The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Extant c. I 4991
Race
Division
Culture
Pronunciation
glee'rhuin
Meaning
Uncertain2

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About this entry:

  • Updated 1 January 2018
  • This entry is complete

Glirhuin

A seer of Brethil

Túrin's grave-mound stood above the ravines and rapids of Teiglin, and later his mother Morwen was also buried in the same place by Húrin. Above the mound was a marker stone, which also commemorated Túrin's sister Niënor who had died in the waters below.

Glirhuin was a Man of Brethil who was both a seer and a poet, and he made a song about the grave of Húrin's family, and the Stone of the Hapless that marked it. Glirhuin claimed that the stone would stand even if the sea should flood the lands about. After the War of Wrath, the land was broken and the western ocean did indeed rush into those regions, but Glirhuin's prophecy proved true. The Stone of the Hapless remained above the waves as an island, and became known as Tol Morwen, 'Morwen's Isle'.


Notes

1

Glirhuin's dates are very uncertain, and all we know for sure was that he made a song about the Stone of the Hapless, so he must have been alive after its erection in I 499. He may have lived some time after the Stone was raised, but at most a few decades afterward, as his words included a prophecy of events that would unfold less than a century later.

2

Given that Glirhuin was a poet and maker of songs, then the glir- element of his name is surely glír, 'song, poem'. Huin is less certain, having several possible meanings, with none seeming particularly relevant (it can mean 'hearts' for example, or be the plural form of the pronoun 'he'). There may be a connection with the word 'speak' (as apparently in Huorn) though this is necessarily speculative.

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About this entry:

  • Updated 1 January 2018
  • This entry is complete

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