The Middle-earth 1200

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks!

[Inanna]

Looking forward to the formula, thanks Dân

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

This post, and next week’s, will be ideal for wrapping-up some housekeeping, since both are solely devoted to the late-addition Boffin and Bolger family-trees (17 names on each appear only in the LotR index, plus Wikipedia, for a total of 2pts each). I’ve chosen the Boffin clan coming first since their highest-ranking representative, Folco, places lower than the Bolger clan’s Fatty, who cracks the top 200.

(‘@’ will refer, here on in, to characters appearing at Bilbo’s Farewell Party)

#1153 Tosto Boffin son of Griffo @ - Frodo’s 2nd cousin, 20yrs his junior
#1152 Bruno Bracegirdle son of Blanco @ - older brother of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
#1151 Gerda Boffin daughter of Uffo @ – married Adalbert Bolger
#1150 Gruffo Boffin son of Uffo – father of Griffo, and grandfather of Tosto
#1149 Jessamine Boffin>Bolger - mother of Odovacar, and grandmother of Fredegar “Fatty”
#1148 Blanco Bracegirdle - father of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins
#1147 Primrose Boffin>Bracegirdle - mother of Bruno and Lobelia
#1146 Druda Burrows – married Rollo Boffin, they had “various descendants”
#1145 Sapphira Brockhouse – married Uffo Boffin, and mother of Gruffo and Gerda
#1144 Uffo Boffin 2nd son of Otto the Fat – father of Gruffo and Gerda
#1143 Lavender Grubb>Boffin – sister of Laura Grubb, married Otto the Fat
#1142 Otto ‘the Fat’ Boffin son of Bosco – great-great-grandfather of Fatty Bolger
#1141 Briffo Boffin 3rd son of Buffo – “removed to Bree” in 1210 SR
#1140 Basso Boffin 2nd son of Buffo – “reputed to have ‘gone to sea’ in 1195” SR at age 26
#1139 Bosco Boffin father of Otto the Fat – and eldest son of Buffo
#1138 Ivy Goodenough – married Buffo Boffin, they are great-great-grandparents of Bilbo
#1137 Buffo Boffin – progenitor of the Boffins of the Yale

Okay, some things to take care of. It should be said that I’m posting this list on 3 websites, the first always being the ‘Hall of Fire’ since it was a thread there that inspired me to undertake this. I’m also posting this on TORN and TORC, the 2 ‘One Rings’. TORN, as I’ve had to mention there, is structured the best for threaded discussion, however the other 2 are structured best for maintenance of an editable and reference-able master-list; something to keep in mind, maybe, as we move on.

Secondly, questions have been raised about the exact formula I used to compile this list. Quick answer, there was never an “exact formula”. It was a process, which I’ll go over as best as I can next week (surely taking more thought than I put into this to begin with). Let me just say it will be of no avail to try and double-check all 1179 on the list to make sure the points are accurate. The various editions of the books I’ve used (which you won’t know), and the composite list (less than 1% of the total) that I included as one of my factors, plus the liberty of rounding up or down, will prevent that possibility. Plus the top 10 are separated by an average of 57pts, the top 20 by 38pts, the top 50 by 20pts, and the top 100 (a very solid top 100 btw) by 11pts. Quibbling about numbers, I hope, is not an issue.

But before I outline the 'full process' next week, I’ll give a few examples that might help tell the tale. First, the rounding I did was in a few extreme cases. For example, with Fëanor I took every opportunity to round-up (not to mention the 20pts I awarded to each vote in the initial thread), this ensured that he made it well within the top 10. Also, in the cases of the top 2 ranking inanimate objects (one of metal, one of stone) I rounded down at every opportunity, which ensured that neither made it into the top 100.

Further, the last edit I made (for indexed characters) was to replace Idis, Théoden’s daughter (appearing in HoMe #7), with an inanimate object, thanks primarily to a discussion I had with Dr. Kristine Larsen (the resident astronomical Tolkien expert) at last month’s Vermont Tolkien conference. Technically Idis would be a viable independent character, as nothing textually (that I know of) eliminates her from qualifying, according to the standards I used. It was a conscious decision on my part to exclude her from the list, since (1) LotR was published in Tolkien’s lifetime, and (2) her appearance would have been an intrusion, too hard to swallow I think, for the average reader. And the inanimate object that I chose to replace her with was principally due to one word: “mate”.

Next week, 17 Bolgers, and a full run-down of points awarded...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think I am going to get some bumberstickers made that say, "Idis Lives!"

Seriously, I don't think anyone is interested in checking or questioning your (extraordinary) work, just understanding it. That is certainly the case for me.

I'll look forward to next week's fuller explanation.

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

As promised, on with the bountiful Bolgers of Budgeford...

#1136 Nora Bolger daughter of Wilibald @
#1135 Heribald Bolger 2nd child of Wilibald @
#1134 Wilimar Bolger eldest son of Wilibald @
#1133 Adalbert Bolger son of Rudibert
#1132 Herugar Bolger son of Rudigar
#1131 Nina Lightfoot>Bolger mother of Wilibald
#1130 Theobald Bolger son of Gundabald
#1129 Amethyst Hornblower>Bolger mother of Adalbert
#1128 Rudibert Bolger 2nd son of Adalgar
#1127 Adalgar Bolger son of Gundahar
#1126 Gundahad Bolger 3rd son of Gundolpho
#1125 Cora Goodbody>Bolger mother of Fastolph
#1124 Rudolph Bolger 2nd son of Gundolpho
#1123 Dina Diggle, married Gundahar Bolger
#1122 Gundahar Bolger son of Gundolpho
#1121 Alfrida 'of the Yale’, married Gundolpho Bolger
#1120 Gundolpho Bolger of Budgeford, progenitor of the Bolgers

Okay, regarding the “exact formula” here’s what I’ve already given:

“[I’ve] carefully extract[ed] each separate and independent character (in all his/her/its forms) from all writings, entering them in a spreadsheet, and sorting them according to the total space each takes up in 35 prominent sources: the indices in 22 books (LotR, Sil, UT, HoMe, Letters, Carpenter, Garth, Drout, Rateliff, Kane), entries in 6 compendiums (Foster, Tyler, Drout, Day, EoArda, Wiki) and 5 name-lists (CoHurin, LofElros, FofGond, QuenyaLex, GnomishLex) as well 2 lists of lesser influence (votes in a favourite-character web composite & answers in a Hall of Fire thread which prompted this exercise)... there’s a total of over 52,400 pts awarded: book compendium entries= 1pt/line, online compendium entries=1pt/20 words; indices of major works=1pt/line (HoMe=2pts/line), minor works=1pt/entry; name-lists=1pt/line, family-tree (LofElros)=1pt Eä; online composite=1pt/vote, HoFire thread=20pts/vote”

I’m at a loss as to what I need to add to this, but having been asked, I’ll try my best to spell it all out in plain English. Taking it from the top, here’s a complete list of the 35 sources I used:
1. Robert Foster’s Complete Guide to Middle-earth (entries)
2. J.E.A. Tyler’s New Tolkien Companion (entries)
3. The Encyclopedia of Arda (entries)
4. Wikipedia (entries)
5. David Day’s A-Z of Tolkien (entries)
6-7. Michael Drout’s J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia (entries & index)
8. Lord of the Rings (index)
9. The Silmarillion (index)
10. Unfinished Tales (index x2)
11. ‘The earlier generations of the Line of Elros’: Unfinished Tales (names)
12-23. History of Middle-earth Vols. I-XII (indices x2)
24. ‘Names in the Lost Tales – Part I’: Book of Lost Tales 1 (entries)
25. ‘Names in the Lost Tales – Part II’: Book of Lost Tales 2 (entries)
26. ‘Entries in the Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin’: Book of Lost Tales 2 (entries)
27. ‘List of Names in the Tale of...’: The Children of Húrin (entries)
28. Humphrey Carpenter’s Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (index)
29. Humphrey Carpenter’s J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography (index)
30. John Garth’s Tolkien and the Great War (index)
31-32. John D. Rateliff’s History of The Hobbit Parts I & II (indices)
33. Doug Kane’s Arda Reconstructed (index)
34. ‘Who were the most Important Characters in the History of ME?’ thread: The Hall of Fire (votes x20)
35. A web composite favourite-character list (votes)

Entries refer to names appearing in the (mostly alphabetical) listings per book/website; they were all awarded 1pt per line (that is, the successive rows of words taken up in the editions of the books that I own, and I can’t believe I had to say this), except for the online compendiums which were awarded 1pt per 20 words . Indices were awarded either 2pts per line (UT/HoMe), or 1pt per line (major sources such as LotR, Sil, etc, those containing multi-‘ibids’), or 1pt per page-entry (minor sources, such as Letters). I confess I can’t specifically say now which are which, but I definitely did one or the other per book, thus maintaining total consistency.

I began with sources 1 & 2, the main post-Sil compendiums, together containing 809 characters, cumulating multiple-listed monikers of the same character. I then punched-up all 809 characters on sources 3 & 4, the online compendiums, doing computer wordcounts (please don’t ask what counts as a word, and what doesn’t), and dividing by 20 to award additional points. I then added UT/HoMe indices in order to include such characters as Erendis, Khamul, Andreth, Sador Labadal, Ilverin Littleheart, Pengolodh, Oropher, Legolas of Gondolin, Tar-Ardamin 19th King of Númenor, Tar-Anducal usurper-King of Númenor, and Alatar & Pallando, all of which would not have appeared otherwise. Somewhere along the way, maybe after I started awarding points for other indices, it was decided to award 2pts per index line in these (UT/HoMe) sources just to equalize things. Then, as suggested to me by a Faithful One, Tolkien’s Letters proved to be a quality addition. I then, mostly after the first top-100 list I posted came out, added indices of all the books I could to make the best list possible. The last 2 (3 actually), were those of Rateliff and Kane, both of which, because of their prime importance to the legendarium itself, added measurably to the overall list. In the end, I’ll contend that I think I’ve brought forth the most intelligent and accurate list possible.

Okay, that was more toil than I’ve expended thus far; next week the fun can begin: 7 characters appearing only in (as listed by Foster) The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, 3 more Númenóreans from the Line of Elros (who are also listed in Wikipedia), and that contentious spider indexed by Rateliff...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks, Dân!

But just to be clear, you wrote just now:

Okay, regarding the “exact formula” here’s what I’ve already given:

“[I’ve] carefully extract[ed] each separate and independent character (in all his/her/its forms) from all writings, entering them in a spreadsheet, and sorting them according to the total space each takes up in 35 prominent sources: the indices in 22 books (LotR, Sil, UT, HoMe, Letters, Carpenter, Garth, Drout, Rateliff, Kane), entries in 6 compendiums (Foster, Tyler, Drout, Day, EoArda, Wiki) and 5 name-lists (CoHurin, LofElros, FofGond, QuenyaLex, GnomishLex) as well 2 lists of lesser influence (votes in a favourite-character web composite & answers in a Hall of Fire thread which prompted this exercise)... there’s a total of over 52,400 pts awarded: book compendium entries= 1pt/line, online compendium entries=1pt/20 words; indices of major works=1pt/line (HoMe=2pts/line), minor works=1pt/entry; name-lists=1pt/line, family-tree (LofElros)=1pt Eä; online composite=1pt/vote, HoFire thread=20pts/vote”

But that's not what you had already given. What you wrote before was just:

Tolkien’s legendarium has a total of 1179 indexed characters, as I’ve discovered, carefully extracting each separate and independent character (in all his/her/its forms) from all writings, entering them in a spreadsheet, and sorting them according to the total space each takes up in 35 prominent sources: the indices in 22 books (LotR, Sil, UT, HoMe, Letters, Carpenter, Garth, Drout, Rateliff, Kane), entries in 6 compendiums (Foster, Tyler, Drout, Day, EoArda, Wiki) and 5 name-lists (CoHurin, LofElros, FofGond, QuenyaLex, GnomishLex) as well 2 lists of lesser influence (votes in a favourite-character web composite & answers in a Hall of Fire thread which prompted this exercise).

It was this part that I was looking for:

... there’s a total of over 52,400 pts awarded: book compendium entries= 1pt/line, online compendium entries=1pt/20 words; indices of major works=1pt/line (HoMe=2pts/line), minor works=1pt/entry; name-lists=1pt/line, family-tree (LofElros)=1pt Eä; online composite=1pt/vote, HoFire thread=20pts/vote”

If you had posted that in the beginning, I never would have asked for an exact formula, because I would have had already. But all is good because now I have it!

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

well, it was given in my 'breakdown' post of Mon Apr 19, if you want to go back and check, and acknowledged by my use of "...". But yes, you do now have it, twice over!! Can the fun now begin?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ah, I missed that! But now we have it in all its detailed glory!

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

Sorry if I over-played my card there; back against the wall, and doing things for work, not pleasure, forcing me to defend my baby, I stook a claim unwarranted, and got a bit snarky. You will of course forgive me, and have recognized the miss that you made. For you, and you alone, I promise, from here on in, a list unsurpassed!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Inanna]

Incredibly interesting, Dân, thank you.

I agree with your decision to remove Idis. Just saying

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

First, for those just tuning in, this list should not be confused with the list of 1200 questions of Andrew Murray’s Tolkien Quiz Book. Although one could read a question there, of those who own the book, for each character that appears here. That would put page 7, question 9, “Who became King under the Mountain after Thorin’s death?”, up for #1119. (Just another emphasis on the number 1200!)

Secondly, watch for an edit to be made soon within my unindexed 21. I think the Cat of the Shire poem might go the way of the Oliphaunt, whom I previously ruled out due to the generic nature of the poem; just to make room for a newly re-discovered inanimate object, of neither stone nor metal, which speaks. (Note how much The Hobbit is being highlighted here, as we build up to the movie).

Moving forward,

#1119 Attercop
As promised, the 4th of the Mirkwood Spiders, the one indexed by Rateliff; and before you say, well there’s really no “character” Attercop, let’s wait for the upcoming movie, which I’ll just bet will have Bilbo point to, and chastise, a different spider for each uncomplimentary epithet he bestows; and Wikipedia will probably have a pictured entry for each one. Further, not only do I think there should be representatives of these greater/lesser arachnids that dominate a whole chapter of the Story, but they will be but 4th on the list of all races/sub-races with the largest gaps between successive characters, exceeded only by Anduin Stoors, Stone-entities, and Balrogs. And, let’s face it, should the 2 spider-like pseudo-Maiar beings, appearing well within the top 100, be the only suppliers of arachnophobia here? I think not.

The next 3 are follow-ups to the earlier names appearing only on the ‘Line of Elros’ in UT; however, these 3 seem to warrant a line each in Wikipedia, and also just happen to bridge the line between Vardamir Nólimon son of Elros Tar-Minyatur, and Hallatan of Hyarastorni father-in-law of Tar-Ancalimë. (There will be yet one more appearing from this family-tree without textual reference, who achieved 2pts from Wikipedia, apparently due to her name).

#1118 Cemendur father of Hallatan of Hyarastorni
Born in 575 S.A., he was the youngest child of the next entrant, had 2 children, a daughter first (see #1164), and his grandson married the first Ruling Queen of Númenor.

#1117 Axantur father of Cemendur
Born in 395 S.A., he was likewise the youngest child of the next entrant, and had 3 children, a daughter first (see #1162), and an elder son (#1163).

#1116 Nolondil son of Vardamir Nólimon
Born in 222 S.A., he was a grandson of Elros Tar-Minyatur, and had 3 children, a daughter & eldest son (to come), and Axantur.

The next 7 come from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil poems, each getting 2 lines in Foster’s Guide. Four of them, all animals, come from Bombadil Goes Boating: the first 3 of 11 birds appearing on the list, as well as the first of 2 weasels. (On TORN not too long ago there was an interesting thread speculating the precise evening and circumstances which may have inspired this Buckland poem, written, it is said, following Frodo’s visit with Maggot. Maybe, NEB, you can link us all to it, if you happen to see this?)

#1115 Willow-wren the Little Bird
This is the first of the animals, and only female, Tom encounters on his way to the Brandywine. She teases Bombadil, and speculates why he’s boating down the Withywindle, but ends up flying away after Tom threatens to roast her on a willow-spit.

#1114 Fisher Blue the King’s fisher
The second animal (and 2nd bird) in the tale; this kingfisher is the ‘gay lord on his bough, at home a dirty varlet, living in a sloven house, though his breast be scarlet’. It was he from whom Tom snatched a blue feather, which he wore in his cap.

#1113 Whisker-lad
The 3rd animal of the poem, an otter-lad, apparently has a mother, father, sister and brother, whom I should have considered for my unindexed characters. Or maybe not. Nonetheless, Tom threatens him in numerous ways, including turning his skin over to Barrow-wights, before the otter splashes him, rocks his boat, and dives away.
#1112 Old Swan of Elvet-isle
Animal #4 of the poem, and bird #3, merely sailed past Tom proudly, giving him a black look, and snorting at him loudly. Bombadil then sends a slew of insults the swan’s way, including wishing the branding of his bill by the King, if one day he should return. The King of course did return, but I doubt Bombadil was able to follow through on this threat.

The next three, 2 hobbits and a dog, come from Sam Gamgee’s poem, Perry-the-Winkle, set in Michel Delving.

#1111 Grip, pet of Bill Butcher
Another edit will have to be made, as I never thought to classify the Fox as a canine. That will be done, and so here we have the 4th of 11 canines that will appear, and of course the 1st pet dog. This Grip, not to be confused with Maggot’s, “turned his tail and ran to save his life” when he caught sight of the Lonely Troll.

#1110 Peeping Jack
This hobbit of Michel Delving espied where Perry-the-Winkle went to have his fulsome tea and cramsome bread: “he went upon the old Troll’s back to the hills of Faraway”. Thus the townspeople were tipped off to the Troll’s bakery. He also happens to be the 1st of 2 characters I’ve classified as spies.

#1109 Old Pott the Mayor
Presumably the name of a real Mayor of Michel Delving at some time in Sam’s youth, or prior to Will Whitfoot at any rate. When the Lonely Troll came to Delving in the morning, Pott happened to be “strolling near; when he heard that awful sound, he turned all purple and pink with fear, and dived down underground”. (Pott was the 2nd hobbit that the Troll came across in the poem. The 1st was old Mrs. Bunce, who did not get her own entry in Foster, as she only fell under the Bunce surname. But really, just as I included the wives and daughters way above, I shouldn’t have overlooked Mrs. Bunce, who should get 3pts for the 3 lines of her separate paragraph under the Bunce entry. And so, there’s edits a-plenty to be made. Characters with 3pts will extend to #971 at present, and I’m quite sure there are many within that stretch that will be open to criticism for their inclusion. So have at it. Old Mrs. Bunce is knocking at the door with her umbrella and basket in hand.)

Next week’s installment will be the last that I’ve bunched together by their sourcing: 9 names appear minimally in the LotR volumes of HoMe. I’ve already given one of them in advance in the ‘Middle-earth/Tolkien Trivia’ thread on TORC a while back.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm pleased to hear that "the 2 spider-like pseudo-Maiar beings" appear well within the top 100. Particularly Ungoliant, who I think often gets short shrift. I'll be curious to see which of the two is higher (if it's Ungoliant, I suspect it will be largely due to my own book!). And I fully agree with your inclusion of Attercop and the other lesser spiders.

Am I right in assuming that until otherwise specified, each character has only one point? And that once that is not true, you'll list the number of points that each character accumulated? (If you've said this already, I apologize; it is hard to keep up with everything!)

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

Well, no apology necessary, V. But yes, it has been well documented (multiple times, in fact) that we are now on characters who have achieved a grand total of 2 points. And, also just documented, characters achieving only 3 points will continue until #971. I conscientiously decided not to give a point-score beside each character; at least not until it becomes a more rapid advancement (if even then).

I do, in my intros, spell it all out; and that's how I think its going to go for the time being. I stated, just here in this last post, the 3 Numenoreans above were on the 'Line of Elros' (as were the previous 15), yet they also have a line in Wikipedia - thus 2pts, not 1. I then stated the next 7 got 2 lines in Foster's Guide - thus 2 pts again, all according to the "formula" I gave you twice.

Plus, as I said, I've already established awhile back that... we're on 2pt characters! This rather blatant statement appeared at the end of my May 3rd post: "Next week begins the 100+ characters attaining only 2 points..."

You know, my friend, you can always just sit back and enjoy! But I promise you, I give all that is required, and then some. What you choose to read is, and will remain, entirely your business.

(On a more agreeable note, yes, Ungoliant, Míriel, and others, did quite well by your book - as I've stated, a prime inclusion to the mix due to the importance to the legendarium in general! )

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm sorry, but it's hard to keep track of what you said when. I'll probably just tune out for a while rather than continue to ask these annoying questions.

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I don't really mean that I won't continue reading. I'll just "sit back and enjoy" as you suggest.

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

Old Mrs. Bunce has been inserted already, so there’s no immediate need to critique my inclusions for the next while (but do feel free to indulge yourself nonetheless). I’ve rounded down her 2.5 lines in Foster to award only 2pts (rather than 3), and fit her in right here, just ahead of the other minimal Winkle characters listed above. This is due to an opening created by the fact that I had the orcs, Nuzu and Shagram, set to appear here, but just realized they are the same character; one morphed into the other, according to Christopher Tolkien’s speculation. So Shagram, the later version, will appear later this year with a total of 4pts, instead of the 2 points each received.

So, as I said, this will be the last bunching together of characters by their sourcing, and also the last of the first hundred on the list. Beginning the next hundred, the order of appearance of characters with equal amount of points will be chosen by me. But before then, we have a few more to go...

#1108 Old Mrs. Bunce
To Michel Delving the Lonely Troll “came in the morning light, when folk were just astir, he looked around, and who did he meet but old Mrs Bunce and all, with umbrella and basket walking the street; and he smiled and stopped to call: ‘Good morning, ma’am! Good day to you! I hope I find you well?’ But she dropped umbrella and basket too, and yelled a frightful yell.”

The following 7 all take up one line only in the indices of the LotR volumes of HoMe, and obviously didn’t make the final cut into the novel. (However, just to be clear, these don’t represent the only characters left on the LotR’s cutting room floor, just those with minimal appearance. Others will show up, even in the 800’s, including the dwarves who helped at Bilbo’s Farewell Party - unnamed in LotR, but named in the drafts, thus legitimate characters).

#1107 Díriel
“Ancient name used in Gondor” is how [s?]he’s indexed. Within the chapter ‘Faramir’, it is said in Christopher’s commentary: “And Faramir, giving examples of names taken ‘from tales of the Elder Days’, adds Díriel to those he gave before”. That’s it, no textual reference given. A mystery for sure, and so here she’s listed at #1107, and a subject for future fanfics. I classified Díriel as a female of unknown race.

#1106 Benrodir Prince of Anárion
Benrodir was, at one time, one in the list of leaders mentioned, who came to the aid of Minas Tirith. Anárion is never clearly written, so is only an educated guess, according to Christopher; but does appear as such on the ‘First Map’ of Gondor/Mordor given in HoMe 7, to the south of Minas Tirith. Inram and Nosdiligand are 2 other leaders of a like kind, though they both take up more than 1 index line, and thus appear later. But, as Christopher states, “So far as I know, neither Harns (presumably Haradwaith, Haradrim), nor the names of the rulers in Southern Gondor, Inram the tall of the Morthond Vale (? – see note 23), Benrodir prince of Anárion(?), Nosdiligand of the people of the Delta, ever appear again.”

#1105 Guthrond
As foreshadowed in the ‘Middle-earth & Tolkien Trivia’ thread on TORC, here is Guthrond. Written in “fine ornate script” on the back of a page describing Aragorn’s journey from the Stone of Erech, found in HoME 8, is this: “Then spoke Elessar: Many Guthrond would hold that your insolence merited rather punishment than answer from your king; but since you have in open malice uttered lies in the hearing of many, I will first lay bare their falsehood, so that all here may know you for what you are, and have ever been. Afterwards, maybe, a chance shall be given to you to repent and turn from your old evil.” Nothing more is known about this passage, but it does appear in the drafts of ‘The Last Debate’, or may have been intended (as speculated by one Roccondil of TORC) for incorporation in the chapter “The Steward and the King” where, in the days after the crowning of Aragorn, as King Elessar, he gave his judgments. Roccondil goes on to speculate, the “character of Guthrond (the answer to the question) is a puzzle as he is presumably a subject of Gondor, perhaps a spy, but his whole name is not Sindarin. The first element is presumably Old English (= Rohirric) while the second element may be Sindarin, unless an Old English scholar (or student?) can provide a complete meaning from this language?” I classified him as a normal man of Gondor of unknown occupation, although this may be changed to another spy, if Roccondil’s words have some merit.

#1104 Farmer Puddifoot
As we continue to list characters of very contentious applicability, here is the first farmer to appear. He was, admittedly, the prior identity of Farmer Maggot for a time, but once, after Maggot was established, Farmer Puddifoot re-appeared, and we do have the Puddifoots of Stock surviving into LotR. So for those reasons, unashamedly I put forth the 1st of 7 farmers that will appear.

#1103 Adam Hornblower blacksmith of Hobbiton
“But old Adam Hornblower the smith down the road could not melt it in his furnace. They say only dragonfire can melt them”, so said Gandalf in ‘Of Gollum and the Ring’, forerunner to ‘The Shadow of the Past’, in HoMe 6. Unlike the farmer above, I maybe see no contention by keeping this Shire smith as a legitimate character. And he is the first of 9 smiths on the list.

#1102 Folco Burrows
Highlighting The Hobbit once again, from its pages emerged the law firm of “Messrs Grubb, Grubb, and Burrowes”, selling Bilbo’s belongings, thinking him deceased. In the LotR drafts, certain interlopers were ejected from Bag End by “Messrs. Iago Grubb and Folco Burrowes (Bingo’s [>Frodo’s] lawyers)”: presumably two-thirds of the prior existing firm. So we can ostensibly ascribe first-names to the last-names of the firm from The Hobbit. What happened to the other Grubb is not clear, but I have a strong feeling it is none other than Primo (of the drafts, who had a few former incarnations), described as “the greediest hobbit known to history” as well as a glutton. He is really the only other known Grubb character, in the end, and one who seems was on a self-destructive course that may have even seen him dropped from a law firm. He will appear much later.

#1101 Iago Grubb
The other lawyer of the LotR drafts, and how perfectly named! One more instance of Shakespeare’s subtle influence on Tolkien. Much of his commentary was included above, but I think it quite appropriate to close out our first hundred with him.

The next week’s post will be the first of a regular 10-character block, still at 2pts each, ordered as I’ve said, by me.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Just yesterday I was writing in a review that one of the most promising trends in Tolkien studies is the movement towards looking at Tolkien's legendarium as one large whole continuum, rather than focusing just on the individual pieces. This list is one of the best examples of that trend that I can think of!

Reading about Díriel made me wonder whether Findis and the other "lost daughters" of Fingolfin and Indis made the list. I guess I'll find out!

[Dân o Nandor on Anduin]

Findis indeed makes the list, my friend, along with others owing their existence only to the Shibboleth. Stay tuned. (And crafting the larger legendarium is always my goal!)

However, I must report that this week is on hold. I'm not only experiencing substantial computer problems, but, as all those in the Chicago area know, it may very well be a week to remember - nearly 50 years in the waiting (apologies to those in the Philadelphia area). But I actually allowed for a week off, so here it is. Upon return (computer gods willing), a great-grandfather of Hengest & Horsa will kick off the next 100 in appropriate style!

Dân o Nandor on Anduin