The Green Book of the White Downs: Migrations and monuments: Part 9

Migrations and monuments: the story of the First Age in Eriador and Rhovanion

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“Migrations and monuments” quick links:

📗 Part 9] “Where dead men rest” – Barrow building of the First Age

“They heard of the Great Barrows, and the green mounds, and the stone-rings upon the hills and in the hollows among the hills.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Book One Chapter 7: In the House of Tom Bombadil)

In “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” the Barrow-downs loom dangerously over Frodo and his friends’ journey between the Shire and Bree. As a story-point they highlight that the Hobbits are out of depth in the wilds outside of their homeland. Situated next to another dangerous place, the Old Forest, the area has gained an ill-reputation by the Third Age.

“In the days of Argeleb II the plague came into Eriador from the South-east, and most of the people of Cardolan perished, especially in Minhiriath. The Hobbits and all other peoples suffered greatly, but the plague lessened as it passed northwards, and the northern parts of Arthedain were little affected. It was at this time that an end came of the Dúnedain of Cardolan, and evil spirits out of Angmar and Rhudaur entered into the deserted mounds and dwelt there.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers)

In fact those spirits were directed to the area by a malevolent being on purpose:

“The Witch-king had now a clearer understanding of the matter. He had known something of the country long ago, in his wars with the Dúnedain, and especially of the Tyrn Gorthad of Cardolan, now the Barrow-downs, whose evil wights had been sent there by himself.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Third Age – IV: Hunt for the Ring)

But the Barrows were not always an evil place and they were originally built as lasting dwelling places for the honoured dead of the Men heading westwards in their migration during the First Age.

Barrows are burial sites on our (real) prehistoric landscape. It is known that Tolkien would visit one situated along a prehistoric route called the Ridgeway. The long-barrow there was Wayland’s Smithy and Tolkien took his children for a picnic there and also to a nearby site with prehistoric archaeology: the White Horse, UffingtonCastle and Dragon’s Hill.

I would recommend the following websites to get a better understanding of Barrows:

📜 English Heritage: “Long Barrows and Broken Bones”
📜 Historic England: “Prehistoric Barrows and Burial Mounds”
📜 National Trust: “Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology”

In Middle-earth, the Barrow-downs are known as “Tyrn Gorthad” in Sindarin. In several of Tolkien’s works he clearly links the Barrows of this area with the First Age and also the migration of Men towards Beleriand. The Index of “Unfinished Tales” lists them as the following:

“Barrow-downs
Downs east of the Old Forest, on which were great burial-mounds said to have been built in the First Age by the forefathers of the Edain before they entered Beleriand. See Tyrn Gorthad.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Index)

This is further emphasised in Appendix A of “The Lord of the Rings”:

‘It is said that the mounds of Tyrn Gorthad, as the Barrow-downs were called of old, are very ancient, and that many were built in the days of the old world of the First Age by the forefathers of the Edain, before they crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand, of which Lindon is all that now remains. Those hills were therefore revered by the Dúnedain after their return; and there many of their lords and kings were buried. [Some say that the mound in which the Ring-bearer was imprisoned had been the grave of the last prince of Cardolan, who fell in the war of 1409.]’

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers)

In each of these quotes the Barrows are part of an ancient history of a migration long ago. The Barrows become a site of memory, though due to the arrival of the Barrow-wights, also a place of terror and fear.

One thing that is not clear in Tolkien’s works is which of the three Houses first placed their dead in Barrows in the area. In terms of location it would make sense that the northerly migration route across the Anduin and over/around the Misty Mountains into Eriador would likely arrive closest to where the Barrow-downs are situated. That would mean the Houses of Bëor and Hador were the Barrow-builders, though from evidence below, we’ll see that the House of Haleth build barrows. That opens the question: just who was buried there but that is completely unknown. We know Bëor made it safely over Ered Luin because he is the first of Men to speak with Finrod Felagund. We also know that people associated with the leadership of the other Houses, such as Marach, Haldad and Haleth, arrive in Beleriand. The likely conclusion is that we have named leaders of the Men who migrated westwards, we don’t have them all. The barrows could be for sub-leaders amongst the groups. And the building of barrows at Tyrn Gorthad was not restricted to just the first migrations of the First Age, since the Dúnedain laid “their lords and kings” to rest there too.

I mentioned above that we have one example from the First Age of a Barrow burial and this takes place in Beleriand after the House of Haleth have settled:

“And Haleth dwelt in Brethil until she died; and her people raised a green mound over her in the heights of the forest, Tûr Haretha, the Lady-barrow, Haudh-en-Arwen in the Sindarin tongue.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion (Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 17: The Coming of the Men into the West)

In the Haudh-en-Arwen (“Lady-barrow”) we have our first clear detail of Barrow construction during the First Age and also the name of the occupant, Haleth herself. Barrow building continued well into the Third Age. The lands of Beleriand were of course lost, but during the Second Age the survivors of Men from those lands who became the Dúnedain (“West-men”) and later known as the Rangers of the North continued to add Barrows at Tyrn Gorthad. They weren’t the only Barrow builders in Eriador and Rhovanion.

In Rohan, the Eorlingas or Rohirrim (Horse-lords) were using Barrows for the burial places of Kings and their families into the late Third Age. When Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas reach the capital Edoras they see these Barrows:

‘Look!’ said Gandalf. ‘How fair are the bright eyes in the grass! Evermind they are called, simbelmynë in this land of Men, for they blossom in all the seasons of the year, and grow where dead men rest. Behold! we are come to the great barrows where the sires of Théoden sleep.’ ‘Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right,’ said Aragorn. ‘Many long lives of men it is since the golden hall was built.’

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Book Three Chapter 6: The King of the Golden Hall)

The cultural practice had been long in place before their arrival, as is seen clearly here in regards to Helm Hammerhand:

‘Helm was brought from the Hornburg and laid in the ninth mound. Ever after the white simbelmynë grew there most thickly, so that the mound seemed to be snow-clad. When Fréaláf died a new line of mounds was begun.’

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers)

The symbolic flower Simbelmynë is associated in Rohan with its abundant growing around tombs and graves, and hence why the flower’s name means “Evermind” which denotes remembrance. It is a Memento Mori (“Memory of death”) of sorts growing in a site of memory.

In Peter Jackson’s film “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” we see the consequences of Saruman’s manipulations against the Rohirrim with the death and burial of King Théoden’s only son, Théodred. In Tolkien’s books this occurred off the page and long before Gandalf and company arrived in Edoras but plays a role in the Extended Edition of the second of Jackon’s films in two scenes: “The Funeral of Théodred” and “Simbelmynë on the Burial Mounds”.

The use of Barrows as places of burial is clearly an early development in the history of Men and continues through the ages. We will never know which of the Houses were the initial builders of the Barrows at Tyrn Gorthad, but it is a remarkable legacy left on the landscape which held long-lasting relevance for the peoples of Middle-earth.

For an academic article that looks at the Barrow-downs, I would recommend:

📗 Deborah Sabo’s “Archaeology and the Sense of History in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth” which is listed in the Bibliography at the end of this blog essay here and you can find published in Mythlore online here.

After a long journey, we head slowly towards a conclusion. We’ve seen the westwards migration of various groups and we know that the destruction of Beleriand at the end of the First Age leads to mass migration eastwards from there. But there is earlier migration that leads to further settlement of Eriador and Rhovanion…

Next:
📜 Part 10] “strife amongthemselves” – returning to Eriador and Rhovanion

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“Migrations and monuments” quick links:

Saturday 8 July 2023

Migrations and monuments: Part 9

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