The Complete Tolkien Companion (21 page)

Cirith Forn en Andrath
– The High Pass in the Misty Mountains where Thorin Oakenshield's company was ambushed by Orcs in 2941 Third Age. In later years this pass was kept open only by the valour of the Beornings.
Andrath
means ‘long-climb'.

Cirith Gorgor
‘Haunted Pass' (Sind.) – A defile or gorge at the juncture of the Mountains of Shadow and the Ered Lithui which served the Dark Lord as the main entrance to Mordor. Across the mouth of this defile lay the Morannon, the Black Gate, blocking all entrance to the pass and to the deep vale of Udûn which lay beyond.

Cirith Ninniach
‘Rainbow Pass' (Sind.) – The steep gorge in the Shadowy Mountains (Ered Wethrin) through which ran the (unnamed) stream which fed the Firth of Drengist.

Cirith Thoronath
‘Eagle Pass' (Sind.) – The highest pass in the Encircling Mountains; it lay to the north of Tumladen and Gondolin. This was the route taken by those few of the Noldor and the Edain who escaped the sack of Gondolin.

Cirith Ungol
‘Spider Glen' (Sind.) – This high route across the Mountains of Shadow from Minas Ithil (Minas Morgul) to Gorgoroth consisted, in fact, of two passes: one clearly marked and one secret. The main route, the Morgul Pass, ran past the gates of the evil city; the secret, more tortuous path climbed up endless broken steps, past yawning chasms, until it reached a cleft between two jagged peaks at the very summit of the Ephel Dúath. There the Spider had her lair.

Cirth
‘Runes' (Sind.) –
See
ALPHABET OF DAERON; CERTAR
.

Ciryaher
– From 1015–1149 Third Age, the fifteenth King of Gondor. He was remembered as the most powerful of all the rulers of that realm. In the year 1050, after conquering the Harad, he changed his name to
Hyarmendacil
(‘South-Victor').

Ciryandil
‘Ship-lover' (Q.) – From 936–1015 Third Age the fourteenth King of Gondor. Ciryandil was the third of the line of ‘Ship-kings' of Gondor. Sea-minded like his father Eärnil I, he continued Eärnil's policy of extensive fleet construction. He later fell in battle against the Haradrim, and his son took mighty revenge.

Ciryatan (Tar-Ciryatan)
‘Ship-builder' (Q.) – From 1869–2029 Second Age the twelfth King of Númenor, and the first to commence active exploitation of the coastal lands of Middle-earth. There he built great havens and forts, levying tribute from the lesser Men who dwelt in that part of the world. These unwise policies were not rescinded in the reign of his son Tar-Atanamir.

Ciryon
– The third of the four sons of
ISILDUR
. During the War of the Last Alliance, he and his brother Aratan were entrusted with guarding the western approach to Mordor (Cirith Dúath, later Cirith Ungol) in case Sauron should sortie from that place. Together with his father and two of his brothers, he was slain at the Gladden Fields (Year 2, Third Age).

Citadel of the Stars
– Translation of the Sindarin word
Osgiliath;
the name of the great city (and original capital) of Gondor astride the river Anduin, and the oldest seat of the Kings of that realm. The city was burned during the Kin-strife (in 1437 Third Age) and, though resettlement was later attempted, Osgiliath never recovered its former eminence. It was finally deserted a thousand years later and afterwards became desolate.

City of the Corsairs
– The city of Umbar.

City of the Trees
– A translation of the Sindarin name
CARAS GALADHON
.

‘Closed Door'
– A translation of
Fen Hollen
(Sind.).

Cloudyhead
– The name given in the Common Speech (Westron) to the mountain known as Fanuidhol (or Bundushathûr in the Dwarvish speech); one of the three Mountains of Moria. The other two were the Redhorn (Caradhras) and the Silvertine (Celebdil).

Coirë
– The season of the year known, in the Elves' calendar system, as ‘stirring'. It was judged the last of the six seasons observed by the Elves, falling between winter (
hrivë
) and spring (
tuilë
).

See also
CALENDAR OF IMLADRIS
.

Cold-drake
– A species of Dragon found in the Grey Mountains and the wastes beyond, and not of the usual fire-breathing sort. In the year 2589 Third Age, Dáin I, of the Dwarves of the Ered Mithrin (Grey Mountains), was slain, together with his son Frór, by a beast of this kind; this caused his folk to abandon the mountains and return to Erebor.

Coldfells
– The Ettenmoors north of Rivendell; a notorious haunt of Trolls.

Combe
– A village in a deep valley of the Bree-land.

Common Speech
– The Westron; the language spoken most widely among the peoples of the westlands of Middle-earth throughout the Third Age. (It is represented by English in the various translations from the Red Book that have been published.) The Common Speech was an ancient Mannish tongue, much modified by Elvish words and inflexions, and further altered in later years by assorted influences from other tongues of those Men whom the Dúnedain of Númenor found on their return to Middle-earth.

In the Third Age, the Westron became a lingua franca of the Westlands, being spoken (at least as a second tongue) by most folk who dwelt there, including the Elves. It is true that the Rohirrim always preferred their ancestral tongue, which was itself related to an early forebear of the Westron, Adûnaic (the speech of the Edain before the Second Age); and it is also true that the language spoken by Men of the upper Anduin and the towns of Dale and Esgaroth was derived from similar origins. But these peoples also knew the Common Speech, and used it fluently at need, and the Men of Bree and of Eriador – and the Halflings of the Shire – spoke the Westron as their native language; indeed, few of these peoples knew any other. But in Gondor many preferred an Elvish tongue, though not all of them used the Grey-elven (Sindarin) language as a daily speech. Only the Dúnedain themselves spoke Sindarin freely (for matters of learning their loremasters also used the High-elven Quenya). Yet all folk of Gondor could speak the Westron – unlike the men of Dunland and the Wild Men of Druadan Forest, who spoke only ancient tongues which owed little or nothing to the Common Speech. Another unrelated language was Khuzdul, the ancient Dwarf-tongue which no other race succeeded in learning. But unlike the more primitive Dunlendings and Wild Men, the Dwarves of Erebor and the Ered Luin also spoke the Westron freely and fluently (preserving Khuzdul primarily for their own secret purposes).

Company of the Ring
– The
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
.

Coranar
‘Sun-round' (Q.) – The solar year, as recorded by the Elves. This period was more usually called a
loa.
The long Elvish ‘year', the
yén
(pl.
yéni
) was equivalent to 144
loa.

Cormallen
‘Ring-of-Gold' (Sind.) –
See
FIELD OF CORMALLEN
.

Cormarë
‘Ring-day' (Q.) – Equivalent to September 22nd in the old style; declared a feast day in the New Reckoning of the Fourth Age. It was, of course, Frodo's (and Bilbo's) Birthday.

Corollairë
‘Evergreen-Mound [of the Two Trees]' (Q.) – Also called
Coron Oiolairë. See
EZELLOHAR
.

Corsairs of Umbar
– Chief among the foes of Gondor during the later Third Age were the assorted brigands, pirates and seaborne raiders known to the Dúnedain as the Corsairs of Umbar. The fierce hostility of the Corsairs to the South-kingdom was deep-rooted, being partly inherited and partly based on the determination of successive Kings of Gondor – especially the four ‘Ship-kings' – to brook no enemy or independent lordship within striking distance of their might.

Lying to the south, along the coasts of the Harad, the ancient fortress and harbour of Umbar was one of the earliest Númenorean settlements in Middle-earth – the Haven having been established sometime after the year 600 Second Age. The original inhabitants of this great cape and port were of that race later known as
BLACK NÚMENOREANS
, utterly opposed to the Faithful, and themselves followers of the latter Kings of Númenor.

When that land sank beneath the Sea at the end of the Second Age, these ‘King's Men', corrupted by Sauron during the Black Years, became hostile to Gondor – until 933 Third Age, when Eärnil I, the second ‘Ship-king', captured the Havens of Umbar and drove out the renegades. (It may well have been the growing sea-power of Umbar which prompted Tarannon Falastur, first ‘Ship-king', to strengthen Gondor's fleets in the first place, some years before.) The Black Númenoreans attempted to retake Umbar for many years – in alliance with the Men of Harad, they besieged it – but they were decisively defeated and scattered by Ciryaher (Hyarmendacil I) in the year 1050 Third Age. Some four hundred years later, in 1447, Umbar fell from Gondor's control when the sons of Castamir the Usurper sailed from Pelargir with the remaining rebel fleets of Gondor and seized the ancient haven as a refuge. The Corsairs, as they were afterwards known, raided Gondor's coasts ceaselessly until 1810 when King Telumehtar (Umbardacil) retook the port and slew the last of Castamir's Line.

Soon afterwards, the power of the Harad arose again and Umbar changed hands once more, as the Haradrim made the haven – and its naval strength – an adjunct of their own kingdoms. Raiding and piracy continued; and, in 2758 Third Age, the greatest force that had ever sailed from Umbar attacked the coasts of Gondor (in three fleets with black sails), striking as far north as the mouth of the Isen. Beregond son of Beren (nineteenth Steward) repulsed the Corsair invasions but there was great loss and destruction. After some years of quiescence, the Corsairs again sent a fleet against Gondor, in the War of the Ring; but, as is told elsewhere, the black sails ascended the Anduin no further than Pelargir before defeat overtook them. But Umbar remained inviolate and, while the Age lasted, the Corsairs' ships were an ever-present threat to the fiefs of the South.

Cotman
– The ancestor of the Cotton family of Hobbits of the Shire.
Note:
his original (as opposed to translated) name was
Hlothram,
‘Cottager'.

Cotton
– A family of Shire Hobbits.

Council of Elrond
– A meeting held in Rivendell, the house of Elrond, in the year 3018 Third Age, to debate the lore of the Rings and to decide the ultimate fate of the One Ring borne by Frodo the Hobbit. All of the Free Peoples – Elves, Men, Dwarves and Hobbits – were represented. Much of great import was discussed, and the true extent of the danger in which all Peoples then lay was, for the first time, openly revealed.

After arduous debate, the decision was taken by those assembled to mount a quest into Mordor, with the object of destroying the Ruling Ring. It was the Hobbit Frodo Baggins who took this Quest upon himself.

Council of the North-kingdom
– Founded early in the Fourth Age by King Elessar (Aragorn II), this was a group of advisers enrolled to give counsel concerning the reconstituted realm of Arnor. Included in this Body were the Mayor and Thain of the Shire and the Master of Buckland.

Court of the Fountain
– A courtyard high in the citadel of Minas Tirith, where the White Tree grew.

Craban
‘Crow' (Sind.) –
See
CREBAIN
.

Cracks of Doom
– The huge fissures in the floor of the Sammath Naur, the ‘Chambers of Fire' tunnelled into the side of the cone of the mountain Orodruin. In these vast natural furnaces burned the only fire in Middle-earth hot enough to destroy the Ruling Ring.

Cram
– A type of waybread, or biscuit, baked by Northern Men for journeys in the Wild. By all accounts it was somewhat uninspiring to eat, but it stowed away easily and was rich in food-content.

Crebain
– A species of black bird, family
corvidae,
found in the hills and woods of Dunland and Fangorn.

Crickhollow
– A house owned by the Brandybuck family and used by them to shelter guests who found the life of Brandy Hall somewhat crowded. It lay some distance north of Bucklebury, not far from the High Hay.

Crissaegrim
‘Cloven-peaks' (Sind.) – The southern and southward facing faces of the Encircling Mountains: a sheer wall of great height, overlooking the vale of Dimbar in the north of Beleriand. Here the great Eagle, Thorondor, and all his kin, made their lofty eyries, beyond the reach of friend and foe alike.

Crossings of Erui
– A ford across the river Erui in Lebennin, south of the White Mountains in the land of Gondor. In the year 1447 Third Age, the major battle of Gondor's civil war, the Kin-strife, was fought on this site with much loss of life on both sides.

Crossings of Isen
– The fords across the river Isen north of Helm's Deep, where the road from Isengard to Anórien ran beside the river for some leagues before crossing the shallowest point and turning south-east.

Crossings of Poros
– The Poros river marked the boundary between South Ithilien, in Gondor, and the debatable lands known as South Gondor, frequently invaded by Men of Harad. Where the Harad road crossed the river – before branching west to Pelargir and north to the hills of Emyn Arnen – there lay a series of shallow fords. This was the traditional invasion route from the southlands, and a traditional first point of defence. In 2885 Third Age, Gondor, aided by Rohan, won a great victory over an invading army of Haradrim at these Crossings.