Boldog (character)



Boldog was a formidable Orc-captain of a host of Angbad that is sent to attack Doriath and capture Lúthien mentioned in the The Lay of Leithian in The History of Middle-earth Vol. III, Lays of Beleriand.

The name Boldog was also used by several Orc chieftains as a tittle during the First Age.

History
"Boldog he sent, but Boldog was slain: Strange ye were not in Boldog's train."

- Passage in the "Lays of Beleriand"

As told in the Lays of Beleriand, Boldog, a formidable Orc Captain, by direct command of Morgoth, leads a host of Orcs on a great razzia to ravage the realm of Doriath and capture Lúthien, the daughter of its King Thingol and Queen Melian, the Maia. Boldog drives his host south over the highlands of Dorthonion and the through enchanted forest of Taur-nu-Fuin following the Orcs' Road of Haste into the Pass of Anach which cuts down the mountains of Ered Gorgoroth and across the shadowed valley of Nan Dungortheb. There where fell darkness meet the mists of the magic, protective List Melian, the Girdle of Melian, just east of the river Mindeb the Orc-host reached the border of Doriath. To meet the deadly threat posed by Boldog's invasion in force, Thingol musters his full might with his two great Captains, Beleg and Mablung. He leads the army of Sindarin Elves beyond the North March of Doriath. Thingol and Boldog meet in single combat in the midst of the battle. Thingol wielded his Dwarf-forged sword, Aranrúth, Boldog fought with an iron spear of some note that was later used by Mablung in the Hunt of the Wolf. Thingol slays Boldog, the Orc-host is utterly defeated and the remnants destroyed by being driven into Taur-nu-Fuin.

The Battle of the North March is the culminating battle of a series of attacks in Morgoth's campaign against Doriath following his victories in the Dagor Bragollach, Battle of Sudden Flame, the fourth Great Battle of Beleriand that broke the Siege of Angband.

Details of Boldog's Raid are scattered through numerous texts and versions of texts but not included in the Silmarillion as published by Christopher Tolkien, however, no aspect of it is in serious contradiction with the general story and its presence in such primary Middle-earth sources, as the Lay of Leithian is intended to be, argues for its continued inclusion. Boldog's independent command of a host of orcs with its formidable objectives indicates that he is several cuts above most other Orc Captains and Champions and it is thought elsewhere in the sources that he is some lesser order of the Maiar serving Morgoth.