Thorondor_
05-28-2005, 02:59 PM
Thorondor, quenya Sorontar, pronounciation tho'rondor, means king of the eagles [from: thor- come swooping down, -ron 'one that swoops down';tor-, -dor lofty; noble]. His other names are King of Eagles, Lord of Eagles
Thorondor is described as being the most magnificent and the largest of all birds (The Silmarillion p. 129), having a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet tho originally his wingspan was at 30 feet or 9 m) and he has a 'golden beak' (The Shaping of Middle-earth p. 212).
The Great Eagles (Thoronath) of Beleriand ruled by Thorondor play an important, always positive role (The Book of Lost Tales, Part II p. 193). They are called the harbingers of Manwë, report to him, and intervene at his request.
In the Silmarillion, "Of Aule and Yavanna", Manwe tells Yavanna what Eru showed him:
Then Manwë awoke, and he went down to Yavanna upon Ezellohar, and he sat beside her beneath the Two Trees. And Manwë said: 'O Kementári, Eru hath spoken saying: "Do then any of the Valar suppose that I did not hear all the song, even the least sound of the least voice? Behold! When the Children awake, then the thought of Yavanna will awake also, and it will summon spirits from afar, and they will go among the kelvar and the olvar, and some will dwell therein, and be held in reverence, and their anger shall be feared. For a time: while the Firstborn are in thier power, and while the Secondborn are young." But dost thou not now remember, Kementári, that thy thought sang not always alone? Did not thy thought and mine meet also, so that we took wing together like great birds that soar above the clouds? That also shall come to be by the heed of Iluvatar, and before the Children awake there shall go forth with wings like the wind the Eagles of the Lords of the West.'
Yavanna, thrilled with this, offers her trees to house Manwe's eagles.
„But Manwë rose also, and it seemed that he stood to such a height that his voice came down to Yavanna as from the paths of the winds.
'Nay,' he said, 'only the trees of Aulë will be tall enough. In the mountains the Eagles shall house, and hear the voices of those who call upon us. But in the forest shall walk the Shepherds of the Trees.'
Earlier versions of the story published in The History of Middle-earth state more explicitly that Thorondor was one of these. Tolkien said this about Eagle King on Morgoth's Ring: "Only the Valar and Maiar are intelligences that can assume forms of Arda at will. Huan and Sorontar [Thorondor] could be Maiar – emissaries of Manwë. "
”Then arose Thorondor, King of Eagles, and he loved not Melkor, for Melkor had caught many of his kindred and chained them against sharp rocks to squeeze from them the magic words whereby he might learn to fly (for he dreamed of contending even against Manwë in the air); and when they would not tell he cut off their wings and sought to fashion therefrom a mighty pair for his use, but it availed not”
The eryies of the Eagles are located in the peaks Crissaegrim about the Tumladen Vale:
”Upon the left hand of Sirion lay East Beleriand, at its widest a hundred leagues from Sirion to Gelion and the borders of Ossiriand; and first, between Sirion and Mindeb, lay the empty land of Dimbar under the peaks of the Crissaegrim, abode of eagles. „
„It has been told how by the guidance of Ulmo Turgon of Nevrast discovered the hidden vale of Tumladen; and that (as was after known) lay east of the upper waters of Sirion, in a ring of mountains tall and sheer, and no living thing came there save the eagles of Thorondor. „
We know of him only in the First Age. He first helps Fingon rescue Maedhros from Thangorodrim: (The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor")
And seeing no better hope he cried to Manwë, saying: 'O King to whom all birds are dear, speed now this feathered shaft, and recall some pity for the Noldor in their need!' His prayer was answered swiftly. For Manwë to whom all birds are dear, and whom they bring news upon Taniquetil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of the North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth; for Manwë still had pity for the exiled Elves. And the Eagles brought news of much that passed in those days to the sad ears of Manwë. Now, even as Fingon bent his bow, there flew down from the high airs Thorondor, King of Eagles, mightiest of all birds that have ever been, whose outstretched wings spanned thirty fathoms; and staying Fingon's hand he took him up, and bore him to the face of the rock where Maedhros hung. But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon the wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain Maedhros begged that he would slay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim. "
In 456 the eagle king saves Fingolfin’s body from Melkor’s hands: (The Silmarillion p. 186 and The Lays of Beleriand p. 341).
And Morgoth took the body of the Elven-king and broke it, and would cast it to his wolves; but Thorondor came hasting from his eyrie among the peaks of the Crissaegrim, and he stooped upon Morgoth and marred his face. The rushing of the wings of Thorondor was like the noise of the winds of Manwë, and he seized the body in his mighty talons, and soaring suddenly above the darts of the Orcs he bore the King away. And he laid him upon a mountain-top that looked from the north upon the hidden valley of Gondolin; and Turgon coming built a high cairn over his father. No Orc dared ever after to pass over the mount of Fingolfin or draw nigh his tomb, until the doom of Gondolin was come and treachery was born among his kin. Morgoth went ever halt of one foot after that day, and the pain of his wounds could not be healed; and in his face was the scar that Thorondor made.
"Lo! from throne
that Manwë bade him build on high,
on peak unscaled beneath the sky,
Morgoth to watch, now down there swooped
Thorondor the King of Eagles, stooped,
and rending beak of gold he smote
in Bauglir's face, then up did float
on pinions thirty fathoms wide
bearing away, though loud they cried,
the mighty corse, the Elven-king;
and where the mountains make a ring,
far to the south about that plain
where after Gondolin did reign,
embattled city, at great height
upon a dizzy snowcap white
in mounded cairn the mighty dead
he laid upon the mountain's head.
Never Orc nor demon after dared
that pass to climb, o'er which there started
Fingolfin's high and holy tomb,
till Gondolin's appointed doom.
Thus Bauglir earned the furrowed scar
that his dark countenance doth mar,
and thus his limping gait he gained;
but afterward profound he reigned
darkling upon his hidden throne;
and thunderous paced his halls of stone,
slow building there his vast design
the world in thraldom to confine. "
(The Lays of Beleriand)
In 458 he brings Hurin and Huor to Gondolin:
"There Thorondor espided them, and he sent two of his eagles to their aid; and the eagles bore them up and brought them beyond the Encircling Mountains to the secret vale of Tumladen and the hidden city of Gondolin, which no Man yet had seen."
Then, in 466 he and two other eagles bring Beren and Luthien from the gates of Angband to Doriath :
"Thus the quest of the Silmaril was like to have ended in ruin and despair; but in that hour above the wall of the valley three mighty birds appeared, flying northward with wings swifter than the wind. Among all birds and beasts the wandering and need of Beren had been noised, and Huan himself had bidden all things watch, that they might bring him aid. High above the realm of Morgoth Thorondor and his vassals soared, and seeing now the madness of the Wolf and Beren's fall they came swiftly down, even as the powers of Angband were released from the toils of sleep. Then they lifted up Luthien and Beren from the earth, and bore them aloft into the clouds. Below them suddenly thunder rolled, lightenings leaped upward, and the mountains quaked. "
One of his greatest deeds was participating in the War of Wrath where he helps defeat the host of Melkor:
"Then, seeing that his hosts were overthrown and his power dispersed, Morgoth quailed, and he dared not to come forth himself. But he loosed upon his foes the last desperate assault that he had prepared, and out of the pits of Angband there issued the winged dragons, that had not before been seen; and so sudden and ruinous was the onset of that dreadful fleet that the host of the Valar was driven back, for the coming of the dragons was with great thunder, and lightening, and a tempest of fire.
But Earendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air all the day and through the dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun Earendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thanggorodrin, and they were broken in his ruin. Then the sun rose, and the host of the Valar prevailed, and well-nigh all the dragons were destroyed; and all the pits of Morgoth were broken and unroofed, and the might of the Valar decended into the deeps of the earth. "
Thorondor's fate is rather uncertain. The only hint is a passage that appears in The Lord of the Rings"old Thorondor, who built his eyries in the inaccessible peaks of the Encircling Mountains when Middle-earth was young'
I really like the idea that the Eagle King is a Maia, it only adds to his majesty and noble role. He is fierce, fears no enemy, be it Melkor or a host of dragons. And, because what is outside is reflected also in the inside, he represents, in the human spirit, the flight, the elevation towards the source, the return to the initial condition, above the temptations, beyond thoughts.
Resources:
The Silmarillion
The Lays of Beleriand
The Book of Lost Tales
Thorondor is described as being the most magnificent and the largest of all birds (The Silmarillion p. 129), having a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet tho originally his wingspan was at 30 feet or 9 m) and he has a 'golden beak' (The Shaping of Middle-earth p. 212).
The Great Eagles (Thoronath) of Beleriand ruled by Thorondor play an important, always positive role (The Book of Lost Tales, Part II p. 193). They are called the harbingers of Manwë, report to him, and intervene at his request.
In the Silmarillion, "Of Aule and Yavanna", Manwe tells Yavanna what Eru showed him:
Then Manwë awoke, and he went down to Yavanna upon Ezellohar, and he sat beside her beneath the Two Trees. And Manwë said: 'O Kementári, Eru hath spoken saying: "Do then any of the Valar suppose that I did not hear all the song, even the least sound of the least voice? Behold! When the Children awake, then the thought of Yavanna will awake also, and it will summon spirits from afar, and they will go among the kelvar and the olvar, and some will dwell therein, and be held in reverence, and their anger shall be feared. For a time: while the Firstborn are in thier power, and while the Secondborn are young." But dost thou not now remember, Kementári, that thy thought sang not always alone? Did not thy thought and mine meet also, so that we took wing together like great birds that soar above the clouds? That also shall come to be by the heed of Iluvatar, and before the Children awake there shall go forth with wings like the wind the Eagles of the Lords of the West.'
Yavanna, thrilled with this, offers her trees to house Manwe's eagles.
„But Manwë rose also, and it seemed that he stood to such a height that his voice came down to Yavanna as from the paths of the winds.
'Nay,' he said, 'only the trees of Aulë will be tall enough. In the mountains the Eagles shall house, and hear the voices of those who call upon us. But in the forest shall walk the Shepherds of the Trees.'
Earlier versions of the story published in The History of Middle-earth state more explicitly that Thorondor was one of these. Tolkien said this about Eagle King on Morgoth's Ring: "Only the Valar and Maiar are intelligences that can assume forms of Arda at will. Huan and Sorontar [Thorondor] could be Maiar – emissaries of Manwë. "
”Then arose Thorondor, King of Eagles, and he loved not Melkor, for Melkor had caught many of his kindred and chained them against sharp rocks to squeeze from them the magic words whereby he might learn to fly (for he dreamed of contending even against Manwë in the air); and when they would not tell he cut off their wings and sought to fashion therefrom a mighty pair for his use, but it availed not”
The eryies of the Eagles are located in the peaks Crissaegrim about the Tumladen Vale:
”Upon the left hand of Sirion lay East Beleriand, at its widest a hundred leagues from Sirion to Gelion and the borders of Ossiriand; and first, between Sirion and Mindeb, lay the empty land of Dimbar under the peaks of the Crissaegrim, abode of eagles. „
„It has been told how by the guidance of Ulmo Turgon of Nevrast discovered the hidden vale of Tumladen; and that (as was after known) lay east of the upper waters of Sirion, in a ring of mountains tall and sheer, and no living thing came there save the eagles of Thorondor. „
We know of him only in the First Age. He first helps Fingon rescue Maedhros from Thangorodrim: (The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor")
And seeing no better hope he cried to Manwë, saying: 'O King to whom all birds are dear, speed now this feathered shaft, and recall some pity for the Noldor in their need!' His prayer was answered swiftly. For Manwë to whom all birds are dear, and whom they bring news upon Taniquetil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of the North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth; for Manwë still had pity for the exiled Elves. And the Eagles brought news of much that passed in those days to the sad ears of Manwë. Now, even as Fingon bent his bow, there flew down from the high airs Thorondor, King of Eagles, mightiest of all birds that have ever been, whose outstretched wings spanned thirty fathoms; and staying Fingon's hand he took him up, and bore him to the face of the rock where Maedhros hung. But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon the wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain Maedhros begged that he would slay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim. "
In 456 the eagle king saves Fingolfin’s body from Melkor’s hands: (The Silmarillion p. 186 and The Lays of Beleriand p. 341).
And Morgoth took the body of the Elven-king and broke it, and would cast it to his wolves; but Thorondor came hasting from his eyrie among the peaks of the Crissaegrim, and he stooped upon Morgoth and marred his face. The rushing of the wings of Thorondor was like the noise of the winds of Manwë, and he seized the body in his mighty talons, and soaring suddenly above the darts of the Orcs he bore the King away. And he laid him upon a mountain-top that looked from the north upon the hidden valley of Gondolin; and Turgon coming built a high cairn over his father. No Orc dared ever after to pass over the mount of Fingolfin or draw nigh his tomb, until the doom of Gondolin was come and treachery was born among his kin. Morgoth went ever halt of one foot after that day, and the pain of his wounds could not be healed; and in his face was the scar that Thorondor made.
"Lo! from throne
that Manwë bade him build on high,
on peak unscaled beneath the sky,
Morgoth to watch, now down there swooped
Thorondor the King of Eagles, stooped,
and rending beak of gold he smote
in Bauglir's face, then up did float
on pinions thirty fathoms wide
bearing away, though loud they cried,
the mighty corse, the Elven-king;
and where the mountains make a ring,
far to the south about that plain
where after Gondolin did reign,
embattled city, at great height
upon a dizzy snowcap white
in mounded cairn the mighty dead
he laid upon the mountain's head.
Never Orc nor demon after dared
that pass to climb, o'er which there started
Fingolfin's high and holy tomb,
till Gondolin's appointed doom.
Thus Bauglir earned the furrowed scar
that his dark countenance doth mar,
and thus his limping gait he gained;
but afterward profound he reigned
darkling upon his hidden throne;
and thunderous paced his halls of stone,
slow building there his vast design
the world in thraldom to confine. "
(The Lays of Beleriand)
In 458 he brings Hurin and Huor to Gondolin:
"There Thorondor espided them, and he sent two of his eagles to their aid; and the eagles bore them up and brought them beyond the Encircling Mountains to the secret vale of Tumladen and the hidden city of Gondolin, which no Man yet had seen."
Then, in 466 he and two other eagles bring Beren and Luthien from the gates of Angband to Doriath :
"Thus the quest of the Silmaril was like to have ended in ruin and despair; but in that hour above the wall of the valley three mighty birds appeared, flying northward with wings swifter than the wind. Among all birds and beasts the wandering and need of Beren had been noised, and Huan himself had bidden all things watch, that they might bring him aid. High above the realm of Morgoth Thorondor and his vassals soared, and seeing now the madness of the Wolf and Beren's fall they came swiftly down, even as the powers of Angband were released from the toils of sleep. Then they lifted up Luthien and Beren from the earth, and bore them aloft into the clouds. Below them suddenly thunder rolled, lightenings leaped upward, and the mountains quaked. "
One of his greatest deeds was participating in the War of Wrath where he helps defeat the host of Melkor:
"Then, seeing that his hosts were overthrown and his power dispersed, Morgoth quailed, and he dared not to come forth himself. But he loosed upon his foes the last desperate assault that he had prepared, and out of the pits of Angband there issued the winged dragons, that had not before been seen; and so sudden and ruinous was the onset of that dreadful fleet that the host of the Valar was driven back, for the coming of the dragons was with great thunder, and lightening, and a tempest of fire.
But Earendil came, shining with white flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air all the day and through the dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun Earendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thanggorodrin, and they were broken in his ruin. Then the sun rose, and the host of the Valar prevailed, and well-nigh all the dragons were destroyed; and all the pits of Morgoth were broken and unroofed, and the might of the Valar decended into the deeps of the earth. "
Thorondor's fate is rather uncertain. The only hint is a passage that appears in The Lord of the Rings"old Thorondor, who built his eyries in the inaccessible peaks of the Encircling Mountains when Middle-earth was young'
I really like the idea that the Eagle King is a Maia, it only adds to his majesty and noble role. He is fierce, fears no enemy, be it Melkor or a host of dragons. And, because what is outside is reflected also in the inside, he represents, in the human spirit, the flight, the elevation towards the source, the return to the initial condition, above the temptations, beyond thoughts.
Resources:
The Silmarillion
The Lays of Beleriand
The Book of Lost Tales