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"Thuringwethil I am, who cast
a shadow o'er the face aghast
of the sallow moon in the doomed land
of shivering Beleriand.
"
Lúthien disguised as Thuringwethil (The Lays of Beleriand, "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XIII (Beren and Lúthien in Angband)")[5]

Thuringwethil was a vampire[3] who served as the bat-messenger[6] of Sauron at Tol-in-Gaurhoth, during the First Age.[7] She likely also served Morgoth.

Biography[]

The origins of Thuringwethil are untold. Her ability to change form suggests that she may have been an Ainu or a skin-changer.[2] In the form of a vampire, she had at least two great, dark fingered wings with a ghostly appearance[4] and an iron claw at the end of each joint.[8]

Sometime before the Quest for the Silmaril, Thuringwethil became the messenger of Sauron at Tol-in-Gaurhoth, formerly Tol Sirion, often flying to Angband in the curséd[4] form of a great bat[7] to bear messages.[2] She was slain by Huan[8] there during the Quest for the Silmaril, along with Draugluin, when Sauron sent out his army one-by-one.[9]

In the year 466, Lúthien disguised herself in Thuringwethil's vile[4] winged "bat-fell"[2] and introduced herself as such to Carcharoth upon infiltrating Angband.[10]

Etymology[]

Thuringwethil was a Sindarin name in the Doriathren[11] dialect, defined by J.R.R. Tolkien as "Woman of Secret Shadow"[7] or "she of hidden shadow"[12].[1] It should be pronounced thu-ring-REH-thil. It consists of the elements thurin ("secret, hidden")[13], gwath ("shadow, dim light")[14], and -il ("feminine suffix")[15], possibly causing an "affection" from gwath to gweth[16].[1]

The Noldorin cognate of Thuringwethil was Dolwethil,[1] of the elements doll ("obscure, dark, dusky, hidden, secret")[16],gwath ("shade")[16], and -il ("daughter; feminine suffix")[16].[1]

In other versions[]

Thuringwethil did not exist as a character within The Book of Lost Tales, and as such, when Tinúviel snuck into Angamandi, she wore her own "dark cloak of magic sleep".[17]

In The Etymologies, it is mentioned in the context of Tinúviel's disguise that Thuringwethil was "a bat-shaped fay". It is not clear if all vampires were fays or if only Thuringwethil was one. In the same passage, Thuringwethil is described as an Ilkorin name, spelled as Thurin-gwethil; and though the meaning was still "(Woman of) Secret Shadow", its elements had different meanings: thurin ("guarded, hidden")[15], gwath ("shade")[15], and -il ("feminine suffix")[15].[1]

In adaptations[]

Thuringwethil

Thuringwethil

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game[]

In an expansion called First Age, Thuringwethil is one of the cards that can be used in "The Isle of werewolves" quest.[18]

Middle-earth Role Playing[]

In the 1994 Creatures of Middle-earth: A Bestiary of Animals and Monsters supplement of the Middle-earth Role Playing, Thuringwethil was an Ainu who became Sauron's favorite messenger, gaining the title: Messenger of Angband and Tol-in-Gaurhoth. She possessed a magic cloak of shaping that allowed non-ainu people to shape-shift into a vampire. Eventually, when Tol-in-Gaurhoth fell to Lúthien and Huan, she somehow vanished, loosing her powers when her cloak of shaping was taken by Lúthien, who later used it to sneak into Angband.[19]

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Amharic ጥሁሪንግወትሂል
Arabic ثورينجويثيل
Armenian Տհուրինգւետհիլ
Belarusian Cyrillic Тhурінгўетhіл
Bengali থুরিন্গ্বেথিল
Bulgarian Cyrillic Тхурингветхил
Burmese ဌုရိင္ဝေထိလ္ ?
Chinese (Hong Kong) 瑟林威西
Greek Θυρινγωεθιλ
Georgian თურინგვეთილი
Gujarati થિંગિંગવિલેથલ
Hindi ठुरिङ्वेथिल
Hebrew תורינגוותיל
Kannada ಟ್ಯೂರಿಂಗ್ವೆಥಿಲ್
Kazakh Тһұрінгуетһіл (Cyrillic) Thuringwethil (Latin)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Тhурингвэтhил
Macedonian Cyrillic Тхурингветхил
Marathi थिंगवेथील
Mongolian Cyrillic Тhурингwэтhил
Nepalese ठुरिङ्वेथिल
Pashto طهورینګوېتهیل
Persian طهورینگوهتهیل ?
Punjabi ਥਿੰਗਵੈਥਿਲ
Russian Тхурингвэтиль
Sanskrit ठुरिङ्वेथिल्
Serbian Турингветил (Cyrillic) Turingvetil (Latin)
Sinhalese ඨුරිඞ්වෙථිල්
Tajik Cyrillic Тҳурингwетҳил
Tamil துரிங்வெத்தில் ?
Telugu తురిగ్వేతిల్
Ukrainian Cyrillic Тгурінґветгіл
Urdu ٹہورانگویتھال
Uzbek Тҳурингwетҳил (Cyrillic) Thuringwethil (Latin)
Yiddish טהורינגוועטהיל

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part III: "The Etymologies", (entry THUR-)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XIX: "Of Beren and Lúthien", pgs. 178-9
  3. 3.0 3.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XII (Fingolfin and Morgoth; the meeting with Carcharoth)", line 3782
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III. "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XI (The disguising of Beren and Lúthien and the journey to Angband)", lines 3431-35
  5. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XIII (Beren and Lúthien in Angband)", pg. 306
  6. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XIV (Escape from Angband)"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, "Index"
  8. 8.0 8.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III. "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XI (The disguising of Beren and Lúthien and the journey to Angband)", lines 3394-3408
  9. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III. "The Lay of Leithian: Canto IX (The defeat of Thû)"
  10. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part One: "The Grey Annals", §204-5
  11. Parma Eldalamberon XVIII, "Tengwesta Qenderinwa and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", Part 2, pg. 26
  12. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian: Canto XIII (Beren and Lúthien in Angband)", pgs. 297, 304 (note to line 3954)
  13. Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, pgs 157, 159
  14. The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Thuringwethil on Eldamo.org
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Dolwethil on Eldamo.org
  17. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, I: "The Tale of Tinúviel", pg. 31
  18. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, First Age
  19. Ruth Sochard Pitt, Jeff O'Hare, Peter C. Fenlon, Jr. (1994), Creatures of Middle-earth: A Bestiary of Animals and Monsters, pg. 45
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