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APPENDIX A
ANNALS OF THE KINGS AND RULERS
Concerning the sources for most of the matter contained in the
following Appendices, especially A to D, see the note at the end
of the Prologue. The section A III, Durin’s Folk, was probably
derived from Gimli the Dwarf, who maintained his friendship
with Peregrin and Meriadoc and met them again many times in
Gondor and Rohan.
The legends, histories, and lore to be found in the sources are
very extensive. Only selections from them, in most places much
abridged, are here presented. Their principal purpose is to illustrate
the War of the Ring and its origins, and to fill up some of
the gaps in the main story. The ancient legends of the First Age,
in which Bilbo’s chief interest lay, are very briefly referred to,
since they concern the ancestry of Elrond and the Númenórean
kings and chieftains. Actual extracts from longer annals and tales
are placed within quotation marks. Insertions of later date are
enclosed in brackets. Notes within quotation marks are found in
the sources. Others are editorial. 1
The dates given are those of the Third Age, unless they are
marked S.A. (Second Age) or F.A. (Fourth Age). The Third
Age was held to have ended when the Three Rings passed away
in September 3021, but for the purposes of records in Gondor
F.A.1 began on March 25, 3021. On the equation of the dating
of Gondor and Shire Reckoning see Vol. I p. 6 and III pp. 1463–
4. In lists the dates following the names of kings and rulers are
the dates of their deaths, if only one date is given. The sign †
indicates a premature death, in battle or otherwise, though an
annal of the event is not always included.
1 A few references are given by page to this edition of The Lord of the
Rings, and to the hardback 4th (reset 4th edition (1995)) edition of The
Hobbit.