Arda Kompendium

Théoden

Théoden Ednew; King of Rohan; the King of the Golden Hall

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Name and Lineage

Théoden — Ednew, “the Renewed”, taken at his recovery from the shadow of Gríma — was the son of Thengel, and through his mother Morwen a kinsman of the Gondorian House of Eorl: the last King of Rohan of the First Line of the Mark before the kingship passed to the house of Éomer. He was King during the years of the War of the Ring, lord of the great hall Meduseld in Edoras.

The Shadow of Wormtongue

  • At the opening of the War of the Ring, Théoden, aging and weary, lay under the spell of his counsellor Gríma Wormtongue, the secret servant of Saruman, who whispered that the true enemies of Rohan were its old friends. The King had grown feeble, “sitting on his throne, and to most men the days had darkened”, while Rohan’s strength ebbed.
  • The healing: when Gandalf came to Edoras, he cast the shadow from Théoden’s mind and set him free of Gríma, and the King rose again in vigour — hence his title the Renewed. Riding forth from the Golden Hall, he led Rohan’s riders against Saruman’s Orcs at the Fords of Isen and took his host to Helm’s Deep.

The War of the Ring

  • Helm’s Deep: Théoden fought in the great battle at the Hornburg, where the armies of Rohan, though broken in men, turned the tide; Gandalf came with Erkenbrand, and the trees of Fangorn, to the rescue, and Saruman’s power in the North was overthrown.
  • The Ride of the Rohirrim: heeding Aragorn’s token of the Red Arrow, Théoden rode with all Rohan’s strength to the aid of Gondor, six thousand horsemen crossing the plains to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. In the hour of the battle he fell, slain by the dread of the Dark Captain — but not before his charge had broken the hosts of Mordor. His last words were: “I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now be ashamed” — and Éowyn and Merry slew the Captain that had unhorsed him.
  • He was buried with honour in the mound of Edoras, and his nephew Éomer succeeded him, the kingship of the Mark renewed in a new line.

Significance

Théoden is the pattern of the falling and restored king of the later age — broken by an enemy’s whisper, renewed by Gandalf’s counsel, and heroic in the last defence of Gondor; the horse-lord whose Ride of the Rohirrim turns the Pelennor, “the semblance of the Whiteriders of old”.

Verknüpfte Seiten

ÉomerÉowynGrímaSarumanGandalfAragornRohanGondorMinas TirithConcordance — A to ZRohirrimThe MearasShadowfaxThe Kings of RohanThe Battle of the Pelennor FieldsThe Ride of the RohirrimSimbelmynëHelm's DeepEdorasThe WestfoldHelm HammerhandErkenbrandThe Kings of RohanGhan-buri-GhanThéodred
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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