Caranthir

Caranthir
Noldo
File:Unknown Artist - Caranthir.jpg
Biographical Information
Other names	Caranthir the Dark, Morifinwë (Q, fn), Carnistir (Q, mn)
Location	Tirion; Thargelion (Dor Caranthir)
Affiliation	Oath of Fëanor
Language	Quenya and Sindarin
Birth	During Years of the Trees Tirion
Death	F.A. 506 Sack of Doriath: Menegroth
Family
House	House of Fëanor
Parentage	Fëanor & Nerdanel
Siblings	Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Curufin, Amrod and Amras
Spouse	Unnamed
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Hair color	Dark
Gallery	Images of Caranthir

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Caranthir, the fourth of the Sons of Fëanor, was also the harshest and the quickest to anger. He was known as "Caranthir the Dark".

History

As the other Sons of Fëanor, Caranthir was bound by an oath to recover his father's Silmarils, which had been stolen by the Dark Lord Morgoth. This oath took the seven brothers to Middle-earth during the First Age, where they established realms in exile, waged war against the armies of Morgoth, fought their own Elvish kind, and eventually brought ruin upon themselves.

Caranthir's realm was in Thargelion, and was sometimes called Dor Caranthir ("Caranthir's Land"). His abode was on the shores of Lake Helevorn.

In First Age c. 420, Caranthir rescued Haleth and her people, the Haladin, as they were besieged by Orcs. When he saw the valor of Men, he offered the Haladin a fiefdom in his lands to the North. However Haleth, wanting her people to serve no lord, thanked him but removed to the Forest of Brethil.

In 463, the Easterling Ulfang led his people over the Blue Mountains and swore allegiance to Maedhros. They were given land in Lothlann and became subjects of Caranthir.

In 472, the disaster of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad ("Battle of Unnumbered Tears") occurred, caused by the betrayal of the people of Ulfang. Caranthir lost his realm and was forced to retreat to Mount Dolmed with his surviving brothers.

In 505, he perished along with his brothers Celegorm and Curufin during the Second Kinslaying, the attack by the Sons of Fëanor on Menegroth to recover a Silmaril from King Dior Eluchíl of Doriath.

Etymology

Caranthir's father-name was Morifinwë, meaning "Dark Finwë", a reference to his dark hair. The Quenya word was formed using the noun more, meaning "blackness", "night" or "dark", which became mori- when added to his grandfather's name, Finwë. His mother-name was Carnistir, which can be translated as "Red-face". Carnë in Quenya means "red" or "scarlet". The name Caranthir is the Sindarin translation of his mother-name.

Genealogy

Mahtan

Míriel

Finwë

Indis

Nerdanel

Fëanor

Findis

Maedhros

Fingolfin

Maglor

Celegorm

Írimë

CARANTHIR

Curufin

Finarfin

Amrod

Amras

Celebrimbor

Other Versions of the Legendarium

In The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter called The Nauglafring, he was called Cranthor, while in the early version of the Quenta Silmarillion, found in The Lost Road and Other Writings, he was named Cranthir.

References

• The Silmarillion, Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië
• The Silmarillion, Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
• The Silmarillion, Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor
• The Silmarillion, Of the Flight of the Noldor
• The Silmarillion, Of the Return of the Noldor
• The Silmarillion, Of Beleriand and its Realms
• The Silmarillion, Of the Noldor in Beleriand
• The Silmarillion, Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
• The Silmarillion, Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
• The Silmarillion, Of the Ruin of Doriath
• The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, The Nauglafring
• The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Valinor
• The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand
• The Lost Road and Other Writings, The later Annals of Beleriand
• The Lost Road and Other Writings, The later Annals of Valinor
• The Lost Road and Other Writings, Quenta Silmarillion
• The Lost Road and Other Writings, The Etymologies
• Morgoth's Ring, The Annals of Aman
• Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion
• The War of the Jewels, The Grey Annals
• The War of the Jewels, The Later Quenta Silmarillion
• The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Feanor

See Also

• Images of Caranthir