#haudh-en-ndengin

[softlysilverfountainsfall]

There is an oft-repeated scene in the Silm when one of Our Heroes has died fighting a noble but hopeless battle that they chose, and someone, somehow buries them properly AND it is specifically mentioned in the text that the grave lay undisturbed until some far future date (usually the breaking of Beleriand).

This happens to Finrod, to Fingolfin (though his grave was only undisturbed until Gondolin fell), and Glorfindel. For other dead characters, this precise formula does not occur.

(Beren and Luthien die natural mortal deaths and no one knows where they are buried, Feanor spontaneously combusts and none of his sons' burials are ever mentioned, and Turgon dies & is presumably "buried" in the collapse of his tower. Hurin, Morwen, and Nienor aren't buried [edit: Morwen was buried]; Finduilas and Turin are buried but it is not specifically mentioned that their graves were undisturbed afterwards. Barahir is buried by Beren but it isn't specifically mentioned that his grave was inviolate. Aredhel's grave isn't mentioned, neither is Thingol's, Dior's, or Nimloth's. Aegnor, Angrod, Orodreth, and Gwindor die in battle against the enemy but in a battle that came to them (Bragollach and of Nargothrond respectively) and was one they had to fight, not a hopeless battle that they chose and their graves' aren't mentioned.)

You will notice that I have not mentioned Fingon, who was famously "beat[en] into the dust with their maces...they trod [his banner] into the mire of his blood," or any who died in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and were dumped in a pile by Morgoth's forces to create the Hill of the Slain/Haudh-en-Ndengin/Hill of Tears/Haudh-en-Nirnaeth.

The Nirnaeth is, of course, the ultimate noble but hopeless battle, and Fingon especially typifies that. (Relatedly, Azahgal's body is successfully borne away by his troops, presumably for a long-lasting burial place.) The Hill of the Slain is meant to be a symbol of Morgoth's power and a place of dreadful carnage and disrespect for those who fell and should break my argument--

But in one sentence Tolkien turns all that around:

"But grass came there and grew again long and green upon that hill, alone in all the desert Morgoth made; and no creature of Morgoth trod thereafter upon the earth beneath which the swords of the Eldar and the Edain crumbled into rust"

--and the symbol of Morgoth's total victory becomes a sacred, untouched grave of heroes.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

The Hill of the Slain by Ted Nasmith

[nerdanaro]

Cairn burial!!!!!

TL;DR, Morgoth is saying “I did this. Fear me.”

Cairns and earthen mounds (like Haudh-en-Elleth, where Finduilas is buried) also alter the natural landscape in a noticeable way, making it so that even if passers-by don’t know exactly who is buried there or what happened, they know it was someone and that the event and/or person was significant. See this article for more on that (it should be open access availability).

We know of cairns built over cremation burials as well as inhumations (burials in the ground), which was the most common burial type in the Northern European Bronze Age (see here). If a body burns accidentally though, there is the risk that the ashes blow away, so that might explain the lack of cairns/organised burial for, for instance, Fëanor.

I mentioned Haudh-en-Elleth (mound of the elf-woman) over Haudh-en-Ndengin (mound of the slain) here because while the first fits the pattern I mentioned earlier, by way of the Haladin erecting a burial mound to memorialise those entombed there, the Mound of the Slain is an exception.

Ordinarily, it would not be uncommon for Germanic Iron Age burials in the context of an armed conflict to contain both the deceased and their weapons and gear. (I reference this period and culture given Tolkien’s academic background in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norse history, as well as my own in Norse history and culture). Giving the bodies and spoils of a defeated host to a deity or supernatural entity is thought to have been an offering to ensure continued victory going forward. This often occurred in a sacred area or in water, whose liminality, due to it being uninhabitable for humans, connected it to the plane where the supernatural operated, like a layer of reality on top of the mortal one.

As far as I can tell, there is no special significance to Morgoth for the location of Haudh-en-Ndengin, nor something he would be making an offering to. Let’s circle back to the memory aspect of cairns, though. I assume a LOT of individuals died at the Nirnaeth. If you were to put them in a pile, gear and all, that would be a TALL pile. It’s also in Anfauglith, which has been razed, creating even more contrast between the mound and the surrounding area. Anyone in the area would be able to see the mound, and be reminded that something immense had happened there. Even if Morgoth and the Nirnaeth had passed out of memory.

This is Morgoth memorialising his deed, the slaughter of a large portion of the Noldorin host. It is a warning against fighting him in the future.

(Also going back to cremation, I imagine there would be a cultural fear of destroying the hroä after death, at least at first after arriving in Beleriand from Valinor. If you die, where will the Valar put your fëa? This, of course, presupposes an attachment to one’s hroä as part of the self along with the fëa, however, and I’m not sure if Tolkien’s Christian sensibilities would agree with me.)

(And a fun linguistic note: the name Haudh-en-ndengin is derived from the Old English hlæw-of-dīeġed! For funsies, the Old Norse equivalent would be Haug-Dáinna, which is more literally ���mound of the dead’.)

I think, after Fëanor's fiery death, the Fëanorians burned their dead. Which went against the custom of burying the dead among the Eldar.

Burial was seen as the acceptable method of returning the hröa to Eru, to be reworked into the Song. But burning was frowned upon as it disintegrated the body Ilúvatar had given. It was considered a deliberate destruction of His creation.

So Fëanor's act of self-combustion and his followers' insistence on well, following in his steps was yet another act of defiance on their part.

[swanmaids]

The woman arrived early one morning, with the pale and sickly dawn. The air was heavy with mists, and she moved so slowly that the scout did not notice her until she was almost upon the entrance to the cave. 

When Annael saw her, he realised first that she was heavily with child. But her face was gaunt and exhausted — there was a weariness about her that he feared rest could not assuage. 

She gave her name as Rían, and told Annael’s folk that she meant to journey to the Haudh-en-Ndengin. Her husband of only two months, and the child’s father, had failed to return to her after the disastrous battle, and not knowing his fate was unbearable. 

But both the womenfolk and the men of Annael’s people begged her to remain at least until the child was born. Neither would survive the journey in such a poor state, they said. 

Rían stayed. Perhaps she was simply too exhausted to go on. 

If she had been one of his people, Annael would have thought she was fading. As it was, he did not know what to think, or how he could help her. 

Once, he overheard one of the midwives coaxing her into speaking a little of her life before. She had been a singer, she admitted, in a voice that was sore from lack of use, and a composer of songs. But she could not sing any longer. It grieved her heart too much. 

Perhaps she could no longer sing, Annael thought, but perhaps she could still play. He bought her an old lyre, in the hopes that it might spark – something.

He heard her later, picking out a tune that he could not recognise; but its meaning reached him nonetheless. It was a mourning song, a funeral dirge  – but for whom, he did not dare to say. Her husband, perhaps, or the whole world. 

Rían’s son was born soon afterwards. If the boy was declared thankfully strong and healthy despite his mother’s suffering while bearing him, childbirth rendered Rían weaker than ever. 

Annael pleaded with her to stay. He would care for her and the child both. The road to the Mound of the Slain would bring only death, and Rían deserved life.

But the birth seemed to have solidified her resolve. She gathered the tiny bundle of things that she arrived with, and the lyre. She placed her swaddled son in Annael’s arms. 

He was to be called Tuor, she told him.

She left on another weak and frigid morning. Annael watched her small shape taking her pained and determined steps forward; until she passed beyond the horizon and he saw her no more.

[brighter-arda]

she was wedded to him two months before he went with Hurin his brother to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad

Then Rian departed from Hithlum, and going to the Haudh-en-Ndengin she laid herself down upon it and died

Rían and Huor for day 5 of @tolkienofcolourweek, prompt romance

Part 24 of toi's indigenous tolkien series

[Image description: a Black Cherokee woman kissing a Black Mvskoke man in front of closed curtains. Text 'Rían & Huor' and 'she was wedded to him two months before he went with Hurin his brother to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad'. Four other photos are on top. 1: flowers, 2: holding hands, 3: blood splatter on ground, 4: old Native burial mound]

[grey-gazania-fic]

The Hearts of the Eldar (Rated T)

“For the sons of Fëanor that yet lived came down suddenly upon the exiles of Gondolin and the remnant of Doriath, and destroyed them. In that battle some of their people stood aside, and some few rebelled and were slain upon the other part aiding Elwing against their own lords (for such was the sorrow and confusion in the hearts of the Eldar in those days).” - J. R. R. Tolkien, “Of the Voyage of Eärendil”, The Silmarillion

Elanor stood in the reeds of Lisgardh in the pre-dawn gloom, waiting in silence for the order to attack. Amrod and Amras had taken a small group of men to scout ahead, and to kill any sentries that they could find. Elwing and her people would have no warning of the coming assault, not if Fëanor’s sons could help it.

Mud squelched beneath her boots as she shifted her weight. She glanced sideways at her brother, who stood beside her, but Seregon was staring straight ahead, his eyes fixed on Maedhros’ tall silhouette. If he had any doubts about his lords’ orders, they didn’t show on his face. He looked every inch the hardened, loyal soldier.

It hadn’t always been like this. Elanor had been a scribe, once. Seregon had been a stonemason. But then Morgoth had sent forth his flames, and the orcs had descended upon Thargelion, and they had fled with their neighbors to the relative safety of Amon Ereb. When Maedhros had begun planning his assault on Angband, Caranthir had trained all his people to fight, scribes and stonemasons included. Many of them had ended on the Haudh-en-Ndengin, but Elanor and her brother had survived, only to follow Fëanor’s sons into battle again a mere thirty years later.

But Doriath had been nothing like the Nírnaeth Arnoediad. It was easy to kill orcs. But killing elves, killing people who looked just like her -- Elanor had done it, fighting back-to-back with Seregon as the Iathrim tried to repel them, because the only alternative was to let herself be slain, but it had been a waking nightmare. She’d been sick afterwards, retching up her breakfast alone in the forest outside Menegroth while the sounds of the battle played over and over in her head.

They had returned to Amon Ereb without the Silmaril, without three of their lords, and without nearly a thousand of her fellow soldiers, well-trained though they had been. She’d considered deserting, then, but Seregon had been disgusted by the idea, calling her a traitor and a coward, saying that he was ashamed to count her as his sister.

We did what had to be done, he’d said. Dior had no right to Prince Fëanor’s creation. He was warned, and he chose not to listen. He brought his death upon himself. We did nothing wrong.

Maybe Seregon believed that, but Elanor couldn’t. Still, she had chosen to stay. If she did leave, where would she go? There would be no welcome for her in any other Elven realm. She was a Kinslayer.

Now she was about to compound her sin.

continue reading on AO3

[undercat-overdog]

Reblogging for @lesbianhaleth reccing @matrose​‘s excellent post on burial customs.

For the later Edain, the Numenoreans practiced embalming and entombment (at least among higher classes, since that’s the group we’re told about) and that the Gondorians also used tombs. In Arnor, we have the example of the Barrowdown burial mounds, where the dead were laid to rest with expensive grave goods.

I like to think that the Gondorians and Arnorians also practiced embalming (at least for the first few centuries; the knowledge might have been lost) and that when the Witch King took over Minas Ithil, he (or S) animated the preserved bodies and sent them against Gondor >:)

So I could see elven archaeologists - or elves that come across bone remains even if they’re not conducting a dig - burying them according to the customs of their people. Or possibly just leaving them as they are, if it seems a respectful way; I don’t think Elves would excavate tombs as we do? Rather houses and buildings and the like.

The mound of Haudh-en-Ndengin, the pile of dead bodies slain at the Nirnaeth, was built by the orcs at the command of Morgoth and it doesn’t seem that there was any attempt to recover any of the dead or their possessions, however it did grow into a green hill.

do you think the elves have something of an anthropology/archeology? how would they approach a corpse / bone remains, found somewhere of historical significance?

I do! They have less to be archaeological about than we do, with a shorter history and many of the possible sites buried underwater (I'm sure some elf academic is cursing the War of Wrath for drowning Beleriand), but preservation and knowledge - the sites that are accessible I bet are investigated, and some of them with the aid of those who were at the site originally!

(Might I recommend here @aipilosse's fantastic WIP In A Strange Land, set in Second Age Tol Eressea, that touches on this.)

For anthropology I have fewer thoughts, other than that field linguistics is definitely a thing. (My own headcanon is that descriptive diachronic linguistics is something that develops more in the 2nd Age, getting rid of (some) of the prescriptivism, with a Chomsky figure arising in Ost-in-Edhil who reminds everyone that syntax exists.)

For corpses/bone remains - these I imagine are treated with respect and with the usual funeral customs; we do have examples of Elves burying the dead when possible (Fingolfin and Glofindel are the two that come to mind, both entombed in a cairn, though that particular method may be Gondolin-specific.)

[alicebeckstrom]

Then Rían departed from Hithlum, and going to the Haudh-en-Ndengin she laid herself down upon it and died. ~ The Silmarillion, Chapter 21 (Rian's Grief by Murrauddin, deviantART)

[quixoticanarchy]

Rían for @tolkiengenweek / ‘solo’ because her thru-hiking skills are underappreciated. Trekking across Hithlum through now-enemy territory, alone, age 22, crossing the mountains and the Anfauglith to die at the Haudh-en-Ndengin? And consider that that incredibly treacherous journey isn’t even her first time fleeing through a horror world

[ID: pencil sketch of Rían from the shoulders up, with braided hair, gazing upward. Mountains are sketched in the background. /end ID]

[thegirlwhohid]

Rían, daughter of Belegund, was the wife of Huor, son of Galdor; and she was wedded to him two months before he went with Húrin his brother to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. When no tidings came of her lord she fled into the wild; but she was aided by the Grey-elves of Mithrim, and when her son Tuor was born they fostered him. Then Rían departed from Hithlum, and going to the Haudh-en-Ndengin she laid herself down upon it and died.

Rían moodboard

Legendarium Ladies April: (26/30)

The Silmarillion characters: (131/?)

Characters’ moodboards: (438/?)

[softlypause]

Thanks so much for your response! Ooooo, I like the idea of the field trip - does it have the effect on Húrin that Morgoth intended? Or does it bring Húrin secret joy to see green grass growing on this grimmest of hills?  

I’m so sorry to hear about your week :(

For the distraction prompt: do you think the clouds ever parted over Angband, even for a moment, to allow the captives a view of the stars? How did they feel and react?

Thank you so much 💙

I’d have to think about this because I don’t know how often they’re allowed outside at all so I’m not sure when or how they’d see the sky even without the cloud cover. And many of the captives are kept underground.

(though in canon Morgoth does take Húrin to see the grotesque monument of sorts to the Nirnaeth. This detail lives rent free in my brain. )

[galadhremmin]

rereading a bit and this quote “By the command of Morgoth the Orcs with great labour gathered all the bodies of those who had fallen in the great battle, and all their harness and weapons, and piled them in a great mound in the midst of Anfauglith; and it was like a hill that could be seen from afar. Haudh-en-Ndengin the Elves named it, the Hill of Slain, and Haudh-en-Nirnaeth, the Hill of Tears. But grass came there and grew again long and green upon that hill, alone in all the desert that Morgoth made; and no creature of Morgoth trod thereafter upon the earth beneath which the swords of the Eldar and the Edain crumbled into rust.”  I think I didn’t really notice this because for a human army getting rid of enemy corpses might have some practical reason-- but this reads as intentionally inspiring grief/terror; building a shining gory mound in the middle of a flat plain instead of leaving the dead where they died exactly so it “can be seen from afar”... and then there’s the theme of Morgoth’s evil deeds being woven into something of beauty again, through the hill created to inspire terror and grief becoming inaccessible to him and his creatures, and the grass covering the bodies in the middle of the dusty wasteland of the Anfauglith, where nothing else grows.  The hill of the slain must have been such a strange sight-- this is a green, untouched hill suddenly in the middle of a landscape described as “thus Ard-galen perished, and fire devoured its grasses; and it became a burned and desolate waste, full of a choking dust, barren and lifeless. Thereafter its name was changed, and it was called Anfauglith, the Gasping Dust.” -- it is like a little fragment of the Ard-galen they loved and fought for rises up to cradle them in death, and a sign that even what seems like complete destruction cannot really stop the return of life.

[quentaarda]

“By the command of Morgoth the Orcs with great labour gathered all the bodies of those who had fallen in the great battle, and all their harness and weapons, and piled them in a great mound in the midst of Anfauglith; and it was like a hill that could be seen from afar. Haudh-en-Ndengin the Elves named it, the Hill of Slain, and Haudh-en-Nirnaeth, the Hill of Tears. But grass came there and grew again long and green upon that hill, alone in all the desert that Morgoth made; and no creature of Morgoth trod thereafter upon the earth beneath which the swords of the Eldar and the Edain crumbled into rust.”

Artwork by Ted Nasmith

[daeronteaches]

Articles in Sindarin

Indefinite articles in English are a and an, the definite article is the. All of the examples are taken from official writings by Tolkien, including Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, and other writings.

There are no indefinite articles in Sindarin. So any word without an article is indefinite by default. Meaning that ‘edhel’ by itself means both elf and an elf.

Definite articles in Sindarin are i for singular words, and in for plural.

So for example:

aran: a king

i aran: the king

in erain: the kings

Genitival article, Sindarin often expresses genitival articles by word order alone. As seen in:

Ennyn Durin: Doors (of) Durin

Aran Moria: Lord (of) Moria

If the second word is a common noun and not a name, the article en (=of the) is used. As seen in the following examples:

Haudh-en-Elleth: Mound of the Elf-maid

Cabed-en-Aras: Leap of the deer

Methed-en-Glad: End of the Woods

orthad en Êl: Rising of the Star

Conin en Annun: princes of the West

Sometimes this genitival article is shortened to e:

Narn e Dinúviel: Tale of the Nightingale

It is usual for the genitival article to get replaced by ‘in’ in plural. Sometimes i also gets used instead of en, but this is uncommon. En can be used for the plural too, though this use is seen infrequently.

Condir i Drann: Mayor of the Shire

Annon-in-Gelydh: Gate (of) the Noldor

Aerlinn-in-Edhil: Hymn (of) the Elves

Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg: Home of the Petty-dwarves

Haudh-en-Ndengin: Hill of the Slain

Ps. Please keep in mind the lenition with i and the nasal mutation with in.

Pps. The hyphens are unnecessary, Tolkien sometimes connects the Sindarin articles with a hyphen or a dot. I’ve also used hyphens, but this isn’t a rule.

[a-funeral-pyre]

Other songs inspired by books/comics/movies/whatever

Yes, I have quite a few! Once again, thanks to @drondskaath for some of the suggestions!

The Lord of the Rings:

-Guardians of Lothlόrien, Dragon Steel

-Gathering in Dol Guldur (full album), Durthang

-Mount Gundabad, Durthang

-The riders of Rohan, Durthang

-When the Istary wizards appeared in Middle Earth, Equitant

-On the wings of Gwaihir, Galadriel

-My mind in Mordor, Lothlöryen

-Hobbits’ song, Lothlöryen

-One Ring, Lothlöryen

-Éowyn, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Sauron’s fury, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Rivendell, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Power of darkness, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Istari, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Khazad-dûm, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Dark army, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Cirith Ungol, Nargothrond

-The nine spectres of the Ring, Nargothrond

-Gondor’s bane, Nargothrond

-Some orcs never yield, Nargothrond

-The fiery banners of Harad, Nargothrond

-Yrch, Nargothrond

-Rivendell, Vordven

-Erc’h, Moriquendi

-Bad hobbits die hard, Wuthering Heights

-Lament for Lόrien, Wuthering Heights

-Into the fire, Don’t Drop the Sword

-In the shadow of Dol Guldur, Rasthir

The Silmarillion:

-Carcharoth (Gwareth en Angband), Carcharoth  Λ. V.

-Armies of Valinor, Galadriel

-Fog in the hills of Anor, Maglor

-Magic of the Eldar, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Canción para Beren, Metal Tribute to Tolkien

-Grond (hammer of the underworld), Nargothrond

-To walk the Dor Daedeloth, Nargothrond

-Upon the mound of slain (Haudh-En-Ndengin), Nargothrond

-Wings of Ancalagon, Nargothrond

-Halls of awaiting, Nargothrond

-Nienna’s cry, Daedeloth

-Nirnaeth, Moriquendi

-Age of Arda, Rasthir

Twilight zone:

-Twilight zone, Iron Maiden

Murders in the Rue Morgue:

-Murders in the Rue Morgue, Iron Maiden

[the-tomb-of-ligeia]

Or as I like to call it,

Haudh-en-Ndengin

The Hill of Slain by Ted Nasmith