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appendix a 1363
that the mound in which the Ring-bearer was imprisoned had
been the grave of the last prince of Cardolan, who fell in the war
of 1409.]’
‘In 1974 the power of Angmar arose again, and the Witch-king
came down upon Arthedain before winter was ended. He captured
Fornost, and drove most of the remaining Dúnedain over
the Lune; among them were the sons of the king. But King
Arvedui held out upon the North Downs until the last, and then
fled north with some of his guard; and they escaped by the
swiftness of their horses.
‘For a while Arvedui hid in the tunnels of the old dwarf-mines
near the far end of the Mountains, but he was driven at last by
hunger to seek the help of the Lossoth, the Snowmen of Forochel.
1 Some of these he found in camp by the seashore; but
they did not help the king willingly, for he had nothing to offer
them, save a few jewels which they did not value; and they were
afraid of the Witch-king, who (they said) could make frost or
thaw at his will. But partly out of pity for the gaunt king and his
men, and partly out of fear of their weapons, they gave them a
little food and built for them snow-huts. There Arvedui was
forced to wait, hoping for help from the south; for his horses
had perished.
‘When Círdan heard from Aranarth son of Arvedui of the
king’s flight to the north, he at once sent a ship to Forochel to
seek for him. The ship came there at last after many days,
because of contrary winds, and the mariners saw from afar the
little fire of drift-wood which the lost men contrived to keep
alight. But the winter was long in loosing its grip that year; and
1 These are a strange, unfriendly people, remnant of the Forodwaith,
Men of far-off days, accustomed to the bitter colds of the realm of
Morgoth. Indeed those colds linger still in that region, though they lie
hardly more than a hundred leagues north of the Shire. The Lossoth
house in the snow, and it is said that they can run on the ice with
bones on their feet, and have carts without wheels. They live mostly,
inaccessible to their enemies, on the great Cape of Forochel that shuts
off to the north-west the immense bay of that name; but they often camp
on the south shores of the bay at the feet of the Mountains.