Curated category
The Lord of the Rings characters
- Company of the RingIn the dark lands of Mordor, nine shadowy figures known as Black Riders or Ringwraiths ride in silence. They are the enemy that demands a counterforce. J.R.R.
- Frodo BagginsFrodo Baggins is a hobbit of the Shire who, on the 22nd of September, shares a birthday with his cousin Bilbo. That shared birthday is one small thread in a…
- BoromirBoromir, eldest son of Gondor's ruling Steward, arrived at Rivendell on foot after a journey of a hundred and eleven days.
- Pippin TookPeregrin Took is the youngest of the four hobbits who walk out of the Shire and into the greatest war Middle-earth has ever seen.
- ElrondElrond Half-elven stood beside Círdan at the moment Gil-galad fell, watched Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, and then urged Isildur, right there…
- FaramirFaramir is the younger son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, and in Tolkien's telling, the one character most like the author himself.
- Merry BrandybuckMeriadoc Brandybuck, the hobbit the world knows simply as Merry, begins The Lord of the Rings as a conspirator. Long before Frodo Baggins set foot on the…
- ShelobShelob was there, Tolkien writes, "before Sauron, and before the first stone of Barad-dûr." She is the last child of Ungoliant to trouble the world.
- Balin (Middle-earth)The year Balin turned seven, the dragon Smaug sacked Erebor. Dwarves fled into exile while their father Fundin later died in the Battle of Azanulbizar.
- GlorfindelGlorfindel is one of J. R. R. Tolkien's oldest characters, his name first set down in drafts written around 1916 to 1917.
- SarumanSaruman the White arrives in Middle-earth as one of five angelic emissaries, dispatched by the godlike Valar to challenge the dark lord Sauron without…
- GandalfGandalf the Grey, one of the most recognized figures in twentieth-century fantasy literature, first appeared as a name borrowed from a list of dwarves in an…
- Bilbo BagginsBilbo Baggins, a creature of habit and comfort, was not the sort of person anyone expected to change history. He smoked his pipe, ate his meals on schedule…
- Gríma WormtongueTolkien describes Gríma Wormtongue as "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face, and heavy lidded eyes" and a "long pale tongue." In Edoras, the seat…
- DenethorDenethor II, the 26th ruling Steward of Gondor, dies by suicide in a burning city while the armies of Mordor hammer at the gates.
- ThéodenThéoden, King of Rohan and Lord of the Mark, first appears in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a ruler who has already lost himself.
- ÉomerÉomer appears at line 1959 of Beowulf as a king descended from Offa of Mercia. J. R. R. Tolkien had studied that poem at length, and he carried the name…
- AragornAragorn first appears in The Lord of the Rings as a scruffy, travel-worn stranger going by the name Strider, nursing a drink at an inn in Bree.
- SauronSauron is the main antagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, a figure who rules the land of Mordor and covets dominion over all of Middle-earth.
- IsildurIsildur carried a stolen fruit through a royal court in disguise, bleeding from wounds he suffered escaping with it. That fruit was all that remained of…
- ÉowynÉowyn of Rohan rode into the Battle of the Pelennor Fields under a false name. She had taken the alias Dernhelm, traveling among the Riders of Rohan with her…
- Samwise GamgeeSamwise Gamgee is crouching beneath a window at Bag End when the wizard Gandalf discovers him. He has been listening to his employer Frodo Baggins discuss…
- TreebeardGandalf calls Treebeard "the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the Sun upon this Middle-earth." That single description raises a question worth…
- GaladrielGaladriel is one of the most elaborately imagined figures in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, appearing across The Lord of the Rings, The…
- Gimli (Middle-earth)Gimli, son of Glóin, is a fictional Dwarf warrior in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and one of the primary characters in that story.
- ArwenArwen Undómiel was already more than 2,700 years old the first time Aragorn saw her. She is a fictional character in J. R. R.
- GollumGollum is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, and he may be the most pitiable monster in the history of English…
- LegolasLegolas, a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm, appears in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as one of nine companions chosen to carry out the most…
- NazgûlThe Nazgûl did not exist when J. R. R. Tolkien sat down to write The Lord of the Rings. The figure in dark clothes riding through the early chapter "Three is…
- Tom BombadilTom Bombadil first appeared in print in a poem published in The Oxford Magazine in 1934. He was already married to Goldberry and already the master of a…