Thengel

**Thengel** was a Rohirrim King who ruled the kingdom of Rohan and was the only son of Fengel.

## Biography

### King of Rohan

As the last King of Rohan often sits uneasy on his throne, Thengel returned to his country only in the year TA 2937, already 32 years old. Before that time he had lived for many yearsin Gondor, away from the land of his forebears, to escape the influence of his ill-tempered and unwise father Fengel. When Fengel died, Thengel was summoned home by a people who had spent a lifetime under a greedy, fractious king. Few among them were ready to love his son; even fewer expected anything from him than what they had got from King Fengel for fifty years.

Thengel himself was not ready to love again the green plains of the realm he had learnt to call Rohan. He returned a grown man, with a foreign Queen and a foreign heir. To his eyes the Golden Hall and the shadowy refuges of Dunharrow and Helm’s Deep appeared quaint and rough compared to the high, lofty castles of the Dúnedain; the Riders of the Riddermark seemed a quarrelsome folk, loud and boastful compared to the Knights of Dol Amroth or Lossarnach. Thengel knew full well that his wife and young son, born in Gondor, would feel out of place for many years, perhaps all their lives, behind the wooden walls of Edoras.

For this and other reasons Thengel and his family speak Sindarin and Westron, in the Golden Hall, even if not all his subjects appreciate that custom. But in all public matters the Lord of Rohan and his household use the language of the Mark, and with every passing year this becomes more and more natural to the King. The rich and stern tongue of his younger days stirs bittersweet memories in Thengel, recollections of a land he loved fiercely, and that he could not suffer to see ruled by a greedy and unjust lord. Now that he is the rightful Lord of the Riddermark it is his greatest ambition to set things right once again, to rule wisely and see the Rohirrim win such renown that it will redeem the honour that his father squandered. When the day comes for his son Théoden to sit in Edoras, the new King of the Mark will take his position without shame.

Because he has spent much of his adult life in Gondor, Thengel respects the traditions and culture of his adoptive homeland as much (if not more, some say) than those of his birthplace. When encountering the royal court, any visitor is first addressed in Sindarin. Once the necessary introductions are made, the conversation may continue using the Common speech, if so desired. A speaker wishing to use the tongue of the Dúnedain for the length of the encounter would certainly please the Queen, as she considers the language of the Elves a sure sign of deeper wisdom.

### Patron of the Hall

Thengel welcomes all strangers coming from afar and encourages them to enter his service. Some among his counsellors privately think his generosity to be heedless, but the King knows full well the difference between hospitality and trust, and the latter is not something he concedes easily. But if there is a fault to be found in the King’s judgement it might well hide in his predilection for all things noble and magnificent. Dwelling for many years in Gondor has made him susceptible to the fine art of courtesy, song and fair speeches. High lords and powerful men are almost sure to find him well disposed towards what they came to ask him. Saruman the White knows well this facet of Thengel’s character, as he met him many times in Minas Tirith, when the King was in the service of Steward Turgon.

Whenever Saruman comes visiting, he makes sure to appear in the guise of a lord of lofty manners, coming to confer with his most powerful and wise ally, he who he calls “Thengel the Thrice-renowned”. Thengel can be made the patron of a company if the heroes met him during an Adventuring phase. Companies with at least one character possessing a rating of Valour 3 or more are welcome to enter his service, as are groups with at least a companion with a Standing of 3 or more, hailing from any land. The King receives all guests in Meduseld, sitting on his great gilded chair upon the dais, the Queen beside him. On such occasions he wears upon his head a thin golden circlet set with a single white diamond. From his side hangs Herugrim, the ancient blade that belonged to his father and that one day he will pass on to his son, and so on until his line is extinguished. That was when he received the sword from the hands of Heáfod, the captain of the King’s Guard, when he crossed the waters of the Mering stream, riding into Rohan on his way back from Gondor.

## Appearances

* *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers* (First mentioned)