Hareth

By Oshun
 Printer-friendly
Downloadable PDF


Hareth was a daughter of one of the three kindreds of the Elf-friends who came into Beleriand from the West and settled there—the Haladin, called the Second House or the House of Haleth. She was to become the mother and grandmother of important characters in The Silmarillion. A daughter of Halmir of Brethil, she married Galdor of Dorlómin and gave birth to two sons, Húrin and Huor. She is mentioned in both The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin, which qualifies her as somewhat more than a footnote, although still less than a fully developed character. However, if one closely examines the references to Hareth in the texts one might be able to work out more about her than is immediately apparent in a casual first read.

In The Children of Húrin text, Tolkien gives the reader an introduction to Hareth's two sons who are to have major roles within the epic events of the First Age of Middle-earth:

Galdor and Hareth had two sons, Húrin and Huor. Húrin was by three years the elder, but he was shorter in stature than other men of his kin; in this he took after his mother's people, but in all else he was like Hador, his grandfather, strong in body and fiery of mood. But the fire in him burned steadily, and he had great endurance of will. Of all Men of the North he knew most of the counsels of the Noldor. Huor his brother was tall, the tallest of all the Edain save his own son Tuor only, and a swift runner; but if the race were long and hard Húrin would be the first home, for he ran as strongly at the end of the course as at the beginning. There was great love between the brothers, and they were seldom apart in their youth.1

Like so many women within Tolkien's legendarium, Hareth's succinct life history is defined principally by her origins and the deeds of her offspring. Modern readers may be more comfortable with a novelistic style that presents a closer point of view, but the narrative surrounding Hareth within the texts does, however, despite its brevity, give us useful information. Tolkien does not stint on background details in his works. In extrapolating upon how to write believable fantasy, Tolkien emphasizes that the small facts a writer provides to support their subcreation2 play an important role. "The moment disbelief arises," warns Tolkien, "the spell is broken; the magic, or rather, art, has failed."3 In the case of Hareth, she fits into the meticulous genealogical tables of the chieftains of the Edain and their families.

We are given an exact date for her birth (F.A. 420)4 as well as the date of her wedding to Galdor (F.A. 436).5 The date of her marriage highlights a noteworthy fact: at least among the leaders of the Edain, their daughters married young and bore children early. She would have been a barely an adult, a young woman of sixteen years.

Doubtless, by our standards, she would have been a mature sixteen, since the times were hard and their lives were not easy. She was twenty-one when her first son Húrin was born, and she gave birth to Huor three years later.6

Notable Tolkien scholar Dimitra Fimi explains that "[t]he encyclopaedic detail that accompanies many of these cultures make Tolkien's mythology read like history, like a vast tapestry of interweaved historical narratives."7 Although there is no explicit statement of such in the texts, the marriages of Hareth and her brother Haldir could appear to this reader as perhaps an aspect of an important political alliance between two of the main families among the Men of Beleriand. Or one could suppose it is mere serendipity that Hareth and her brother Haldir of the House of Haleth marry a brother and sister (Galdor and Glóredhel) of the House of Hador. However, although one finds nothing describing the practice of prearranged marriages among the First Age Edain, these particular unions suggest by their timing and setting to have been more possibly arranged than spontaneous. It is not likely they would have been constant companions and neighbors growing up together. We read also in the Grey Annals8 that Hareth's husband, called Galdor the Tall, heir to the leadership of the People of Hador,9 was a mere three years older than her. These people were swift to reach adulthood and often thrust at young ages into trying and challenging situations.

The only children of Hareth and Galdor were Húrin and Huor, who were caught up at a very young age in the catastrophic events surrounding the Dagor Bragollach (Battle of Sudden Flame) and later the Nirnaeth Arnoediad (Battle of Unnumbered Tears). (See the biography Huor.10 ) For the remainder of the narrative of the Elder Days, their travels, challenges, tragedies, and great deeds, and those of their progeny, are to have an enormous effect on the history of Middle-earth:

. . . the sons of Galdor [and Hareth] were Húrin and Huor; and the son of Húrin was Túrin the Bane of Glaurung; and the son of Huor was Tuor, father of Eärendil the Blessed. The son of Boromir was Bregor, whose sons were Bregolas and Barahir; and the sons of Bregolas were Baragund and Belegund. The daughter of Baragund was Morwen, the mother of Túrin, and the daughter of Belegund was Rían, the mother of Tuor. But the son of Barahir was Beren One-hand, who won the love of Lúthien Thingol's daughter, and returned from the Dead; from them came Elwing the wife of Eärendil, and all the Kings of Númenor after.11

Thomas Leitch, a professor of English and film studies at the University of Delaware describes the "web of place names, family trees, interlocking generational histories,"12 which make Tolkien's world feel authentic and yet make it so difficult to adapt to film. Hareth who performs no direct action or has any dialogue in the texts is, nevertheless, one of many essential background characters who contribute to that complexity and thus the convincing nature of Tolkien's invented world.



Works Cited

  1. The Children of Húrin, "The Childhood of Túrin."
  2. "Specifically J. R. R. Tolkien's word for "the action or process of creating a fully realized and internally consistent imaginary (or ‘secondary') world." "Subcreation," English Oxford Living Dictionaries, accessed April 3, 2019.
  3. Tolkien, "On Fairy Stories," Tree and Leaf (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1975), 36.
  4. The War of the Jewels, The Later Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Men into the West."
  5. The War of the Jewels, The Grey Annals.
  6. The War of the Jewels, The Grey Annals.
  7. Dimitra Fimi, "Why Build New Worlds," The Times Literary Supplement, September 19, 2017, accessed March 30, 2019.
  8. The War of the Jewels, The Grey Annals.
  9. The Silmarillion, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin."
  10. Robinka, "Character Biography of Huor," Silmarillion Writers Guild, March 2015, accessed 3 April 2019.
  11. The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Men into the West."
  12. Thomas Leitch, Film Adaptation and Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2007,) Kindle edition.


Read comments on this essay | Leave a comment on this essay
(You must have an account on the SWG archive to comment on essays. Click here to register for an account.)





About the Author

Oshun's Silmarillion-based stories may be found on the SWG archive.



Return to Character of the Month Index
Return to References Home