 | |
| Plant | |
| Mallorn | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | mahl-lorn |
| Other names | Malinornë (Q) |
| Location | Valinor, Tol Eressëa, Númenor, Lothlórien and the Shire |
| Appearance | Large silver-barked tree, green leaves and golden flowers |
The mallorn (pl. mellyrn[1]:342[2][3]) was a kind of large tree growing in Valinor, Númenor and the Westlands.
Description
Mellyrn are trees of immense size, especially when growing in Númenor, where they could reach heights of almost 600 feet (c. 183 meters).[4] In Caras Galadhon in Lothlórien the highest of mallorn-trees were nearly 200 feet (c. 61 meters) high and of great girth, having no branches lower than 3 fathoms (c. 5.5 meters) above their roots.[5]
They are also described as similar to beeches: their bark was smooth and silver-grey, and the leaves were green on top and silver underneath; they turned golden in autumn and remained on the tree through the winter to fall to cover the ground in the spring, when new leaves sprouted. Golden flowers bloomed on the branches.[1]:335[6]
The trunk of the tree divided to a crown of many branches, and the Galadhrim used the space to build telain (a sort of platform) or buildings on the top of the trees.[7] The leaves also had practical uses, such as for packing rations of lembas. The Galadhrim used the bark to make hithlain.[5]
Frodo Baggins explained that he could feel the life of the tree when he touched a mallorn in Lothlórien.[8]
History
Mallorn-trees originally grew in Valinor and from there were spread to Tol Eressëa by the Elves once the Lonely Isle was moved to its final position by Ulmo. The Elves of Tol Eressëa brought mallorn-trees to the Men of Númenor and they grew on the shores around the Bay of Eldanna in that land.[6] Even Tar-Aldarion, the great Ship-King, did not cut down these trees.
Mallorn-nuts were given by Tar-Aldarion to his friend Gil-galad, the Noldorin King of Lindon. The mellyrn did not grow in Lindon, but Galadriel, gifted some of the seeds from Gil-galad,[9]:48 took some nuts with her to Lothlórien, where they grew to immense heights (but not as great as the groves of Númenor).[6] Lothlórien became known as the Golden Wood because of them.[10]
Caras Galadhon, the city of Galadriel and Celeborn in Lothlórien, was built in the branches of huge mallorn-trees. The Fellowship spent the night in a flet in a mallorn-tree nearby, and were later given lembas wrapped in mallorn-leaves.[7]
Galadriel gave Samwise Gamgee a box of soil containing a single silver mallorn nut.[11] After the War of the Ring and the Scouring of the Shire, Sam planted the nut in the Party Field where the Party Tree had stood before its felling. The Golden Tree was the only mallorn in Middle-earth outside of Lórien. When the tree bloomed in the next summer it was said that all the Shire became golden from the flowers.[12]
Etymology
The word comes from malt ("gold") + orn ("tree"). In Gondor Sindarin the same word was pronounced Malthorn.[13][14]
Uses outside the Legendarium
By 1956 Tolkien had been informed about "a new house far away [that] has been called The Mallorns" — regrettably, Tolkien noted, as the correct Sindarin plural would be mellyrn.[3]
Mallorn is also the journal published by The Tolkien Society.
Portrayal in adaptations
- 2006: The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II:
- Mallorn trees are the core buildings in the elven faction, as they produce resources needed for constructing buildings and recruiting troops. When a mallorn tree reaches level 3, a tower is automatically constructed atop of the tree, where an elven archer is placed.
2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- Wood of this tree could at one time be foraged by supreme foresters, but has since been removed from the game.[16]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Lothlórien"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part Three. The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants: XVII. Silvan Elves and Silvan Elvish", p. 362
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See also Letter to H. Cotton Minchin (16 April 1956)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part Three. The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants: XIII. Of the Land and Beasts of Númenor", p. 333
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Treason of Isengard, "XIII. Galadriel", p. 251
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "A Description of the Island of Númenor"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Mirror of Galadriel"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Lothlórien"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn", note 5
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Farewell to Lórien"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Grey Havens"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 42, July 2001, p. 27
- ↑ Carl F. Hostetter, The Two Phonetic Values of ll in Elvish Sindarin in The Lord of the Rings, published on Tengwestië, December 7, 2003
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "A Description of the Island of Númenor", pp. 167-168
- ↑ "Wood". The Lord of the Rings Online Wiki. Retrieved 21 August 2025