dictionaries, have interpreted these statements to mean that the Mouth of Sauron was a living fossil from the War of the Last Alliance, a contemporary of Herumor and Fuinur (or maybe even one of them). But in that case he would have been more than 3000 years old. Yet he was explicitly ‘
no Ringwraith but a living man
’.
(
RK
)
How could he reasonably have rejected the Gift of Eru, the inherent mortality of man?

Maybe, despite being not a wraith, he was a Ringbearer. That would also explain the ‘great sorcery’ that he had learnt; compare the sorcery the Nazgûls had been devoted to while they had still been living men
(
RP
)
. Of course, at the end of the Second Age, Sauron will already have had one or two of the Seven Rings at his disposal which he had retrieved from the Dwarves (another was still in possession of the House of Dúrin, four were later consumed by dragon-fire). It would have been stupid not to make use of them another time. Perhaps, without the One in Sauron’s hands, a Great Ring was no longer capable of turning a man into a wraith. Maybe the Mouth was instead a kind of super-Gollum, aged but not faded. His seemingly unique longevity might be explained that way.

When the One was destroyed, the Seven Rings became useless. But if the Mouth managed to escape from the fall of Mordor, then there is a peculiar possibility. It might be conceivable that he was identical to that mysterious Herumor who tried to install the New Shadow in Gondor! (
NS
) In that case, the choice of his name may have been more than an accidental reference to one of the Black Númenórean field marshals of the War of the Last Alliance.

1. T
   HE MYSTERIOUS KING
   B
   LADORTHIN
   

the location of his kingdom and the history of vintage in Middle-earth

‘
… the spears that were made for the armies of the great King Bladorthin (long since dead), each had a thrice-forged head and their shafts were inlaid with cunning gold, but they were never delivered or paid for…
’
(
H
, XII)

This single phrase, not even a complete phrase, is all that was ever been told about king Bladorthin. He is not mentioned in any genealogy or chronology of the Realms in Exile, of Rohan, the Elves or the Dwarves. Written history has overlooked him, creating a mystery that attracted the adventurous spirit of many a researcher.

To make matters worse, Thorin Oakenshield boasted that ‘
Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even the least skillful most richly.
’
(
H
, I)
It is tempting to assume that Bladorthin was one of them. The others may have been the Dwarf-kings of the Iron Hills. After all, fitting one unaccounted royal line into the history Middle-earth is a challenge, but fitting several of them is a nightmare!

From which language does Bladorthin’s name derive?

On the first glance, it seems to be Sindarin. Notably the element -
thin
seems to support that view, as Sindarin has that familiar word
thin
‘grey’. And there is a claim, made in
WPP
,
that ‘
In the Hobbit all names are translated except for Galion (the Butler), Esgaroth and Dorwinion.
’ This seems indeed to suggest that all untranslated names in
H
are Sindarin. But our commentator overlooks at least the name of the wizard,
Radagast
, which is irreconcilable with his assumption. And, alas, the rest of Bladorthin,
Blador
-, remains unintelligible.

Matter of fact, Sindarin as a language was not existent yet when
H
was written. We find the contemporary vocabulary in
TE
, among various Elvish languages like Exilic Noldorin (the immediate precursor of Sindarin), Ilkorin or Doriathrin. When Sindarin was achieved, the early Noldorin element
blador
was apparently lost so that the name of our king cannot be accepted as Sindarin proper. It is rather Doriathrin, which may be conceived of as the precursor of Nandorin, the language spoken in Mirkwood and Lothlórien.

His royal name indicates modesty. Very likely it means
Prince of the World
, see Appendix A.

1. W
   AS
   B
   LADORTHIN
   E
   LF OR
   M
   AN?
   

From which of the Speaking Peoples had Bladorthin originated? Many have assumed that he was an Elf
(
CG
,
CO
)
because of his Elvish name. There are, however, sound arguments against this hypothesis:

• The kings and kingdoms of the Light Elves are all accounted for. Bladorthin could only have been a Dark Elf. But Dark Elves would not have used names in Exilic Noldorin.
  
• Elven kingdoms of the Third Age did not maintain regular armies. There would have been no need to order a significant number of spears from Erebor.
  
• No respectable Elf of the Third Age, however dark, would order weapons from Dwarves.
  
• Bladorthin was mortal. Evidence is the fact that Thorin Oakenshield considered his death only worth a casual remark. Certainly, if Bladorthin had been an Elf, the way of his demise would have been better remembered.
  
• The custom of using Elvish names is found not only among Elves but also among Men exposed to their cultural influence - from the Edain of Beleriand to Girion of Dale. Notably the Dúnedain have applied them for ages.
  

• The indiscriminate use of the title ‘king’, rather than ‘Elven-king’ or ‘Dwarf-king’, suggests that he was of the kind most familiar to Bilbo Baggins (and his readers).
  

These arguments suggest that king Bladorthin was a mortal Man. Which Mannish kingdoms have there been near Erebor whose rulers might have used Elvish sounding names?

One quite common hypothesis suggests that Bladorthin had been king of Dale. But this can be discarded on the following grounds:

• Dale has never been referred to as a kingdom before the coronation of Bard I in the late Third Age, it had only ‘lords’. The distinction between lord and king is evident and not restricted to
  H
  . It continues into the drafts of
  TY
  which state that Smaug had destroyed the ‘
  town and lordship of Dale
  ’.
  (
  YT
  )
  .
  
• In Middle-earth, exiled descendants of kings usually keep a royal title like prince or chieftain. Bard had no such title.
  
• If ‘the great king Bladorthin’ had been an ancestor of Girion (and, hence, of Bard), Bard would have referred to this lineage to legitimate his reign and to embed it into the tradition of Dale. Quite likely he would even have requested Bladorthin’s spears to be handed over to him. He does nothing of that sort.
  

We can rule out Gondor and Arthedain because we know all their kings by name, and a Bladorthin was not among them. Looking for any unattested kings, essentially Cardolan and Rhúdaur may come into mind, the two lesser spinoffs of the defunct kingdom of Arnor. Could one of them have ordered weapons from Erebor?

Bladorthin’s kingdom may be easier to locate if we can pinpoint the time of his rule. Erebor was not permanently settled, and this fact should help narrow down the range of options.

According to
KR
, there were two periods of settlement in Erebor. The first lasted from 1999 and 2210 TA, the second from 2590 to 2770 TA; the latter was the reign of Thrór II., King under the Mountain, grandfather of Thorin Oakenshield, whose rule was ended by Smaug’s invasion. Even the first settlement began long after the fall of Arnor’s successor states, so this possibility is safely ruled out.
^[1]

During its first settlement phase, Erebor seems to have stayed rather isolated and did not maintain any attested contact to the outside (non-Dwarvish) world. And it is highly questionable whether even thrice-forged Dwarvish spears would survive 800 years of exposure to the air without decaying (though the swords Glamdring and Orcrist survived multiple times that period without any flake of rust). The second settlement phase, however, was accompanied by intense trade connections that Thorin Oakenshield has witnessed and attested. It is, hence, probable that king Bladorthin was a contemporary of king Thrór II in the 28
^th
century TA.

^[1]
 
H
seems to suggest that Hobbiton was located in a live kingdom when a claim is made that in the Trollshaws ‘
they have seldom even heard of the king
’ (
H, ii
). Bladorthin may have been conceived of as one of this king’s ancestors, i. e. a king of Arnor. The prologue of
LR
, though, refers to a hobbit proverb concerning the ancient kings of Arnor (long since dead): ‘
Yet the Hobbits still said of wicked things and wild folk (such as trolls) that they had not heard of the king.
’ That may or may not be so. In
H
, however, a Dwarf says that, not a hobbit.

1. W
   HEN DID
   B
   LADORTHIN PLACE HIS ORDER?
   

We may further narrow down the age of Bladorthin’s reign by examining the reasons why his thrice-forged spears (often misinterpreted as thrice-forked, i. e. tridental) have not been delivered. Both Tyler and Foster believe that his death may have prevented the trade and Foster tells us even that his heirs may have refused payment. But there is nothing in the sources that would support such exaggerated claims. We are merely told that the forging took place long ago and that Bladorthin died some time after it.

Is it not natural to deduce from the context that delivery and payment have been prevented by the arrival of Smaug?

If this is the case, we may conclude that Bladorthin was alive in 2770 TA and died sometime before 2790 TA.

1. Thror II before he became King under the Mountain
   

There is a remarkable lack of active kingdoms in the 28
^th
century. Both kingships of the Dúnedain had failed. Vidugavia, self-proclaimed king of Rhovanion, was a faint memory, and it is not even sure that he had not been not first and last member of his dynasty at once. The only Mannish kingdom left was Rohan. But Rohan’s lineage is accounted for: there was no Bladorthin or any king who would have used an Elvish name in general. Moreover, Rohan was too far away to establish a trade route with Erebor because the trade route would have had to pass via Dol Guldur.

A possible clue to the location of Bladorthin’s throne may be hidden in Gimli’s words about king Thrór II, ‘
he and his folk prospered and became rich, and they had the friendship of all Men that dwelt nearby. For they made not only things of wonder and beauty but weapons and armour of great worth … Thus the Northmen who lived between Celduin (River Running) and Carnen (Redwater) became strong and drove back all enemies from the East
’
(
KR
)
.