Dunharrow
Dunharrow or the Hold of Dunharrow was a fortified refuge of the Rohirrim in the White Mountains[1] south of Edoras[2]
Appearance
Dunharrow was a level upland on the top of a high cliff on the eastern side of the Harrowdale hundreds of feet above the floor of the valley. On the other sides the upland was surrounded by three mountains, the Írensaga to the north, the Starkhorn to the south and the Dwimorberg to the east.[3][2]
In order to reach the refuge, a steep winding road known as the Stair of the Hold had to be climbed up a cliff on the eastern side of the Harrowdale, which led through a cutting between walls of rock at the top to the "Firienfeld", a large grassy area for the encampment of soldiers and refuge-seekers.[3]
A double row of unshaped standing stones ran over the centre of the Firienfeld from its western side near the top of the road to the east to the Dimholt,[3] a wood of dark trees with a hollow place near the entrance to the Paths of the Dead below the Dwimorberg[4].
History
Dunharrow was built in the Second Age during in the Dark Years before a ship came to the western shores of Middle-earth and before the Dúnedain established the realm of Gondor by long-forgotten men whose name was lost and not remembered in legends or songs. Later no one in Rohan knew if it had been built as a town, a secret temple or a tomb of kings or for some other purpose.[3]
The Drúedain are known to have carved statues in their own likeness, which could watch over places and could be animated by their crafter to attack invaders in Beleriand in the First Age.[5] It is mentioned that "no power or terror" was left in the Púkel-men on the winding road up to Dunharrow.[3] At the end of the First Age most of the Drúedain had remained in the White Mountains where they were persecuted by Men who had arrived later from the East who had fallen back into the service of the Dark and the Drúedain were ultimately driven from the White Mountains to the mountains of Andrast and to woods in Anórien.[6] As a consequence, it is possible that Dunharrow was built by the Drúedain and that they were driven from there or that they carved the Púkel-men in Dunharrow and that the standing stones and the Paths of the Dead were built by those later arrived Men in the service of the Dark.
When the Rohirrim came to the region to search for strong places where they could take refuge in times of dangers, king Brego and his son Baldor went up the Stair of the Hold to Dunharrow and talked to an old man who sat on the threshold of the Dark Door who told them that the way was made by those who are Dead, that is is shut and kept by them until the time comes.[7] In T.A. 2569 finished the building of Meduseld, the Golden Hall, in Edoras. At the opening feast for the new hall[7] Baldor vowed that he would walk the Paths of the Dead.[8] In T.A. 2570, Baldor went to Dunharrow, entered the Dark Door and did not return.[9] It is possible that the Rohirrim assumed that Dunharrow could have been a temple, because they called itDúnharg in their own language[10], which means temple on the hillside[11].
When Rohan was invaded by the Dunlendings in T.A. 2758 some Rohirrim, including Fréaláf, took refuge in Dunharrow. Soon after the end of the Long Winter in 2759 Fréaláf and a small company of men led a daring surprise raid from Dunharrow against the Dunlendings in spring during which they recaptured Edoras and killed Wulf, the leader of the Dunlendings, in Meduseld.[12]
Some Orcs who were driven from the north in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs traversed Rohan and sought refuge in the White Mountains.[13] Those invaders were hunted down by Brytta Léofa. However some were seen still lingering near Dunharrow and killed King Walda and his companions when they rode by mountain paths from Dunharrow in T.A. 2851.[14]
Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and the Grey Company arrived at Dunharrow on 7 March T.A. 3019 and then left at dawn the next day to take the Paths of the Dead. Théoden came to Dunharrow with his riders and Merry on 9 March and rode out for Gondor on the 10th.[15]
Etymology
Dunharrow is the modernized form of Rohanese (Old English) Dúnharg[10] (or Dūnhaerg), which means "the heathen fane on the hillside".[11] A fane is an archaic word meaning temple.[16]
The first element of the name is probably dún ("mountain", "hill").[17] The second element of the name is haerg ("temple"[18]), which was modernized as harrow, because it exists as an element in English place-names, such as Harrow (on the Hill).[11]
Other versions of the legendarium
Tolkien had made an illustration of Dunharrow and the Firienfeld, that was first published in The Lord of the Rings 1977 Calendar. That illustration represented an earlier conception of the Dark Door, that didn't fit the description in the published text. Christopher Tolkien noted that the Dimholt and the pillar of stone are absent. Tolkien himself had added the note 'No longer fits story'.[19]
Tolkien made two other drawings of Dunharrow , which were published in Sauron Defeated and also represented earlier conceptions that do not fit the description in the published text.[20]
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Unfinished index for The Lord of the Rings", in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, entry Hold of Dunharrow, p. 407
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Muster of Rohan", p. 794
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Passing of the Grey Company", p. 786
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain", "The Faithful Stone"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain", "Further notes on the Drúedain"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Muster of Rohan", p. 797-8
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl", "The Kings of the Mark", entry 2512-70 2. Brego, p. 1068
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2570, p. 1087
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E, "Pronunciation of Words and Names", "Note", p. 1129
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, entry Dunharrow, p. 769
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl", p. 1067
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion", "The Stewards", entry for steward Beregond, p. 1054
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl", "The Kings of the Mark", entry 2780-2851 12. Walda, p. 1069
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years", entries for the year 3019, March 7, 8, 9 and 10, p. 1093
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 407
- ↑ Bosworth Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online, "DÚN f.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 14 April 2024)
- ↑ Bosworth Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online, "hearh f.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 14 April 2024)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien, picture 29. Dunharrow
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part One: The End of the Third Age: Appendix, Drawings of Orthanc and Dunharrow", p. 140 and p. 141, p. 136 and p. 137
