"Fanuilos, le linnathon
nef aear, sí nef aearon!"
A Elbereth Gilthoniel as sung in
Rivendell2The Fellowship of the Ring II 1,
Many Meetings
One of the many names and titles of the Vala known as Varda the Kindler, or more commonly in Middle-earth as Elbereth Gilthoniel. Varda was the spouse of Manwë the Elder King, and it was she who, anticipating the awakening of the first Elves, painted the sky with the brighter stars. These stars were the first thing seen by the newly-awakened Elves, and indeed they named themselves the 'People of the Stars', and held Varda the Queen of the Stars in special reverence.
The name or title Fanuilos describes the form of Varda as a shining figure standing atop Taniquetil, the snow-white mountain on which she made her home. It describes her fana, her shining physical form, as being uilos, or 'ever white as snow'. The name was used particularly by the Eldar in Middle-earth, who could at times hope to glimpse the shimmering Fanuilos far off beyond the Sea through the palantír of the Tower Hills.
Though used as part of the lexicon of the Elves, the name of Fanuilos was also used by Sam Gamgee as he faced Shelob on the borders of Mordor. Calling on the name of Elbereth, he was inspired to recite a verse in Elvish (a language that he did not understand). That verse ended with an invocation: A tiro nin, Fanuilos!3.
Notes
1 |
'Snow-white' is Tolkien's own brief translation of the name, but in The Road Goes Ever On he explains that this is really an inadequately simple rendering. The title relates to Varda's fana, the shape that she took that reflected that the forms of the Children of Ilúvatar, but that was lit by an inner light. The fuller explanation of the name then (taken from Tolkien's own approximation) would be something like 'bright (angelic) figure ever white (as snow)'.
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2 |
These are the closing lines of the hymn to Elbereth heard in Rivendell's Hall of Fire. They translate as, 'Fanuilos, to thee I chant, on this side of the Sea, here on this side of the Great Sea'. |
3 |
That is, 'O look towards me, Fanuilos!' or 'O watch over me, Fanuilos!'. The Quenya verb-steam tir- meant 'look' or 'watch', but also had a sense of watching out or guarding, so Sam is here using the imperative tiro to call on Elbereth to watch over him and guard him from danger. (It is stated that Sam did not know the language he was using, so he would not himself have been aware of the syntactical and grammatical complexities involved.)
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- Updated 20 June 2026
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