Arthad by oshun

Arthad was born during the First Age of Middle-earth into the First House of the Edain (which is the name given to these newcomers or Secondborn¹ children of Eru who came from the east into Beleriand where they encountered the Elves and formed alliances with them against Morgoth during the Wars of Beleriand). The First House, or House of Bëor, is so named because it was the first grouping of these Mortal Men to meet Finrod Felagund and enter into a lasting relationship with him and his people. Learning to love Finrod and taking him for their lord, they remained "ever after loyal to the House of Finarfin."²

We know practically nothing about Arthad as an individual. The "Index of Names" to The Silmarillion only tells us that Arthad is "[o]ne of the twelve companions of Barahir in Dorthonion."³

We are, however, able to imagine what he might have looked like. The people of the House of Bëor are described as "dark or brown of hair, with grey eyes." We further are told of their capabilities and inclinations: "they were eager of mind, cunning-handed, swift in understanding, long in memory, and they were moved sooner to pity than to laughter."⁴ In other words these people were intelligent, good craftsmen, analytical, serious (or somewhat dour), and unlikely to forget or disregard promises made or received. Arthad is representative of unnamed thousands of the Edain who participated and lost their lives in the heroic if futile resistance led by the Noldor against Morgoth in the First Age.

The "long in memory" part is significant in that it establishes the ongoing loyalty of the House of Bëor as Elf-friends and their sworn loyalty to the House of Finarfin. It also means that it should have come as no surprise to Felagund when Beren shows up in Nargothrond holding the ring of his father Barahir with his seemingly suicidal determination to steal a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth.

The story of that ring is itself evidence of the loyalty of the House of Bëor. Long before Beren came knocking on Finrod’s door, and after nearly four hundred years of uneasy peace during the Siege of Angband, war breaks out in Beleriand with Morgoth’s launching of the Dagor Bragollach (Sindarin for the Battle of Sudden Flame):

Then suddenly Morgoth sent forth great rivers of flame that ran down swifter than Balrogs from Thangorodrim, and poured over all the plain; and the Mountains of Iron belched forth fires of many poisonous hues, and the fume of them stank upon the air, and was deadly.⁵

Naturally, Barahir and his followers remember their duty to their sworn liege Finrod Felagund.

Morgoth’s assault hit the defenses of the House of Finarfin hardest. Finrod’s brothers Angrod and Aegnor were killed and Bregolas, lord of the House of Bëor, fell alongside them, with the largest part of his warriors. His brother Barahir engaged in battle to the west of them near the Pass of Sirion where Finrod had been cut off from his troops. He certainly would have fallen. But Barahir with a small company was able to surround Finrod with a wall of spears and rescue him, losing many of their company. In gratitude and appreciation for the magnitude of their losses and the gift of his life, Finrod took an oath of lasting friendship to Barahir and presented him with a ring telling him to present to him if he or his own should encounter the need of Finrod’s aid in the future.⁶

Barahir, who at the death of his father Bregolas had become the new head of his house, tried valiantly to defend their land and people against Morgoth’s onslaught at a horrific cost of lives: "Outlaws without hope they became, a desperate band that could not escape and would not yield, for their dwellings were destroyed, and their wives and children captured, slain, or fled."⁷ Finally, Barahir was left with only twelve companions: his son Beren and his nephews Baragund and Belegund, and nine loyal kinsmen, Radhruin, Dairuin, Dagnir, Ragnor, Gildor, Gorlim, Urthel, Hathaldir, and the subject of this character biography, Arthad:⁸

But still there lived in hiding cold
undaunted, Barahir the bold
of land bereaved, of lordship shorn
who once a prince of Men was born
and now an outlaw lurked and lay
in the hard heath and woodland gray
and with him clung his faithful men
but Beren his son and other ten.⁹

They managed to survive for a period time in Dorthonion near Tarn Aeluin, until they were finally betrayed by one of their own company. Gorlim, called the Unhappy, ensnared by an evil spell of Sauron consisting of a false promise that he might save his beloved wife, reveals their hiding place. (See Gorlim the Unhappy by Robinka.¹⁰ ) Only Beren escaped the massacre, as he was away on an errand when their hiding place was raided.¹¹

We are not told if Arthad was married or single, if he fathered any children, or even his age at the time of his death. We know only that he was brave and loyal, one of a desperate band of intrepid heroes, "hunted like wild beasts," whose names were "long remembered in the songs of the Noldor."¹²

Works Cited

1. Also called the "Younger Children of Ilúvatar, Men." The Silmarillion, "Index of Names."
2. The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Men into the West."
3. The Silmarillion, "Index of Names."
4. The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Men into the West."
5. The Silmarillion, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin."
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Lays of Beleriand, Lay of Leithian, "Canto II."
10. Robinka, "Gorlim the Unhappy," Silmarillion Writers' Guild, August 2019, accessed September 1, 2019.
11. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
12. The Silmarillion, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin."