Cirion is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's universe of Middle-earth

Middle-earth

Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....

. He is first mentioned in the Appendices of Return of the King as the twelfth ruling Steward of Gondor. His role is later expanded in Unfinished Tales

Unfinished Tales

Unfinished Tales is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980.Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and...

.

Cirion was born in T.A.

Third Age

The Third Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. The history of Middle-earth is to be taken fictionally as a history of the real Earth....

 2449 and succeeded his father, Boromir I, in T.A. 2489 at the relatively young age of 40.

During his rule, the evil Men

Man (Middle-earth)

The race of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, refers to humanity and does not denote gender...

 known as Balchoth

Easterlings

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, "Easterling" and "Easterlings" were generic terms for Men who lived in the east of Middle-earth, who mostly fought under Morgoth and Sauron, not directly but rather on behalf of their own High Lord....

 gathered for an assault upon Gondor

Gondor

Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth by the end of the Third Age. The third volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is concerned with the events in Gondor during the War of the Ring and with...

, passing over the Undeeps of Anduin

Anduin

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Anduin is the Sindarin name for the Great River of Wilderland, the longest river in the Third Age . The ancestors of the Rohirrim called it Langflood. It flowed from its source in the Grey and Misty Mountains to the Mouths of Anduin in the Great Sea...

 into the northern province of Calenardhon. Cirion could not spare many men to defend this part of his realm, and in despair he sent several messengers to their old friends the Éothéod

Éothéod

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Éothéod were a group of Northmen who became the ancestors of the Rohirrim. The word, meaning "horse people", is a compound of the Old English words éoh and théod ; it is cognate with Old Norse jóþjóð...

, a people living in the far north.

Only one man, Borondir, reached the Éothéod capital of Framsburg, and delivered his message to the king Eorl the Young.

After not receiving any answer for a full year, Cirion set out west through Anórien, to prevent the Balchoth from crossing the Anduin at the Undeeps and the Wold.

The army of Gondor was defeated and driven back across the river Limlight to the Field of Celebrant. In what was probably a coordinated attack, Orc

Orc (Middle-earth)

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings, Orcs or Orks are a race of creatures who are used as soldiers and henchmen by both the greater and lesser villains of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings — Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman...

s had come out of the Hithaeglir

Misty Mountains

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, the Misty Mountains is a mountain range, running for 795 miles from north to south, between Eriador and the valley of the Great River, Anduin, and...

 (Misty Mountains), and assailed the flank from the west, driving the forces of Gondor towards the Anduin. All hope was lost, when unlooked for came the riders of the Éothéod out of the North. Together the Éothéod and the army of Gondor defeated the Balchoth and Orcs, driving them into the Wold.

The Oath of Cirion and Eorl

Cirion was a wise man, and foresaw the benefit of maintaining an alliance with the Éothéod. He told Eorl that he would leave Calenardhon in his care, and meet Eorl again in three months' time. Back at Minas Tirith

Minas Tirith

Minas Tirith , originally named Minas Anor, is a fictional city and castle in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. It became the heavily fortified capital of Gondor in the second half of the Third Age...

, Cirion ordered some of his most trusted servants to go to the Firien Wood in Anórien, and in secret clear the way to the mountain of Amon Anwar at the Halifirien beacon.

Three months later Cirion, his son Hallas

Hallas

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Hallas was the thirteenth Ruling Steward of Gondor.Hallas was born in and succeeded his father Cirion at his death in T.A. 2567. Calenardhon had been given by his father to the Éothéod, and this people began to migrate to the land...

, the Prince of Dol Amroth

Dol Amroth

In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Dol Amroth was a hill along the coast of Gondor, on a peninsula on the Bay of Belfalas; and also the city that grew up there, mainly in the Third Age as the seat of the principality of the same name. The Prince of Dol Amroth was one of the principal subjects of...

, and two other Councillors of Gondor set out for Calenardhon, and Cirion met with Eorl. They ascended Amon Anwar, and Cirion revealed the shrine to Elendil

Elendil

Elendil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....

, built in secret at this mountain, as it formed the centre of the Gondor of old. At this secret place, he revealed his plan to give Calenardhon as a free gift to the Éothéod, so that there should be a perpetual friendship between the Éothéod and the people of Gondor. On the behalf of his people, Eorl accepted this deal, swearing the Oath of Eorl and becoming the first King of Rohan

Rohan

Rohan is a realm in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy era of Middle-earth. It is a grassland which lies north of its ally Gondor and north-west of Mordor, the realm of Sauron, their enemy . It is inhabited by the Rohirrim, a people of herdsmen and farmers who are well-known for their horses and cavalry....

. Cirion then swore an oath of unending mutual aid and friendship in return, cementing it with an invocation in Quenya

Quenya

Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...

 of the Valar

Vala (Middle-earth)

The Valar are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are first mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion develops them into the Powers of Arda or the Powers of the World...

 and Eru

Eru Ilúvatar

Eru Ilúvatar is a fictional deity in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the creator of all existence . In Tolkien's invented language of Elvish, Eru means "The One", or "He that is Alone" and Ilúvatar signifies "Father of All"...

. This was the first such oath that had been taken since that made by Elendil

Elendil

Elendil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....

 and Gil-galad

Gil-galad

Ereinion Gil-galad is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, and featured in The Silmarillion.- Character overview :...

 at the forming of the Last Alliance.

Vanda sina termaruva Elenna·nóreo alcar enyalien ar Elendil Vorondo voronwë. Nai tiruvantes i hárar mahalmassen mi Númen ar i Eru i or ilyë mahalmar eä tennoio.

This oath shall stand in memory of the glory of the Land of the Star, and of the faith of Elendil the Faithful, in the keeping of those who sit upon the thrones of the West and of the One who is above all thrones for ever. (Unfinished Tales

Unfinished Tales

Unfinished Tales is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980.Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and...

, pp. 305, 317)

Cirion died in T.A. 2567 and was succeeded by his son Hallas.