Huan

Name and Nature

Huan — the Hound of Valinor, the greatest wolf-hound of the Valar, whom the Quenta calls “the foremost of all the hounds of Valinor”, given by Oromë to Celegorm. The doom of his fate was laid upon him: he would speak but thrice in his life, and at the last die by the wolf Carcharoth.

Deeds in the Tale

• The turn against his master: When Celegorm and Curufin carried off Lúthien, the noble hound — moved by the love of the maiden and the justice of the tale — turned against his own master’s counsel and freed her, and guided her to the isle of the werewolves. His keenness: to Huan —: he could speak (thrice) with the voice of his choice, and held dominion over wolf-kind by the grace of the Valar.
• The overthrowing of Sauron: At the Isle of Werewolves, when Sauron’s wolf-lord Draugluin came out and fell, and Sauron himself rode forth, Huan contended with the greatest of Morgoth’s servants and prevailed — driving him to his castle and forcing him, in the shape of a vampire, to flee; the isle was freed, and Finrod’s body and the prisoners delivered.
• The slaying of Carcharoth: In the Doriath chase, after the wolf Carcharoth (blazing with the swallowed Silmaril) broke ruin into the realm, Huan and Beren pursued it; and at the last, in the thickets of the woods, Huan fought and slew Carcharoth — and, as the doom foretold, died of its venom and its bite — the third speech — he.

Significance

Huan is the “great dog” of the mythology — the loyal creature whose instinct for right overbears even the will of his Fëanorian master, and whose might (an animal of the Valar) humbles the greatest of the Dark: the folk-tale root (a grateful animal hero) that Tolkien wove into the most courtly romance of the age.

Related

• Celegorm
• Beren
• Lúthien
• Sauron
• Carcharoth
• Oromë
• Werewolves