Person

Mablung - Ranger of Ithilien

A soldier of Faramir and Ranger of the land of Ithilien during the last years of the Third Age, encountered by Frodo and Sam on their journey to Cirith Ungol.

Farmer Maggot - A well-to-do Hobbit of the Marish

A hobbit who farmed lands in the Marish, in the Eastfarthing of the Shire. He was familiar with Tom Bombadil.

Malbeth the Seer - The visionary of Arthedain

A wise Man who lived in the last years of the realm of Arthedain. Gifted with foresight, he predicted events of the near and far future. He saw that Arvedui would be Arthedain's last King, and predicted Aragorn's passage of the Paths of the Dead, though it lay a thousand years in his own future.

Mardil Voronwë - First of the Ruling Stewards of Gondor

Son of Vorondil the Hunter, and Steward to Kings Eärnil II and Eärnur of Gondor. After Eärnur's loss in Minas Morgul, Mardil became the first Ruling Steward of Gondor.

Marigold Gamgee - The youngest sister of Sam Gamgee

Youngest child of Hamfast Gamgee and Bell Goodchild; a sister of Samwise Gamgee of the Company of the Ring.

Master of Buckland - The head of the Brandybuck family

Hereditary title of the head of the Brandybuck family, descended from Gorhendad Oldbuck, who founded the march-land of Buckland and built Brandy Hall.

Master of the Hall - A title of the head of the Brandybuck family

A title given to the head of the Brandybuck family of Brandy Hall in Buckland, equivalent to 'Master of Buckland'.

Mayor of Michel Delving - The mayor of the Shire’s chief township

The title held by the leader of Michel Delving, the 'capital' of the Shire. Over time, the power of the Mayor grew to encompass all the lands of the Shire.

Mearas - Noblest of the horses of Rohan

In the old north of Middle-earth lived a proud race of wild horses, long-lived, wise and fleet of foot. The legends of Men said that their ancestors had been brought from the West by Béma, their name for the Vala Oromë.

Men - The Afterborn Children of Ilúvatar, The Afterborn, Apanónar, Atani, Big Folk, Big People, The Children of the Sun, Engwar, Fírimar, The Followers, The Heavy-handed, Hildor, The Inscrutable, The Mortals, The Night-fearers, The Second People, The Self-cursed, The Sickly, The Strangers, The Usurpers, The Younger Children of Ilúvatar

The youngest of the races of Arda (with the possible exception of Hobbits), the first Men awoke in the far eastern land of Hildórien as the Sun first rose and the Noldor returned from Valinor. Seeing the sunrise, many of the first Men set out westwards, and so came eventually to Beleriand after some three hundred years of wandering.

Men of Bree - The nearest settled Men to the Shire

In the hard years of the Second Age, a race of Men inhabited the White Mountains far to the south of the Shire, in the land that would one day become Rohan. Groups of these mountaineers began to migrate northwards. Some settled in the region that became Dunland, but others travelled farther still, and coming to a tall wooded hill not far from the ancient Barrow-downs, they founded a settlement that took its name from the hill, Bree.

In appearance, these Men had brown hair, and in stature were short and broad. They seem to have maintained a curious tradition of taking their names from plants and herbs, and many of these surnames are recorded; Appledore, Ferny, Goatleaf, Heathertoes, Rushlight and Thistlewool. Butterbur was another of these plant-names, an important one in Bree, for it was the ancestral name of the keepers of the Prancing Pony inn.

Men of Darkness - Those Men unrelated to the Númenóreans

Men of the east of Middle-earth who fell under the dominion of Morgoth in the First Age, among whose descendants were the Easterlings and the Dunlendings.

Men of Gondor - The people of the South-kingdom

The Men who dwelt in Gondor and defended the western World from Sauron, in part descended from Elendil and his followers, who founded Gondor after the Downfall of Númenor.

Men of the Mark - A name for the Rohirrim

A name for the Rohirrim, the descendants of the Men of the Éothéod who came south with Eorl and founded the Mark in the old Gondorian land of Calenardhon.

Men of Númenor - The Kings of Men

The Númenóreans, the descendants of the Edain of the First Age who were granted the land of Númenor.

Men of the West - The Númenoreans and their descendants

A term used of the Númenoreans and, especially, their descendants who escaped to Middle-earth after the destruction of their home. 'Men of the West' is a direct translation of the Elvish name for these people, Dúnedain.

Men of Westernesse - The Dúnedain

A general term for the Men of Númenor or their descendants, and used especially in Third Age Middle-earth to refer to the Dúnedain.

Meneldil - Royal grandson of Elendil

The son of Anárion and grandson of Elendil, the first King of Gondor to rule in his own name. He was succeeded by his son Cemendur.

Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck - Companion of the Ring and later Master of Buckland

Son of Saradoc Brandybuck, called 'The Magnificent', Merry accompanied Frodo on the Quest of Mount Doom. Captured with his friend Peregrin Took by Orcs, they were separated from the rest of the Company of the Ring, but eventually escaped to become the first mortals for many centuries to encounter the Ents of Fangorn Forest. Merry was present at the destruction of Isengard, and rode to the Battle of the Pelennor with the Rohirrim. There, his deeds won great renown, for with Éowyn of Rohan he defeated and slew the Lord of the Nazgûl.

Mithrandir - Gandalf, the Grey Wanderer

'Grey Wanderer', the name of Gandalf among the Elves.

Morgoth Bauglir - The First Dark Lord

After his theft of the Silmarils and Darkening of Valinor, Morgoth fled the Valar, and returned to Middle-earth with Ungoliant before the beginning of the First Age. In his ancient fortress of Angband, far to the north of Beleriand, he made an Iron Crown for himself, with the Silmarils mounted upon it.

Messenger of Mordor - The emissary of Sauron

A title used of Sauron's ambassador, more properly known as the Mouth of Sauron.

Mouth of Sauron - The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dûr, Messenger of Mordor

"The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm..." - The Return of the King V 10, The Black Gate Opens

A Man of great power and importance in the land of Mordor, the ambassador of Sauron. He was sent by Sauron to treat with the Captains of the West at the Black Gate of Mordor prior to the last battle of the War of the Ring. Had his master won that war, he would have ruled the defeated western lands from a rebuilt Isengard, in the place of Saruman. That was not to be, though, and of his fate after the Downfall of Barad-dûr nothing is known.

Mugwort Family - A family of the Bree-hobbits

A common family name among the Bree-hobbits.

Mûmakil - Monsters out of the Southlands, Elephants, Oliphaunts

A name for the great elephantine beasts of the Harad, and especially those that the Haradrim brought to war in the late Third Age.

Muzgash - An orc of the Tower of Cirith Ungol

An orc serving in the garrison of the Tower of Cirith Ungol, under the command of Shagrat. He was caught up in fighting with Gorbag's Morgul-orcs in the Tower; with Lagduf, he attempted to escape, but was shot as he ran through the gate.

Places

The Marish - A fertile region in the Eastfarthing of the Shire

A fertile but boggy farmland region on the western banks of the River Brandywine, in the Eastfarthing of the Shire.

The Mark - The name among the Rohirrim for their own land

A shortening of Riddermark, the common name for the land of Rohan among the Rohirrim themselves.

Meduseld - The Golden Hall of the King of Rohan

The Golden Hall of Edoras, in which the Kings of Rohan dwelt and held their court.

Methedras - The last peak of the Misty Mountains

The southernmost peak of the Misty Mountains, that lay above Isengard in the valley of Nan Curunír.

Middle-earth - The Mortal Lands of Arda

The great continent on which much of the Silmarillion, and the adventures of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are set. Little is known of the East and South of Middle-earth, or of the far north, but the geography and history of its Western lands are chronicled in great detail.



Midgewater Marshes - The marshland east of the Chetwood

A fly-infested region of marshland in central Eriador, that lay between the Chetwood to the west and the Weather Hills to the east.

Minas Anor - The Tower of the Setting Sun

'Minas Anor' was the original name given to this city, which it held until the capture of Minas Ithil by the Nazgûl in III 2002. After that time, the city was renamed Minas Tirith, the name it retained until the War of the Ring and beyond. For its later history, refer to the entry for Minas Tirith.

Minas Ithil - Isildur's Tower of the Moon

The Tower of the Moon, built by the Gondorians on the borders of Mordor to keep a watch on that land; later captured by the Nazgûl and renamed Minas Morgul

Minas Morgul - The Tower of Sorcery

'Tower of Black Sorcery', the name given to the Gondorian watchtower of Minas Ithil in the Ephel Dúath after its capture by the Nazgûl.

Minas Tirith - Gondor's Tower of Guard

The seven-tiered citadel of the Kings of Gondor, originally named Minas Anor. After the destruction of Osgiliath, Minas Tirith became the seat of power in the South-kingdom.



Mindolluin - Easternmost of the White Mountains

The prominent easternmost peak of the White Mountains, beneath which the citadel of Minas Tirith was built.

Min-Rimmon - Beacon-hill of Gondor

One of the seven beacon-hills of Gondor, on the northern flanks of the White Mountains. With Eilenach and Amon Dîn, Min-Rimmon was one of the oldest beacons, set in place even before the foundation of Rohan.

Mirkwood - Greatest of the forests of Middle-earth

A name of Greenwood the Great, the mighty forest that lay in the lands east of the River Anduin. The name 'Mirkwood' was used of this forest after Sauron, in his guise as the Necromancer, took up his abode at Dol Guldur in its southern regions.

Mirrormere - The hallowed lake of Kheled-zâram

The shining lake in the Dimrill Dale beneath the eastern doors of Khazad-dúm, so called because of the stars reflected in its surface. It was called Kheled-zâram by the Dwarves.

Misty Mountains - The Backbone of Middle-earth

The great mountain chain that ran through the northwest of Middle-earth for a thousand miles, from Carn Dûm in the far north, to Methedras above Isengard in the south.



River Mitheithel - The northern river Men called the Hoarwell

The long river that rose in the icy north of Middle-earth, in the Misty Mountains about a hundred miles north of Rivendell. It flowed southwestwards through the lands that had once been held by the kingdom of Rhudaur, round the woodland region of the Trollshaws. Passing beneath the Last Bridge on the East-West Road, it flowed on into the south, until it met the Glanduin above Tharbad to form the River Gwathló (or Greyflood).

Mithlond - The Grey Havens

The Elvish name of the Grey Havens of Círdan the Shipwright, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Lhûn.

Morannon - The Black Gate

The Black Gate that Sauron built across the entrance of the valley of Udûn, the only opening in the mountainous defences of his Black Land of Mordor.

Mordor - Sauron's Black Land

After the destruction of the strongholds of evil in the north of Middle-earth at the end of the First Age, Sauron fled southwards seeking new lands. At the end of the first millennium of the Second Age, he chose a land walled by mountains, and there built his great fortress of Barad-dûr. After Sauron settled there, the land became known as Mordor (the Black Land) - no record of an earlier name for this region exists.



Morgai - The inner fence of Mordor

A long valley and ridge in the eastern Ephel Dúath, called the 'inner fence' of Mordor.

Morgulduin - The stream of Imlad Morgul

The pale stream that flowed out of the valley of Imlad Morgul, and past the gates of Minas Morgul itself, before passing southwestward through Ithilien and out into the River Anduin.

Morgul Vale - The valley behind Minas Morgul in the Ephel Dúath

Also called Imlad Morgul, the valley of the Morgulduin in the western Ephel Dúath. At its outflow into Ithilien stood Minas Morgul.

Moria -The Black Chasm

The name 'Moria' is often used as a synonym for Khazad-dûm. This is not strictly correct - 'Moria' was not used of the ancient Dwarf-city until after it was deserted by the Dwarves themselves - but by the late Third Age the two names had come to be used interchangeably. The Black Chasm; the name given to Khazad-dûm after its desertion by the Dwarves, after which it became a dark and evil place.

River Morthond - The river of the Blackroot Vale

A river that rose under the shadows of the White Mountains (hence its name, meaning 'black root') and flowed approximately south through the lands of Gondor. It flowed into the Ringló above the ancient port of Edhellond.

Mountain Wall -A poetic name for the Pelóri

"From Evereven's lofty hills
where softly silver fountains fall
his wings him bore, a wandering light,
beyond the mighty Mountain Wall." - From Eärendil was a mariner - The Fellowship of the Ring II 1 Many Meetings

A term that appears just once, in Bilbo's poem Eärendil was a mariner quoted above. The meaning is not completely certain, but it seems to describe the Pelóri, the Mountains of Defence that ranged along the eastern borders of Valinor.

Mount Doom- The Fire-mountain of Orodruin

Orodruin, the volcano in Mordor where the One Ring was forged, and the object of the Quest of Mount Doom, in which the Wise sought to destroy the Ring.

Mount Fang - A name for the tower of Orthanc

A picturesque name for Orthanc, the citadel of the Wizard Saruman. 'Mount Fang' translates Orthanc's name as if it were Elvish, but the meaning 'Cunning Mind' was also possible if the name is interpreted in the old language of the Rohirrim.

Mountains of Shadow - The northern range of the Ered Wethrin

The Ered Wethrin, so named because their towering peaks shut out the sun from the lands of Mithrim and Dor-lómin that lay in Hithlum to the north.

Mountains of Terror - The Ered Gorgoroth

The nightmarish land of peaks and valleys that lay between Dorthonion to the north and Nan Dungortheb to the south. The Mountains of Terror were populated by monstrous creatures of spider-form, the offspring of Ungoliant before she fled into the south and east of the World.

Mundburg - A name for Minas Tirith

The name given to Minas Tirith by the Rohirrim of Rohan in their own tongue.

Things

Mirror of Galadriel - Galadriel’s basin of visions

The magical silver basin of Galadriel. When filled with stream-water, the reflections from its enchanted surface would reveal things from distant places and times.

Mithril - Most precious of metals, Moria-silver, Truesilver

Also called 'truesilver', and many other names besides; the remarkable metal that the Dwarves discovered in the mines of Khazad-dûm. It was supple and easy to work, and could be polished to shimmer like silver that never tarnished, and it was as strong as steel. In Middle-earth, mithril was found nowhere but the Dwarf-mines of Khazad-dûm, though there are indications that it was also found in Númenor and in Aman.





Back to the Encyclopedia of Middle Earth