In "The Lord of the Rings", it is told that after this Gollum left the Misty Mountains to search for the "thief Baggins" who had stolen his Ring. Sauron learned from Gollum that the One Ring was in the Shire and owned by a Baggins. Gollum was released by Sauron. Gollum then again went to search for his Ring. Gollum found the Fellowship in Moria and followed them. Frodo and Sam captured Gollum, and Gollum promised to lead them into Mordor. He later tried to trick them, leaving them with the spider Shelob. Gollum attacked Frodo on Mount Doom, and took back the Ring. But Gollum was careless and fell into the volcano, which killed him and destroyed the One Ring.
Ancalagon the Black is a dragon. He appears in the "Silmarillion". Ancalagon was made by Morgoth, and was the biggest and most powerful of all dragons. He was killed by Eärendil, in the War of Wrath in the First Age. When he fell, he crushed the Towers of Thangodrim, heralding the end of Morgoth's tyranny.
Glaurung is a dragon. He appears in the "Silmarillion". Glaurung was a dragon made by Morgoth. He was the first dragon ever created, and he was extremely powerful. He was killed in the First Age by Túrin Turambar.
Smaug is a dragon. He appears in "The Hobbit". Smaug attacked the Lonely Mountain, killed the dwarves living there, and took their treasure and home. Later in the book Smaug was killed by Bard the Bowman.
Beorn is a shape-shifter. He usually is like a big man, but he can change to become a bear. He lives between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood. He helped at the "Battle of the Five Armies".
The Nazgûl, Ringwraiths or Úlairi are servants of Sauron. They were human kings and leaders in the Second Age. Sauron gave to them nine of the Rings of Power. With time they became like undead ghosts. They are invisible, but their eyes can sometimes be seen as a red light. They wear black cloaks, and usually ride black horses. Later in the "Lord of the Rings" they ride winged creatures called "fell beasts". When riding a fell beast they are also called "Winged Nazgûl".
The Witch-king of Angmar, also known as Lord of the Nazgûl or the Black Captain is the leader of the Nazgûl. He was the commander of Minas Morgul. He was killed in the "Battle of the Pelennor Fields" by Éowyn and Meriadoc Brandybuck.
Khamûl is one of the Ringwraiths, and the only Ringwraith whose name is given by Tolkien. He was called the Black Easterling, and was the commander of the fortress Dol Guldur.
Shelob is a giant spider-like creature. She appears in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". Shelob stings Frodo Baggins, but is wounded by Samwise Gamgee.
Treebeard is an "Ent", a tree-like being. He and other Ents live in the forest Fangorn. In the War of the Ring Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took come to Fangorn and meet Treebeard. This causes the Ents to go out and fight against the wizard Saruman in his fortress Isengard. The Ents are accompanied by an army of "Huorns" (normal trees that have come alive). After Isengard is conquered, the Huorns go to Helm's Deep, to help the Rohirrim there fight and win against Saruman's army.
There have been many adaptations of Tolkien's books, for example films like The Lord of the Rings movie series. In them characters appear that were newly created and are not in Tolkien's works.
Tauriel is an elf from Mirkwood that appears in The Hobbit movie series.
Feudalism
Feudalism is a system of land ownership and duties. It was used in the Middle Ages. With feudalism, all the land in a kingdom was the king's. However, the king would give some of the land to the lords or nobles who fought for him, called vassals. These gifts of land were called fiefs.
Under feudalism, taxes were not paid with money. They were paid in products and services. Presents and taxes had to be given to the lords by their vassals. At harvest time, the vassals gave shares of their crops to the lords. The vassals would grind their grain at the noble's granaries. They would give part of the grain to their lord. When animals were killed for food, part of the meat was given to the lords. The lords promised to give protection, peace, and safety to their vassals.
Manors were completely owned by the nobles. They were given from one generation to another. The noble's firstborn son took it all when his father died. Each manor had its own pasture lands, mill, wine press, church, and village. A manor had to let many people live there. Lords gave their servants food and a place to sleep, but they did not pay their servants money.
The villein was in a poorer class. They had to serve the lords, but were free in other ways. They had work to do for the lord or the town. Then they went back to their little houses with floors made of earth and a thatched roof. On the walls of their houses, the villeins hung meats, tools, and dried vegetables.
A villein was more free than slaves or serfs, but they still were not completely free. They could not move or marry if the lord didn't say yes. They also could not leave the manor lands if the lord said no. If they escaped, they could run away to a town where they could try to live quietly without being known, until he is discovered. If they did this, they become a free men. If they wanted to help the Catholic Church, they needed special permission. As a member of the church, their position could get higher. However, if this did not work, they could join a band of outlaws.
The serfs were in the lowest class. They were only a little better than slaves. They could not be sold away from the land, but were always sold "with" the land.
But villeins and serfs had rights as well. They could cultivate grain and vegetables for sale, and the lord had duty to protect them and provide them land to cultivate. If they got wealthy enough, they could buy their freedom from the lord. They also did not need to serve in levy (that is: army mustered up by conscription) and they did not need to pay state taxes. They usually paid 10% of their income to the Church and 10% to the feudal lord, which was called a tithe.
According to Karl Marx, feudalism was the stage of society before capitalism and after slavery. When the lords and the serfs fought, feudalism ended and capitalism came into being. However, instead of the lords exploiting the serfs, now it was the bourgeoisie exploiting the proletariat.
Leo III of Armenia
Leo (or Leon) III of Armenia (c.1236-1289) was king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, ruling from 1270 to 1289. He was the son of Hethum I of Armenia and Queen Isabella of Armenia.
In 1262 Leo married Keran (Kir Anna), the daughter of Prince Hethum of Lampron.
In 1266 Leo was captured and his younger brother Thoros killed while fighting the Mamluk invaders. Leo was ransomed by his father, who gave up the throne for him shortly after. He was known as a pious king, devoted to Christianity.
In 21 years of marriage Leo had 15 children by his wife Keran, eight sons and seven daughters. Two sons and two daughters died at an early age:
5 of his 15 children, Hethum, Thoros, Sembat, Constantine, and Oshin, later became the Armenian kings, who often fought each other to gain the throne.
He was succeeded by his son Hethum II.
Armens
Armens (Armenian: Արմեններ, Առամեններ), were Armenian tribes, the people are called Arman, Armenic or Armanen. They correspond with the Hayasa-Azzi Tribes. The Armans united with the tribes of Hayasi. Recent linguistic studies present strong evidence that the Indo-European language group originates in Anatolia. According to most accounts, the Armens were generally tall, blond-haired, and blue-eyed in appearance, in contrast to their Urartian cousins who tended to be slighter with black hair and black eyes. The Urartian state, which existed there prior to the coming of the
Indo-European-speaking "Armen" tribes from the west, was a federation of many peoples.